The Sporting Life

So let’s talk about sports. Last week the Butler Bulldogs came close to pulling off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA basketball history.

The crowd was definitely pulling for the underdogs, who hadn’t been given much credit when the playoff brackets were announced. Several analysts had said that Butler was overrated and that they would be the number 5 seed that would be upset in the first round by a 12 seed.

With time running out Gordon Hayward put up the potentially championship-winning shot only to have it bounce off the rim and fall to the floor. Most basketball fans couldn’t believe the miracle run was over. In the end, it proved one thing – Duke is the best team in the country.

The NCAA women’s tournament came down to unbeaten Connecticut vs. once-beaten Stanford. The last time UConn lost a game was in the 2008 Final Four to Stanford. The only loss the Cardinal had this season was to the Huskies. After a sloppy first half, UConn came from behind to win, extending their unbeaten streak to 78 games.

Major League Baseball began their 2010 season, and fans of our national pastime headed out to the ballpark to root, root, root for the home team. With no major sex scandals or steroid controversies, baseball got off to a quiet start. In fact, if you aren’t a fantasy fanatic, you might’ve missed it.

Of course, the NBA and the NHL are getting geared up for the playoffs. You know there’s at least one young hockey player out there who can’t wait to use Lord Stanley’s Cup as a big shiny beer mug.

Finally, Tiger Woods returned to competition in the Masters Golf Tournament. He lost, but that’s not really important. What is important is that he and his sponsors are making money again.

On Tuesday, the video game company Electronic Arts launched Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online. The New York Times quoted Peter Moore, president of EA Sports, as saying, “We think this will be a productivity killer.” He’s betting on the fact that middle-aged, male, golf/video game fans don’t care about Tiger’s extra-curricular activities. And he’ll probably win that bet.

I haven’t played it, but from their website you can get a feel for what the game entails. It’s free, and you can play virtual golf with folks all over the world, but if you want to get to the point where you can compete at the highest levels, you’re going to have to shell out a few bucks to upgrade your gear. And if they add an after-the-match party mode in a future release, the private rooms at the strip clubs won’t come cheap either.

Maybe one of the upgrades you can buy will be a virtual house call from Dr. Anthony Galea who’s being investigated for providing performance enhancing drugs to NFL and Major League Baseball players. According to The Huffington Post, he was seen at Tiger’s house at least four times during February and March.

Nike got back into the game with new ads featuring Tiger staring at the camera with his dead dad’s voice saying, “I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find out what your feelings are. Did you learn anything?”

That got me to thinking.

Tiger’s dad, Earl, also cheated on his wife. He could have been a contributing factor in Tiger’s unfaithful behavior…he’s gone, and we’ll never know. Maybe what he was asking was, “Did you learn how to not get caught next time?”

There were other folks cashing in on Tiger’s appearance at the Masters. Former mistress Joslyn James teamed up with the Pink Pony, an Atlanta strip club, to perform on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Atlanta is only about 150 miles from Augusta, where the tournament is played.
The club’s website posed the question, “Will Tiger come to see her at the Pony?”

At a recent press conference, Joslyn, who’s appeared in 16 adult films, was asked if she would attend the golf tournament. Her lawyer, Gloria Allred, replied that she wouldn’t because Augusta National “still excludes women from membership in the same way that they used to exclude African-Americans.”

Way to make a stand for women’s rights. I’m sure she’ll work that into her act at the Pony.

Anyway, it was a big week in sports.

I don’t know, I guess I think too hard about these things.

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