The Wind Moved The Ball Off The Green, Farmer Brown, Not A "Flyin' Saucer"

The leaderboard at this weekend's British Open seems to change as much as the wind, and considering that play on Friday was suspended due to high winds, it changes a lot. At various points throughout the 150th Open Championship, names such as Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Paul Casey, and even John Daly have been moving around the leaderboard like ping pong balls. Even with the unpredictable winds making things tough on anyone atop the leaderboard, it will be hard for Tiger Woods, who sits ten shots back, to mount a comeback capable of pulling off the win. Assuming that there will be no ten stroke comeback by Tiger tomorrow, he will have one more shot at a Major championship this year when the PGA Championship takes place in mid-August. The championship will take place at Whistling Straits Golf Course, which last hosted the PGA Championship in 2004. At that tournament, Tiger Woods finished an unspectacular two-under par, six shots off of the lead. Is it crazy to think that this may be the first year since 2004 (coincidentally, the same year that the PGA Championship was played at Whistling Straits) that Tiger will finish the season without a Major championship victory? More importantly, how does this affect Woods' quest to best Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 career Major championships? A couple of years ago, it was almost a sure bet that Woods would eventually surpass Nicklaus on the all-time list. However, Woods cannot afford to have any more seasons like he has had this year. While he continues to get older, guys like McIlroy keep getting better and closer to their prime.

The possibility of the Big 10 having a championship game in football has become much more realistic ever since Nebraska declared for the conference last month. The question that remains to be answered is where the conference would play the game if they were to have one. I've heard everything from Ford Field in Detroit to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, and even historic sites such as Lambeau Field and Soldier Field. Isn't it obvious which venue is the best fit for a potential Big Ten title game? Indianapolis is a fairly centralized location considering the teams that make up the Big 10, and it's an indoor facility, which is almost a must unless the conference is located in the South like the ACC. With that being said, Lambeau Field is out, not only because it's outdoors, but because Wisconsin is about as un-centralized a location as possible. The same goes for Solider Field. As for Detroit, it meets the requirements of being indoors and being a central location, but scheduling would be an issue. With the MAC already hosting their title game at Ford Field, one of the conferences would have to play their championship game a week before or after every other conference has their game, which could upset the conference that doesn't play on Championship Week. Also, with Detroit being Detroit, chances are a game in Indianapolis would draw a much larger crowd. In addition to those reasons, the Big 10 already plays their conference tournament for basketball in Indianapolis as well.

Last post I asked my readers if the All-Star game winning streak for the American League was as great as other winning streaks since it is technically still an exhibition game. Well, since none of you responded, I can only assume that none of my regular readers actually watched the game (the game received its lowest rating in years, which is why I feel confident in assuming this). Since the National League won, there is no reason to debate the streak. However, it was an extremely entertaining game to watch, which is why I am perplexed as to why it got such a low rating. The MLB All-Star game is so much more entertaining than the NBA All-Star game or the Pro Bowl, and unlike the NBA or NFL, the MLB's game actually means something. I hope this trend doesn't continue, because you know what happens when the ratings aren't great; someone wants to change something. The only thing that should be changed about the MLB All-Star festivities is the Home Run Derby; other than that, it's great and people apparently are missing out.

I'm getting close to deciding on how I want the Around The Corn Sports Blog shirts to look. Keep checking the Facebook fan page for more information about that, which should be posted in the next week or so. Thanks everyone.



- K. Becks

R.I.P Boss

Today, the sporting world lost arguably the greatest owner in all of sports. George Steinbrenner was eighty years old, celebrating his birthday just over a week ago on the Fourth of July. Not everyone liked Steinbrenner; there is no denying that he was a loud, no-nonsense guy at times, who exhibited very little patience with his managers and players. However, people who knew him well were exposed to his softer, more compassionate side that made him a very likable man. Regardless of which side you saw, you can agree that the man was always about winning. These days, it seems like owners that are only about turning a profit, even at the expense of their team's performance, are dime-a-dozen. However, Steinbrenner would readily dish out an obscene amount of money to pick up a player he felt he needed in order to win. The saying goes "you have to spend money to make money", and make money he did. When he bought the Yankees in 1973, Steinbrenner spent about 8.7 million dollars. Now, the Yankees are worth about 1.6 billion dollars. Some people called his tactics bad for the game, but the fact of the matter is, you knew every year when The Boss pulled out his checkbook that his chief motive was to try to put the best possible baseball team on the field. You can't really fault a guy for that, and that is why Steinbrenner will be missed tremendously in the entire baseball community. R.I.P., George.

Even more bad news has hit the city of Cleveland, and no, it's not that owner Dan Gilbert has to pay a 100,000 dollar fine for his remarks about Lebron James. No, it's that center Zydrunas Ilgauskas will leave Cleveland and sign with none other than the Miami Heat. Not only does this mean that Cleveland has no one worth mentioning on their roster, but now it almost assures that the Miami Heat will be the preseason favorites to win the NBA Championship in 2011. The reason that I heard being thrown around that the Heat may have trouble winning with only the Big Three was that they didn't have enough to deal with the tandem of Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum in Los Angeles. However, with Ilgauskas now in Miami, the tables have been turned. How is Los Angeles going to deal with those two monsters (Ilgauskas and Bosh) down low?

The Tour de France hasn't been getting too much attention on this blog, and here's why it probably won't be getting much more after this; Lance Armstrong, the only reason Americans have really had any interest in the Tour for the last eleven years, has announced that his chance of winning the Tour is pretty much gone. The sad part is that it wasn't really his fault, either. In Stage 8, he got caught up in three crashes, losing valuable time to the leaders during a stage in which he put time on the rest of the pack in previous Tours. Lance is still better than ninety percent of the riders in the race, but I think that this will be his last Tour de France. The great ones never accept defeat when they know they still have enough left in the tank, and Armstrong has accepted defeat.

The All-Star game is currently being played, with the AL holding onto a slim 1-0 lead over the NL in the bottom of the 6th. If they can hold on for the win, it will be their fourteenth consecutive win over the NL in the All-Star game, which is quite a streak. However, is the streak really that great since it is technically still an exhibition game? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section, or email me at aroundthecornsportsblog@gmail.com. Thanks everyone.



- K. Becks

Viva Espana!

The 2010 FIFA World Cup has finally come to a close, with Spain finally getting the trophy that has eluded their fine football federation for so long. Although it wasn't as beautiful a game as many World Cup Finals are, the fact is, Spain got it done and they deserved it. Unlike most people in the U.S., I continued to pay attention to the tournament after the United States was eliminated, and I'm glad that I did. I feel that something like the World Cup, which only comes around every four years, is a special kind of event and can be interesting even when there isn't a specific team that I'm rooting for to win. Since there are many of you that probably didn't see anything beyond the Round of 16, this video will fill you in on all the great moments from this year's World Cup. I'm going to miss actually paying close attention to soccer, but there is a slight chance that I'll still be posting in four years time. I'm not that optimistic that the World Cup in 2014 will be as wide open as it was this year though; with Brazil on their home turf, and with a new coach that will likely lead them back to playing the "Beautiful Game", it will be their tournament to lose. My extremely early prediction is that they won't.

Since the World Cup is over, it is very likely that this will be my last post that mentions the World Cup for quite awhile. With that being said, I promised my buddy Neil that I would put his thoughts on the World Cup in a post. If you recall, Neil wrote a guest article about the Six Nations Rugby Cup back in March, so his work is well documented on this blog.

I believe that the World Cup is kind of like the Special Olympics of hockey, and here is why: While the object of both games is to put a ball/puck into a goal:
1. Everything is about 1/4 of the speed.
2. Everyone falls down at the slightest contact despite not being on ice
3. The ball is 10Xs the size (like a little kid's pencil)
4. The goal is 4Xs the size (Which would ensure more scoring, right? Wrong.)
5. (This one is bad, but...) opponents can't understand each other
6. Everyone cheers for both teams, win, lose, or draw, because it really doesn't make a difference as long as you showed up

Disclaimer: I believe that Special Olympians try much harder than most World Cup participants. No disrespect to them is meant.

Considering that I haven't added much humor in a long time, my thanks go out to Neil for his creative input.


Now that the World Cup has concluded, Major League Baseball is on their All-Star break, and football hasn't started yet, the sports media has nothing better to talk about than the Lebron saga. Quite frankly, I'm sick of hearing about it. There is only so much you can say, and saying the same thing eleven different ways doesn't make for particularly interesting TV or radio in my opinion. However, one new piece of news regarding the situation did surface; Dan Gilbert retracted his statement about the Cavs winning a title before Lebron James and the Heat win one. Can someone say "a little too late"? Gilbert has already come off looking like a child with his tirade, and now even Jesse Jackson is in on the roast of Gilbert. Of course, since Jesse Jackson is all about getting attention, you'll have to read somewhere else what he said about Gilbert, because I will not be a part of the vicious cycle that keeps Jesse Jackson in the news.

Tomorrow is the MLB All-Star game, and although I think that the Celebrity All-Star game (which is currently being played) is much more exciting to watch, I'll probably tune in because, unlike every other sports' All Star game, it actually means something. Also, since this is shaping up to be "The Year of the Pitcher", it could be a great game from a defensive standpoint, which for the most part has been the story in the last few All-Star games as well.



- K. Becks