The Weekend That Was: Golf, Kobe's Achilles and More

I watched golf this weekend. That's right, I spent quite a bit of time observing a middle aged Argentine smoker battle a dashing young Aussie while both holding umbrellas over their heads. Hooray golf! All sarcasm and previous experiences aside, the 18th hole and ensuing playoff between Angel Cabrera and eventual champion Adam Scott had me on the edge of my seat (well I was actually standing, but whatever). The two traded puts late on Sunday to force a soggy playoff, where Scott birdied the 10th hole and promptly slipped on the Green Jacket. In case you missed the finish (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIX4S6mvNoo) and in case you have no clue what's so special about this "Green Jacket" (http://tinyurl.com/bl95wyw). As amazing as it sounds, golf is one of the only sports I have NEVER played on a grand scale (because mini-golf, as sad as it is, doesn't count). I found the Masters very entertaining, which is pretty reverse of any other experience I've had watching golf. Onto other things...

First, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjeqlV9S4oI
Then, cry. That's about all you can do if you are a fan of a) basketball, b) great athletes or c) future Hall of Famers turning back the clock and putting up ridiculous stats at a senior citizen age. Kobe is averaging a career-high in assists, while having his best field goal percentage since '08-'09 and rebounds since '07-'08 (http://tinyurl.com/d7nxaus). Kobe is doing it all, and while doing so, did it all TOO MUCH en route to tearing his Achilles, an injury that in all likelihood will keep him out anywhere from six months to a year or more. The main problem here is not the fact that now Steve Nash, Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard and company will have to step it up another notch to just MAKE the playoffs, but the financial predicament that follows The Black Mamba's injury. Kobe is on the books for, oh, a cool $30 million next year. Dwight Howard is a free agent at the end of this year and it now becomes a matter planning for the future or keep Kobe in purple and gold. It's a tough decision and I can't necessarily say that Kobe would take LESS money to stay in L.A. That's essentially what it comes down to, especially since the Lakers are in danger of suffering a huge luxury tax to the tune of over $80 million. Oy.

Time for the "more" section of the blog post!

Kentucky forward/center/string bean Nerlens Noel declared for the draft (http://tinyurl.com/br3knxr). I'll save my "get a degree" and "athletes are students" rants for later, but this is really sad. A couple years ago I thought Kyrie Irving was stupid for leaving for the draft, but he turned out ok (at least this year). Irving was coming off of a foot injury, BUT WE SAW HIM PLAY IN AN NCAA TOURNAMENT GAME! Noel, on the other hand, went down midway through the SEC season and all we have as far as highlights go is his highlight reel of blocks against Ole Miss (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDDV1l5tNds). While impressive, I doubt know that he doesn't stand a chance against the likes of Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard, Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love, Marc Gasol/Zach Randolph, etc. The list goes on. Be cool, stay in school. Anthony Davis won something, you have not.

Baseball season is in full swing and I haven't made a World Series prediction yet! Um! Ah! Ohhhhh crap! The Braves are off to a hot start, the Nationals are popular and the Blue Jays and Dodgers both have increasing payrolls. I guess I'll have to go with...

Forget it. I'm ending my blog post by letting everybody know that you should pray for Boston right now. An explosion three hours into the event has left several dead, many injured and many more lost and confused. Pray for them. (here's the video for those brave enough to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=046MuD1pYJg#!)

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