The best golfers in the world are in Augusta, GA for the Masters this week, and they are about to be reminded that their time has expired.
The time they could run around the world, collecting trophies, oversized checks, and various sport coats in different patterns and colors.
Tiger is back.
Yeah, I know he's played 3 events this season, but THIS is the one he was aiming for. Tiger is after one for the thumb...or whatever the equivalent of five green jackets in.
Tiger Woods shoved it around in his first appearance of 2009, the match play championship. Lasted 2 matches, before being knocked out by Tim Clark. He then, as he put it, "back doored" a top 10 finish at Doral. Bay Hill...well, that was special. Woods is back to being himself, and that makes him the odds-on favorite to win this week.
Hate Nation says that's a bad thing--it's boring when Tiger wins. Well, TV ratings suggest otherwise. Tiger in contention means numbers. Tiger at the top of the leaderboard, or at least in the hunt, means exposure for the game.
Sure, I'm not going out on a limb with a "Tiger wins the Masters" prediction, but what kind of prognosticator would I be (and don't mention my NCAA bracket), if I didn't throw out a potential dark horse?
My dark horse coming into this Masters? Tim Clark. Yes, he won the Par 3 contest on Wednesday, which has been the kiss of death--no player has ever won the Par 3 contest AND the green jacket in the same week, but Clark has been close before. He's a solid player who has paid his dues, and now it's time for him to get that breakthrough victory.
Or it will be Tiger.
Mike Solarte
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Sifting through the wreckage
Carolina destroyed Michigan State to win the school's 5th national championship. Don't be fooled, the game wasn't as close as that 89-72 final might indicate. I said it on our post-game show, and I'll say it again. Michigan State looked good during the national anthem. After that, it was all downhill.
When you (MSU) are trying to beat your third #1 seed in the tournament, and run into a focused bunch that dropped a title game record 55 on you in the first half, and laid a 35 point beating at your feet in December, the anthem was about all you had.
How good were the Tar Heels? Well, they won all 6 of their tourney games by no fewer than 12 points. Start there.
The outgoing seniors are the winningest class in school history (124-22). The names to the books: Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Bobby Frasor and Mike Copeland. They replace Quentin Thomas who had 123 over his career.
I could go on, but in the end, the Heels were just too dominant for any band of mere mortals to contain.
Congratulations to "cadenjosie", winner of the Sports Night Blog Bracket Challenge. 12 of the 33 that played had UNC winning it all, but "cadenjosie"had enough correct picks in the previous rounds to earn the title of "Blognosticator Extraordinaire." Note to the winner: send me an e-mail so we can square you away on whatever we can dig up in the News 14 prize closet.
Thanks for playing, reading, and watching News 14 Carolina!
Mike Solarte
When you (MSU) are trying to beat your third #1 seed in the tournament, and run into a focused bunch that dropped a title game record 55 on you in the first half, and laid a 35 point beating at your feet in December, the anthem was about all you had.
How good were the Tar Heels? Well, they won all 6 of their tourney games by no fewer than 12 points. Start there.
The outgoing seniors are the winningest class in school history (124-22). The names to the books: Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Bobby Frasor and Mike Copeland. They replace Quentin Thomas who had 123 over his career.
I could go on, but in the end, the Heels were just too dominant for any band of mere mortals to contain.
Congratulations to "cadenjosie", winner of the Sports Night Blog Bracket Challenge. 12 of the 33 that played had UNC winning it all, but "cadenjosie"had enough correct picks in the previous rounds to earn the title of "Blognosticator Extraordinaire." Note to the winner: send me an e-mail so we can square you away on whatever we can dig up in the News 14 prize closet.
Thanks for playing, reading, and watching News 14 Carolina!
Mike Solarte
Monday, April 6, 2009
Halfway home
Quick hit:
Michigan State's carriage turned back into a pumpkin...and that was at the 7 minute mark.
UNC is too big, fast, strong, athletic (insert adjective here), for the Spartans to handle.
If this were a prize fight, it would have been stopped by now. As it stands, they have to play it out to the final horn of the 2nd half, and when it (mercifully for MSU) sounds, UNC will have it's 5th national title.
Be sure to check out our live post-game coverage on News 14 Carolina.
Carolina just scored again, by the way.....and again.....and again....and...
Mike Solarte
Michigan State's carriage turned back into a pumpkin...and that was at the 7 minute mark.
UNC is too big, fast, strong, athletic (insert adjective here), for the Spartans to handle.
If this were a prize fight, it would have been stopped by now. As it stands, they have to play it out to the final horn of the 2nd half, and when it (mercifully for MSU) sounds, UNC will have it's 5th national title.
Be sure to check out our live post-game coverage on News 14 Carolina.
Carolina just scored again, by the way.....and again.....and again....and...
Mike Solarte
THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR
It’s a good time to be a sports fan. Tar Heel fans anxiously anticipate tonight’s NCAA National Championship game and a possible second championship in five years. Golf enthusiasts look forward to the pageantry of The Masters, which tees off Thursday, to see if anyone will challenge Tiger Woods for the fabled Green Jacket. But for me, today is the best day… it’s Opening Day!
Yes, I know for most of you, football has overtaken baseball as the most popular sport in this country, but I’m old school. To quote actor James Earl Jones from Field of Dreams, “The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.”
So despite the cloud of performance enhancing drugs that continues to linger over the sport (and don’t fool yourself into thinking the problem is not just as rampant in the NFL and other sports), I will spend today reveling in watching game after game.
For me, the best opening day is in the other Queen City of Cincinnati. One of baseball’s oldest franchises, the Reds were the first professional team and for many years no other opening day game started before theirs. It’s no wonder today is treated like a holiday in Cincinnati. There’s a parade that runs through downtown and everyone wears red. It’s no wonder folks get out of work and kids skip school as people both young and old come down with a case of baseball fever. Too bad Mother Nature won’t cooperate with a rain and snow mix and temperatures in the 40s. While the franchise has endured eight straight losing seasons, fans will sell out Great American Ball Park as hope springs eternal.
As the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, Mets and Phillies garner all the headlines, and rightly so, three of the Reds top 10 prospects will be playing right here in North Carolina. First baseman Yonder Alonso, infielder/outfielder Todd Frazier and third baseman Juan Francisco will start the year wearing a Carolina Mudcats uniform. So, if the economy is making traveling to see a Major League game impossible, consider a trip to Zebulon, North Carolina and watch the Mudcats. Who knows, perhaps it'll be as if you dipped yourself in magic waters, and the memories will be so thick you'll have to brush them away from your faces.
Yes, I know for most of you, football has overtaken baseball as the most popular sport in this country, but I’m old school. To quote actor James Earl Jones from Field of Dreams, “The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.”
So despite the cloud of performance enhancing drugs that continues to linger over the sport (and don’t fool yourself into thinking the problem is not just as rampant in the NFL and other sports), I will spend today reveling in watching game after game.
For me, the best opening day is in the other Queen City of Cincinnati. One of baseball’s oldest franchises, the Reds were the first professional team and for many years no other opening day game started before theirs. It’s no wonder today is treated like a holiday in Cincinnati. There’s a parade that runs through downtown and everyone wears red. It’s no wonder folks get out of work and kids skip school as people both young and old come down with a case of baseball fever. Too bad Mother Nature won’t cooperate with a rain and snow mix and temperatures in the 40s. While the franchise has endured eight straight losing seasons, fans will sell out Great American Ball Park as hope springs eternal.
As the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, Mets and Phillies garner all the headlines, and rightly so, three of the Reds top 10 prospects will be playing right here in North Carolina. First baseman Yonder Alonso, infielder/outfielder Todd Frazier and third baseman Juan Francisco will start the year wearing a Carolina Mudcats uniform. So, if the economy is making traveling to see a Major League game impossible, consider a trip to Zebulon, North Carolina and watch the Mudcats. Who knows, perhaps it'll be as if you dipped yourself in magic waters, and the memories will be so thick you'll have to brush them away from your faces.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
He DIDN'T break the law?
Why is Ty Lawson playing craps a national story? Why is his walking into a casino in Detroit, at the age of 21 (which, last I checked, was legal age), considered such a bad thing?
I don't get it, and maybe that's from my upbringing in Chicago. You would think Lawson walked into a post office toting a shotgun and opened fire on some unsuspecting seniors.
It was a casino, licensed and regulated by the state of Michigan. There were other people, presumably all, over the age of 21 on the premises. Lawson was among other consenting adults. Those that consented to wager their money in the hopes of winning more.
Step back, people, and get a grip.
Head Coach Roy Williams told the media during his Friday open press conference that he knew Lawson and a teammate went to the casino. He was fine with it. The players violated no team rules by going. One of the team's assistants, their video coordinator, went with the players.
Oh, AND ROY WENT TO GAMBLE ALSO.
If you are going cast a negative light on 21 year old young men going into a casino to shoot dice, you better be willing to do the same to a coach who, according to some, "oughta know better than to go into a place like that."
Williams, also during his press conference on Friday, made mention of a pair of games this season where his team played in places where gambling was legal. The first was in Detroit, when the Heels played Michigan State. Roy said he went to the casino the night before, and lost, but his team won the game. His team played in Reno, NV. He gambled the night before and lost, but his team won the game. Williams is a superstitious coach, and said, "you would be nuts if you think I'm not going to shoot craps this week. I'm doing everything I can to help my team win this game."
There was a column written by a good friend of mine, Caulton Tudor, in Saturday's Raleigh News and Observer. In it, Tudor voices his displeasure with Lawson's trip to the casino, and points out a college basketball scandal that took place in the 1950's. A point-shaving scandal, where players took money from gamblers, etc. True, that was an ugly thing, but that was a different time, and a different era. Unscrupulous people have a harder time getting to the players now, simply because the NCAA, and the institutions make it very difficult for anything like that to happen. The safeguards are pretty good--certainly not perfect--but good. Then you should factor in the kind of person Lawson is. He's a good kid, who loves to play basketball, and wants to make a career out of it. Do you think he would jeopardize his name and reputation by getting mixed up in something illegal? Neither do I.
Lighten up, people. Lawson winning $250 dollars playing craps isn't going to cloud his court vision Saturday night against Villanova. Nor is it going to tarnish his reputation as the ACC Player of the Year. It might buy him a few extra pizzas back in Chapel Hill.
Mike Solarte
I don't get it, and maybe that's from my upbringing in Chicago. You would think Lawson walked into a post office toting a shotgun and opened fire on some unsuspecting seniors.
It was a casino, licensed and regulated by the state of Michigan. There were other people, presumably all, over the age of 21 on the premises. Lawson was among other consenting adults. Those that consented to wager their money in the hopes of winning more.
Step back, people, and get a grip.
Head Coach Roy Williams told the media during his Friday open press conference that he knew Lawson and a teammate went to the casino. He was fine with it. The players violated no team rules by going. One of the team's assistants, their video coordinator, went with the players.
Oh, AND ROY WENT TO GAMBLE ALSO.
If you are going cast a negative light on 21 year old young men going into a casino to shoot dice, you better be willing to do the same to a coach who, according to some, "oughta know better than to go into a place like that."
Williams, also during his press conference on Friday, made mention of a pair of games this season where his team played in places where gambling was legal. The first was in Detroit, when the Heels played Michigan State. Roy said he went to the casino the night before, and lost, but his team won the game. His team played in Reno, NV. He gambled the night before and lost, but his team won the game. Williams is a superstitious coach, and said, "you would be nuts if you think I'm not going to shoot craps this week. I'm doing everything I can to help my team win this game."
There was a column written by a good friend of mine, Caulton Tudor, in Saturday's Raleigh News and Observer. In it, Tudor voices his displeasure with Lawson's trip to the casino, and points out a college basketball scandal that took place in the 1950's. A point-shaving scandal, where players took money from gamblers, etc. True, that was an ugly thing, but that was a different time, and a different era. Unscrupulous people have a harder time getting to the players now, simply because the NCAA, and the institutions make it very difficult for anything like that to happen. The safeguards are pretty good--certainly not perfect--but good. Then you should factor in the kind of person Lawson is. He's a good kid, who loves to play basketball, and wants to make a career out of it. Do you think he would jeopardize his name and reputation by getting mixed up in something illegal? Neither do I.
Lighten up, people. Lawson winning $250 dollars playing craps isn't going to cloud his court vision Saturday night against Villanova. Nor is it going to tarnish his reputation as the ACC Player of the Year. It might buy him a few extra pizzas back in Chapel Hill.
Mike Solarte
Friday, April 3, 2009
Quick thoughts on a Friday
Final Four media availabilities took place in Detroit today, and we'll have complete coverage of the Heels as they get ready for Villanova, on Sports Night at 10.
Want to weigh in on the Jay Cutler to the Bears thing.
Wow.
The Bears, at least on the surface, got fleeced. Sending QB Kyle Orton as part of the trade is minor. It's the 1st round selections in 2009 AND 2010 that make me wonder what the Bears were thinking. They didn't land John Elway, they landed Jay Cutler. They didn't assure themselves anything, other than a 26 year old (to be) QB that will now have the weight of an entire city on his shoulders. Playing QB in Chicago is akin to playing center field for the NY Yankees, or being a goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens. It's the pressure cooker. Cutler may have gone to the Pro Bowl, but Chicago mortgaged an awful lot for an unproven commodity.
On the flipside of all that, the Broncos now have a ton of draft picks, including those 2 juicy first round selections over the next 2 years. The Broncos also say they will employ a 3-4 defense under first year Head Coach Josh McDaniels.
You can guess where I am going with this.
The Panthers have an unhappy defensive end who feels under-utilized, is currently wearing franchise tag, and wants to play in a 3-4 defense.
Sounds like a marriage, right?
As has been the case through much of this off-season, the Panthers aren't saying much, and when it comes to Peppers, they (basically) can't even talk about him until he signs the franchise tender. Fans are getting uptight about the lack of developments (understandable), but know this-the Panthers will make their move when they feel it's right for them to do so.
If it were me, though, I would be looking very closely at Denver as a route to move Peppers, and get those 1st round picks. In the end, the Broncos could feel pretty good about their off-season. They move an unhappy QB, get one back, and land a Pro Bowl defensive end for the price of 2 first round pick they didn't have when the regular season ended.
There is cost associated with all this (as in how much Peppers would command in a contract), but the Panthers could be the big winner in all of this, if it should unfold as described above.
Ponder that thought over the weekend, or leave a comment!
Mike Solarte
Want to weigh in on the Jay Cutler to the Bears thing.
Wow.
The Bears, at least on the surface, got fleeced. Sending QB Kyle Orton as part of the trade is minor. It's the 1st round selections in 2009 AND 2010 that make me wonder what the Bears were thinking. They didn't land John Elway, they landed Jay Cutler. They didn't assure themselves anything, other than a 26 year old (to be) QB that will now have the weight of an entire city on his shoulders. Playing QB in Chicago is akin to playing center field for the NY Yankees, or being a goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens. It's the pressure cooker. Cutler may have gone to the Pro Bowl, but Chicago mortgaged an awful lot for an unproven commodity.
On the flipside of all that, the Broncos now have a ton of draft picks, including those 2 juicy first round selections over the next 2 years. The Broncos also say they will employ a 3-4 defense under first year Head Coach Josh McDaniels.
You can guess where I am going with this.
The Panthers have an unhappy defensive end who feels under-utilized, is currently wearing franchise tag, and wants to play in a 3-4 defense.
Sounds like a marriage, right?
As has been the case through much of this off-season, the Panthers aren't saying much, and when it comes to Peppers, they (basically) can't even talk about him until he signs the franchise tender. Fans are getting uptight about the lack of developments (understandable), but know this-the Panthers will make their move when they feel it's right for them to do so.
If it were me, though, I would be looking very closely at Denver as a route to move Peppers, and get those 1st round picks. In the end, the Broncos could feel pretty good about their off-season. They move an unhappy QB, get one back, and land a Pro Bowl defensive end for the price of 2 first round pick they didn't have when the regular season ended.
There is cost associated with all this (as in how much Peppers would command in a contract), but the Panthers could be the big winner in all of this, if it should unfold as described above.
Ponder that thought over the weekend, or leave a comment!
Mike Solarte
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
GM, Dodge out of NASCAR?
At first blush that's what it looks like, especially when you see the headline at this link below:
President orders GM, Dodge out of NASCAR
Read the sub-headline, and you see that Car and Driver was having some fun on April 1st, a.k.a. April Fool's Day.
Thinking about the current economy, one has to wonder if such a statement could come down the road. The US automakers are in a world of hurt, and with so much in government aid being sent their way, could the day come that the manufacturers involvement in racing come to an end?
It's a frightening thought for race fans, especially NASCAR fans. NASCAR fans are loyal to a fault. How so? I have friends that stopped drinking a certain brand of beer once Kurt Busch took over the ride previously occupied by Rusty Wallace.
If you don't know what I mean, you aren't a race fan.
I have friends that would not shop at a certain home improvement store while Tony Stewart drove their car.
If you don't know what I mean, you aren't a race fan.
The fact remains, there are NASCAR fans (read consumers) who purchase goods and services from companies that sponsor race teams, especially the race teams they pull for. Same applies for the make of car those teams use, whether it is Toyota, Ford, Chevy or Dodge.
Those race teams that depend on the US automakers for tech support and such would be impacted in such a way that, if the manufacturers were, one day, told to leave the scene, NASCAR would truly be in a pickle. Let's hope (for all of us race fans out there), we never see that day come to pass.
Had the chance to catch up with Charlie Coley, III from the Charlotte 49ers men's hoop team on Tuesday. He is heading to Detroit to take part in the ESPN Slam Dunk Contest on Thursday night. Coley, III is a guy you pull for. He loves playing the game, plays hard, and plays to win, but remembers it's supposed to be fun. He is overcoming his shyness in front of the camera, which is good, because if he can dazzle the crowd the way he dazzled the cameras on Tuesday, he'll be doing plenty of interviews. What an athlete. Wow.
Check out news14.com to see the story we ran on him last night, for a sampling of his "practice" dunks.
Mike Solarte
President orders GM, Dodge out of NASCAR
Read the sub-headline, and you see that Car and Driver was having some fun on April 1st, a.k.a. April Fool's Day.
Thinking about the current economy, one has to wonder if such a statement could come down the road. The US automakers are in a world of hurt, and with so much in government aid being sent their way, could the day come that the manufacturers involvement in racing come to an end?
It's a frightening thought for race fans, especially NASCAR fans. NASCAR fans are loyal to a fault. How so? I have friends that stopped drinking a certain brand of beer once Kurt Busch took over the ride previously occupied by Rusty Wallace.
If you don't know what I mean, you aren't a race fan.
I have friends that would not shop at a certain home improvement store while Tony Stewart drove their car.
If you don't know what I mean, you aren't a race fan.
The fact remains, there are NASCAR fans (read consumers) who purchase goods and services from companies that sponsor race teams, especially the race teams they pull for. Same applies for the make of car those teams use, whether it is Toyota, Ford, Chevy or Dodge.
Those race teams that depend on the US automakers for tech support and such would be impacted in such a way that, if the manufacturers were, one day, told to leave the scene, NASCAR would truly be in a pickle. Let's hope (for all of us race fans out there), we never see that day come to pass.
Had the chance to catch up with Charlie Coley, III from the Charlotte 49ers men's hoop team on Tuesday. He is heading to Detroit to take part in the ESPN Slam Dunk Contest on Thursday night. Coley, III is a guy you pull for. He loves playing the game, plays hard, and plays to win, but remembers it's supposed to be fun. He is overcoming his shyness in front of the camera, which is good, because if he can dazzle the crowd the way he dazzled the cameras on Tuesday, he'll be doing plenty of interviews. What an athlete. Wow.
Check out news14.com to see the story we ran on him last night, for a sampling of his "practice" dunks.
Mike Solarte
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