Told you so

Tiger won in dramatic fashion two nights ago. He always amazes me how he actually does it. But somehow I'm not surprised. Didn't I tell you he'd be back?

Does Anyone Care?

The NIT basketball tournament. It's the NCAA men's basketball tournament that ISN'T march madness. It is basically made up of all the teams that did not make it into the NCAA tournament. And if you think about it, it's the best of the second best. The teams that didn't quite cut it, now getting their shot at "glory."

But who really wants to win the NIT? I mean I'm sure if I was on one of the teams I would play my hardest and try my best during every play. But if my team wins, no one will remember. No one outside of Virginia Tech fans will remember their marathon two-overtime game win over Duquesne. No one will remember Stephen Curry and Davidson losing in the second round of the NIT. But many will remember the Curry-led cinderella run to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament last year.

It's always good to want to win. Every player should always WANT to win. But let's say you do win the NIT tournament. Do you celebrate? Are you really happy? And if you do win, aren't you still just a team that failed to be good enough?

Who cares about the "next"?

Speaking of golf, ever since Tiger Woods emerged as the best golfer, everyone has been speculating who will be the "next" Tiger. My response?

Who cares? Even after playing one tournament in ten months (and that one being on a bum knee...AND he won), Tiger is still the number one golfer in the world. He is not over the hill. He is not going to lose his talent because of the knee surgery he had after last year's U.S. Open. He will break every major golf record (Major wins and tournament wins) with ease. So please, stop asking who will be the next Tiger.

Tiger will be the best golfer in the world for a long time. He has one legitimate rival in Phil Mickelson. I say that because no one else has proven themselves against Tiger over an extended period of time. It's a two-horse race.

But Tiger is still in his prime. And even if he wasn't, he's still better than most of the players on Tour. So let Tiger be Tiger. Don't go searching for the "next" Tiger, while we still have the original right in front of us. And he's not going anywhere.

And to all of you who watched Tiger finished T-9 at his first stroke play tournament since the Open, don't despair. The only that separated Tiger from his finish and winning, was his putting. And putting is more about feel than anything else in golf. Tiger just hasn't gotten back in the "feel" of putting yet. And that comes with experience. So it might take him a few tournaments to really get back in the "swing" of things, but rest assured, he'll get back to being Tiger again. And it will be sooner rather than later.

The Golf Season Begins

So the golf season for Westhill began yesterday, and I honestly couldn't be more excited. Yes, I love golf. Yes, I know, I'm a loser. I know you don't think it's a real sport, but while we're talking about it, I'd like to see you hit a tiny ball into a hole hundreds of yards away in four tries or less (here's how it got invented).

....I'm waiting...........

No? Not your idea of fun? Well tough luck cause I love it, now be quiet and let me ramble.

How does Tiger Woods, or any professional golfer for that matter, do it?
They are so good at this game it really is unbelievable. When I have a great round I shoot around an 80. If a professional shot an 80, I think he might have an actual stroke (thanks for that joke, Robin Williams).

I am so excited about golf. I can't stop talking about it. Every time I start talking about it, it's like word vomit. And it really isn't like Pringles, the fun stops after about 5 seconds in the conversation. Hey, I'm rambling again. For your sake, I'll stop.

Poker...on ESPN. Really?!

ESPN, also known as the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, has always been, in my mind, a channel that should (and usually does) focus on sports. I mean, the word "sports" is even in the name. But over the past few years, there has been a new "sport" (not really) that has been being covered by ESPN, poker. More specifically, Texas Hold 'Em, one of the most popular card games on earth.

So I understand why these poker tournaments would be televised (Yes, I watched them a few times, but they get boring). But do they really have to be shown on ESPN?!

It's a network that is dedicated solely to physical sports (or so I thought), but poker clearly isn't one of them. People can make the argument that poker is a mental sport and deserves to be covered. But I haven't seen one other "mental" sport on ESPN.

So please ESPN, televise the real sports, and leave the poker for another channel.

Kickball

Why does kickball end after elementary school?

I mean seriously. It was one of my all-time favorite games to play during recess. It combines two of the biggest sports in the world (baseball and soccer) and is incredibly fun. There is never a time when I say to myself, "No. I don't want to play kickball right now."

It was fun back in the day, it would be even more fun now. And now that I think about it more, it even mixes a little bit of dodgeball in as well. What other sport can say that they successfully combine rules and strategies of three separate sports? That's right. None.

There isn't anyone who can disagree with that. Everyone wants to play kickball again. And if they tell you otherwise, they're lying, because kickball rules.

Epistemology

This is a video I put together for my English class. The assignment was to use a form of media to demonstrate how one gains knowledge. The use of knowledge was brought about by our course study, which has focused on epistemology, or the theory of knowledge.

So I know I'm an amateur filmmaker (if mixing a bunch of movie scenes together counts as film making), and it is my first ever attempt at this type of thing, but I thought you might like it.

It focuses on the idea of trying and failing, in order to learn and ultimately succeed. My partner and I decided to use scenes from sports movies in order to exemplify this.

Enjoy.

Why are so many asians so good at ping-pong?

I don't know

The WBC? What's that?

As all of America fawns over March Madness, the rest of the world has grabbed hold of another tournament. This one called the World Baseball Classic. Now I know what you're asking yourself...What the hell is the World Baseball Classic????
In short, it's an international baseball tournament that takes place every few years to find out which country was best at baseball in the world.

Now you might think that it would be a landslide victory for the United States, but they were beaten by the MERCY rule by Venezuela a few nights ago. And it was Japan who won the tournament the first time around (in 2006). So why is it that the United States has such a problem winning games, with the majority of players in the majors being American?

It's because not all of the best players play in the tournament. In a tournament that is supposed to determine the best country in the world at baseball, shouldn't all the best players play? Apparently not. And that's why America doesn't care about the WBC. Because when all players don't care, why should we?

And so it begins...

As of noon today, the brackets were officially closed. No more research. No more debates. Now it's just time to sit back, relax, and enjoy what is arguably the most exciting happening in all of sports, the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Or, as you all may know it, March Madness.

So I know you're probably saying to yourself, "Oh great, another rant about college basketball from this little nobody who's still in high school." And you would be right in most cases, and this is one of those cases. I mean it's not like there's anything interesting going on in the world right now (i.e. AIG bonuses, wars...you know, the little things).

So the tournament has begun. And I decided to try an experiment with one of my many brackets (7 to be exact), pick all favorites. Now before you go all crazy and freak out at me, keep in mind that there is no money riding on this bracket, AND it would be nice to see if an experiment like this actually worked out. Every year I make a feeble attempt to pick upsets and cinderellas, and this year is no different. For my six other brackets, I went with my gut choices and hopefully I'll be getting a payday on April 7 (day after the tourney ends). But just once, I tried to only pick favorites, and if I do better using just favorites than picking based on my gut, I think you can guess what I'm going to do with my money pools from now on (for all those who didn't get it, that means I'm going to pick only favorites).

So it has started once again. At the place where cinderella stories and absolute favorites meet, (to quote one of my most hated commercials) "oh yeah, I'm there."

What if?

We keep getting wind of all these baseball players taking steroids. Alex Rodriguez (or A-Rod or A-Roid, as they call him now), Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire...I can go on and on about all the different players who have been accused of using the 'roids, or have even admitted to it. The Mitchell Report released the names of 84 players last year who have taken steroids. Blah Blah Blah. As the reports of steroid users kept coming out, and the lists kept growing, one thought stuck out in my head more than any other, "What if Derek Jeter and Ken Griffey Jr. took steroids?"

Derek Jeter is widely known throughout baseball as one of the hardest workers and is a consummate professional. He is beloved by his home fans and is respected throughout baseball. No matter if you're a Red Sox fan or a New York Mets fan, Jeter is just one of those players you can't hate. When A-Roid mentioned that he would like to have Jose Reyes (shortstop for the Mets) batting leadoff for the Yankees (Jeter is the Yankees' shortstop), everyone in New York freaked out. How could he even insinuate that he wouldn't want Jeter as a teammate? It was like blasphemy.

Ken Griffey Jr. is just one of those guys that was meant to play baseball. His father used to play and now, Griffey Jr. is an almost certain first-ballot Hall of Famer. He has what is considered to be the sweetest swing in baseball. It's just so nice. Everytime I see it, it's like poetry in motion. And after 20 seasons in the majors, he is still one of the best players in the game. He has more than 600 home runs, while maintaining a career batting average of .288. However, for four seasons, Griffey Jr. was seriously injured and only hit 58 home runs combined. Oh yeah, there are only five other players in major league history with 600 or more home runs, and two of them have taken steroids, so that shows how good he really is.

So, the hardest working player in baseball, and the real life version of the "Natural" (1984 movie starring Robert Redford--baseball classic), what if they took steroids? Would people care more? What would happen to peoples' values as so many look up to Jeter and Griffey Jr. as role models?

If evidence comes up that shows either of these two great players did, at one point, take steroids, look up in the sky as you'll see the four horseman coming down to bring the apocalypse.

Phelps

Shame on all of you who criticize Michael Phelps. I know that the scandal with the picture of Phelps and his infamous bong happened months ago, but there are always updates about it (seen here).

Whenever I saw anything on the news about the incident it had a negative connotation and it really made me sick. I'm sure most teenagers will side with me on this one:

So Michael Phelps is a record-breaking olympian which includes winning 16 medals between the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. He's a role model for people of all ages and was one of the biggest stories of the 2008 Summer Games. But people keep forgetting the one thing that is most important, and probably is the reason for the incident taking place....HE'S ONLY 23 YEARS OLD. He has been training to swim for almost his entire life. While other kids went out to the movies, Phelps was in the pool doing laps and drills. He won his first gold medal at only 19 years old and immediately became a phenom. Essentially, Phelps was forced to grow into an adult and a role model without getting to be a teenage "rebel" (and those are the most fun years...I would know, I'm going through them now).

When you think about it, maybe Phelps is just making up for lost time. Don't chastise him for making mistakes, everyone makes mistakes. So he was smoking marijuana? He's not perfect, and neither is anyone who criticizes him. Let the man be. Let him have fun. While I'm sure that swimming all day and night is one hell of a time, people need time off.

Let Phelps have fun while he's still young. To all of you older than Phelps, you remember what it was like being young, give the guy a break, he certainly deserves it.

Oh...hey

Well sorry to all of you readers (I am assuming no one as of now) who have no idea who I am and why I'm writing this blog. Let me take a few minutes to tell you.

My name is Tobin (if you haven't figured that out by now there might be a problem). I am a caucasian, white male who lives on a cul-de-sac in Fairfield County, Connecticut. I know that's a little stereotypical, but it's true. I am a senior in high school who is constantly at odds with senioritis and the fear of actually going to college.

It took me a long time thinking of what I could focus on using this blog. My travels? School? Economy? All good topics, but none really interested me so much as to write about them every day. So I chose sports. If you know me, then you know I am not the most athletic person in the world, but this is the closest I'm going to get to being apart of sports (just bear with me). Like most other kids in my town, I played every sport possible as a kid. Well not EVERY sport, but the usuals (i.e. baseball, basketball, soccer, and football for about 3 weeks in 6th grade). As soon as I started playing sports, I was following them on a professional level. Since Connecticut has no real sports teams and my parents were from New York, I took a liking to New York teams: the football Giants, the Yankees, and the Knickerbockers. The Yankees took precedence over all other teams. I LOVED them. Out of superstition, I used to watch every game in my basement alone. I needed my Yankee hat, my wiffle ball bat, a tennis ball, and my mitt. When the Yankees were batting, I'd swing with them (even imitating their swings). When they were in the field, I'd throw the tennis ball at the wall like a pitch, and then field it like I would a ground ball.

Ok, you get it? I was crazy. But once I hit puberty and realized that I didn't have the athletic ability to be a professional in any sport, I dropped everything all at once. No more playing sports for me, I didn't need sports. Boy was I wrong. After playing sports for almost my whole life, within a few weeks I was pining for something new. My parents sent my brothers and I to a golf camp in Vermont for two weeks during the summer and it was over. I was hooked. Golf, the "sport" that I couldn't stand to watch and would've hated to play, had caught my interest.

So after my little tangent about my life in sports, let me get back to why I'm actually writing about them. My simple answer, IT'S FUN. I enjoy little more than debating over which team is better, rules of sports, the best players, competency of referees, and of course, scandals. If you ever watch ESPN, you can see shows solely debating those topics every single day (i.e. "Around the Horn"--even though I don't particularly like that show at all).

That's why I'm writing this blog. Yes, I got a little incentive to do so because it was a school assignment. But this is something I've always wanted to do. Sports, whether you watch them or not, affect everyone's daily lives, whether it be directly or indirectly.

Tobin, Out.

March Madness

I sit at my computer at 1:23 AM on this Friday the 13th, writing my first independent blog post. I was tired and ready for bed around 4 hours ago. And that’s when I realized that college basketball was on ESPN, and it turned out that my team (UConn) was playing against Syracuse. The game started at around 9:30 PM. The game ended just a few minutes ago (keep in mind, it's almost 1:30AM).
As I sat in bed watching this game, towards the end of the second half I was starting to fall asleep. Yes, it was an exciting game, but sleep was calling my name…it didn’t call loud enough. 2 hours later, I’m still up, and now I can’t fall asleep (Thank you, college basketball). In the end, Syracuse won the game 127-117, and will advance in the Big East Conference Tournament.
Let’s recap just the basic statistics from both teams. 3 hour and 43 minutes, 2 halves, 6 overtimes, 205 field goal attempts, 244 combined points, 66 fouls, 7 players fouled out, and 18 players used…That’s right folks, March Madness is back.
And it could NOT have come at a worse time. Senioritis is in full swing now that CAPT week is over. And now that we have to come to school at normal times, I am going to be swamped watching basketball and busy not doing homework for the next few weeks (keep in mind, the NCAA tournament starts soon). Hooray for doing my best (loose term) in school!
And so begins the month of hell for all those who do not watch college basketball. It is a month of brackets and betting. Upsets and blowouts. Cinderellas and the favorites. Game-winning shots and heartbreaking finishes. And it consumes everyone. No matter what you do, you can’t escape from the raw power that is March Madness. I am almost certain that every “bro” I know (myself included) will be running around in school tomorrow talking to every single person we can find about the Uconn-Syracuse game. You will hear people talking about it. See them endorsing their teams. Following brackets to see who picked the right teams to win (This is a science called “bracketology”). You can try and shut it out. Go ahead, turn up the volume on your Ipod. That won't work. Did you know that you can buy game clips on iTunes to watch if you missed the game? Well….now you know.
Get ready sports fans (and everyone else too), March Madness is officially here, whether you like it or not.

(It's 2AM...school starts at 7:25, SO excited)