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When does the PGA Tour start to matter?  It certainly isn’t happening yet.  The best players are jet-setting around the world playing events where they are paid to just show up, leaving the domestic tour to be decided by the likes of Bill Haas and Ryan Palmer.  Nice players, close to their prime playing years and maybe even future stars.  Not compelling in any way, however.  The PGA Tour needs someone to step up.  I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Is it that Tiger isn’t around?  No.  He wouldn’t have been playing any of the events that have happened while on his self-imposed hiatus, anyway.  The game needs its marginal superstars to make the leap.  It needs guys to prove that they can win more than a single Major, nice though that is.  The Tour would be a better place if Y.E. Yang became a guy who won regularly.  It would be  better if Sergio Garcia won a major and used that as a springboard to more consistent performance.  The Tour needs its stalwarts to come out and win tournaments – I’m looking at you, Jim Furyk and Ernie Els.

Or it needs the Bill Haases and the Ryan Palmers of the world to step in and become what those guys aren’t anymore.  Stars.  Golf seems like it is entering a stage much like the mid 1980s, Golden Bear charging at Augusta excepted.  There is no one willing or able to step up and be the man when the guy who is the man isn’t around.

Another problem is that the Tour is a minor circuit right now, with the aftorementioned jet-setting stars setting up shop in Europe (Asia) for a couple of weeks.  No one can blame them; they get appearance fees.  Which is my point.  Start letting the tournaments pay players to show up.  I wouldn’t suggest that they allow the exorbitant fees that the Sheiks of the world can pay, but maybe something just for showing up is in order.  MLB players get paid if they play or not.  Hell, they get paid when they are hurt!  Golfers get nothing if they aren’t in an event.  So create some incentive for guys to set up their schedule to include your event.  Many sponsors would be happy to shell out some of their money to ensure that they get some top names to help build up their event.  And the more events top players enter, the more they will win.

Some will say that this will hurt the rank and file PGA members, that they won’t have the opportunity to fill these events and make a paycheck.  To which I say:  get better.  Become a player that sponsors will want to pay just to show up.  The bottom line is dollars.  A sponsor will pay money up front if it will mean more money on the back end.  The more events Phil and Ernie and yes, Tiger, play, the better exposure for the Tour.

Tiger drove a lot of purses up when he made golf front-page news (not the kind of front page news he’s created in the past three months, mind you).  All the players have benefited from that.  Now, let the sponsors do what they can to make their event relevant.  If that means paying people just to show up, so be it.  It would also mean more eyeballs on the television and more people in the galleries.   Sponsors and Tour can agree that is a good thing.

Not the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team, contrary to local opinion.

Losses happen.  Sports is a zero-sum game.  One team celebrates, one team hangs it head.  People say you learn a lot more from a loss than from a win.  Who says that?  Losers.  And you know what?  The University of Kentucky men’s basketball team must have been geniuses under the direction of Billy Gillispie.  What else were they?  Losers!

Call me spoiled, but  I’m not arrogant enough to think that this year’s team will go undefeated.  There are many potential stumbling blocks on the schedule, and with the #1 ranking comes an even bigger target than the interlocking “U” and “K” logo brings.  I get that.  I welcome that.  The players welcome that.  That said, is there any reason to ‘need’ to lose?  The point is to win.  To go out and try as hard as you can every single night to win the ball game.  No team needs to lose, nor should a coach want a loss to ‘refocus’ a team.  If your team needs to lose to refocus, then you are not doing your job as a teacher and a motivator.

In hindsight, coaches can say that a loss did help.  Fine, but they didn’t feel that way when the clock read :00 with their team behind on the scoreboard.

As a fan, I don’t need to see my team lose;  I’ve seen enough of that in the past seasons to want any more, thank you very much.  John Calipari gets that and he welcomes those expectations.  He understands that the fans of this team need victories the way most fans need air.  We’re a damned proud bunch – but that’s what fans should expect!  Why cheer for a team if you don’t want them to win EVERY SINGLE TIME THEY STEP ON THE COURT?

At some point, there will be a loss or (gasp) losses, but to say a team needs one is absurd.

You can say a lot bad about the man, but Al Davis got one thing right.  Just win, baby.

Calling out the media for its coverage of his ongoing legal case.  Shut up, you big baby.  It’s Kentucky, and we care a hell of a lot more about basketball than we do about the economy or Ted Kennedy.

This is a Florida preview.    And why does the SEC get two previews, one for each side?  Oh wait, new media contract.  Right.  Is anyone else annoyed by how this is clearly going to play out?  One team gets all the press, all the buzz because their coach is the hottest thing around and all the buzz because they go two deep at every position and have some hotshot young kids and blah blah blah.  Cause if that is how things are going to shake out, I’ve had it with ESPN’s coverage of the SEC.

At least until basketball season.

No team wants to hear that one of its central defenders and captain will miss a month.  No team wants to hear that on the heels of a bad loss in midweek.  No team wants to hear that as the transfer window nears its close.  No team wants to hear that when the roster is already in a state of, if not flux, then definitely uncertainty.

Yet that is what Alex Ferguson and Manchester United have to deal with not that it is clear that Rio Ferdinand will miss at least a month of the season.  I am of the opinion that Nemanja Vidic is a better central defender than Rio, but that the whole of that pairing is far in excess of the sum of the two parts.  Both have had sparkling moments individually but it would be hard to argue that either has played their best without the other at their side.

Add in a missing superstar, an injured first choice keeper, and a general roster turnover and you have all the makings of a sub-par season, as evidenced by the early season loss to just-promoted  Burnley. That’s where the test begins for the Red Devils and their manager.

Replacing all of Ronaldo’s goals is possible, but not in the form of a single player.  Finding an adequate replacement to allow Wayne Rooney and Dmitar Berbatov to pick up some of that slack is crucial.  Finding a midfield that can work together after several years of watching the ball die at Ronaldo’s feet (for all of his ability, he suffers from an annoying penchant to never re-distribute in the attacking third if there is any hope of creating space for himself) and also that suffers from the aging legs of former stalwarts Ryan Giggs and (the completely useless) Paul Scholes is paramount.  Finding a right back who can be a consistent replacement for the once great Gary Neville is another problematic spot, but not a new one.

It’s not time to hit the panic button just yet, mind you.   Gone are the days when Manchester United got players just because they were Manchester United or because they had the deepest pockets.  Cross-town and cross-continent rivals have stepped their games up.   It will be interesting to see how Sir Alex faces up to one of the toughest man-management and tactical challenges he has faced in some time.   What will be determined in the next few league games is whether this is a rebuilding year or if it is simply a re-configuring year for the Champions.

but not as much as Brian Gay!

…then we cannot be friends.  That’s a shot of the 10th and 16th holes at Hazeltine, host of this week’s PGA Championship.

Here is a link to a cool photo blog from early practice rounds.

Here is a link to Jason Sobel’s practice live blog.

If you need me,  I’ll be coming up with excuses for playing hooky the rest of the week.

Swamp resident journalist Brontoburglar stays true to his word and hits us up with some NASCAR noise…

With the Big Three automakers groveling at the feet of Congress, I admit that the fate of NASCAR popped into my head when thinking about the proposed bailout. But I also must admit that I think about NASCAR over 100 times a day. So if you didn’t think about it, don’t feel bad. I’m weird.

The future of the Big Three does have an impact on NASCAR. That impact, though, comes mainly off the racetrack.

Yes, it’s true that Jimmie Johnson, the back-to-back-to-back Sprint Cup Champion, drives Chevrolets. But as much as Chris Shays is a RINO at a gathering of the Alabama Republicans Club, Johnson’s car is a CINO. The Impala that Jimmie drives isn’t even close to the Impala that you can buy at your friendly, bankrupt, dying-to-sell-you-a-car Chevrolet dealer. In fact, it’s no different than the Toyota Camry that Kyle Busch drives, except for that ungodly symbol that is the Toyota logo on the front of Busch’s car.

Sacrilege? Hardly.

NASCAR’s attempt to level the playing field by introducing matching body styles is a blessing in disguise if the Big Three were to go under. And since each team builds their cars in house, or buys their cars from someone who builds them in house, the automakers’ influence is fairly limited outside of cash flow. Yes, no cash is certainly a problem, but it’s not a crippling problem. Testing would simply cease, like it has now, and research and development would have to be much more calculated and precise. The kinks in the new car would still need to be figured out, but to most fans, if not all of them, the racing on the track wouldn’t be much different.

Most fans would notice the conspicuous absence of the big three’s advertising dollars. But don’t worry, NASCAR as an entity is on pretty solid footing. They have more than enough money to run the sport on their own in the short term. Much like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons, they don’t want to use their own money, using their tried and true theory that “the sport is bigger than the drivers.” Very true, which is why the sport isn’t going anywhere.

This is the first in what we hope will be many Swamp-user submitted posts. This is from papaduff, who in his spare time enjoys playing in corn mazes with Lou Ferrigno.

As I was flipping through the channels last night, I stopped on ESPN looking for a game. What was I thinking? There was no sporting event, just the Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards at Disney’s BoardWalk at the Walt Disney Resort. For one thing that name is much too long. And for another, does anyone really watch this drivel? I love watching college football, but this is way over the top.

In the brief time that I watched, I got to listen to Kirk Herbstreit chatting about who would win a chess match between Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford. Sam gave that one to Tim. The Tebows don’t have much else to do on their trips around the world, apparently.

The excitement as I waited through commercial break to find out who would win the Frank Broyles Award was gripping. And how can someone win the Chuck Bednarik Award (USC’s Rey Maualuga) and not the Bronco Nagurski Trophy (Brian Orakpo, Texas)? Both are awarded to the most outstanding defensive player. Of course, from what I heard while watching Florida vs. Alabama last Saturday, it should have been Tebow, as he was constantly compared to Nagurski.

Here’s hoping they show the SOAPIES next year.

OK, so that’s overstating it a bit, but for those guys on the PGA Tour trying to lock up cards for next year, there is a lot at stake in the Fall Series. And, by and large, they’ve been doing what they need to do. Five of the past six events were won by players outside the #125 spot on the money list. The Top 125 retain full privileges for next season. The sixth event was won by Zach Johnson, who was #125 on the number when he won, though he was also already exempt owing to his Masters win.

The latest winner was Ryan Palmer, who last won in 2004. Palmer overcame a self-imposed penalty on the 10th hole, and a double-bogey on the 11th to win the Ginn Sur Mer Classic.

Also of note was that David Duval continues his upward climb back to decency. He made his fifth cut in his last ten starts, which , surprisingly for a Major Champion, is an improvement. Duval probably won’t ever contend for Majors again, but if he can make it back to the Tour and find himself on the leaderboard a few times bfore calling it quits, it will be a great story.