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

July 17, 2010
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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

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