So Tiger Lost...

Well, now it's one day after Tiger lost in his return to the PGA tour after an extended period off for knee surgery. Should it be a surprise that he lost in the second round of match play to Tim Clark? Not really, in my opinion. It's not surprising that he was a little rusty, given the long layoff. The last time he had a long layoff when his father died, he came back and missed the cut in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. It's almost to be expected that he wouldn't be as sharp as he normally is. No matter how much practice and preparation he undertakes, there is no substitute for tournament competition.

In addition, this is simply the downside to match play. Sure, if the favorites make it all the way through, you will have a fantastic final match and a great viewing audience. More often though, upsets happen along the way, and you're left with a less than riveting matchup. It's the simple evolution of the PGA tour, that they've mostly done away with match play competition, and especially in the PGA Championship, which used to be match play at one time. This particular event does usually draw a lot of attention because of the purse size and novelty of the event, but in the end it's asking a lot for it to always produce the best matchups toward the end.

Tiger will regroup after this I'm sure, and will most likely still have a very productive year. My opinion, at least two majors this year. Even given his time off, no one else has exactly stepped up to the role of consistent challenger to his #1 world ranking.

The General at UGA?

A week or so ago, head basketball coach Dennis Felton was fired by the University of Georgia. Recent speculation, fueled by this column by Furman Bisher in the AJC, is that one Bobby Knight may be interested in the Georgia position. Would he be a good fit? My opinion: No way Georgia should even contact him. Bobby Knight has solidified his position as the biggest jerk in college basketball, maybe in all of sports. At Indiana and later at Texas Tech, he created unnecessary distractions more than a few times. However you want to characterize his dismissal from IU, his stint there involved famous temper tantrums, such as throwing chairs across the floor in a spat with an official, and allegedly even punching one of his players. The thing with Knight is, it's always about him, in that he acts like he's better than everyone else and can't stand being challenged. One of his more notable lines was directed toward a room of reporters questioning him, when Knight reportedly said "all of us learn to write in the second grade, but most of us move on to better things." Who would say that and still expect people to respect him? As a GA fan, I believe the school is too great of an institution to bring somebody like this on as head coach. We have no need for the sideshow he would create, and the embarrassment he would cause to the school. One opinion I've heard is that "the good outweighs the bad" with regard to Knight. My question is, why should GA even have to consider a coach with "bad" characteristics. There are plenty of coaches out there who could improve the program and not bring a bad attitude along with them. As for who that coach may be, I don't know, but the proven formula is to look at a coach of a mid-major conference team that goes deep into the NCAA tournament. It's as simple as that. That coach has to be out there somewhere, and I'm going on record as saying hiring Bobby Knight would be a terrible move for the University of Georgia.