I Wish I Could Say I Cared

Soccer is said to be the most popular sport in the world. Forgive me if I disagree. This may sound sort of narcissistic, but the sporting world revolves around the United States and our stars. The most popular sports icons of our time such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Babe Ruth were all generated from the American media. Now, there are European super stars like Pele and David Beckham, but their popularity has a limit- just like the sport they play. 

Today, the U.S. soccer team lost a heartbreaker to Brazil in the FIFA Confederations Final 3-2. I guess this was a huge loss considering five days before some people wanted to give the U.S. team a ticker-tape parade after upsetting Spain in the semis. The U.S. was a huge underdog in both games. 

At the half, Brazil trailed 2-0 but came roaring back by scoring three consecutive goals in the second half to win the title. But my question is... what title did they win?

 I know it's called the Confederation Cup but what is it? Is it an international league that is played annually like the NFL or NBA? Or is it a qualifying series of games for the  World Cup next year? I couldn't tell you and frankly I don't think the average sports fan could either. Soccer will never be what football or baseball is in this country because there are too many unknowns. 

G-Lover Wins the Open

The U.S. Open is my favorite tournament to watch for several reasons. It has drama unlike any other and separates the men from the boys when it really counts. Lucas Glover was just a regular joe on the PGA Tour until Monday afternoon when he fought off Tiger and company to win The Open at Bethpage Black. He used his care-free demeanor to win his second career tournament and change his life forever.

To be honest, I wasn't too excited when Lucas won because I thought he was just some grouch who happened to get lucky. The latter may be true, but the former is as far as can be from reality. I became a huge Glover fan after watching him on "The Late Show with David Letterman" last evening because he basically just made fun of himself.

Here's the list:

10.I'd like to thank Tiger Woods for letting someone else win

9.I started playing golf in March.

8.I forgot my wedge yesterday, so I used a rake.

7.Honestly, I'm just glad to be out of the rain.

6.I had Phil Mickelson in the office pool.

5.Ladies, my last name isn't "Glover" -- it's "G. Lover"

4.I drive for show, I putt for dough.

3.Does anybody have a phone number for that Jon & Kate lady?

2.If there's anything more exciting than watching golf, it's ten lame jokes read by a guy who plays golf.

1.Even I have never heard of me.

Simply classic. I'm not sure which one I enjoyed more: watching Glover win The Open or watching him on Letterman. Probably the latter.

Lone Star Domination

I'm a fan of Interleague play in baseball. I attended the first ever interleague game in 1999 featuring the Rangers and the Giants at The Ballpark. As a baseball fan, I enjoy seeing National League teams like the Cubs, Dodgers and Mets that we wouldn't normally see unless the Rangers played in the World Series. The Rangers have an overall record of 112-118 in ten years of interleague play. This isn't the most impressive record- in fact its toward the bottom of the league but one team the Rangers love to play are the Houston Astros.

The Rangers lead the all-time series 28-26 but they have won the season series now four years in a row after going 5-1 this year. Their first meeting of the year was a crucial 11 inning victory in which Nelson Cruz hit a go ahead homer in the 11th inning to snap a three game losing streak.

The next two games were really not even close with the Rangers winning 6-3 and 5-0 respectively. Brandon McCarthy threw his first career complete in the series finale to give Texas a three game sweep.

The following series was also won by the Rangers 2-1 at home this time. Ian Kinsler led the Rangers with two home-runs in the first game of the series. Home-runs have been a common occurrence against the Astros over the years. Texas has set major league records with two games with eight homers or more over the years. In 2009, the homers haven't quite come that easily but they have outscored the Astros 28-13 in the season series which is pretty impressive.

I have a lot of friends that are Astros fans and most of them don't have much respect for the Rangers. Their argument is that Rangers have never been to a World Series(I guess that's true but we've also never been swept in the World Series either) let alone win a playoff series. They can have the title of worst team to get a fall classic because we've got the Silver Boot. It's really all about what you've done for me lately,right?

Whoever Wins, We Lose

After the best post-season in a decade you would think the NBA Finals would be must-see TV, right? Not exactly. This Finals matchup of the Lakers and the Magic has been tough to watch for this sports fan because nobody looks like they want to win. Actually, Kobe wants to win enough for the entire Lakers squad- at least that what ESPN has told us over the last week to keep us interested.

Game 4 was the hardest of these Finals to watch so far because neither team could shoot a lick. The two teams needed overtime to finish this one with the Lakers eventually winning 99-91.

The ratings for this years Finals are projected to drop about 10 percent to an 8.4.

Last year the epic rivalry of the Lakers-Celtics produced a national rating of 9.3 overall. This just proves that the NBA is a star-driven league. These are the best athletes in the world but their play in this series has been very mediocre. Unlike the Superbowl or even the World Series; the Finals banks on having two stars to face each other.

For example, the classic showdown of the Magic-Bird in the 1980's averaged a 14 point rating. The six Finals in which Michael Jordan played in through the 1990's against the likes of Magic, Drexler,Barkley,Kemp, Stockton and Malone averaged a 16.7 rating. The highest rating ever came in the Jordan's last Finals appearance against the Jazz with an 18.7 rating.

The years in which the Finals showcased just one star such as Spurs-Nets and Celtics Rockets average well below a 10 rating.

This match-up of Kobe versus Dwight Howard is not quite what it may be in a few years. In addition to the lack of individual competition; these two teams are below average in comparison to the some of the teams in 80's and 90's.

Let's just get it over with and hope next year's be more entertaining.

Don't Take Him For Granted

He did it again. Nobody was surprised but how he did it showed why he is the best. With an audience of several thousand fans surrounding the 18th green at Memorial including Jack Nicklaus himself, Tiger Woods finished off the rest of the field with relative ease.

Trailing by four entering today's final round, Tiger set out to win his fourth Memorial title. I was paired two groups in front of Tiger's group so that meant on certain holes I could catch a couple of his shots.

As he teed off on the Par 5 11th my group was climbing the stairs to the Par 3 12th which over looks the 11th green.

It was pretty cool to watch the masses flock to down the fairway to the green after Tiger flew his 2nd shot in the back rough. In the meantime, we were waiting on the group in front of us to putt out so we all sat and watched Tiger. I stood there with with Matt Kuchar, Ernie Els, Bubba Watson and Luke Donald and watch Tiger mull over his difficult 3rd shot from behind the green.

That's when I realized that we were watching someone very special.

At this point Tiger was a four shots back and an miracle eagle would make a lot of people nervous in front of him. When he lined up the shot one of the players mumbled "Watch him make this."I agreed. With a player like Tiger you come to expect greatness every time.

As his ball rolled perfectly in line with the hole the crowd grew louder and so did the players around me. When the ball disappeared the arena of fans when nuts along with Tiger and his caddie. It was one of those moments that make him not only the best golfer but the most impressive athlete of this century.

There may never be another Tiger and I have to remind myself that every time I get the privilege to watch him in person.

As I finished the round I decided to sit along the rope line on the 18th green so that I could get a get chance to watch Tiger win. Sure enough the huge manual scoreboard behind us informed us that Tiger had birdied No.17 to take a one shot lead. All he needed to do was par the 18th to win his fourth Memorial title. His tee shot was perfect- right down the middle. As I listened on my radio I knew that he was taking aim at the pin with an 8-iron.

He just needed par but he wanted to leave no doubt about who was the best golfer that day. His shot was almost too perfect landing it two feet from the pin.

As he walked to the green and tapped in his birdie, the crowd rose to their feet and watched Tiger and Jack shake hands. I sat next to the 18th green 10 yards from the two greatest golfers of all-time. Man, I love my job.

A Forgettable Finals?

Uh oh. It looks like the NBA only got it half right. Their dream match-up of Lebron vs. Kobe will have to wait until next year. I laughed a little inside as the Cavs were eliminated by the Magic tonight because ESPN is now scrambling for some Magic/Lakers story lines. 

The NBA will never be as good as it was in from the early 80's to the mid-90's. That's when the NBA was on top. MJ, Magic, Bird, Barkley, Isiah, Ewing and Hakeem put the NBA on the map. Today, the media merely tries to copy the successes of those rivalries to keep our interest.

Not only were the players more skilled in those days the games were played with a tougher mentality. These true rivalries made the league one that forced you to watch even if you hated those playing because of the raw entertainment. 

Unfortunately, Dwight Howard vs Kobe Bryant isn't exactly Bird vs. Magic- and it never will be. A Cavs-Lakers Finals would have been the closet thing we've seen since the late Jordan years but it wasn't in the cards. Sorry ESPN maybe next year.

My Prediction for this year's Finals: Lakers in 6 over the Magic.