The CA Championship has only been coming to Doral since 2007; my first trip here was 1988. Back then the Blue Monster was probably one of the toughest courses on tour, now it ranks eighth easiest among the par 72 tracks on tour. If the wind doesn’t blow the top players in the world eat this course alive.
In the late 90’s the Doral Resort and Spa owners brought in Ray Floyd to toughen up the layout and put some teeth in the Blue Monster. He followed their orders, added some bunkers, tee boxes, and created some doglegs to challenge the tour players. After some sniveling and whining the course was softened again and Raymond took some unnecessary criticism for ruining the Blue Monster. He was only following orders and the pampered PGA Tour players couldn’t handle the challenge.
Miami has grown up around the resort and it’s not the type of neighborhood you want to hang around. You show up, caddy, and get back to your room before dark. Tucked in behind those guarded gates is a resort only the rich can enjoy and they have for years. They take good care of us behind the walls but after you leave you’re on your own. Luckily no one has lost a life and only one caddy has been shot over the years.
With the recent champions of these power rankings, the Cleveland Cavaliers, missing their franchise player in LeBron James due to injury over the weekend, it is appropriate that we'll have to do this week's rankings without DSS's franchise player, Vik.
And speaking of the Cavs, do they really deserve to keep the No. 1 spot anymore? I know they have the best record and all, but there's a team out there that is playing better than anybody -- and I mean, anybody -- right now.
1. (3) Dallas Mavericks (44-21)
Mavs fo! These guys have won 12 straight, and it's time to give them credit. Donnie Nelson should be in the running for Executive of the Year after landing both Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood for Josh Howard and Drew Gooden, two guys who have become trivial pieces elsewhere. Does anybody realize that the Mavs are also just 2.5 games behind the Lake Show for the West's top seed? Dallas' upcoming schedule: Nets, Knicks, Bulls, Celtics (all at home).
Even Magic Johnson is boggled by the fact that KD35 plays in...Oklahoma City?
There are a few things to keep in mind when you are watching your next Kevin Durant highlight on ESPN's "Sportscenter."
First, Durant—the blossoming young superstar out of the University of Texas —is only 21-years-old. Second, he is only in his third season in the league after pulling a one-and-done deal with the Longhorns in 2006-07.
Third, his numbers at this age and stage of his career (29.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.4 steals, and 47.7 percent shooting from the field through Sunday) are comparable with the game's current "golden boy," LeBron James. When James was in his third season in the league at age 21, he averaged 31.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 1.6 steals on 48 percent shooting.
James, with his 6.6 assists in his third season, was the better passer, but Durant—with his 37.8 percent three-point mark and 88.3 percent free throw percentage—is a better shooter than LeBron was back then.
Both Durant and James are listed as small forwards. And although it has not become official yet, Durant will probably make the playoffs for the first time this season, his third year in the NBA. LeBron also cracked the league's postseason for the first time in his third season.
There is one more thing that Durant and James share in common: neither one of them plays in a large or glamorous media market.
For James, it is different. He grew up just 30 miles south of Cleveland in Akron, Ohio, and he is as familiar with the area as you could imagine. He has resurrected a franchise in the Cavaliers that has been around since 1970 and is on the verge of delivering a championship to a historic yet title-starved sports town. Cleveland has seen better days, and none of its major sports teams have won a title since 1964—46 long years ago.
And although Cleveland isn't exactly New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, or Los Angeles, let's get this straight right now: It's certainly a more visible market than Oklahoma City, which Durant calls home.
With a metro population of around 1.2 million, Oklahoma City is effectively the smallest market in the entire NBA (yes, including Salt Lake City, Memphis, and San Antonio). On top of that, the Thunder are only in their second year of existence and are the only professional sports team in a city that has virtually no history in that department.
Things have worked out for James seven years into his career. The Cavaliers have become a first-class organization that continually has one of the league's highest payrolls.
But rumors still surround James about the possibility of him eventually leaving Cleveland this summer as an unrestricted free agent. With the New York Knicks, the team located in the country's No. 1 media market, having salary cap space, many have viewed that as a marriage waiting to happen.
If it makes sense for James—which many believe it does—then it makes sense for Durant, too. In fact, it may make even more sense for him.
The Thunder have virtually no fanbase outside of Oklahoma City. There is a negative stigma that surrounds the franchise in the wake of their owner's controversial move from Seattle, which had the franchise for 40-plus years. Many longtime NBA fans who fondly remember the Sonics and Seattle's place in basketball history vehemently root against the Thunder because of the manner in which their owner, Clay Bennett, uprooted the team.
And although this is the case more than you may want to think, it is also a downright shame. The relocation is of no fault of the team's players, who have become a dynamic young group that fit around each other well and feed off of their young superstar.
But although diehard sports fans know his name well, Durant is not nearly as much of a household name as LeBron James was during his third season in the league. Given the similarities in their productivity and significance to their respective teams, that just does not make any sense.
The Thunder are almost never on national television. In fact, teams with inferior records, such as Miami, Chicago, San Antonio, and Portland, have been on national TV more than Oklahoma City.
Despite a season that should place him right in the discussion for the league's MVP award, Durant has not even crossed the league's top 10 in jersey sales. In fact, he ranks 15th, with players such as David Lee, Pau Gasol, Derrick Rose, and even a washed-up Allen Iverson ranking ahead of him.
While Nike built ad campaigns and slogans centered around James in his third season ("We Are All Witnesses") and gave him his own line of shoes, the company stuck Durant with B-listers like Rashard Lewis, Andre Iguodala, and Mo Williams in their "Hyperizers" campaign this past summer. Hardly befitting of a guy battling LeBron himself for the league's scoring title.
Facts and statistics like those beg the question: Would Durant be the megastar he was meant to be if he played in a larger market with a franchise more visible than the Thunder?
Even had the Sonics stayed in Seattle, this would probably be a moot point right now given Seattle's respectable size and the rich history of the Supersonics. The sports media would not be anywhere close to even beginning to mercilessly cram him down your throat the way they have LeBron.
Yet ask a casual sports fan if he or she knows who Kevin Durant is, and the response you get won't be anything close to justifying the special season this 21-year-old kid is having right now.
Durant is scheduled to be a restricted free agent following the 2010-11 season, during which the Thunder can match any offer he receives. He is also up for a contract extension this summer, and although he has come out and said that he does not worry about these things, he will have to start worrying about them sooner than he wants to.
And there will be a lot of people in his ear, so don't put too much stock in his down-to-earth attitude and amicable words for Oklahoma City if you are a Thunder fan.
If he continues to let the process play out instead of committing to the franchise by 2011, he can sign a one-year tender and become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2012, when he will only be—get this—23-years-old.
With the league's Collective Bargaining Agreement expiring after the 2010-11 season and rumors of decreasing player salaries after that, OKC fans do have hope of keeping their superstar around beyond just his rookie contract. In fact, these circumstances may be what leads Durant to ultimately re-sign in Oklahoma City—at least for a few years—beyond his current deal.
And that's one more thing to keep in mind the next time you see No. 35 on "Sportscenter" in the days and weeks to come.
Hey everyone, it's Amit again. I hope you liked my last interview with Marcus Hall. At the games I attend this season, I will be doing my best to get some quick interviews with some of the League's best Superstars.
On Friday, I was able to interview Superman aka Dwight Howard, of the Orlando Magic. I was able to give him a photograph that I put together of him from the last game I attended back in October. Anyways, here is my quick take with Dwight Howard...
AT: Hey Dwight, I hope you like the photo I gave you.
DH: Yeah, that's very nice of you, thanks. That's a nice photo of me for sure.
Each year millions of fans renew their love for their team with a new season of promise and possibility. And each year, when it's all said and done, all but one fan base is left wondering what could have been done differently. Fans of teams that did not win the championship can be broken down into one of three categories. There are the fans of the playoff teams that say, “We were so close, if only our sixth man was on or if we hadn’t lost our center to a toe injury.” The fans of the teams that just miss the playoffs who say, “If only a couple guys had played up to their potential we could have made some noise in the playoffs.” And then there's the last group who gripe, “Let’s hope for a good draft, some luck and let’s just be thankful we aren’t the Clippers.” (I had so much fun watching Griffin play this year)...
In reality, only a handful of teams have any shot at an NBA World Championship every year, and you can pick them out before the season starts. If you had to pick a group of five teams and one of those five had to win the championship, you’d be hard-pressed to not pick a winner. That’s because when it comes to NBA playoffs, unlike the NFL, the better teams almost always win a series, unless it’s just a slightly worse team playing better. And unlike baseball where two ace pitchers can take you the distance (think 2001 Diamondbacks), in the NBA no matter how good a player is, he still needs help to be a champion.
Word up fellow Hoop junkies. There isn't that much movement in this week's edition of the Power Rankings. The Cavs are still atop of our rankings, but the Lakers are nipping at their heels. Amar (of Cavalier Attitude fame) and myself (Docksquad) are doing this week's rankings...
Tip-Off:
1. (1) Cleveland Cavaliers (46-14)
Is the injury to Shaq a blessing in disguise for the Cavs? Since O'Neal's thumb injury in the first half against Boston, the Cavs outscored the Celtics by like 25 from that point onward. Then they went out the next night and dropped 126 on Toronto. If all the Cavs got Shaq for was to guard Dwight and the Lakers' big men, then they need to go the route of some other teams and find one that isn't owed $20 million per season. (AP)
Hey everyone, my name is Amit Tailor and I am a huge sports junkie just like the rest of you. I am currently a Ph.D. student at Yale University in New Haven, CT and I am pursuing my degree in organic chemistry. But in my free time, I live and breathe sports.
Ok so enough about me. I had a chance to interview Marcus Hall, a former guard at the University of Colorado and a current Euro Baller in Turkey. I was able to get in touch with him via email and conducted this short interview with him today. It is below. I hope you guys enjoy...
Because my life is non-stop a mayhem-filled party with booze, gambling, sex, and drugs, you can imagine I get into lots of interesting arguments. The kind of debates that may seem idiotic to the vast majority of the God-fearing public, but to me they are of life-or-death importance and must come to a definitive conclusion that leaves all parties in peaceful accord. Despite my lofty goals this never occurs; instead, I routinely find myself in situations where knives are drawn, blood is spilt, and friendships are ended. Until the next day. When all is forgiven. For the very last time.
In the late 80’s dirt roads surrounded the small party at TPC. Back then you could hear the coyotes yipping and roadrunners skittered across the fairways. The wildlife has changed, the golf has almost become secondary to the party, and the attendance rose drastically. The tournament the Thunderbirds reluctantly took over in 1939 under Bob Goldwater’s tutelage now claims bragging rights as the PGA Tour’s largest party and has contributed $65,000,000 to local charities.
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