Tim's Two Cents-February 20

Tiger Woods Dominates Newscasts.  Unless you live under a rock, it was pretty hard to not see or hear about Tiger Woods.  Coverage of his first public statement since Thanksgiving was everywhere. 

Like most people, I thought he was a bit robotic, but from what I've heard that's how he is anyway.   Woods deserves credit for owning up to what he did and admitting it was wrong.  It was refreshing to see an athlete admit their mistakes for a change a la Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte.  Are you listening Roger Clemens? 

In terms of wanting to hear more about the situation, I say leave the man alone.  He did enough yesterday in his statement.  I'm sure he's already been through a lot.

Photo courtesy:
Wikimedia Commons and Keith Allison under CC-SA 2.0 License

Tim's Two Cents-February 18

Guess Who's Coming Out of Hiding?  I guess the time has come for Tiger Woods to dust himself off and make his first public appearance since his "accident" last November.  The press conference will be at 11 AM ET tomorrow.  It is going to be one of those days where ESPN will have wall-to-wall coverage throughout the day on its networks. 

As for addressing the media, Woods will probably make a statement "apologizing" for his actions over the last few months as well as discuss his future plans.  He supposedly won't take any questions, so it shouldn't really be considered a press conference to begin with.  For those of you looking for Tiger to give a heartfelt apology, it ain't gonna happen. 

Here's another thought.  You may say that you're never going to watch Tiger on the golf course ever again no matter what, but let's be honest, you will!  Anyone who says otherwise is lying through their teeth.  I know that whatever golf event Tiger chooses to make his comeback at, I'll watch.  That's saying something because I don't follow golf, Tiger or no Tiger.  Depending on what he has to say, we know one thing for certain.  When Tiger returns, the ratings for golf will see a huge increase whether we like Tiger or not.

Tim's Two Cents-January 21

Tiger Woods Update.  If you haven't heard, Tiger is reportedly receiving treatment at a sex addiction clinic in Mississippi.  There hasn't been official confirmation that Woods is in Mississippi receiving treatment, and why would there be any?  If that is the case, wouldn't that be a violation of doctor-patient confidentiality?  It seems to me like it would be. 

My question is why would Tiger be at a sex addiction rehab clinic.  Is it to save his marriage?  Last time I checked, Elin was going to file for a divorce.  Is it to save his reputation?  He hasn't been seen in public since the car "accident."  Or does he really have some sort of sexual addiction?  I don't buy it.  So who knows why he's really in there.

Photo courtesy:
Wikimedia Commons and Keith Allison under CC-SA 2.0 License

Tim's Two Cents December 17-Bonus Edition

With Christmas nearly upon us, tis the season of giving and give I shall.  In this special bonus edition of Tim's Two Cents, I discuss a couple stories from college sports in Division I as well as more on Tiger Woods.

1. The Big Ten Conference Adding Another Football Team?  Word is that the Big Ten, which currently has 11 teams, is exploring the possibility of adding another team.  First, explain to me how a conference with 11 teams is still called the Big Ten?  Second, the discussion of further expansion shows that the conference is only interested in one thing: making money.  Rumor is Rutgers is the early favorite to join.  This is not the only issue college football has.  Need I remind you about the joke that is the BCS system.  Overall, this is not a good idea for a conference that already has enough exposure right now.

2. NCAA March Madness Expanding?  The NCAA could also be looking into expanding March Madness from 65 teams to 96.  The proposed plan would give the top 32 teams a bye and add an additional weekend to the event.  March Madness is a great event which involves many teams from across the country.  It is the true definition of a playoff system in college sports.  So NCAA, please don't fix what isn't broken.  There are already enough schools involved to begin with.  In addition, most of those new schools who would get in would probably lose in the first round anyway.  Leave the tournament as it is.

3. Tiger Woods Update.  The Tiger Woods story continues to unravel.  In the midst of being named AP Athlete of the Decade, we continue to learn more about Tiger Woods personal life.  Woods has now reportedly been connected with Canadian doctor Anthony Galea, who specializes in sports medicine.  Galea, who treated many high profile patients, including Woods, was formally charged yesterday over unapproved drug sales, including human growth hormone and conspiring to export and smuggle them out of the country.  Sources also are now saying that Tiger's wife, Elin Nordegren is going to file for a divorce.  As the saga unfolds, the one thing I keep thinking about is how far Tiger has fallen in the past few weeks.  

5 Most Important Storylines From the Weekend in Sports

Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints (left), and Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts (right), each led their respective teams to another win to remain  undefeated.  Their pursuit of perfection is one of my top 5 storylines from the weekend in sports.

It's Monday, December 14, and I'm going to do something a little different from now on.  Instead of doing a daily sports update, I'm going to give you my top storylines from the day in sports.  I will still continue to do updates for local colleges in the Southern California area, such as those schools in the SCIAC Conference, since there is very little to no coverage of those schools.  You can always keep updated on professional sports by watching Sprtscenter on ESPN throughout each day, so there really is no purpose to recap the scores each day.  So, with that being said, let's get to my top 5 storylines.

1. Colts and Saints win again to stay undefeated.  Make that 13 and 0 and counting.  The Colts and Saints remain perfect following Sunday's NFL action that saw the Saints win late against the Atlanta Falcons 26 to 23 and the Colts victorious over the Denver Broncos 28 to 16.  It's not surprising that they are clearly the 2 best teams in the league right now.  They both are led by very good quarterbacks.  Drew Brees has the highest QB rating and highest completion percentage this year at  112.3 and 69.9% respectively.  On the other side, Peyton Manning is a sure fire future Hall of Famer who this season has had a knack for leading his to late game-winning drives week in and week out.  The most notable came against the Patriots in week 10 where Bill Belichick went for it on 4th down late in the game and we all know what happened.  I don't think the Saints and Colts will go undefeated, but it would be exciting to see two undefeated teams fight it out in the Super Bowl in February.  You can bet that the members of the 1972 Dolphins team would watch that matchup for sure.

2. Cowboys December woes continue.  Cowboy fans are waking up this morning probably wondering when the team's annual December swoon is going to end. So far, the Cowboys are now 0 and 2 in December following a 30 to 27 loss to the San Diego Chargers yesterday.  You know the Dallas media will be asking  head coach Wade Phillips why this continues to happen.  The bottom line is Phillips is an average head coach and the Cowboys don't have any real big playmakers that perform at a high level down the stretch..  In December, they are the polar opposite of their opponent from yesterday.  With yesterday's triumph the Chargers are now 16 and 0 in December over the last few years.  I don't see an end to the Cowboys struggles wih their remaining schedule that includes road games at New Orleans and Washington and a home matchup against the Eagles.  I see them missing the playoffs.

3. The Lakers 11 game winning streak comes to an end.  What a streak it was, but let's be honest, it had to come to an end at some point and it did against the Utah Jazz Saturday 102 to 94.  Not to mention that it was the second game of a back to back part of the schedule.  It was also a streak where most of the wins came at Staples Center in a 6 game homestand that led up to the team's current 5 game road trip.  They were also helped by a schedule where 17 of their first 21 games were on their home court.  We'll see if they can bounce back with a win tomorrow in Chicago.

4. Mark Ingram wins the Heisman Trophy.  Congratulations to the sophomore running back of Alabama.  It was an exciting year of college football that included one of the closest races for the Heisman Trophy I have ever seen.  Each of the 5 finalists-Ingram, last year's winner Tim Tebow of Florida, Toby Gerhart of Stanford, Ndamukong Suh of Nebraska and Colt McCoy of Texas-had a legitimate chance to win the award.  As the season went along, there wasn't a player who separated himself from the others.  What helped Ingram was a big performance in the SEC Championship game against Florida in a 32 to 13 win.

5. The Tiger Woods Soap Opera Continues.  This story just keeps getting bigger and bigger.  It was just a few weeks ago when all that happened was a seemingly simple traffic accident at Tiger's home in Florida.  Ever since, we've heard about Tigers alleged affairs with numerous women while being married to his Swedish supermodel wife and more 911 calls where his mother-in-law was taken to the hospital with stomach pains.  Now some of Tiger's sponsors, including Accenture,  have decided to move on while Tiger deals with his personal issues.

Photos courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
dbking under CC-BY license

Daily Sports Report-December 13, 2009

Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Michael Sandoval under CC-BY license

Starting today, I will keep you updated on what's going on in sports like I did with my sports show at La Verne, as well as other things. So, in sports news today: The Lakers 11 game winning streak has been snapped tonight with a 102-94 loss against the Utah Jazz. It was the first game in a 5 game road trip for the... Lakers after playing 17 of their first 21 games in the friendly confines of Staples Center.  Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Ron Artest each had 16 points to lead the Lakers in scoring.  With the loss, they are now 18-4 on the young season.  Their next stop on the road will be the windy city to take on the Bulls Tuesday.

In college football, Alabama running back Mark Ingram won the 2009 Heisman Trophy.  In one of the closest votes in the award's 75 year history, Ingram received 227 first place votes, 5 more than runner up Toby Gerhart of Stanford.  With the Heisman victory, Ingram also becomes the first Alabama football player to win the award.  He will now have plenty of time to get ready for his next matchup as the Crimson Tide will be playing in the BCS National Championship game against Colt McCoy and the Texas Longhorns in Pasadena on January 7.

In the NFL today, the 12-0 New Orleans Saints face the Atlanta Falcons and the 12-0 Indianapolis Colts face the Denver Broncos. In a couple other noteworthy games San Diego faces Dallas and Philadelphia takes on the NY Giants.

Lastly in golf, Tiger Woods has taken an indefinite leave from competition to deal with his recent personal issues. That's the sports report for Sunday, December 13.  Check in tomorrow for all the latest scores and breaking news.
-Tim