PGA TOUR FANTASY: Week 17

Here we go for the Quail Hollow Championship:

A: Tiger Woods (Backup: Phil Mickelson)
B: Nick Watney (Backup: Sean O’Hair)
B: David Toms (Backup: Boo Weekly)
C: Charles Howell III (Backup: Retief Goosen)

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PGA TOUR DIGEST: Vol. 2 No. 17

Tiger returns this week — and 10 of the top 14 players are in the field — at one of the quickest-to-rise-to-the-top events in recent memory on the PGA Tour. It’s the Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte. No, it’s not a new event folks. Wachovia was bought by Wells Fargo earlier this year, and after coming to the conclusion that having your name on a big sporting event probably isn’t the best idea right now, they requested the name change, and the Tour approved.

Quail Hollow Golf Course is an old-style golf course that people love to come to — and thus the great field.

TV Coverage is Golf Channel Thursday-Friday from 3-6pm ET, Live, and Saturday and Sunday from 1-2:30pm ET. CBS then takes over on Saturday and Sunday from 3-6pm ET.

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NEW YORK JETS: Plaxico?

So the NFL Draft is rolling along on Sunday and ESPN‘s Chris Mortenson blurts out on national TV that the Jets have had internal discussions about possibly signing Plaxico Burress. That’s right, the former Giants WR that shot himself and may be facing around 3-5 years of jail time.

The Jets and GM Mike Tannenbaum quickly turned around and released this statement:

“Consistent with our normal approach of performing our due diligence, we contacted Drew Rosenhaus several days ago prior to the draft to inquire about Plaxico’s pending legal situation. However, we have had no discussions with Drew about Plaxico since that time.”

This does bring up an interesting question, though. With the Jets not getting Percy Harvin in the draft and seemingly not in the running for Anquan Boldin or Braylon Edwards, the Jets are in desperate need of a playmaking WR. Would Plax be good?

My answer is this: if the Jets can get a precise answer on how long Plax will be in jail and beginning when, then it may be smart to sign him to a no-risk deal. He has a world of talent — we all saw what happened to the Giants after he wasn’t around for the playoffs — and would be exactly what the Jets need. If the Jets could work out a situation where they absorb the least amount of risk, it is a deal I would do in a heartbeat.

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NEW YORK JETS: Rating the Draft

This is a weird post for me in the sense that the Jets did indeed address a couple needs in this year’s draft — yet they left a gaping hole open.

They needed a QB — and got that in Mark Sanchez — who will now push Kellen Clemens for the starters job. And they got a guy who is probably the successor to Thomas Jones and a compliment to Leon Washington in Shonn Greene.

But they didn’t address their major need — a playmaking WR or TE — and only picked 3 times. ESPN.com’s John Clayton summed it up pretty nicely:

“3. On the flip side, the New York Jets are heading down a slippery slope with their dwindling number of draft choices. No one can argue with the trades the Jets made to add quarterback Mark Sanchez and running back Shonn Greene. Iowa star Greene is the heir to Thomas Jones’ starting running back job. USC standout Sanchez is now the Jets’ franchise quarterback. But the team has had draft classes of only three in 2009, six in 2008 and four in 2007. Although the Jets have netted good players such as cornerback Darrelle Revis, linebacker David Harris and tight end Dustin Keller in 2007 and 2008, they have left themselves thin on backups. A lack of fill-ins presents a concern for the future.”

All I can say is that hopefully whoever we pick up in post-draft free agency we’ll be of help and we have a nice roster for next year.

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NEW YORK JETS: Draft Day 2 Review

This is going to start a series of 3 posts about the draft:
1) What the Jets did on Day 2
2) How I Would Rate the Jets’ Draft
3) Plaxico Burress.

On Day 2 the Jets traded up to get the first pick of the day and drafted Shonn Greene the Iowa running back. A power rusher who ran for over 1,800 yards last year, he looks to be the successor to Thomas Jones (he may well be a cap casualty after next season — as he’ll be owed $3 million), and should work well with Leon Washington. However, they also traded away a 4th and 7th round pick, and thus left themselves with only a 6th rounder.

And with that 6th round pick the Jets drafted Nebraska guard Matt Slauson, who will add depth for them at the offensive line spot.

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BREAKING NEWS: Jets Get Sanchez

The Jets pulled off a blockbuster trade and traded their #17 pick, their 2nd round pick, Kenyon Coleman, Brett Ratliff and Abram Elam to the Browns for Mark Sanchez.

I’m very very happy. Yes, we gave up a lot. But he’ll be able to do stuff for us day 1, or if not day 1, maybe very soon.

Now we just need a playmaker.

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BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Hartford Review

As posted on Backstreets.com:

“Well, where do I start. My 15th show, in section 215 (an absolutely dead section). But an awesome show and crowd. Loudest crowd I’ve ever heard once the lights went down.

Thoughts:

1) As you can see by looking at the handwritten, Jackson and Pete got flipped…Bruce waived off Kev and caused commotion throughout the band. They did nail Jackson.

2) There were NO LCD screens or smoke. There was also no Patti.

3) At some point in the first 3 songs it appeared that Max broke a drum head…causing 2 roadies to be frantically fixing things, running out new heads left and right…this was all during the intro to She’s the One….Max looked extremely unhappy but didn’t miss a beat and was right on.

4) Jay came on for Radio (I like the setlist movement) and the Recession Pack…and drummed great. He did make a little boo boo in Johnny 99…the same mistake Max actually made in the first rehearsal show…like father like son..he’s got great power. Really great power.

5) Speaking of Johnny 99…as you’ll hear on the boot…Bruce literally stopped that end part for a good 2 minutes…got the crowd to go nuts..then brought them back and Stevie went off again on his solo. The recession pack really works…GOTJ was awesome.

6) I love the signs. They NAILED Wild Thing..I mean absolutely nailed the thing…Clarence was on piccolo..it was the only thing he may have messed up all night…and I’m still not sure he messed up…hard to hear. But they absolutely nailed it.

7) Then we get to Waitin’ on a Sunny Day…During Clarence’s solo Bruce went onto the center pit stage where he basically got physically taken in by the people there. They were grabbing onto him, holding onto him…they just would not let go to the point where (and I’m pretty sure this wasn’t shtick) Nils came over and draggggedddd him out of that situation. Very, very funny. Bruce then proceeded, before Promised Land to roll up his sleeves and show off his guns (“for the people”)…then for The Wrestler he rolled the other one up…so a lot of these videos are going to look like they’re from 1984-1988 because he did look like that.

8) The Wrestler and Kingdom of Days are both gorgeous.

9) Caddy was a complete, houselights still up, “Gimme some guitar Monty” audible…worked great with the crowd. Especially the mess-ups. We got to Clarence’s solo which he proceeded to play an octave down. Not a wrong note, just in the wrong octave. Bruce then said something to him about that, and then he took it to the right octave, and Bruce and him started laughing. Now I’m not sure if this led to it but Soozie never came in and as a result Clarence just kept playing the band kept dancing.

10) Hard Times is beautiful.

11) Rosie worked…I’d like a song after that…but it is what it is.

It’s gonna be hard for me to ever top 7/21/2003…but that show was very very solid…and very strong. Europe, you’re in good shape with Jay.

P.S. Nils was Nils…in great shape. Soozie messed up the AL solo at least twice. I’ll remember more of these things tomorrow obviously. Oh, and Clarence is moving much better than he was from the videos earlier in the tour. And was as loud in the mix as I’ve heard him in a very very very long time.”

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MLB: Overpricing and Charity

Editor’s Note: I originally wrote the following post for my friend Andrew Vazzano for his Mets blog.)

No, this is not another blog post about the overpricing of tickets or the lack of perfect attendance at early Yankee and Mets games this season. This post is about ideas.

NBC Nightly News has been doing a segment for about a month and a half now called “Making a Difference” – how average Americans are helping their neighbors in tough times. It’s by far the most popular segment Nightly News has run in a long time.

So let’s have these teams make a difference.

There are hundreds of charities out there which would love to go to a baseball game. Give the tickets to them.

Now I understand that yes, this comes with a financial loss. But you know what – hopefully they’ll pay it forward, and eventually, it’ll all come full circle. No one wants to see empty seats in a ballpark, no one. So why don’t we fill it up with worthy people – baseball’s next generation.

Does this next generation care about tax-exempt bonds, personal seat licenses or obstructed seats? I bet you not. Most just want a day out in the sun and fun, seeing America’s pastime, and a time away from all their troubles.

Change was the keyword for a good 5 or 6 months in this country in late 2008. So why don’t we CHANGE the lives of Americans by giving them prime seats, the expensive seats that no one wants, to worthy charities and letting deserving people see a baseball game.

That is the American way of doing things.

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WQAQ SPORTS SITE: Fifth Golf Post on WQAQ Sports Blog for Spring 2009

(Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on the WQAQ Sports Site.)

Bobcats continue final season with 7th place finish
By Jeremy Schilling

The Quinnipiac University Bobcats Golf team continued their final season by finishing seventh out of 10 teams at the Northeast Invitational Friday, April 17 in Providence, R. I. The Bobcats shot a combined 36-hole team score of 649. Sacred Heart won the tournament with a score of 590. They were followed by the University of Hartford with 593 and University of Rhode Island with 598. Dartmouth and Central Connecticut State rounded out the top five.

Individually the Bobcats were led, for the second straight tournament, by Chris Connell, who shot a two-round score of 155. He was followed by Chris Gatcomb with 156, Charlie Niland with 157, Jayson Loranger with 163, Ian O’Connor with 164 and Ben Cook with 165. Ryan Reynolds shot a 36-hole score of 171.

The Bobcats next play on May 1-3 when they take part in the Northeast Conference Championship in warm Kissimmee, Fla.

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PGA TOUR FANTASY: Week 16

Here we go, the picks for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans:

A: Kenny Perry (Backup: Mike Weir)
B: Nick Watney (Backup: Steve Stricker)
B: David Toms (Backup: Charley Hoffman)
C: James Nitties (Backup: Charles Howell III)

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