Brett Being Brett

August 12, 2010

Looking back at what I wrote last week about Brett Favre retiring from football, I have to wonder how many readers believed the reports were for real.

A minority I am sure. Which means the majority is correct. Favre has not actually retired. He just made his annual retirement statement to someone who told someone else which led media outlets to announce that Favre has decided to call it quits. That was last Tuesday. By the day Focus came out, Favre came down off of his alleged statement and said he has yet to make a final decision.

What he got was another day or two of intense media coverage glorifying his career. You have to believe he likes all the attention, given the amount of times he has retired. After watching and hearing all the accolades for a day or so, he made a statement that a decision has not been made.

The saga continues. August has always been a month of re-runs.

Tiger’s Game Hits Rock Bottom

Fifteen years into an utterlay amazing professional career, truly for the first time Tiger Woods’ game is at a crossroads. Less than a short year ago, one would never think of seeing the words Tiger Woods and comeback in the same sentence or conversation.

Rock bottom, or at least Tiger hopes rock bottom, was reached last weekend in Ohio where he finished 79th out of 80 players, 30 shots behind the eventual winner. Those two numbers alone are figures Tiger has never seen. Numerous media members are commenting that it’s looking increasingly doubtful that Woods ever will again be the player he once was.

Woods has gone from being humbled off the golf course to humiliated on the course. Or is it the other way around. Humbled on the golf course and humiliated off of it.

Many fans of the game have been tough on Woods. He often treated people badly, proved to be a false idol and betrayed his wife and kids.

Still, it never occurred to me that his one remaining source of refuge, the golf course, would turn into a mess. Woods looked lost last weekend when he stumbled around Firestone Country Club with a career-worst, second-to-last finish.

Photo: Tiger Woods

Woods clearly has fallen. There has never been more doubt about whether, or to what degree, he’ll get up. I will never condone what he did to his wife and kids, nor will I ever look at him the same way personally. But I do feel he will dominate the tour again in the near future. This guy is not a year removed from the world blowing up in his face.

The further away from this sex scandal we get, the closer Tiger will be to regaining the form that made him the most dominate player in his sport. The only thing that can fix Tiger is time. Time heals and he is too talented not to work his way back. Tiger will use talk of his demise as motivation.

College Coaches On The Hotseat

College football starts in a few weeks and there will be a great deal of attention on some high-profile coaches who may find themselves out of work by the end of the year.

My personal list starts in my homestate of Michigan where Rich Rodriguez has yet to find any success. About the only thing found in Ann Arbor these days is NCAA investigators. In the past, NCAA investigators have not needed to visit the Michigan football program. Not until Rodriguez arrived. And the guy is not winning games.

Next stop on my list is in the ACC. I have got to believe Ralph Friedgen is on thin ice. The Terps finished 2-10 last year in a weak ACC. Friedgen likely will have to make it to a bowl game this year to even think about keeping his job. Maryland has numerous players with experience coming back so making a bowl shouldn’t be hard.

LSU fans are starting to put pressure on Les Miles even though he is just a few years removed from a national title. People in Baton Rouge are quick to point out that Miles did that with Nick Saban’s recruits. If the Tigers lose an early season encounter to North Carolina, look out Les.

Photo: Ralph Friedgen

Honorable mention goes out to Mark Richt at Georgia and Dan Hawkins at Colorado. Georgia seems to be digressing on a yearly basis and Colorado has not seen any success since Hawkins arrived from Boise State a few years ago.

Guillen Speaks Out

The never shy and very outspoken manager of the Chicago White Sox, Ozzie Guillen, broached a subject last week that most never even thought of. Guillen asserted that Latino players are treated unfairly compared to Asian players and are not given the same privileges that Asian players are given.

In his latest tirade, Guillen says that he is the “only one” in baseball teaching the players in Latin American countries not to use performance enhancing drugs. He also spoke of believing that Latinos are treated unfairly because while Japanese players are assigned translators, as is the case with Hideki Matsui and others, Latino players do not get opportunities to have translators.

At first, I started to go along with Guillen. Then I put some more thought into it. If Latino players were treated unfairly, why are there so many in baseball today? With all the multiple Latin players on every MLB team, a translator isn’t necessary because they can all talk to each other and another player can translate for them. And the way salaries are today, players can hire there own translator if necessary.