Tiger Survives

Usually when you talk about a tournament won by Tiger Woods words like dominated and destroyed are used to describe his victories rather than a word like survive. However, that is exactly what Tiger did yesterday. The man who usually pummels his opponents had to deal with a couple of problems before capturing his 14th major championship. The first problem was clearly the well documented knee injury he was suffering from, and the second was a man named Rocco Mediate that refused to be intimidated by the man that has turned many men on the PGA Tour in to dust on his path to victory in the past.

I’ll admit I wasn’t excited when I heard I would have to wait until yesterday to see the playoff between Mediate and Woods, but after watching the up and down, 19 hole roller coaster ride it turned in to, I think it was definitely worth the wait. As incredible as Tiger winning was, I am still far more impressed with how well Mediate did. How many top 10 golfers crumble in to pieces when they have to go head to head with Tiger Woods in a regular PGA Tour event? Then there’s Mediate, the 158th (or something around there) ranked played in the world heading in to the U.S. Open, who stands up and not only battles Tiger until the end but puts the pressure on Tiger Woods to force a 19th playoff hole. Unfortunately for Mediate, pressure is something Tiger thrives on and in the end the man everyone expected to win did.

The Final Finals Tip Off?

The NBA heads back to Boston tonight with the series sitting 3-2 in favor of the Celtics which means that the Boston Celtics can finish off the Lakers in front of their home crowd tonight. This series is ready to come to an end. Except for the Boston comebacks, this series has been similar to bad sex. It gives you something to do but it is anti climactic. Despite the Lakers two wins, it is becoming more and more evident that the Celtics are a superior team.

Maybe if the Lakers didn’t abandon game plans things would be different but they seem to like to give up on what’s working for them and jump on Kobe Bryant’s back after they get off to a hot start. The last two games Lamar Odom has started off so great just to not see the ball even when a guy much smaller than him, like James Posey, is guarding him. I was hoping for a way better series from the two #1 teams in the league and now I just want the damn thing to be over. It would also be nice if Kevin Garnett would play like himself out of there. The “Big Ticket” has been sucking pretty hard the last couple of games.