Watching Golf, Rubio Arrives and Woe is Florida

I don't really watch golf, I sometimes watch the Majors like The Masters, The British Open or like this past weekends U.S. Open that was held in Bethesda, Maryland. I did see some of this year's Masters and like the rest of the golf world, saw Rory McIlroy's epic collapse of shooting an 80 on the final round and falling from 1st place to 15th on the last day dashing his hopes of donning a green jacket at age 22. But a few weeks later, McIlroy looked fully recovered from such a collapse and dominated the entire field and history books by continually setting course records while winning his first Major title by 8 strokes at -16. McIlroy became the 2nd youngest to win the U.S. Open... the only man younger to do it, some guy named Tiger Woods. So why do I watch the Majors if I don't follow golf? Mostly because I feel the atmosphere relates to NHL Playoff hockey, sure the regular season is fun and interesting but the postseason is just full throttle, pedal to the metal excitement and the players are trying as hard as they can the whole time, not half the time like many do over the regular season. Players really step it up in these Majors and it is exciting to see the best do well, and even more fun to see them struggle at times like Phil Mickelson did (finished +7). Also I got to watch a little of this weekends tournament with my 2 year old cousin Myles who LOVES golf and when you ask him who his favorite golfer is, he quickly and adamantly responds BUBBA! (Bubba Watson, who finished worse than Mickelson at +9.) So kudos to Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland, it still is hard to wrap the idea that a guy younger than me, beat a bunch of guys who've been doing this much longer than him, by so much, for a U.S. Open championship.

Other news this weekend that I particularly found interesting was Ricky Rubio finally signing with the Minnesota Timberwolves who had drafted him with the 5th overall pick in the 2009 draft. Rubio coming off a season in which his numbers were nothing to oo and ah at, finally is set to come over seas after winning the ACB title with Barcelona. David Kahn (GM of the T-Wolves) had drafted 3 point guards with his 3 first round picks in 2009, the other two being Ty Lawson (whom he traded to the Nuggets) and Jonny Flynn who has been hurt often but even when healthy has been a less than a capable backup. So this decision could not have come at a better time for the T-Wolves as the NBA draft is set for this Thursday Night. They have the #2 overall pick and most speculations are that they will take Derrick Williams a SF/PF from University of Arizona, yet there still are whirlwind ideas that they may trade the pick away. Rubio will join a good young group that features All-Star and rebound/double-double king PF Kevin Love, never met a shot he didn't like SF Michael Beasley and a real surprise, C Darko Milicic who was once picked ahead of Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade. If the T-Wolves pick Williams, which I bet they do, he could provide a lot of depth for them and make Beasley expendable when he starts demanding more money. While these young Wolves were dead last in the Western Conference last season, I bet they will be competing for a playoff spot next year, IF they start playing defense and finally rid themselves of their worthless coach Kurt Rambis. 

Plenty more interesting posts to come this week so keep an eye out!

Biggest Winner of the Weekend: Rory McIlroy- Had to be Rory, 22 year old Northern Ireland phenom runs away from the field shooting 16 under par at Bethesda, MD for the U.S. Open title.

Biggest Loser of the Weekend: A big toss up: Could be a few key MLB injuries (Albert Pujols broken arm out 4-6 weeks, Carl Crawford strained hamstring, Shaun Marcum strained hip, or Clay Buchholz strained back just to name a few). But I think it's the entire Florida Marlins franchise, Manager Edwin Rodriguez resigned on Sunday amid a 9 game losing streak (1-18 in June). This was after they had already replaced their hitting coach earlier in the week. Other Marlin woes: Hanley Ramirez is not the same, he's been hurt and just terrible when in the lineup (hitting .201 with 4 home runs), Mike Stanton has an eye infection that's been bothering his vision all month that has cost him the last 2 games, and Josh Johnson has been on the DL since May 16th with a shoulder injury. Saving grace.... Jack McKeon? I'm sorry, yeah he's done it before but the man is 80 years old... I doubt much magic remains.