Doug Small reviews the biggest sports stories of the week, and the best sports stories of the week. Sometimes the biggest and the best are the same story, but usually Doug doesn’t think so.
Welcome to the first installment of my weekly column, “The Biggest and the Best”. I’ll be reviewing the week’s top sports stories, as well as its best. Sometimes, the same story qualifies as both. Usually not. Enough about how this works…let’s get startedGOLF
The Biggest Story: Vijay Singh wins the Deutsche Bank Classic in Boston to overtake Tiger Woods as #1 in the world golf rankings. Not only did Vijay beat Tiger, but he did it with Eldrick playing right alongside him in the final twosome. Tiger battled early, and was tied with Singh when they reached the 14th tee. Remember when golfers would fold in the mere presence of Mr. Woods? Remember when it was a foregone conclusion that Tiger would win this kind of duel? Forget it. Vijay played the last five holes in three under to dust the (ahem) second-best golfer in the world by three shots. Hey, do you think every player on tour except Mark O’Meara wishes that Tiger had gotten engaged four years ago?
The Best Story: David Duval, once ranked #1 in the world, makes his first cut in a PGA event in fifteen months. Duval needed birdie 18 on Friday to make the cut. He made birdie. Then he fired 70-67 over the weekend and finished tied for 13th. Eight months ago, this guy couldn’t win a ten dollar nassau against your local club pro. So, he disappeared, re-vamped his swing, and put a smile on his face. Now he looks well on his way to becoming an elite player once again, and he`s actually enjoying himself. Welcome back, David.
BASEBALL
The Biggest Story: The mighty Yankees are falling apart while the Red Sox are hotter than Tiger’s fiancé. The pinstripe’s lead is down to 2 ½ games, and the teams have six games against each other before the playoffs, where they are almost a lock to meet in the ALCS. Both teams will make the playoffs, but if the Sox actually come all the way back and win the AL East, it might give them the momentum to finally get back to the World Series, where they will lose to the Cardinals. But hey, Boston might get past the Yankees this year. Baby steps, Sox fans. Baby steps.
The Best Story: Ichiro Suzuki, the only baseball player to go by his first name, is closing in on the record for most hits in a season, currently held by George Sisler, who hit 257 for St. Louis in 1920. In the last seven days, Ichiro had 15 hits, and batted .577. Going into Monday night’s game against Cleveland, Mr. Suzuki is hitting .378 and needs 34 hits to break Sisler’s record. This guy is a hitting freak and is doing this on a horrible team. If he played in New York or Los Angeles, everyone, not just baseball fans, would know about Ichiro and the amazing season that he is having. He’d be on Letterman and Leno, as he deserves to be. The fact that he plays in a small market for a lousy team isn’t his fault. Good luck, Mr. Suzuki.
NFL
The Biggest Story: The season begins Thursday night and most are picking New England and Philadelphia to be in the Super Bowl. Pretty risky picks, eh? There’s lots of big stories, like how long will it take before former MVP Kurt Warner is replaced by Eli Manning as the NY Giants starting QB? Not long. The Giants are starting Warner in their opener, on the road against the Eagles. You’ve gotta think that this is in small part due to Warner’s play in the preseason, and in large part due to the Giants not wanting Manning to start his career against a really tough team. A bad game early could hurt Manning’s confidence, so why not throw Warner to the wolves instead? After he has a rough game, it’ll be even easier to move Manning in, all the while pretending that they gave Warner a shot. Real classy, Giants.
The Best Story: This isn’t the best story because it’s a happy one. It’s just amazing. Tim Couch, the first overall pick in 1999, was cut this weekend by Green Bay after being released by Cleveland in June. Couch was 11 for 34 for 96 yards in three preseason games for the Packers. Green Bay coach Mike Sherman said Couch “just wasn’t productive enough”, and that he was “disappointed”. Whether his throwing arm was sore, or he was having trouble with Green Bay’s West Coast offense, are you trying to tell me Couch couldn’t beat out Craig Nall for the team’s third-string job? This would be a whole lot easier to grasp if the Couch was addicted to something, or broke a team rule, or got arrested, or, well, anything. Anything would be better than just being flat-out a worse QB than Craig Nall. I still think Couch can be a productive NFL QB somewhere. Or, he could open a “cash your paycheck here” business with Ryan Leaf. Geez.
I know, I know. College football started this week. But when only six games on the entire 1-A schedule are decided by six points or less, there’s not many great stories. Almost makes you want to watch U.S. Open tennis. Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but without the Florida State – Miami game, it wasn’t a great week for college ball.
I’m finished. See you next week.
3 replies on “The Biggest and The Best!”
Nice Story, judge I made some formatting changes.
Article I liked the article, some of the parts were hysterical, the Mark O’Meara one in particular.
As an Oakland A’s fan, you gotta give us some love here. “The pinstripe’s lead is down to 2 ½ games, and the teams have six games against each other before the playoffs, where they are almost a lock to meet in the ALCS.”
Last I checked Mulder, Hudson, Harden, and Zito represent the best playoff starting rotation in the League. The old mantra is that “pitching wins in October.”
A’s Yep, the A’s have a great pitching staff, and on paper could/should beat the Yanks or the Sox. However, this franchise has a putrid post-season record as of late. So, until they prove that they can win a post-season series, I’m putting them in the “underdog” role.