The Most Overrated Coaches in America

Yesterday's discussion of the best coaches in the game got me thinking a little bit about a different topic of discussion when it comes to college football. This topic is a little more enjoyable for me because it's a subject that the mainstream media hates to talk about. There is nothing more uncomfortable for mainstream media types than to go on the record and call out a coach for not getting it done. And yet as a college football fan, there is nothing more frustrating than hearing the media gush over coaches who fans know is not all they are cracked up to be. Guys like Chris Fowler (who I like by the way) absolutely love to pooh pooh the fans whenever fans start getting upset about the performance of their coach. You'll start hearing stuff like "nothing is ever good enough for (insert team here) fans" and "loyalty is a long lost art among college football fans" and "fans will jump all over you at the first sign of trouble." As a college football fan, I usually find those statements insulting (especially when they are directed at the fans of my team) because we know as well as anyone if our coach is getting the job done. In the spirit of open discussion, let's tear down some barriers and throw out a list of college football's most overrated coaches.

1) Mack Brown - The reason I wanted to start with Mack Brown is because he's the perfect example of a coach who has an absolute pristine reputation with the mainstream media but probably faces a lot more grumbling at home in Austin with his own fans. Let me start by saying that I don't think Mack Brown is a bad coach, and it would be silly for me to say that he hasn't been successful at Texas. The guy has put together a 103-25 record in 10 years in Texas and has averaged over 10 wins per season. He got the job done with the national title in 2005, and has never won fewer than 9 games at Texas. He's also 7-3 in bowl games, and 19-11 overall in rivalry games against Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech. When you consider that he took over a Texas program that was in the doldrums when he got there, he has delivered big time results at Texas. By all accounts, he is very popular in Austin and pretty much has a lifetime contract at Texas.

So why am I putting him on this list again?? Because it's Texas!! You're talking about a university that is king in one of the three richest states for high school football talent in the country. Texas high school football is probably the most intense high school football in the country, and just about every one of those kids dreams of putting on those burnt orange colors and playing in Austin. Yea, A&M and Oklahoma and maybe some schools like ND, LSU, and Arkansas might get down there and pluck away a few blue chippers, but the vast majority of the top talent in the state wants to go to Texas. In other words, the head coach at Texas has his pick of the litter. There's no other situation like it in the country. The Florida schools are all cannibalizing each other for players in Florida, and the same applies in California to some degree. There's fans of all different teams throughout those states. In Texas, it's all about Longhorn football, and Mack Brown barely has to step out of his backyard to put together a top 5 recruiting class. In the Big 12, Texas is always going to have the best access to talent in the conference.

I'm not saying that it's easy to win 10 games a year at any school, including Texas, but isn't it safe to say that there are a lot of quality coaches who could do what Mack Brown has done?? Mack Brown has been a success at Texas, but let's not go overboard here. The guy has won 1 Big 12 championship in 10 years. ONE. Read that again. What "legendary" coach has only won one conference title in a ten year span?? Stoops has won five Big 12 titles in the same time frame. Mack Brown deserves better than the "Mr. February" label that he sometimes gets tagged with, but you have to admit that he hasn't produced a lot of powerhouses with the talent at his disposal.

Mack has his national title, but let's not kid ourselves. We all watched Texas that year. They won a national title for one reason and one reason only. VINCE YOUNG. I've never seen a player carry a team more than Vince Young did that year. He turned Texas from a program that always came up small in the big moments into one that found ways to get it done. Other than the Vince Young era, Mack Brown has been "Mr. Holiday Bowl." There's nothing wrong with that, but if you compare Mack Brown's achievements to his national reputation, there's a noticeable gap there. There are probably many Texas fans who insist that Mack Brown is the best thing ever to happen to Texas football, but I would bet there is a vocal minority who think he probably could be doing more with the resources available at Texas.

2) Kirk Ferentz - Any coach who has been able to win 2 co-Big 10 championships at Iowa of all places probably has no business being on an "overrated" coaches list, so maybe it's not fair that I have Kirk Ferentz on this list. In 9 years at Iowa, he's put together a 73-70 record (and that's including his 1-10 season in his first eyar), and he has a 38-34 record in the Big Ten. All in all, a pretty respectable career at Iowa, and his overall tenure has been fairly successful.

I don't think Ferentz has underachieved at Iowa by any stretch, but the reason he makes my overrated list is because he somehow finds himself on the shortlist of candidates at every college and pro job in the country. How does he do it?? Every time a job opens up in college or the NFL, there's Ferentz in the top three saying "I'm very happy at Iowa." He must have the best agent in the country or something. It never fails. Michigan job opens up?? There's Ferentz on the list as the top candidate. Pittsburgh Steelers job becomes available?? Suddenly every Pittsburgh tv station is out in Iowa City looking for an interview from Ferentz. And after he turns down all these jobs, he takes advantage of his leverage and extends his contract until about 2090 and get a pay raise out of it. Case in point. Ferentz is now the highest paid coach in the Big 10.

Yet, if you look at his performance in recent years, why is everyone still so excited about this guy?? In his last three years at Iowa, Ferentz is 19-18 overall with a 11-13 record in the Big 10. In other words, he's basically reverted back to being your typical middle of the road Big 10 coach. At some point, you would think that the interest in this guy would start to dry up. I'm not even sure that he'll be in good graces at Iowa much longer if he has another down year or two.

By the way, what's with Iowa thinking that they are a much better athletic program than they actually are?? They ran Steve Alford out of town and now Ferentz is starting to hear some grumbling. I'm not saying either of those guys are superstars, but it's Iowa for god sakes!! What do they expect?? Do Iowa fans really think they should be competing for Big 10 titles year in and year out in football and basketball?? I respect their passion for Iowa sports, but it's a little shocking to see a mediocre program complaining so much about their mediocre coaches. Dr. Tom Davis and Hayden Fry aren't walking through that door, folks!!

3) Phil Fulmer - Since there has to be an SEC coach on this list, how about we go down to Knoxville and hit up the pumpkin himself, Mr. Phillip Fulmer (break out your Tennessee twang when you're saying it for extra effect). As anyone who has followed his career at Tennessee is well aware, Phil Fulmer is a lightning rod for criticism in Rocky Top country. Just mention the name Phil Fulmer, and you'll have a Tennessee fan riled up for hours.

It's almost like Tennessee doesn't know what to do with Fulmer. He keeps plugging along at around 9-10 wins a year and usually does just enough to look ok, but it's been a long time since Tennessee was really really good under him. He hasn't won a conference title since 1998, and his team hasn't finished in the top ten since 2001. Don't get me wrong, some of those 10-3 type seasons he has been putting together are nothing to sneeze at, but the Tennessee faithful are a little restless these days. He has had a good run at Tennessee overall, but I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up getting pushed into retirement a little earlier than he maybe wants.

With a new QB in place and a fairly tough start to the season (at UCLA, Florida, at Auburn in the first four games), I think Fulmer's seat could get really warm early in the year.

By the way, here's the full list of the coaches who will be participating in SEC football next season:

Urban Meyer
Nick Saban
Les Miles
Steve Spurrier
Phil Fulmer
Mark Richt
Tommy Tuberville
Bobby Petrino
Houston Nutt
Rich Brooks
Sylvester Croom
Bobby Johnson

If you're scoring at home, there are 5 former national champions, 1 coach who had an undefeated season at Auburn, another coach with a 72-19 record at Georgia and 2 SEC titles, and another coach who went 41-9 at Louisville and is widely regarded as one of the best offensive minds in the game. Could you imagine being Bobby Johnson in that league?? Good god, the SEC is so loaded with coaching talent it's not even funny. Compare that to the Big Ten where one of the top 3 coaches in the league might be Ron Zook (yikes). Needless to say, the SEC is in a league of its own in college football these days.

4) Tommy Bowden - Tommy B. One of my favorite whipping boys. Of all the coaches on this list, I think Bowden was probably the most deserving. He's such an easy and obvious candidate for the "overrated" list that it's almost too easy to come up with things to say about him.

One of my favorite rites of summer is the annual "Watch out for Clemson" predictions that you see on ESPN.com and in your college football preview magazines. Doesn't matter if it was the Woody Dantzler era or the Charlie Whitehurst era or the current Cullen Harper era. Everyone loves to get excited about Clemson football in the summer. Every year is going to be their breakthrough year where they take command of the ACC. And yet how many years does Tommy Bowden have to go 8-5 before people start to realize that their big year might not come?? Instead of pronouncing them ACC Champions in the preseason for like the 7th straight year, could we maybe take a wait and see approach?? Considering that Miami and FSU have been down the last few years, the fact that Clemson still hasn't won an ACC title is probably an indication that it's not going to happen for them this year either.

Clemson hasn't been awful during the Bowden era, but they haven't even come close to breaking out yet at any point in his tenure. Bowden has never won an ACC title, and he's only had one season with 2 losses in the ACC. Every other year, he's been 5-3 or 4-4 in the conference. With an overall record of 69-42 in nine years (about 7.5 wins a year), there's really nothing in Tommy Bowden's track record to suggest big things are about to come for him.

5) Joe Paterno - Finally, this list wouldn't be complete without the old man somewhere on it. It always cracks me up to hear the JoePa defenders come out of the woodwork every fall to tell America how much they love having JoePa at Penn State and that they wouldn't want any other coach. JoePa's base of supporters insist that they would be happy if he coached forever at Penn State. Here's my response:

GOOD!!

If Penn State fans are happy going 9-4 every year, losing every big game they play, and losing out on big recruits in Western Pennsylvania to Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Michigan every year, fine by me!! I couldn't be happier to see Joe Paterno at Penn State, and I hope he's there another 10 years. It's one less program in the Midwest that I would need to take seriously in terms of competition for recruits. Penn State sits in one of the most fertile high school recruiting areas in the country, and yet they seem perfectly content to give up their chance at regular dominance so that their 80 year old coach can keep himself busy instead of going to a nursing home.

Not only are Penn State fans more than willing to wallow in mediocrity during Paterno's last years with us on earth, they're even going to let him hand pick his successor from his staff. Beautiful!!

So if you're scoring at home, Joe Paterno spent 35 years building Penn State into a football powerhouse, and now he's in the process of sending them into a 20 year swoon. You gotta love Joe Pa!

Surfing the Web

Some entertaining stuff out there on the web for you college football fans out there.

First, we start off with an article by Matt Hayes of The Sporting News about the breakout stars of the 2008 college football season. One entry caught my eye (for what it's worth I also agree with him on Everson Griffen and Lawrence Wilson being breakout studs this year).

WR Duval Kamara, 6-5, 222, So., Notre Dame.
Scout's take: "Saw them twice last year, and he's the only guy on offense who looked comfortable. He knows how to get off the jam (at the line of scrimmage), knows how to use his hands to separate. He's got good speed. Once he figures out how to use his big frame to shield himself, he'll be a terror. No one in college football will be able to match up with him -- no one."

And then there's this entry from Stewart Mandel's CNNSI mailbag from Wednesday. One fired up ND fan!!

In response to last week's question about coaching storylines, I will donate $1,000 to the University of Washington athletic department if Notre Dame loses to Washington on Oct. 25. It will not happen. Hold on to this e-mail for five months.
--Pat, Overland Park, Kan.

Finally, Dennis Dodd has a new column up on CBSSportsline.com on the best coaches in college football.

At the top of the list for Dennis Dodd: Pete "Anytime, Anywhere" Carroll

Dodd's Best of the Rest (in no particular order): Frank Beamer, Urban Meyer, Les Miles, Rich Rodriguez, Nick Saban, Bob Stoops, and Jim Tressel

I really can't argue with Pete Carroll as the best coach in America, and it almost would have been wierd not to see him ranked #1. The program that he has put together at USC is the gold standard for college football these days. When you take into account what USC has done year in and year out in dominating the Pac 10 and winning the big games on the biggest stages, Pete Carroll has to be at the top of the list. He's the best big game coach in college football today, and actually a very underrated strategist and technician. I think there's a perception out there that Pete Carroll just rolls the balls out on the field with all that talent and then fires up the troops with one of those "I've had 14 Mountain Dews and 6 Red Bulls and I'm ready to run through a wall" speeches, but there's a lot more to Pete Carroll than his amped up style. Next time you watch USC play, watch how they do all the little things. Watch how they tackle with precision and seal off their blocks. USC is the most talented team in the country, but also one of the most fundamentally sound. And if it's a big game, there is nothing like seeing Carroll go for the throat right out of the chute with aggressive playcalling on offense and defense. The patented play action on first and 10 at the 50 after a big punt return is a Pete Carroll staple.

As for the other coaches, how would you rank them?? I have to say that I'm a little surprised to see the name Rich Rodriguez on that list. I think Rodriguez is a good coach, but does he belong in the conversation among the very elite in the game at this point?? I'd like to see what he does at Michigan first before putting him into that category. I'm not taking anything away from him, and I can't tell you how many times I was blown away by how impressive WVU looked at times in the last couple years, but the Michigan job is a whole different animal. The new ESPN the Magazine article about what he has done at Michigan is impressive (and admittedly a little scary), but I'm not ready to put him higher on my list just yet. Does Rich Rodriguez belong on this list any more than Mark Richt does??

I don't want to get a bunch of angry emails from Sooner fans, but I'll raise the question. Has Bob Stoops lost his luster just a tad??? Is he morphing into the modern day John Cooper at all?? He's produced a lot of very good teams, but their performances in bowl games have been shaky at best in recent years. As good as they've been, they lost just a little bit of their aura after that 55-19 shellacking at the hands of USC in 2004 and haven't really made their mark on the national scene since then.

And then we get to the Mad Hatter himself. The most bizarre man in college football and the man who produces more unintentional comedy in a season than most coaches do in their entire career: Leslie Edwin "Have a GREAT day" Miles. Look, I get why he is on this list. Really, I do. Miles has a ring on his finger now, he's got a huge contract, he got all kinds of attention from the Michigan speculation, and he got the job done for a superb and deserving LSU team (one of the three or four most memorable college football teams of the last 15 years or so if you ask me). The Les Miles soap opera was by far the most interesting story of the 2007 college football season, and it didn't hurt to have the best announcing duo in the history of college football (Lundquist and Danielson) bringing us the action every week from Tiger Stadium. But you have to admit that it is a little bizarre to see the name Les Miles on a "best college football coaches in the land" list. Let's not forget that LSU fans were not exactly in love with the guy prior to last season (and even DURING last season!!), and I would say that the reaction to him being hired by LSU was tepid in the first place. He clearly knows a lot more about football than he gets credit for, but he's no Einstein and his whole hokey "I'm going to try to put on my best Bo Schembechler impersonation and say things like 'my damn good football team' with a half grin and half serious face" act is more funny than impressive. He comes off more like a highly-functioning autistic than a coaching genius. I give Les Miles credit for his record and don't really dislike the guy as much as I used to because I think he means well, but let's not get crazy here and start talking about him as one of the top 5 coaches in the game.

I don't have a lot to say about Tressel (mainly because I live in Columbus and hear so much about Tressel that I'm numb to any discussion of the man at this point), but I do give him credit for getting as much out of his talent as any coach in America. Tressel has a consistent approach, and he has done a great job developing talent at Ohio State. His recruiting classes are usually in the 10-15 range, but they have been cranking out NFL Draft picks left and right. With all that said, isn't it safe to at least somewhat question whether Tressel belongs in the "best coach in the game" discussion when he was clearly outcoached in the last two title games by Urban Meyer and Les Miles?? They had some personnel problems in both those games (mainly in the trenches if you ask me), but some of it was just a lack of imagination and aggressiveness by Tressel and his staff. Here's the thing about Tressel that no one really talks about. He has had a lot of big wins in his tenure at OSU (6-1 against Michigan, 5-2 against Penn State, 2002 National Title game, 2004 Fiesta Bowl win, 2005 Fiesta Bowl win against ND), but who is the best coach Tressel has beaten?? Mack Brown?? Lloyd Carr? Larry Coker? Charlie Weis?? JoePa?? Those are five big names in the coaching industry, but all those guys have had their rough moments in recent years and all have been questioned even by their own fanbases. I would like to see Tressel genuinely coach the pants off of a great coach one time before putting him into the conversation with Pete Carroll and other legends. And wouldn't you know it, Tressel has a big game coming up in September at USC, so I think he has his opportunity on a golden platter to reestablish himself as one of the premier coaches in college football. Tressel owns the Big 10, but that isn't saying much these days. I'd probably still put him in my top 3, but I'd like to see how things shake out for him in the Los Angeles Colisseum before determining if he's going to stay there.

As for Urban Meyer, take a peek at Florida's schedule for the 2008 season.

8-30-08 HAWAI'I
9-6-08 MIAMI FL
9-20-08 at Tennessee
9-27-08 MISSISSIPPI
10-4-08 at Arkansas
10-11-08 LOUISIANA STATE
10-25-08 KENTUCKY
11-1-08 vs. Georgia (@ Jacksonville)
11-8-08 at Vanderbilt
11-15-08 SOUTH CAROLINA
11-22-08 THE CITADEL
11-29-08 at Florida State

Now that's not an easy schedule by any stretch (Miami and FSU in nonconference plus the SEC...yeesh), but they are fortunate to catch Miami and FSU in a down stretch and no Alabama or Auburn this year. Their toughest road game is against Tennessee, and they get LSU at home. This schedule is set up for a national title run for the Gators. If people think Urban Meyer is going away any time soon, they're kidding themselves. He has that program rolling along and stockpiling talent, and they are going to remain a force in the SEC for a long long time. With Urban at the helm and all their offensive weapons and that schedule, the Gators are winning the SEC this year. Mark it down and take it to the bank right now. Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson might as well buy an apartment in Gainesville this year for all the games they are going to do down there for CBS Sports.

Anyway, out of those coaches, here's how I'd rank them going forward:

1) Pete Carroll
2) Urban Meyer
3) Jim Tressel
4) Bob Stoops
5) Nick Saban
6) Frank Beamer
7) Rich Rodriguez
8) Les Miles

Shark Bait

With all the fuss about the other Shark after another solid round in the British Open today, I figured that we would check in on Jeff Samardzija for a quick update.

Even though it makes me cringe to see him in that Cubs uniform knowing that he will likely be pitching in the same division as the Reds for a rival team someday, I'm happy to see him doing well. The promotion to AAA is exciting, and I hope he gets the call up to the bigs in September.

Here are the Shark's stats for this year. A pretty impressive 3.45 in AAA and a solid 31 strikeouts in 31 innings.

Just a quick plug for his website if anyone is interested. Plenty of good stuff on there (including his blog), and I can say from experience that the merchandise makes for a great gift!! So show some support for The Shark and order up an autographed football or a poster. And for you Cubs fans out there (I'll try not to gag), if you can pull yourself away from your pink polo and popped collar for an afternoon, one of those Samardzija jersey tshirts would look pretty cool when you're out at Wrigley Field drinking your Old Styles in the bleachers and cheering for your team to score more "points" than the other one.

Then again, as great as it is to see The Shark succeeding on the diamond, part of me still misses this guy.

The Head Ball Coach

"From what I'm hearing around the way, Weis is privately projecting anywhere from nine to 12 victories this year,"

as reported by the good people at Blue and Gold Illustrated.

What do you think Irish fans??

Is 9-12 victories a realistic goal for this team??

What are your expectations for Irish football this year??

What type of season are you looking for??

What are the key things you want to see?? Are you looking for a number of wins, a bowl win, a competitive showing at USC, or is it something more intangible like a better running game and better special teams??

Lute Olson

I don't want to turn into Stuart Scott here, but if you looked up the word hypocrisy in the dictionary, you get the following definition:

The act of preaching a certain belief or way of life, but not, in fact, holding these same virtues oneself.

Just when I thought I'd seen it all in college sports, Lute Olson comes out the other day all hot and bothered about one-and-dones in college basketball after Brandon Jennings announced he was going to play in Europe and proclaims the following:

"It's a situation where if someone's a one and done, we're not going to pursue them anymore, no way."

Can you spell H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y?? Where was all this outrage from Coach Olsen when FRESHMAN point guard Mike Bibby was leading him to a national title in 1997?? He didn't seem to have a problem with mercenary players back then even though it was obvious to anyone following high school recruiting that Bibby wasn't going to be at Arizona for his whole college career. People were talking about Bibby's NBA future when he was in high school, and he'll go down as probably the most sought after recruit in the history of Arizona basketball. Olson didn't seem to have a problem with Bibby going to Arizona back then, but now early entry guys are ruining the game?? He's made millions of dollars and had all kinds of success on the backs of 18 and 19 year old players, but now he's decided that the system is corrupt?? Coach, why weren't you as upset about the system two years ago when you originally offered the scholarships to Jerryd Bayless and Brandon Jennings?? It's awfully convenient that he thinks the system is so unfair after getting burnt a couple times.

Olson even went so far as to say that the one-and-done atmosphere in college basketball is a "farce." What a load of nonsense. If Olson wants to stop recruiting one-and-dones, fine by me. Go ahead. I wouldn't blame him for doing something like that when the risk/reward of one-and-dones is often not all that rewarding. But to cry about how unfair it is that kids are leaving college after one or two years (for multi million dollar paychecks by the way ) is the epitome of hypocrisy when you have been using those type of players to succeed for years. Don't cry about changing the system just because you got burnt. I don't see Thad Matta crying about the four one and dones he's lost in the last two seasons (two of whom blindsided Matta every bit as much as Bayless allegedly burnt Olson). Olson comes off as incredibly self-serving with these comments if you ask me. If Olsen genuinely thought he could rely on these guys for a 3-4 year college career, then he's unbelievably naive and probably needs to start paying closer attention to the reality of college sports today. If he's just spewing sour grapes (which is more likely if you ask me), then he needs to stop whining to the press like it was some grave injustice that a couple guys decided to pursue their chosen professions on the professional level.

It's also hilarious that Lute Olson is acting like the college experience is such a valuable experience for a young person like he's some sort of university professor. Meanwhile, Brandon Jennings isn't even NCAA eligible at this point. Clearly this guy had no business being in college in the first place, and yet Olson had no problem offering him a scholarship. Forgive me if I don't feel a lot of pity for a coach who offers scholarships to guys who probably don't belong in college and then complains about it when they leave him high and dry.

Brandon Jennings was all but announcing his intentions long before making this decision to go to Europe. This isn't some sort of shocking development that he was planning to bail as soon as possible. A quote from him a little while back:

"It's made me mad," he said of the college board's decision to flag his second round of standardized test scores, forcing him to retake them in May. "Even if I get the scores this time, there's no guarantee I'm going to college. No one has answers and the NCAA is a different group.

"Besides I was planning on one year at Arizona."

Do I think it would be nice to see college players staying for 3-4 years?? Yes of course, but I don't mind the one-and-dones over the old system where 10 high schoolers would declare for the draft every year and never play a minute in the college game. It hurts my interest in the NBA because I never got a chance to follow these guys in college and become fans of their game. The recent drafts with Oden, Conley, Rose, Mayo, Durant, and Beasley have been much more entertaining for me because I actually saw these guys play in college and want to follow them in the NBA. It also hurts the college game when the best high school talent never even plays college basketball.

One-and-dones are a risky bet, but they can be great for a team that is already close like Memphis from last year, but you're kidding yourself if you think you can count on these guys as building blocks for a few years. Buyer beware.

As far as Brandon Jennings is concerned, am I the only one who thinks this European experiment could end up being a disaster for him?? He's a talented player and may end up doing well over there, but isn't there a significant culture shock for an 18 year old kid from Compton going over to Rome for a year?? He'll be away from his family playing against grown men with totally different styles of play. If he has a shaky season, his draft stock could plummet. Is it worth it to take the risk of being the first high schooler to go to Europe?? Seems like a lot to risk for a payday of what amounts to be around $300,000 playing over there for one year. That's a lot of money for a kid, but chump change for an NBA player.

There's Chum In The Water

Gregory John Norman.

Now there's a name that I did not expect to see on the leaderboard any time soon. Fresh off his marriage to former tennis star Chris Evert and his $100 million divorce settlement (Greg Norman was THAT rich??), I figured that Norman's appearance at this year's British Open was ceremonial at best. He's had a great career and apparently has made a fortune in golf course design and merchandise sales, so I figured his days as a competitive golfer were over.

And yet there he is one shot off the lead after one day (still too early to get excited of course), and the old "the shark is coming out of the water" and "the shark smells blood" jokes are coming back full circle. With Tiger out of this tournament and Norman lurking, it's 1996 all over again!! If the Shark wins this tournament, does Jeff Samardzija have to give back his nickname for a few years??

Anyway, I was never a huge Greg Norman fan growing up as a kid, but I'm officially pulling for him. If he somehow hangs around this weekend, the echoes of the 1986 Masters (where Norman famously came up short to another aging legend) will be heard loud and clear. Talk about a possible redemption after all those past meltdowns by The Shark. What if Norman actually stumbled into the 54 hold lead??? Could you imagine watching that final round knowing he was going to choke it away??

I love this leaderboard by the way. All kinds of big names within a few shots of the lead. AK23, Norman, Goosen, Rocco, Furyk, Weir, Sergio, Poulter.

It would be funny if we had two "pre-Tiger" stars take command of this tournament this weekend. If we have a final pairing of Norman and Colin Montgomerie on Sunday, I might break out my 1996 Jeff Blake jersey and my 1996 Barry Larkin jersey and start getting excited about Bob Dole's presidential campaign and an upcoming Chang-Edberg match. What ever happened to Stefan Edberg, anyway?

Kenny Perry: You're Better Than This

As is custom during any major tournament where I am stuck at work, the first thing I do when I get back to the office is check the leaderboard and see how everyone is doing.

Today, I get back to the office and head over to Yahoo.com and start looking through the names:

Vijay Singh?? Check. +10. Yikes
Ernie Els?? Same. Ouch
AK23?? +1 and right in it. Nice.
Lee Westwood?? +5. Darn it.
Greg Norman?? Even. WOW.

Anyway, I'm going through the names and out of the corner of my eye I see the leaderboard for the US Bank Championships in Milwaukee. As you golf fans out there know, the PGA Tour has a PGA event scheduled for this week for guys who don't enter in the British Open or don't qualify. I normally would pay no attention to this list of no-names, but one name caught my eye today.

KENNY PERRY.

Kenny Perry at -3 through 15 holes.

We knew all along that he was ducking the British Open this week, but it's still pretty sad to see his name on that US Bank Championships leaderboard.

This is the same Kenny Perry with 3 PGA tour wins this year. He's currently ranked 2nd in the Fed Ex Cup standings. He's now up to 4th in Ryder Cup points, and he's vaulted all the way up to #16 in the World Golf Rankings. He's having a career year, and probably playing as well as anyone in the world not named Tiger Woods.

He's clearly invited to play in the British Open, and he likely would have a great chance to do well and possibly win a major based on how well he is playing this year.

And yet there he is in the US Bank Championships in Milwaukee instead of playing in one of the 4 major tournaments. The Open Championship is the one event of the year that draws worldwide attention to the great game of golf, and Perry is playing in a tournament that will be lucky to be televised on the Golf Channel.

For those of you who don't know the back story to Perry's decision, he really really wants to play in the Ryder Cup this year. He grew up in Elizabethtown, Kentucky and still lives in Kentucky. The Ryder Cup is being played at Valhalla in Louisville this year, and Perry wants to be in it. He has been playing in as many tournaments as possible this year to rack up points for the Ryder Cup, and he made the decision to skip the US Open and British Open to play in the St. Jude Classic in Memphis and the US Bank Championships.

Here's Kenny's quote on the Ryder Cup:

"I'm gonna stay focused, try to earn as many points as I can earn," he said. "I'm still not on that Ryder Cup team until I put the red, white and blue on."

Ok, fair enough, and I get that Perry really wants to be on the Ryder Cup team. So instead of taking on the challenge of the British Open (and risking the possibility that he stinks up it and misses the cut), Perry is probably going to get a top 5 finish in Milwaukee and rack up more Ryder Cup points. He's like one of those mid-major basketball programs that has figured out how to game the RPI system with cheap
road wins and other tactics to get better at-large NCAA tournament consideration. Perry is the Northern Iowa of professional golf.

If you ask me, it's a cop out and Paul Azinger should call him out for it. If Perry can't handle playing in a major, then how is he going to perform under all the pressure of Ryder Cup play?? Perry has a history of gagging in big moments (the 96 PGA comes to mind), and the pressure on the US team to bring back the Ryder Cup will be as intense as ever. Is Azinger going to want a guy on his team who willingly ducks the big events against the best players in the world??

It might be time for Tim Finchem to get involved and create a new system for Ryder Cup points. If you qualify to play in a major but skip it, you don't get any points for the simultaneous tournament being played. Something like that would go a long way toward keeping the Kenny Perrys of the world in line.

Finally, I chose the picture for this post for a reason. What would Jack Nicklaus think of Kenny Perry's decision?? By all accounts, the British Open is one of Jack's favorite tournaments, and he is beloved around the world. Jack has NEVER shied away from competition. Even if Jack was in jeopardy of missing the Ryder Cup, I somehow doubt that he would have been playing tournaments in Milwaukee and Memphis to make up for it instead of the US Open and the British Open.

Welcome back, Jack

I think I can speak on behalf of everyone at WEISND and welcome Jack Swarbrick as Notre Dame's new athletic director. I had never heard of the guy until yesterday, but I became very excited once the information started pouring in about him. His credentials are off the charts, and the quotes from people around Indianapolis (people like Bill Polian and Tony Dungy) about Swarbrick are also very encouraging. If you haven't had a chance to watch his press conference yet, I suggest you go over to http://www.und.com/ and check it out. Great stuff, and he gives the impression that he is going to bring a new philosophy to the athletic department. Obviously, we have no idea what he will actually do as an athletic director and won't know what his legacy will be until he starts on the job, but there are some things I really like about this hire.

1) ND alum - Say what you want, but I think that hiring a person who "gets" ND and understands our place in the college sports world is important. Swarbrick is an alum, and he grew up at the knee of Notre Dame. He grew up knowing ND as an independent and a championship football team, so I trust him to do things with his ND background in mind. When you are representing ND, you are representing ND and no one else. No conference affiliations, no partnerships, no built in ties. ND is out there on an island, and we need someone who understands that principle. Kevin White didn't get that, and his efforts to lock us into bad contracts that paid less dollars than before (BCS) and bad schedules just for conformity (see the next 7 planned schedules) did a lot of damage to our reputation if you ask me. Kevin White jumped at the safe play for small dollars every time instead of holding out and thinking big (which would have led to bigger dollars in the end). It always cracked me up that Kevin White was out there saying "we need more revenue" when he was the guy who negotiated our BCS deal that cut our payout from $14 million to $4.5 million.

After listening to his press conference today, I get the impression that this isn't just another job for Swarbrick or a resume builder. He's not viewing the job as the next logical step in his career. Notre Dame is the pinnacle for him, and I like that.

Swarbrick gave the impression that he is going to listen to the alums and get their input. This is a great quote here:

"Then I want to reach out to our fan base. I want to travel, spend time with them. I want to greet them when they're here. I want to hear what they have to say. That passion is what fuels the success of Notre Dame. And I know some people get nervous about how passionate it can be sometimes, how it plays itself out. I welcome that. I embrace that.

The inconvenience of some posting on a blog you might not prefer to have is a much better situation than being at a school where nobody cares and nobody talks about you and nobody writes about you. I see the passion here as only a plus and I'm fully prepared to engage it."


Finally!! I know that college sports fans/alums are nuts, but it doesn't mean that you completely ignore them and call them "internet crazies" and create ludicrous strawman arguments like "our alums want to play 12 top 10 teams a year" even though no one is saying things like that. The alums and the fans are your constituency in college football, and I think they deserve a voice at the table when it comes to how Notre Dame runs its athletic programs.

Speaking as one of those "internet crazies," my feeling is that the fans generally want five things out of Notre Dame football:

1) Independence - We've historically only had a handful of close relationships in college football (USC, Navy, Purdue, Michigan State). I'd personally like to keep it that way.

2) Great schedule - ND football is known for taking on the best and playing a respected national schedule. Fans want to keep it that way and keep our reputation for playing a quality schedule. Not "12 top ten teams" as Heisler likes to say about ND fans, but a reasonable and balanced schedule with good games, medium games, and weak games against teams from around the country.

3) Tradition - Notre Dame football is all about tradition, and our fans/alums want to protect that tradition. ND fans love that you can go to an ND game and feel like you are going back in time. Wood seats, grass field, no Jumbotron, no logos on the field. When you go to the ND game, you go to WATCH THE GAME. I know, novel concept, but that's what makes ND football games so memorable. You cheer the team, discuss the game, and listen to the band. It's the best college football atmosphere in the country BY FAR, and fans/alums don't want it to change.

4) Excellence on the field - Fans want to win games, and they want ND to play well. Enough said.

5) Integrity - Fans want Notre Dame to graduate players and play by the rules.

If you look at those five things that fans want, what is so bad about any of them?? Why did White and Heisler go out of their way to demonize ND fans during their reign at the top when fans were only asking for five very simple things?? Independence, great schedule, keep the tradition, win games, do it the right way. Why would you not want the input of your fans when they are just looking to protect ND's great legacy?? ND fans saw that the things that made ND football special were being eroded by White and Heisler, so they spoke up about it. Instead of reaching out to the fans and keeping their interests in mind, Heisler and White basically shunned the fans and labeled them "internet crazies." Good times!! When ND fans saw that Ty Willingham was running the football program into the ground (which they were 100% correct on), they spoke up about their concern. While I don't expect the athletic director to cater to the fans at all times, Kevin White's vehement defense of Willingham and thinly veiled shots at the fans during that time showed me all I needed to know about his term at ND. He couldn't have been less interested in getting the views of ND fans.

Swarbrick is an alum, and he's already on record saying that he's going to engage with the fans and get their feedback. If he does nothing else in his tenure at ND, this alone would be a major improvement.

2) Big Thinker - If you look at Swarbrick's history, this guy is a "big think" kinda guy. He has taken on HUGE projects in Indianapolis that would almost appear impossible on the surface and actually succeeded in getting those ideas implemented. He was instrumental in bringing the 2012 Super Bowl to Indianapolis, and he was a key figure in getting the NCAA to move their headquarters to Indy. While those projects aren't related to running an athletic department, I like that he is a big picture guy who takes on big challenges.

If you equate those qualities to the ND job, Swarbrick is the kinda guy I want making the big decisions in the future. Decisions like our BCS contract, our future schedules, and where we fit into a possible playoff.

By the way, credit to Father Jenkins for thinking outside the box with the Swarbrick hire. I know he doesn't have any experience as an athletic director, but his skills might be better for the ND job than your standard athletic director. When he is saying that "ND is going to be leading the way in college sports," I believe him.

3) Basketball fan!! - Cmon, you didn't think I was getting through this post without bringing up ND hoops, did you?? Swarbrick has a history of bringing Final Fours to Indianapolis, he grew up in Bloomington, and he attended ND during our basketball heyday. I get the impression that he's a big college hoops guy, which is always a plus with me.

As far as I'm concerned, ND is the biggest sleeping giant for college basketball in the country. With our academics, tradition, and nationwide recruiting reach, we should be the Duke of the Midwest. The fact that we have only been to one Sweet 16 in the last 20 years is an embarrassment if you ask me, and I would like to see Swarbrick make a huge commitment to the basketball program. Give Coach Brey what he needs. Brey is doing a great job putting together a quality program, but he needs some help from the athletic department to get this program to the next level. Open up the checkbook for assistants, get the new JACC updates done (or just build a new arena already), and build a new practice arena. The facilities projects for ND basketball should be a top priority.

4) Dead ringer for ESPN senior writer, John Clayton -

It's uncanny!! If Swarbrick doesn't already have the nickname "The Professor" around the office at Baker & Daniels, then let WEISND be the first to get that one going. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but it's definitely something. I'll take it. Heck, I'd take John Clayton as the GM of the Bengals tomorrow over the collection of misfits currently running things, so it can't be all bad to look like John Clayton.

5) Great name - Jack Swarbrick. He's got one of those names that just sounds like he's going to get things done. Can't you picture other ADs around the country muttering a Newman-esque "SWARBRICK!!" every time he outwits them??

Anyway, those are my thoughts for now. Swarbrick really impressed me today in his press conference, and I hope he has great success at ND. We have no idea how he will perform, but I like what he brings to the table.

Oh, and when Georgia and Alabama come calling later this summer, these two words would make every ND fan happy: ANYTIME, ANYWHERE

Morneau the Champ; Hamilton the Myth, the Legend

What a show last night! I couldn't be happier for my man Justin Morneau, the 2006 AL MVP, making the most of his late invite. Humble in his winner's acceptance, he admitted to rooting for Josh Hamilton to knock three more out of the park to add another exclamation point to his fairy tale night. Because there were at least 7 or 8 exclamations for the Comeback Kid, enough to make Elaine Benes jealous. (I can't resist a reference to a top 10 episode with Jake Jarmel and his lack of exclamatory emphasis).

So most people will cry that the true winner wasn't awarded last night. Wah wah all you want. You can't take anything away from his performance. He played by the established rules and outhit Hamilton in the final round 5-3. What does the winner get anyway? A donation check in their name? Big deal.

Nobody's gonna argue that Hamilton won the hearts of America with his performance. For years to come, everyone will fondly recall the magical 1st round where a recovering drug addict made hitting 490 ft. look like child's play. He wrote his own Bill Brasky punchline with his record-setting 28 homers in one round. The whole thing played out like a Greek drama, from his 71-year old American Legion coach grooving balls over the plate to the multiple interruptions during his hot streak, which didn't bother him one iota as he just stepped in and cranked the next pitch he saw. My favorite part came early, right after he stroked his 1st homer. He turned to the catcher, professing what became quite apparent, "This is awesome!" Yes, it was awesome. The only thing he didn't do was blast one out of Yankee Stadium, though he came close. His Bible thumping may seem over the top, but how can you not root for this kid to keep his demons at bay and become the star he was destined to be. I'm sure Disney has already bid on his life story. I'm excited to see what else is in store as his legend grows.

To Josh Hamilton!

2008 British Open Preview

Ok, for this year's WEISND British Open coverage, I figured we would head down to Naples, Florida and turn it over to the man who knows more about the PGA Tour than anyone I know. So without further adieu, please welcome special guest blogger Kenny Riddell as he graciously allowed us to put his widely read annual British Open preview on our measly site this year. Needless to say, he is VERY excited for Thursday to get here. I would say that this guide is "for entertainment purposes" only, but where is the fun in that?? After you read it, you might as well head right over to http://www.sportsbook.com/ to put a couple pounds (or euros if that's your style) down because you won't find a better preview anywhere on the internet. Great stuff. Enjoy!!

Hello friends and welcome to the 2008 British Open Preview. This year’s Open will be played at Royal Birkdale, a course that boasts previous champions such as Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller (who shot a 63 in the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont) and Tom Watson. Wouldn’t it be great to join that list of decorated past winners?

Well, one person who doesn’t think so is Mr. Kenny Perry. K. Perry has unquestionably been the hottest player on tour not named Eldrick over the past 4 months. But a month after he decided to stay home for the 2008 U.S. Open, he has again opted to skip a major and instead will play in the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee this week. Kenny P. is sure to be a hit on the cocktail party circuit in 15 years when he boasts about his 3 wins at the John Deere Classic and doesn’t have a major on his resume. How is Kenny Perry going to live with himself knowing that he was the hottest player in the game in 2008 and he skipped two chances to win major championships when Tiger Woods was unable to play? He would easily be in my top 2 if he teed it up this week. Again, I don’t think he will regret these decisions in the future at all.

At this point Ryder Cup Captain Paul Azinger has his finger squarely on the panic button. Tiger Woods is out for the season and quietly reminded us all that he could give a damn about the Ryder Cup by taking about 3 seconds to reject an assistant captain offer from ‘Zinger. Phil Mickelson is likely discussing “no driver” strategies with Dave Pelz, has 8 wedges in his bag and will probably make a phone call to Taylor Made to switch his equipment the day before the event. Azinger’s third best player (Perry) has decided to skip two majors this season, just recently stopped wearing shirts that have tobasco sauce bottles all over them, hooks every shot he looks at (including his putts), shoved a 5 foot putt about 3 feet to the right to lose the 1996 PGA (coincidentally also at Valhalla, the site of the 2008 Ryder Cup) and followed it up with a violent knee collapse/putter raise to act as if the putt burned the edge. And to no one’s surprise he lost the ensuing playoff. So what I’m hinting at here is unless Anthony “AK23” Kim can break out his best Kirby Puckett impersonation and tell the fellas to “hop on his back”, I think it’s safe to say that Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, and Darren Clarke will be pouring champagne all over themselves and chugging Guiness at Valhalla again in ’08. But hey it’s only July and you never know who could pull a 2007 Steve Stricker and get hot at the right time.

Back to the 2008 British Open. I’m sure this decision will come back to haunt me but I did not include every player in the field for this year’s Open preview. As is tradition at the Open, some unknown playing on the Asian Tour will jump out to a 3 shot lead on Thursday so it might be a good idea to get familiar with the names below. My apologies if one of these players does his best imitation of Thomas Levet (who is in the field this week) and contends on Sunday.

Thomas Aiken, Brad Lamb, Peter Fowler, Chih Bing Lam, Scren Kjeldsen, James Kingston, Danny Chia, Joshua Cunliffe, Adam Blyth, Wen-Chong Liang, Damian McGrane, Douglas McGuigan, Hennie Otto, Ewan Porter, David Smail, Richard Sterne, Andrew Tampion, Toru Taniguchi, Hideto Tanihara, Oliver Wilson, Anders Hansen, Angelo Que, Brendan Jones, Darren Fichardt, Gregory Havret, Peter Hanson, Richard Finch, Richard Green, Peter Appleyard, Philip Archer, Jon Bevan, Rohan Blizard, Greg Bourdy, Gary Boyd, Ariel Canete, Simon Dyson, Pelle Edberg (brother of Stefan?), Johan Edfors, Ross Fisher, David Frost, Tom Gillis, Jon Baptist Gonnet, David Horsey, Barry Hume, Hiroshi Iwata, Shintaro Kai, Douglas Labelle II, Pablo Larrazabal, Michael Letzig, Jonathan Lomas, Prayad Marksaeng, Michio Matsumura (I think he’s one of the iron chefs), Jeff Overton, Reinier Saxton, Thomas Sherreard, Scott Strange, Yoshinobu Tsukada, Simon Wakefield, Anthony Wall, Philip Walton, Paul Waring, Steve Webster, Martin Wiegele, Chris Wood, Azuma Yano or Nick Dougherty.

It also pains me to say that my good friend Duffey Phelps will be without his favorite player this week. Freddy Couples is not playing and he will be missed.

So without further ado, let’s break down the rest of the 2008 British Open field!

Just looking for some free Titleist ProV1’s from the range and a two night stay in a luxury hotel

Shaun Micheel – Still can’t believe this guy is a major champion. If anyone is wondering what the PGA Tour will look like after Tiger Woods retires, look no further than the 2003 PGA Championship. Here is your top 5 from that year:

1) Micheel
2) Chad Campbell
3) Tim Clark
4) Alex Cejka
5) Jay Haas

A ratings bonanza if I’ve ever seen one. PGA Tour Commish Tim Finchem must call Tiger every hour and ask him when he is planning on retiring so he can just quit on the same day.

John Daly – Big JD is in the field thanks to an exemption from his improbable victory at the Old Course in 1995. Saw some recent pictures on the internet of him in a Pro-Am drinking 40’s with Kid Rock so I’m sure he’ll be bringing his “A” game to Birkdale this week.

Ben Curtis – This category is quickly becoming a list of players that you have to check pgatour.com just to make sure that they really did win a major. Yup, Big Ben won the 2003 British Open. Also rocks a sponsorship with the NFL. I wonder if he will break out the Dolphins and Giants gear this week to commemorate the first NFL game played in London last season. We can only hope that the giant Jason Taylor robot shows up as well.

Todd Hamilton, Paul Lawrie, Angel Cabrera, Michael Campbell, David Duval – Not much to say here other than they are all major champions and I’d be astonished if any of them made the cut. Cabrera actually has some real talent but, as weird as it sounds, the man needs to pick up his smoking habit again! Ever since he banished the cancer sticks he’s been playing most of his shots from the heavy stuff. Let’s hope that the Marlboro Man finds Angel on Wednesday so he can stick around to see the weekend.

Benjamin Hebert – Sadly, Benjamin is not related to former Atlanta Falcons great Bobby Hebert. They both have a similar shot at winning this week.

Graeme McDowell & Storm – Two Graeme’s in the field this week. Neither has a chance.

Good to see you are still playing and we wish you the best on the Champions Tour

Greg Norman – Hey, congrats are in order to the Shark! Just got married to tennis champ Chris Evert. Pretty amazing that he is here this week considering he has about $600 million and probably arrived in a G5. Enjoy the pot pie, Greg!

Colin Montgomerie – Will be a fan favorite (as always in Europe) but hasn’t been playing particularly well this year. You can bet that he’ll have his game in tip top shape in time for the Ryder Cup though. Maybe the most accurate driver of the golf ball not named Fred Funk.

Tom Lehman – A former British Open champ who quietly put together a tie for 6th at this year’s Players Championship. I can’t imagine he’ll make any noise this week but good to see him out there still hacking.

Sandy Lyle – If I could trade places with one player for one shot in the history of golf it would have to be Sandy on the 72nd hole at the 1988 Masters. Sandy striped a difficult fairway bunker shot to about 7 feet just when it seemed that he would never get his arms into the coveted green jacket. Now he’s throwing back scotch and trading barbs with the Golden Bear every April at the Champion’s Dinner at Augusta National. Stones of steel on this man and I hope the crowds pay him some proper respect on Thursday and Friday.

Tom Watson – Speaking of proper respect, how ‘bout a little dap for Mr. Tom Watson? Birkdale was the sight of Watson’s 5th Open win so he is sure to be a huge fan favorite this week. It’s too bad legendary “essayist” Jim McKay passed away earlier this year because you can bet that he would have given a dusty montage involving Mr. Watson at this year’s Open. Let’s hope that Tom Rinaldi is up to the task and I’ll keep the box of Kleenex close by just in case. Maybe the Shark can loan his G5 to Dick Enberg for the weekend? Oh my! Might be asking for too much there.

Mark Calcavecchia – Hate to put Calc in this category but had to find a spot for him in the preview. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Calc’s name on the leaderboard at some point this week but anyone counting on him for gambling purposes will most likely be disappointed.

Mark O’Meara – I think we’re all surprised that Mark relinquished his duties of re-filling the ice bags for Tiger’s knee and decided to make this trip.

Talented, but could use a different approach

Charles Howell III – Chuck Howell III has to be one of the most disappointing players of the past few years. I’ve never been a big fan of David Leadbetter and young Chuck might unfortunately become the poster child for reasons not to get swing advice from this man. What a disaster. Let’s hope that he turns it around soon.

Rory Sabbatini – Uncharacteristically average year for Rory. I had the pleasure of watching Rory take a #2 break at the port-o-potty behind the 17th hole during the 2005 Memorial. He was also wearing camouflaged pants that day. Seems like an interesting character.

Zach Johnson – Hairplugs Johnson is going to have to step it up if he wants to avoid being a “can’t believe that guy won a green jacket” player. His application is in and the committee, consisting only of charter member Mike Weir at this point, is ready to approve it if he doesn’t turn it on soon.

Jim Furyk – Hard to say he’s having a bad year when he’s currently 15th in the Fedex Cup standings, but we’ve come to expect more from this man. Rumor has it he has been struggling with the blade, but of more concern is his fondness for Tommy Bahama button down golf shirts. Switch to the two button Vineyard Vines golf shirts, Jim, and you will be draining bombs all over the track. Can't help you on the hair situation, though.. Keep the hat on I guess.

David Toms – What in the world is going on with David Toms? I was quietly touting him as a future 3-time major winner and now he looks like he has been taking lessons from Ian Baker-Finch. He’s a big LSU Tigers fan so I like to think that he hitched his wagon to the CBS crew of Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson this past SEC football season and is experiencing a prolonged hangover.

Aaron Baddeley – Another promising young player who hasn’t been getting it done recently. Hasn’t quite been the same since his disastrous 2007 final round at Oakmont. I watched him in the Accenture Match Play against Tiger and he was hitting snap hooks that were about 5 yards above the ground. It was like watching a midget-version of Kenny Perry hack it around. Great putter though and the British Open greens are notoriously slower than the PGA Tour greens. If he gets hot with the wand, watch out.

Retief Goosen – Still hasn’t quite recovered from his epic final round meltdown at the Pinehurst #2 U.S. Open a few years back. Retief certainly has a ton of game and I hope he gets back to where he was soon. Maybe he should try to get struck by lightning one more time.

Stuart Appleby – Stu isn’t necessarily having a bad season. Just kind of doing what he always does. I guess we just have to be patient until he blows another Sunday lead at the Buick Open and secures his 2009 tour card with a T3. Also made a terrible decision to cut his flowing locks which probably cut his fan galleries in half. Bring back the shag, Stu!

Davis Love III – It has been a rough couple of seasons for Mr. Love. I heard from someone that he has been busy designing golf courses. He’s not going to win this week but he’ll probably wear a couple of nice Polo shirts.

The “Experts” will probably like them this week but I don’t

Sergio Garcia – No one is expected to step up his game during Tiger Woods’ absence more than this guy. The interesting thing here is that outside of Tiger, I don’t think anyone on the planet can hit a golf ball better than Sergio Garcia. A recurring theme in this preview has been how well each player has been putting of late. Well no one has been putting as poorly as the young Spaniard (Vijay included). Sergio has absolutely mind-boggling talent from tee to green and could easily run off 5-7 majors in the next 10 years, but he is just not going to be a consistent major winner without improving his putting. It was nothing short of amazing to see him win the Player’s this year with the way he struggled on the greens that week. I don’t have the exact numbers but I want to say he averaged close to 31 putts per round that week. 31! How do you win a golf tournament of that importance by putting the ball 30+ times a round??? I’m not saying he can’t win one major (and hell he should have won last year’s British Open), but to be the player everyone knows he can be he has got to find a solution to this problem. Tiger Woods has 14 majors because he makes about 90% of those tricky 10 footers for par. Sergio has zero because he makes about 5% of those. All of that being said, if Serge can somehow win a major with his current putting stroke, I think it will be the British Open. You just can’t expect him to contend playing on greens that are running 13-14 on the stimp-meter at the Masters, PGA and U.S. Open.

Camilo Villegas – Another player with a lot of talent but hasn’t been able to consistently put it together. I really don’t like his golf swing these days either and he would be well advised to schedule an appointment with Butch Harmon. It’s amazing how far he can hit the ball despite what seems like a 5 second at the top of his swing. Must be pretty strong from all that HGH he is rumored to be taking. Shhhh…

Rocco Mediate – I am as big a Rocco fan as the next guy but I can’t see him carrying over the magic he captured at Torrey Pines. Quick story about the Rock. About 6 months before the U.S. Open, I saw Rocco at my local grocery store (Rocco is also a resident of Naples, FL). He was wearing a “Rehab is for Quitters” t-shirt, had a massive gut and was eating potato chips in the aisle of the store. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked to see a suddenly leaner Rock dueling it out with Tiger all weekend at the U.S. Open after that episode. Only in golf.

Adam Scott – Always a fan favorite with the ladies but hasn’t shown he has the game to win a major. Is it too early to start calling him overrated? Gotta improve with the putter if he is going to be the player everyone thinks he can become.

K.J. Choi – Big Choi has confused me in the past 12 months. Just as I was preparing myself mentally for K.J. to eventually win a major, he becomes erratic and inconsistent with the putter. So now I find myself totally unprepared for a Choi win this week.

Mike Weir & Trevor Immelman – It’s probably a mistake to include them in this category but it’s hard to put them anywhere else. I actually have high hopes for the I-Man’s future but his post-Masters struggles have been well documented. Is this going to be a recurring theme for reigning Masters Champs? If an above average player wins a jacket is he going to go in the tank for over a year? Between Hairplugs Johnson and the I-Man, we might just have to root for Tiger, Phil and Vijay to win the jacket for the rest of time so we can keep The Masters prestigious.

Justin Rose – Ladies and gentlemen, meet the poor man’s Nick Faldo! I was in shock when I watched him play at the Traveler’s Championship a few weeks back. Talk about mechanical! He was having a hard time taking the club back without hitching twice on the takeaway. The funny thing is that he has an almost perfect swing. Just grip it and rip it, JR. Loads of talent but I can’t see him winning until he gets over those demons.

Looking to gain some experience and excited about not getting carded at the pubs

Anthony Kim – I am a card carrying member of the AK23 fan club but even I can’t bring myself to pick this young sensation to win in his British Open debut. You have to learn how to play overseas and something tells me that young AK23 will pick up on it quickly. Not in time to do some damage this week, though. I will say that he is the most promising young player to come on tour in a long time; maybe even since Tiger. He chokes up on his driver about 6 inches and still bombs it just about as long as anyone on Tour not named Bubba Watson. Very, very impressive young player.

Martin Kaymer – Not a widely known player in the U.S. but has been receiving rave reviews from some pretty high profile players recently. Both Ernie Els and Gary Player have projected great things from the 24 year old German and let’s just say he is officially on my radar. A future Masters champion? Not out of the question.

Brandt Snedeker – I know he already gained experience at this year’s Masters but I still think his game needs a lot of work before he is going to consistently contend on the PGA Tour. Brandt sprays the ball all over the course and has been getting by with his putter and raw talent in the past year and a half. I’d like to see him have a great career but it concerns me that he is not huge off the tee like a lot of the other young guns. Maybe I am biased, but I like my young guns to be long. Wow, that sounded pretty awkward. Let’s just move on.

Sean O’Hair – Great looking swing and having another strong season. Unfortunately, he has been putting atrociously for a few months now and is pretty much a lesser version of Sergio Garcia at this point. Since O’Hair, Garcia and Kenny Perry are all sponsored by Taylor Made and Adidas, doesn’t that mean that Perry has to come down with a violent case of the yips soon? Please? We might have to check into this theory in about six months. Maybe those Clima-Cool shirts Adidas has been selling can hurt your putting stroke.

J.B. Holmes – Love John Holmes’ big drives but more importantly I love the black golf glove! My good friend Stan Ferger was the first to profess his love for the black golf glove and I am seconding his much respected opinion. J.B. is still pretty raw but if he keeps improving he could turn out to be everything John Daly never was. Please keep the Oreos and Jim Beam away from this man. Thanks.

Guys I’ve heard of but won’t bore you with a full paragraph

In the spirit of the category let’s keep this brief.

Ryuji Imada

David Howell

Robert Karlsson

Lucas Glover

Soren Hansen

Niclas Fasth

Tim Clark

Robert Allenby

Bart Bryant

Rod Pampling

Craig Parry

Stephen Ames – Mr. Ed!

Scott Verplank

Alex Cejka

Kevin Stadler – I’ll bet you $100 that a commentator makes the obligatory “He doesn’t look anything like his father!” joke this week. I’ll even bet you that it’s Tirico who does it.

Jean Van De Velde – Would be a great story.

Matt Kuchar

Rich Beem – Bud, Sweat and Tears is a great book.

Scott Mccarron

John Rollins

Paul Casey

Boo Weekley – Probably the most interesting player on this list besides Beemer but I try to limit my association with people named Boo. I had to stop reading To Kill a Mockingbird for this very reason.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….Might want to get the bookie on the line

Nick O’Hern – Make no mistake about the order that these picks are in. I have listed Nick O’Hern at the top of this list because I believe he has a very real chance to win the golf tournament this week. The southpaw has been playing great golf of late and do not be surprised if you see him on top of the board sometime on Sunday. If you saw O’Hern on the golf course you would not believe that he is one of the best players in the world. He is exactly that. Very sneaky with his game and I really like his chances. His game reminds me a lot of my good friend Jared Henry’s. Also a left hander on the golf course, Jared lost some pretty substantial money on Big Brown at the Belmont this year and I would love nothing more than to see him recoup some of those losses on an O’Hern win. This pick was particularly for him so keep an eye out.

Jeff Quinney – Another guy who has been playing lights out in 2008 is Jeff Quinney. He is more of an athletic player (if that makes any sense) that I think is very clutch. If he doesn’t come home with the jug I would argue that Captain Azinger has got to include him on the 2008 Ryder Cup team. Gutsy player and seems like he would be a great teammate.

Woody Austin – The Volcano has picked up right where he left off in 2007 and appears to have the game to win a major. The only problem is his terrible propensity to choke his guts out down the stretch. Just a couple of weeks ago, Woody bogeyed the last 2 holes at the Traveler’s Championship and his face turned a shade of purple that hasn’t even been discovered yet. Awkward moment and I think everyone was fearful for his caddy’s life. Hence the nickname, The Volcano. Gotta love Woody though and I think he’ll be in the top 10, if not 5. Is anyone else disappointed that he has taken on the new nickname “Aqua Man” after his nose dive into a lake at the President’s Cup last year? Admittedly, it was a hilarious event but “The Volcano” has got to be one of the best nicknames of all time. Allow me to be the first to attempt to bring it back.

Miguel Angel Jimenez – This is the last time I include “The Mechanic” in my sleeper picks if he doesn’t do some damage this week. He has to step up this year or else he is officially off of my list of sleepers forever.

Andres Romero – Briefly morphed into Vinny “The Microwave” Johnson in last year’s Open with 10 birdies (!!!!) on Sunday to finish 3rd in the Open. I can’t see him doing that again this year but he did come in 8th in the 2006 Open as well. Could he be a British Open specialist? We shall see.

Hunter Mahan – When I was first introduced to Hunter Mahan, the first thing that came to my mind was “douche bag”. He had the wrap around shades, orange shoes, soul patch, and gigantic belt buckle look going and I just couldn’t get myself to like the guy. But lately I have been feeling a Duval-esque connection with Hunter and I really like his swing. He is currently leading the tour in Greens in Regulation and it is no surprise when you look at how he swings the golf club. Great looking young player and certainly has the talent to win a major right now.

We’ll be seeing you on Sunday

Justin Leonard – A name flying under the radar! I like his chances and he has been playing well. I really like him in British Opens because the courses are not lengthened to 7,500 yards as the American majors have grown fond of doing.

Geoff Ogilvy – This guy has the demeanor to win 4 majors. I watched his entire Thursday round at Torrey Pines and it was a thing of beauty. Just an easy going style of play and appears to be a pretty clutch player. It’s been almost 2 and a half years since he won the U.S. Open at Winged Foot and I’m a little disappointed he hasn’t won another major since then. He’s got a young family so maybe golf isn’t his top priority these days. Still has a great shot this week.

Steve Stricker – Well it’s that time of year again. Hot dogs are on the grill, baseball is in full swing and, yup, Steve Stricker is warming up his golf game. Stricker is probably the most popular player amongst his peers on tour (with apologies to Jerry Kelly) and always seems to turn it on in the late summer months. He doesn’t hit the ball exceptionally long but this guy can make a ton of putts when he gets going. I would argue that he has wrestled away the crown of “best putter on tour” from Brad Faxon, who held the crown for about 15 seasons. Well done, Strick, and we will be rooting for you.

Luke Donald – I know, I know. This is the kind of pick that is popular in the fraternity houses where no one knows anything about golf and everyone gets a chubby because they can scream LOOOOOOOOOOOKE all weekend long (no, they’re not booing). But I actually like Luke for the same reason I like Justin Leonard this week. Birkdale is going to be playing a rather pedestrian 7,180 yards and that opens the door for a lot of the shorter hitters to play well. So put your pastel Lacoste shirt on, flip your collar, and start tossing the football out in the front lawn with your bros and let’s get all fratty up in this preview.

(Editor's Note: Luke Donald is injured and out of the British Open)

Fredrik Jacobson – Hey let’s add a little spice to this preview, shall we? Fredrik is one of the most colorful players on tour and thank god he is here this week because this tournament is going to feel like a Hooters Tour event with Tiger not participating. Jacobson (pronounced Yock-obson) has been playing great recently and I think he’ll introduce himself to the world with a flourish on Friday and Saturday before a colossal Sunday meltdown that would make Thomas Bjorn blush. Look for him in the top 7 when the smoke has cleared.

Will be disappointed with anything but the Claret Jug

Phil Mickelson – Been a strange year for Skinny Phil. Yeah, he’s second in the FedEx Cup standings but you get the feeling that he is just not comfortable with the Butch Harmon swing changes yet. My theory is that Phil is the most stubborn guy on the PGA Tour and no matter how good his swing doctor is he’s always going to do Phil-type things. So, instead of waiting around for Phil to become as consistent as Tiger in the majors, I’m just going to start becoming comfortable with the fact that he is going to win 1 major every 3 years or so. For the record, I’m eagerly anticipating an Alex Rodriguez-type infidelity scandal involving Phil in the coming years.

Ernie Els – It appears to be another year of wasted talent for the Big Ern as he just can’t to seem to get back to his 2000 form. I can’t really criticize the guy though because he has been working on his game. It just appears that he is working on the wrong things. I’m not expecting much from him this week (although he was a little feisty at the U.S. Open).

Vijay Singh – My favorite player of all time is heating up at the right moment and I think he’s got to be in your top 10. Quietly pieced together 4 sub-70 rounds at the Traveler’s. Could the curious decision to change his swing at 45 years old be paying dividends? We shall see. Although his swing has been tweaked, Vijay (which means “Victory” in Hindi) still is the slowest walker in the history of the game and frequently stays on the putting green to talk to his caddy for about 10 minutes after he holes out. I’m sure the groups playing behind him have great things to say about the Big Fijian. As always, I love Vijay’s chances this week.

Padraig Harrington – Padraig has been relatively quiet since his triumph at last year’s British Open but you know Paddy will have his game firing on all cylinders at Birkdale. Let’s hope his cousin, former Oregon Ducks legend Joey Harrington, is not lurking in the grandstands authoring poetry and longing for the touch of a woman’s cheek. Gotta have the defending champion in your top 10.

4th, 3rd and 2nd Place (In that order)

Ian Poulter – Ian is best known for his interesting wardrobe but the guy has a ton of game to go with his ridiculous threads. I once watched him hit a 185 yard low hook from the trees that must have curved about 40 yards before landing about 2 feet from the hole. Talented player and has all the shots to win the British Open.

Henrik Stenson – I famously professed my love for Henrik’s game in this year’s Masters Preview (authored by fellow golf enthusiast, Stan Ferger) and my position remains the same. This guy is going to be a superstar in the game of golf and I will remain on his bandwagon until they throw me off. How can you not love a guy that has Nick Faldo’s old caddy, Fannie, on the bag? How can you not love a guy who’s a little salty with the media? The guy has got big time game and I think he’s going to win a ton of golf tournaments. But is it his time? No.

Stewart Cink – Did you know that Stewart Cink is the 5th best golfer in the world right now? Did you know that he is leading the PGA tour in top 10’s this season and is 5th in scoring? Stew has been nothing short of outstanding this year and I think he is ready to contend in a major. For those of you that don’t remember, Stew did his best Scott Hoch impression at the 2001 U.S. Open at Southern Hills and might as well have been using a hockey stick for a putter for the next 3 to 4 season. Stew has gone to everyone’s best friend, the belly putter, and now he’s improved his short game from atrocious to adequate. Whatever works. He’ll be right there on Sunday but you can bet that his putting stroke will be VERY shaky.

The Champion Golfer of the Year

Lee Westwood – Pretty popular pick here because of Lee’s rock solid performance during the weekend at Torrey Pines. If I was making the pick for that reason I would say that I’m an idiot and I shouldn’t have written a 5,300 word British Open preview. No, I’m picking Mr. Westwood because he has been one of the best players in the world for the last 2 years. He’s just not as well known because he chooses not to play on the PGA Tour full time. It’s a shame because he is pretty much a rich man’s Darren Clarke. As it seems to be every two years, Westwood’s talent will again be on display at the 2008 Ryder Cup. I shudder at the thought of Captain Paul sending Phil Mickelson to play Westwood in the match play. If that is the scenario, I will calmly lay the keys of my 2006 Hyundai Sonata on the table and slide it to my bookie as collateral for a Westwood win. The British Open is a different kind of tournament and Lee knows how to play these types of courses all too well. It will be pandemonium in the streets of London as the Englishman hoists the jug and celebrates his first (of many) major victories.


Enjoy the tournament!