Into Tiger's Lair - Woods and the US Open

Summary:

• Tiger Woods is a badass
• Was it Tiger's knee or Rocco's gameplay which made the Open so close? Answer: both.
• One of the best US Opens we've ever seen
• Game 5 was a circus
• Why is ABC airing Bill Walton?

We all know Tiger’s father was a Green Beret who fought in Viet Nam. Translation? Tiger comes from a family of badasses. We also know that Woods has never lost a Major while leading on the final day of golf. Translation? Tiger is outrageously clutch and will continue winning as long he builds early leads. But something weird happened today: a 45 year-old golfer, ranked 154th in the world, almost beat the legend in two rounds. (And when I say almost, I mean within a razor’s edge) Either Woods’ knee is a lot worse than we thought or Mediate played the equivalent of two rounds from another galaxy. So which one was it?

I think it was a little of both – a perfect storm, so-to-speak. You can certainly argue that a healthy Tiger would have blown out the competition on Sunday. But then again no one, including the top ten players in the world, was scoring below par. Torrey Pines was brutally unforgiving so that makes me think that even with a healthy knee, Tiger still would have even with Rocco going into the final round. Let's also give the relative "closeness of the tournament" some perspective. The Golden Bear (Nicklaus) placed second in Majors 72 times (!!). In other words, it's not uncommon for even the greats to keep these tournaments close, which makes Tiger's 14-0 record going into Sundays even more ridiculous when you think about it.

But then again, Tiger’s knee clearly bothered him throughout the US Open. You couldn't miss the pain even if you tried -- NBC panned incessant reruns of THE KNEE and subsequent grimaces after each drive. With a healthy knee, would Tiger double bogey the first not once, but twice? Would Tiger continue having the same problems with his driver with a healthy knee? Academic debate, I guess. But you have to wonder. Woods looked like he was in serious pain. So was it a lot worse than he was letting on? And how did he let Rocco creep back into the tournament? (The more I think about that pain, which was apparent, the more I realize how special this win was. 91 holes of gut-wrenching golf, peppered with multiple come-behind birdies to even the score. Do sports get any better than this?)

What I do know is that Rocco Mediate went toe-to-toe with one of the best golfers of all time. His final two rounds were epic. I will save you from the cheesy metaphors, but it was like entering the lions den, with all the lion’s trainers rooting against you, and instead of getting mauled and eaten within 30 seconds, you last five minutes while the lion slowly eviscerates you. Unpleasant for sure, but entertaining for the rest of us. Did you really think Rocco had a chance, deep down inside? As Miller on NBC commented, “Rocco looked like the guy who cleans Tiger’s pool.” And this is why I love professional golf: average dudes can win the sport. See Daly or even Arnold Palmer. Yesterday was undeniably awesome.

Onto the Celtics. Last night’s second quarter was like ground-hog day for me. Instead of 24 points, it was 19 points. I think there’s an unwritten Karma rule which states that two on-the-road comebacks are impossible during the Finals. Either the refs or the basketball gods will enforce this rule no matter what (or maybe Stern dropped off some cash under Bavetta’s hotel door last night, or sent him a few hookers). But if the Celtics had won last night, I would have been stunned: You had Sam Cassel flying around. Tony Allen getting lay-ups. And Chris Mihm getting PT! It was like a fucking circus last night! Can anyone explain to me the rotations last night?

It took me awhile to figure out what was going on, especially when Luke Walton and his father did a half-time piece. That simply blew my mind! Here we have the Celtics going for an NBA title and ABC shows the Waltons awkwardly “reminiscing” over child-hood memories. I couldn’t stop laughing for some reason. Maybe it was Babcock’s analysis from earlier this year. In any event. I thoroughly enjoyed the game last night, despite LA’s near win. If LA can force a game 7 and KG can explode for a 30 point game in the fourth quarter, I will be in hog-heaven. Nick – can you arrange for this happen?