Well, it is has been a while since I have had anytime to do this. There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that will hopefully lead to some bigger and better things in the future and I hope to be able to share some of those soon.
Since I have been here, I attended the UFC Fight Night at Bojangles Coliseum March 31st and the best word to describe that was AWESOME! The UFC gets “it” when it comes to understanding what their fans want. The event was fast-paced, action packed and music that kept everyone going all night. On a Wednesday night with the Bobcats playing for their playoff lives, 7,700 people attended the UFC and delivered a $600,000 gate for the UFC. My overwhelming feeling was that many of these guys on the preliminary card were fighting not to lose, versus fighting to win. These Fight Night cards are here to give guys a chance to step up and prove themselves worthy of bigger and better fights, potentially on Pay-Per-View Cards. Yushin Okami, who has been there, and Gerald Harris were the two guys that seem to seize this opportunity. Andre Winner and Jacob Volkmann did not seem to grasp the enormity of the opportunity that was presented to each of them. The brass of the UFC is waiting to see guys step and show them with the performance in the cage that they are ready to take their games to the next level. The guys on the main card, seemed to grasp the opportunity presented to them. All of these guys, from Ross Pearson, Jorge Rivera, Roy Nelson, and Kenny Florian all seized this opportunity to showcase their respective talents and show why they each should possibly be on Pay-Per-View cards in the near future. Each of these guys were very open and honest in the post fight press conference and each should be fighting in bigger fights very soon. Hopefully the Charlotte crowd also made enough of an impression for the UFC to consider the queen city for a Pay-Per-View Card in the future.
The five months Tiger Woods spent away from the PGA Tour was a major focal point of coverage for the week and most of the first two rounds of coverage. We all understand Tiger moves the needle unlike any other player on the Tour. Just as he apologized last Monday to the PGA Tour and its players for having to answer questions continuously about his absence and behavior, maybe Tiger’s golf swing owes Tiger an apology for his weekend in Augusta and the last ten months. While Tiger may be able to find peace within himself for his new life off of the golf course, he appears as unsettled as ever on it. Since the British Open last summer, Tiger does not appear to trust his swing. He was constantly talking to himself after numerous errant shots Saturday and Sunday at Augusta National. The last few years it has been the putter that has cost Tiger a shot at several Green Jackets, but in Augusta, his entire game showed it needed some time on the range. Both Saturday and Sunday, Tiger was unable to hit the fairway on # 1 (putting your drive on #9 fairway both days doesn’t count as hitting the fairway) and he seemed to struggle with the driver off the tee. Tiger was constantly saying to himself that he was getting stuck so far behind in his swing. This was also an issue for Tiger last summer at the British Open and PGA Championship. Back when Tiger was ruling the golf world, dominating any event he competed in, when the driver was not working for him, he would bring out the 3 wood or hit the stinger 2 iron out and let his iron game take over, but watching his play over the weekend, it does not seem that Tiger feels like he can trust those clubs at the moment either. If you are unable to get off the tee box and put yourself in nice scoring positions, it makes for a very long and grinding day at Augusta National. Augusta National is set up, especially on Sunday, to give players a chance to take aim at some pins and create the roars from the galleries we have all come to expect. Several times when Tiger did get off of the tee box, his iron play would let him down. A very wise man once told me that golf is not about how good your good shots are, but more about how good your misses are. Missing greens completely, short siding himself, and not being able to get out of the bunker were all things we saw at Augusta National from Tiger that we are not accustomed to seeing. Several times he would hit the green, but in an undesired location, and watch his ball come to rest in places where a two putt was considered good. Well, and the flat stick was not left out either as Tiger three putted on a couple occasions.
While Tiger’s game was letting him down, Phil Mickelson stepped up to the plate and had a wonderful weekend. I am a huge fan of Phil’s, but there always seemed to be some shot that just made you go, What the hell was he thinking? On Sunday, hole 13 was setting up to be that moment. Phil hits his shot right into the woods and decides this was his feast or famine moment. He proceeds to hit a 6 iron off the pine straw within 15 feet, just clearing the creek in front of the green. While he missed the eagle putt, the birdie provided him the cushion he needed to win the tournament. Seeing the embrace he shared with his wife and everything they, specifically her ongoing battle with cancer, have overcome was more memorable for me than almost anything he did all week there.
Next up for both gentlemen will be the Quail Hollow Championship. Many recognize the as the # 6 tournament on the schedule after the four majors and the Players Championship. How nice would it be to see each guy in contention next weekend?? The field is extremely strong, as many guys re-enter the golfing world here first after a couple weeks off. The course is always in great shape and the staff does a wonderful job keeping all happy and coming back.
The NBA playoffs have started and the biggest surprise so far may be Denver losing home court advantage to a short-handed Utah team. Everything else seems to be going as expected so far. Looking forward to seeing how the Bobcats respond in game two tomorrow.
As I was wrapping this piece up, Charles Barkley has a segment on TNT now called, T-Mobile’s ask Charles, where fans can ask him anything, mostly off the wall questions. Two young girls ask Charles if he likes brunettes or blondes better? After a few moments of laughter between all on the set, Charles answers blondes and somewhat jokingly says he wants to talk to the production people and then says, "y’all are assholes around here." After last year’s comments during the playoffs where he called a member of the staff an off-color term for homosexuals, does Charles get into any trouble now for his latest comments? I have no problem with what he said tonight, but many people are so afraid of comments like this and overreact. Who knows, maybe nothing will be said at all about these comments, but I think someone will complain.