Hey, since school is right around the around corner, let's have a 5-at-10 "Book" report. And remember candlesticks always make a nice gift. Maybe we can find out where they're registered and get a nice placesetting. OK, let's get two.
We still have a spot open in Friday's mailbag. From the "7-Up Stinks Studio," here we go...
Tiger Woods' caddie Steve Williams, left, and Woods, right, line up a putt on the fourth hole during the final round at the Cadillac Championship golf tournament in Doral, Fla., Sunday, March 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)Tiger turns the page
Tiger Woods announced the firing of caddie Stevie Williams on Wednesday, meaning someone new will be in charge of Tiger's books (his yardage book and maybe his little black book) whenever the former golfing star returns to the tour to finish fourth at the John Deere. (Sidenote: Classy move announcing the decision on a website. For a guy that has spent his entire life in the public eye, Tiger has little idea how to handle public situations. You stay classy, Eldrick)
Hey, struggling golfers fire caddies or swing coaches or putting pros or mental healers or whomever they feel may change their luck. It's never the golfer's fault that putts are not falling or approaches are not sticking or drives are not landing in bounds. That's one of the hidden secrets of golf greatness in particular and sporting greatness in general.
It may come off as narcissism or arrogance or cockiness or whatever, but a professional athlete is competing against the best in the world on a daily basis for big stakes, and there is absolutely zero room for doubt. If you doubt yourself, you done. Period.
So firing Stevie hardly came as a total surprise - especially after Stevie carried Adam Scott's bag the last month (do you think Tiger felt cheated on, and do think even the notion of that made ex-wife Elin Woods just unload a "just-made-a-25-footer-on-No.-18-at-Augusta" fist pump? - c'mon you know Elin Woods reads the 5-at-10). Here's saying Stevie working with Scott was not the final straw as much as Stevie wearing a Titleist hat while working with Scott. And if you think that's silly, well, remember that Nike is about the only consistent check that Tiger has seen in the last six months or so.
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive talks with reporters during Southeastern Conference Football Media Days in Birmingham, Ala., on Wednesday. (AP)Slive wants to rewrite the book
Unless you live under a rock, you now know that Mike Slive used his annual "state of the SEC" speech at the league's media days to offer four proposals to help reform college athletics. Here's the 5-at-10's brief review of the four points:
- Raise GPA's to 2.5 for the core classes of high school recruits. The 5-at-10 is OK with this with the following stipulations: First it can't start before the 2016 signing class - that way the kids that now are entering high school know the rules and can adjust to the new playing field; to ask a current junior to play by new rules is not exactly fair (although you could make the argument that if a kid wants to go to college, a 2.5 should not be that hard to get). Second, as public schools continue to cut budgets, the SEC needs to start a conference-wide "counseling and academic guidance" center for prospective high school recruits. We're sure the SEC has a couple extra $5 million bills in Slive's wallet, so if you're going to toss out ideas, be prepared to pay for them.
- Reform electronic recruiting. A-flippin'-men.
- Overhaul the NCAA rules, including making the rules more simple and possibly re-instating "partial qualifiers," making scholarships multi-year deals and adding at least one new category to the NCAA violations - making "intentional" a category and looking at adding other degrees beyond just major and minor infractions. We're OK with these (especially adding degrees of NCAA penalties - it seems that we needs more that two classes when we're either talking about mistakes that range from Mark Richt accidentally text messaging a recruit to Jim Tressel lying to the NCAA about multi-year major violations that involved multiple players), although the multi-year scholarship idea has some rough edges.
- Recalculate the full cost of attendance: This is fancy speak for paying college athletes. Here's a little less fancy speak: That's poppy-cock at its core and is an idea designed more for political grandstanding that player gratification or purposeful installation. If you think paying players is the decent and right thing to do, then the 5-at-10 will listen to that line of thinking and we can debate. If you think paying players will end corruption, well, go to the end of the line. Do you think paying Larry Linebacker $1,000-a-month stipend so he can have a little spending money will end alleged $100 handshakes or the corrupt programs/boosters paying players? Really? Plus, this debate is useless until someone determines that Title IX - the federal laws requiring gender equity - does not apply or you'll have to pay Vickie Volleyballer just as much as you're paying Larry Linebacker. And if that's the case, paying players will bankrupt almost all of college sports.
Atlanta Braves' Eric O'Flaherty throws to a Colorado Rockies batter in the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, July 20, 2011 in Denver. The Rockies won 3-2. (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez)Baseball's book needs to be re-written
The Braves dropped a tough 3-2 loss on Carlos Gonzalez's walk-off single last night at Colorado. It's a long season, and you have to trust it, and for any Johnny Braves Fan to complain about the Braves' bullpen at this point would be criminally whiny. Like a Duke basketball fan complaining about only winning 22 games.
That said, Johnny Baseball Fans everywhere need to ban together and demand a new "book" - you know "the book," the unofficial guideline that managers use to try to maximize match-ups, which would be a good thing if "the book" was not written in Connie Mack's era and ignored the river of stats and information every club has its finger tips. The book betrayed both managers Tuesday.
In the eighth inning, Rockies manager Jim Tracy removed lefty Rex Brothers with Jordan Schafer on first and brought in righty Matt Lindstrom to face right-handed Dan Uggla. Righty vs. righty is on page one of "the book." Does it matter that Uggla is 15-for-104 (.144) against lefties this year? Does it matter that Schafer, a speedy but inexperienced baserunner, has a much better chance to steal a base against a righty? Of course not, because it's about the book - and a manager's fear of being second-guessed - and righty vs. righty is on page one of "the book." So who was surprised when Schafer stole second on Lindstrom's first pitch, and Uggla lined a game-tying single into center on Lindstrom's second pitch.
Not to be outdone, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez buried his head in "the book" in the ninth. Dexter Fowler, who reached second on a two-base error by Martin Prado, represented the winning run with two outs. Braves lefty Eric O'Flaherty was instructed to intentionally walk right-handed Ty Wigginton and his .252 average to pitch to Gonzalez. Yes, that Carlos Gonzalez who won the NL batting title last year and lined the game-winner to right.
Yep, "the book" is dated, even if 60 percent of the time it works every time.
Atlanta Braves' Dan Uggla runs to first before being thrown out during a baseball game against the Florida Marlins in Miami, Tuesday, June 7, 2011. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)This and that
- Speaking of Uggla, his eighth-inning single extended his hitting streak to 12 games and lifted his overall season average to .193. Uggla left for a pinch runner because what appeared to be a calf injury. FYI - the guy that likely will replace him is Julio Lugo, and yes he does look like Kazoo, the alien genie on "The Flintstones."
- And if you think it's going bad for Dan Uggla, take a look at Adam Dunn, the big-swinging (and missing) DH that signed a four-year, $56 million deal with the Chicago White Sox. Dunn is hitting a less-than-robust .158 and is with shouting distance of a dubious MLB record. According to reports, Dunn has gone hitless in four-or-more at-bats in 27 games this seson, more than halfway to the record 51 games that Don Kessinger went 0-for-4 or worse in 1968 with the Cubs. Not good indeed.
- (Yes, this is repeated from yesterday. And the day before and the day before.) The NFL is closing in on a labor deal. Anybody else tired of reading that sentence? We know the 5-at-10 is tired of writing it.
Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton, top, stands behind his father Cecil, center and mother Jackie, bottom center, following a ceremony recognizing the former Auburn University quarterback in the Georgia Legislature Friday, April 1, 2011 in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)Today's question
How about a 5-in-10 by the 5-at-10 for today's question: Which of these fictional sports book would be the biggest best-seller:
- Stevie Williams: Golfers gone wild
- Cecil Newton: On the Cam Train... chug-a-chug-a-chh-ching
- Lane Kiffin: The things they didn't catch me doing
- Bud Selig: Steroids and the stuff I was afraid to tell you
- Ray Lewis: Getting away with murder - life of the NFL's toughest linebacker
Thoughts? Suggestions? Discuss, and hey it's a Thursday so anything goes (within reason of course for a family-oriented, web-based, Intertube sports column).