A cut above...

Real golf fans can get hooked on almost any tournament. The casual fan, meanwhile, might spend a couple lazy weekends each year watching the best in the world compete in the final two rounds of the major championships. The Masters; now that brings the big crowd.

It’s a mixture of great golf and over-the-top historical pageantry. It’s a bizarre juxtaposition of soft music and soft voices laid over thunderous emotional peaks, and a palpable tension which surrounds every shot. If the storyline is right, I think that anyone can appreciate the greatest tournament in golf... and the storyline is almost always right.

No matter what happens, there will be a reason to watch. Here are a few scenarios to look for.

Tiger dominates. He’s done it before, and everyone knows that he’s always capable of doing it again. You would think that this scenario would decrease the tension, but that’s not necessarily the case. When Tiger tees off, he’s not just playing against the field, he’s playing against history. What records can he break? Just how good can he be? Love him or hate him, it’s utterly amazing to watch Tiger when he’s at his best.

Tiger wins close. This may be the most exiting option, and maybe the most probable. Watching Eldrick do what he always does is still just as captivating as ever. One of two guys will play their way into contention, only to buckle as the No. 1 player in the world hits clutch shot after clutch shot down the stretch. Galleries will explode after every shot. There will be fist pumps. Players will grip and rip, trying to cut the corners, trying to reach that par 5 in two shots.

A second-tier player wins. Next to Woods, every other great player should be considered second-tier. If Mickelson, Vijay, Furyk or DiMarco were to earn a green jacket, it would be a great day for all the Woods-haters. The people who like to tell themselves that Tiger is beatable love the rare occasions when the great one struggles... and by struggles, I mean he finishes third. This option is a little anticlimactic, but makes for a long day of interesting golf.

The “Tin Cup” scenario. It’s really not something you'll have to consider until the second half of the third round. I know that the "no-name winner" is a lot more prevalent at the open championships, but there’s always a chance for one of these little-known guys to have a great weekend at the Masters. (Just ask last year’s winner, Zach Johnson.) If one of these underdogs is near the top on day three, you can feel the buzz through your television set. Announcers are trying to figure out exactly who the leader is, eventually calling his mom for all kinds of obscure info. “When he was young, he used to bring a sand wedge to the beach to practice his bunker shots. One day, he chipped in to a dolphin's blow hole, and was arrested. The dolphin survived, though, and he was released from jail.”

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From the blogosphere...

Tummydoc2000 tells us why he hates the NBA. Basically, it's because there's no defense (see the Denver Nuggets).

Taking a page out of Shuless Joe's book, The Big B has decided to create his own "Member Mayhem" essay contest. This one is for the NBA playoffs. Check out Mind of The Big B to enter.

BigpapiandManny comes in with his MLB Power Rankings. The Red Sox still hold the top spot, but the Blue Jays have jumped up nine places to the No. 2 position.

Not able to watch the NCAA Championship game? Don't worry, dantheman4250 has already started his game blog.

With tennis action complete in Miami, BlueCollarIT gives us his player grades for the tournament.

In the news...

Cleveland Browns defensive back Kenny Wright was arrested yesterday, following a quarter-mile foot chase that began in the parking lot of a police station in Pearland Texas.

Police said they found 1.875 ounces of marijuana in Wright's vehicle. He now faces a misdemeanor charge of unlawful restraint, a misdemeanor charge of evading arrest and a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana.

If found guilty on the unlawful restraint charge, Wright faces up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine. If found guilty on the other charges, Wright faces up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine on each charge.

Why is this interesting to me? There are a few reasons.

• Police responded to a report of a disturbance in the police station parking lot. Are you kidding me? I mean, you can tell that the guy had smoked himself silly just by looking at the mug shot, but still, the parking lot of a police station? I can’t believe this guy is allowed to take off his helmet... he clearly needs to protect those few remaining brain cells.

• The Pearland PD is actually patting itself on the back for successfully resolving a disturbance in its own parking lot. No joke. Here’s an actual quote: "We had people on scene pretty fast and I believe because of our quick response time and the mental and physical toughness of our officers to catch offenders, we were able to get him in custody quickly and safely," Sgt. Roy Castillo said. (This one literally made me laugh out loud.”

• An NFL defensive back was chased down, on foot, by Barney Fife. Now, I’m not saying you’ve lost a step, Kenny. Hey, maybe Pearland has the fastest deputies in the country. All I’m saying is that you may not want to spend any part of next year’s salary (should you get one) on a Ferrari. Two words: savings account.

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From the Blogosphere...

North Harbour, the apparent NBA Message Board Rookie of the Year, gives us a nice overview of all the happenings around the league. Any NBA fan should check this out.

It's been an up-and-down season for Minnesota, but the Wild have finally clinched a playoff berth. Warped Mind has been tracking the team all season, so obviously, he's here to celebrate last night's win.

With the Dallas Cowboys lusting after Pacman Jones, KeyWestCorona wants to officially change the team's nickname from "America's Team" to "America's Most Wanted."

The Bong Show urges all of us to give Daunte Culpepper a little more respect. After all, Culpepper is one of seven quarterbacks to account for 40 touchdowns in a season... and he's done it twice.

Did Ohio State get snubbed out of an NCAA bid? Andrew1316 has had time to formulate his argument, and he's here to make his case.

News on top, blogs on the bottom...

In the news...

"In the red corner, weighing in at 47 pounds and 3 ounces; "Terrible" Timmy Jones!!! And in the blue corner, weighing in at 49 pounds 2 ounces; the Super-Light, Mini-Flyweight Champion of the Wooooorld, Zack "The leg-hold maniac" Aaaaaaanderson!!!"

Don't laugh. This is a lot more likely than you think.

If you're not sure what I'm talking about, a story came out today concerning a children's mixed martial arts school in Missouri. At the school, kids as young as 6 are taught UFC-style fighting techniques. Although the parents and instructor are all saying the right things, I can't help but think that this is a horrible idea.

Now, I think that kids, especially boys, should know how to defend themselves. After all, kids do get in fights, and unless someone is seriously hurt, I think there should be no need for lawsuits or police involvement. I also believe that the government should let parents raise their children. Obviously, I would never condone beating children, but there's nothing wrong with spanking. Finally, I like to watch MMA. Until it's against the law, there's nothing wrong with two adults beating each other to a pulp for money. That's the decision they've made, and they get paid pretty well to do it.

That being said, children's cage fighting is a little ridiculous. What? Were karate lessons and wrestling not good enough? What's the purpose of teaching a child to apply the rear naked choke? Or to twist somebody's arm until it will break if they don't submit? These are children, and I promise you, some of them will not have the discipline or understanding to keep these moves in the ring... or octagon... or wherever prepubescent fighters slug it out.

No wonder there are so many laws. No wonder people get arrested for spanking their kids. It's hard to give parents the benefit of the doubt after you hear about things like this. What a group these parents must be. One guy even has his little girl in there throwing down. It's disgusting.

Doctors were, of course, alarmed by this news. Young joints are not meant for the constant tweaking, twisting and pressure that this kind of fighting demands. It reminds me of the "I-would-have-gone-pro,-but..." baseball dad. The one that teaches his kid how to throw a curve ball at age 10, and inevitably causes his kid to have arm problems by freshman year.

Fortunately, I would expect Missouri (the only state that actually allows youth fights) to outlaw this practice soon, thus protecting young people's joints and faces from the bad decisions of their idiot parents.

Wow. How does it come to this?

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From the blogosphere...

If you're tired of the predictability in television and movies, Sunnysidez86 urges you to check out a show called Deathnote. The plot: A very smart kid is fed up with the world. He hates that the corrupt thrive while good and innocent people suffer. One day, he finds a mysterious notebook that allows him to, by simply writing down a name, kill anyone on the planet. The kicker - it's Japanese animation. Tough sell, Sunny.

Good_man987 brings us the Sweet 16 money lines, but also gives out some pretty interesting facts about the remaining teams. Did you know that Davidson's Stephen Curry is the only player in NCAA tournament history to score 30 points in his first three tournament games?

MiamiHuskerFan has gotta get some things off his chest. Today, those things involve underrated point guards that time forgot.

Golf is a load of crap! Shut your yap tells golfers to shut their trap. (What's with all the rhyming?) Anyway, this member tells professional golfers to stop complaining about noise on the course. Obviously, this guy is no golfer.

Tigers fan jcnickel says that Detroit isn't going anywhere this year. OK...as soon as we find out what this guy is smoking, I want some. The Tigers are one of, if not THE best team in baseball, and besides Cleveland, they should face no opposition in the AL Central.

In the news...

When Beijing was selected to host the Olympics, a lot of us guessed that there would be problems...turns out we were right. France and Belgium have both threatened to pull out of the Olympics amidst concern over a bloody uprising in Tibet. Can we just free those guys already?

I'm not saying that any nation is perfect, but China has some issues that make other world powers look like a Utopia. In the last year alone, China has also faced international exposure for human-trafficking, brick-kiln slavery and a general lack of human rights. Personally, I'm glad that a few countries aren't content to turn a blind eye.

It would be easy enough to ignore the situation. Heck, that's what our president said that he would do. After all, the problems won't be evident by watching on television, or probably even by attending in person. I'm sure that the Olympic venues will be immaculate, there will be fuzzy Chinese mascots running everywhere, and tourists will be able to visit local attractions and pick up trinkets for their friends back home. Oh yeah...there will also be amazing feats of athleticism, and people with no professional sports future will walk away heroes because of some new gold or silver bling.

Through all the recent trouble, the Olympic Committee has tried to maintain that the Olympics have nothing to do with politics. Are you kidding me? Have these guys ever watched the Olympics?! The entire theme of the event is, "my country is better than your country."

It's great for patriotism. I think that's why American interest has dropped off since the end of the Cold War. Think about it, if you're old enough. No matter what happened, we just wanted to beat those Soviet commies in the medal count. Let's face it, since that political background went out the window, things have been a lot less entertaining.

Today's Games may be much more about economics, but the fact is, the Olympics have always been intertwined with politics:

• 1936: Jesse Owens stuck it to Hitler and his superior Aryan athletes.

• 1956: Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon boycotted in protest of the Israeli invasion of Egypt. The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland boycotted in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Budapest, Hungary.

• 1968: Tommie Smith and John Carlos place 1st and 3rd in the 200m. On the medal stand, the two unite in a black panther solute. The second place finisher, a white Australian, wears a patch on his chest in support of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. The OPHR is a group of black athletes boycotting the 1968 Games due to apartheid in South Africa.

• 1972: Israeli Olympians are taken hostage and killed by Palestinian terrorists.

• 1976: Boycotts were held by 26 African countries because New Zealand's rugby team toured South Africa. Taiwan was not allowed to compete because Canada would not recognize them as the Republic of China.

• 1980: Moscow's 1980 Summer Olympics had the largest boycott in Olympic history. The boycott included the USA and 61 other countries, and was in response to the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan.

• 1984: In retaliation of the 1980 boycott, the USSR, East Germany, Cuba and 14 other countries boycotted the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Yeah, sure. The Olympics have nothing to do with politics.

In the end, I don't expect much response from the United States. After all, the Olympics are an international wee wee contest, and in most events of this kind, the U.S. is reluctant to give up it's turn at the pot. Still, I think that a boycott by Belgium could make a difference. While not a world superpower, their absence would be noticed, and would provide a talking point for the media, athletes and politicians.

Great job, Belgians. Let's try not to waffle on this one.

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From the blogosphere...

Flygirl gives us another personal hockey experience in her blog Stories from a Lil Roosta. In this one, we get to hear about her run-in with Don Koharski, "the NHL's most hated referee."

Would Mike Ditka coach a team of the all-time greats in Chicago Bears history. Chi-town0023 doesn't think so. But don't worry, Ditka still gets the nod at tight end. Check out the rest of the team.

Giga pleaz gives us three reasons why "KoMe" Bryant should not win the NBA MVP. Well, what do you know? One of these is the same reason that I posted in yesterday's Blog Cabin. I'm not claiming genius status, though. It should be fairly obvious.

Expecting too much in life is human nature. Accomplishing more than you expected to is human effort. (Not bad...I may actually be quotable.) Sick of his dead-end job, MiamiHuskerFan is wondering if he should be looking for more in life. Why don't we give him a little advice. Or at the very least...misery loves company!

dpaymets wants to talk movies. In his latest blog, this member tells us about his recent viewings of Ratatouille, The Incredibles and the newest installment of John Adams.