I miss the days of Tiger Woods winning nearly every tournament he entered. He’s my favorite golfer of all time and he’s a big part of the reason why I started playing golf.
While he won’t win this year’s British Open, I hope he plays well. With all of the injuries, coach changes, swing rebuilds and off-course drama, Tiger’s days of domination are long gone. But I’m rooting for him to turn back the clock.
I know the TV execs and advertisers are salivating at the possibility.
Ken Stabler, Oakland Raiders.
My love of the Oakland Raiders goes back to the 70s, when I would watch the team with my dad. If the Raiders were down at halftime, my dad would tell me not to worry since they were a second-half team. More often than not, the Raiders would come back and win the game, just like my dad predicted.
I was in elementary school when Ken “The Snake” Stabler led the Raiders to all of those comebacks. One of my first memories of football on television was when the Raiders beat the Chargers on the Holy Roller. At that age I had no idea what had just happened, but it was ruled a touchdown and I was excited that the Raiders had won again (the play resulted in the NFL changing its rules the following season).
It’s a shame that Stabler isn’t in the Hall of Fame. He was one of the best quarterbacks of that era and if I was on the NFL committee, I’d propose a new rule: anybody involved in more than one game with a nickname is a Hall of Famer. Stabler was on the winning team in The Holy Roller, the Ghost to the Post, and the Sea of Hands.
Rest in peace, Snake.
“We won the World Cup, baby!” – Abby Wambach
That’s Abby Wambach at L.A. Live, the first stop of their victory tour across America. It’s been a few years since I’ve been down to the Staples Center for a championship celebration, so it was nice to be amongst the red, white, and blue-clad crowd paying tribute to the 2015 World Cup Champions.
My wife and I made the hour-plus journey from the Inland Empire to show our support for the team. There were fans from all over and we ran into a few friendly faces on this mild July morning. Making our way to the celebration, I thought about all of the young girls in attendance with their parents, friends, and siblings. Was one of the next national team players here? The sentimental side of me hoped so.
At precisely 11am (just like the game itself, soccer players are prompt), the team made its way to the stage. They thanked us fans, their teammates, coaches, and staff, before dancing away into the afternoon to Queen’s “We Are The Champions.”
It was the perfect celebration for the perfect team.
USA! USA!
The first 16 minutes of today’s World Cup final was the reason why soccer is called The Beautiful Game: four goals for the Americans, a hat trick for Carli Lloyd (topped off with an incredible strike from midfield), and the team’s third World Cup title.
It was stunning, unbelievable, and awesome.
Not sure what else I can say about watching my country win the most prestigious futbol tournament in the world. I’ll just end with my favorite hashtag during international play: #OneNationOneTeam
UFC: Jones vs Gustafsson
I took advantage of one free month of UFC Fight Pass, thanks to a Chromecast offer. Much to my wife’s dismay, the last 30 days have been filled with mixed martial arts fights from the UFC Library, which also contains fights from Pride, Strikeforce, Affliction, and a few others. I didn’t get through all of the fights in a month, but I was able to watch a few dozen matches, from the legendary Royce Gracie to the just-upended Cain Velasquez. I watched in horror again as Anderson Silva snapped his leg against Chris Weidman, I was thrilled again by the Jon Jones vs Alexander Gustafsson war, and I cheered again any time Mark Munoz stepped into the Octagon.
The best part of having access to all of these fights was seeing how the sport has evolved. Gracie was the pioneer, of course, bringing Brazilian jujitsu to the forefront of mixed martial arts and the UFC. What’s great, though, is that fighters today are so much better than they were 20 years ago. It truly is mixed martial arts now, as those with varied skill sets thrive, while the single-discipline practitioners find themselves left behind. Remember when Lyoto Machida and his karate background was going to make a long run at the top? He defended his belt exactly one time before losing it to Shogun.
Of course, even the best fighters eventually taste defeat. The unbeatable Silva finally met his kryptonite in Weidman. Injuries proved to be Velasquez’s worst enemy, while Jones’ indiscretions have been his. The fact that the best are fighting the best, though, is why I love the UFC. It’s the most entertaining combat sport today. While boxing won’t ever go away entirely, the promoters have ruined what was once a great sport. If Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather were in the UFC, we would’ve seen them fight in their primes, not five years later.
While I didn’t see any reason to subscribe after the free month, hardcore fight fans could do some major MMA binge-watching with the Fight Pass.
Dodgers’ Carl Crawford DH for the Quakes
The last time I caught a Dodger doing rehab with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes was when Andre Either played a few games before going back to the big leagues. Last night I met some local Yelpers for our third Unofficial Yelp Event at the Epicenter (technically Loan Mart Field). It was Recycle Tuesday, so fans who brought 10 CRV cans and/or bottles received a free seat at the game. Spending a summer night at the ballpark is something I love to do, so being able to do so for free (while helping the environment) was a real treat.
The five of us Yelpers were treated to a Quakes blowout, as they took it to the visiting High Desert Mavericks early and often, putting up 6 runs in a few innings. The Dodgers’ Carl Crawford was DHing for the Quakes and while he went 0-for-3, he did have the most important RBI of the game. This season Quakes fans’ lucky number is seven; when the team scores seven runs, everybody gets a coupon for two free tacos at Jack in the Box. When Crawford grounded out while driving in that seventh run, it was one of the biggest cheers of the night.
Fantasy Football Is Almost Here
Even with futbol slowly overtaking my love of football, there is still no sport better suited for the fantasy game than the good ol’ NFL (sorry, old-time baseball rotisserie geeks; weekly matchups are 100 times better than accumulating stats over a season). Just as the sports media like to say that there is no offseason in the NFL anymore, the same applies to fantasy football. Player news, injury updates, team breakdowns, and every bit of football minutia is now available via the Internet 24/7/365.
Matthew Berry is a legend in the fantasy football community. He’s known for his ESPN column and he appears on various fantasy football shows and podcasts. He’s also the author of my favorite book on the game, Fantasy Life: The Outrageous, Uplifting, and Heartbreaking World of Fantasy Sports from the Guy Who’s Lived It (my review here).
So, here we are, still in June, and Berry published his first fantasy football column of the year (the first NFL game is September 10th). He’s done this every year for the past decade and it’s a great way for us fantasy geeks to officially begin our offseason planning. It’s a compilation of stats from the previous season, done in a way that will have any fantasy football owner second-guessing themselves on any player or team. Once the NFL news cycle heats up with the first preseason games, we’ll be able to throw away all of the previews, stats, and Berry’s column, in favor of updated previews, stats, and columns.
Once the season is over, though, we’ll all go through the old news and reports we’ve read, trying to find that one tidbit that, depending on our success or failure, confirms that “I knew I should’ve listened to Berry!” or “I can’t believe I listened to Berry!” And before you know it, it’ll be next June and we’ll realize there’s no fantasy football offseason anymore.
D’Angelo Russell of the Los Angeles Lakers
With how awful the Lakers have been the last two seasons (yes, I count a 45-win, first-round playoff exit as awful; Lakers fans are used to watching the team in June), they really couldn’t screw up the second overall pick in tonight’s draft. Most of us thought they were locked into Jahlil Okafor and given the franchise’s history with big men, it seemed a foregone conclusion. At the start of last season, I joked with my fantasy league that the Lakers’ motto for the year should be “Lose More for Okafor” (which eventually changed during the season to “Go Downs for Towns” and “Don’t Hustle for Russell”).
The Lakers surprised everyone and went with D’Angelo Russell, a 6-5 Ohio State point guard, who impressed the heck out of Kupchak. I like the pick. Even though Okafor should make an impact sooner than Russell, the newest Laker has the higher upside. It also doesn’t hurt that the Lakers have a young frontcourt player in Julius Randle, there are All-Star free agent big men available (Marc Gasol, Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, etc.), and there’s a still a chance that Boogie Cousins could don the Purple and Gold.
It’s the best I’ve felt as a Lakers fan since the last championship banner was raised (five years ago, which is an eternity for Angelenos) and as a sports fan, today was all I ask for: hope.
The Magic Words
I’ve written two posts about Filipino Heritage Night at Dodger Stadium two weeks ago, so I promise this will be my last. I just wanted to document something I saw that night that was a first for me: a couple got engaged on the big screen.
The moment happened between innings, during the Kiss Cam. A few couples were shown and they kissed, much to the delight of the crowd. After the last couple kissed, however, the camera lingered on them. At first I thought someone forgot to turn off the camera, but all of a sudden the guy got down on his knee and produced a ring box. His girlfriend was stunned and all of us in attendance roared our approval. After she accepted, he placed the ring on her finger and the cheers continued all the way to the start of the inning.
It reminded me of the last time I was at Dodger Stadium, when I was telling my wife that out of all the baseball games I’ve attended — major and minor league — I’d never seen a benches-clearing brawl. Sure enough, just a few innings later, the Diamondbacks threw at Yasiel Puig and the brawl was on.
Coincidentally, it was the Diamondbacks who were playing the Dodgers when I saw my first Proposal at a Sporting Event. I wonder what I’ll see the next time they’re in town?
The first knockout game of the Women’s World Cup for the USA was against Columbia. I thought the Americans would outclass the Columbians and sure enough that’s what happened. Although the US offense continues to struggle, the defense has been outstanding, with its third shutout in a row.
We watched the game with our fellow American Outlaws and munched on pigs in a blanket and loaded tater tots. The local Outlaws group hasn’t been as vocal as they were for the men’s team, but it’s still a passionate fan base. We’ve got our fingers crossed for a run to the finals, but I may have to cut down on the bar munchies if I’m going to fit into my USA gear by the time the final rolls around.
