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I wish you well Phil, but I know you are just gonna break my heart

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I guess it isn't "in vogue" to hate on Lefty these days.  His "sweet as pie" wife and his mother are both going through the the hell that is cancer and he won a very emo Masters some four months ago.  What's not to like about this guy?  He is super long off the tee, he has imagination around the greens like a m-fer and he seems like an all around groovy guy - someone you'd love to watch a game and have a chicken sandwich with in the clubhouse post-round.  My problem is that I just don't trust the guy to fully execute when he should.  One of the greatest quotes about Jordan is that he "always lived up to the hype", if it was a big time game in a big time setting or if something huge was on the line you could always count on Jordan to go above and beyond what he was supposed to do in that situation and truly bring out the wow factor in doing so.  This used to be the case with Tiger before the whole whores thing.  I want to be clear that I am not taking anything away from Phil and his accomplishments which I readily admit make him one of the games greats, but Jordan and Tiger (pre-whores) wouldnt have dared to pull something like Phil did on number 18 at Winged Foot.  They also wouldn't have pussed out when the #1 in the world ranking was there for the taking as Phillip did last week at Firestone.  Everybody has written Tiger off and there is talk of him not getting the captains pick for the Ryder Cup(which is goddamn ludicrous), but my bet is that his killer instinct will kick in and you will see him, in one way or another, make a statement this week as to why he should be on that team.  If Phil was in the same situation as Tiger is now I wouldnt have the same confidence.

Plus he has man tittays.

Last year Dan Snyder opened up his thick checkbook and dropped a grip of cash - $100mil to be exact - on All-Pro Tennessee D-Lineman Albert Haynesworth and now he's getting paid back by a slow fat guy who is dragging down the franchise at a time when fan optimism should be at a high.

In his first season in DC, Haynesworth's numbers bottomed out while playing in just 12 games, leaving most Skins fans thoroughly underwhelmed with the man who was supposed to be the best defensive player on the planet. After going 4-12 in 2009, this past off-season Snyder made a couple of new major moves (as he seems to do every few years), bringing in former Bronco's coach Mike Shanahan and luring Donovan McNabb from division rival Philadelphia. The coach and the QB bring a load of playoff experience and a pair of Super Bowl rings, plus a level of maturity that it appeared this team needed to make the leap back into relevancy in the NFC East.

Unfortunately, they still had Fat Albert to deal with. Since taking the reins of the team in early January, Shanahan has had to put out countless Haynesworth fires, ranging from threats that he was going to leave the team, to a refusal to play Nose Tackle. After not showing up for camp and alienating a host of his teammates, Albert didn't mind cashing one of Snyder's big checks (basically obligating him to join the squad) - and after a talk with the new coach it seemed like he was back on the right track.

Then he showed up wildly out of shape - which seems like it would be hard to do considering he is "in shape" somewhere around 350 lbs - and has failed to pass a fairly mundane set of conditioning tests that everyone else on the team has completed, and thus kept himself out of practice. Because of the lack of depth on the Skins D-Line, Shanahan may eventually let him practice without having passed the test and his natural ability and size may be good enough to earn him the starting role, but the real losers here are the fans.

This is the time that every football fan should be excited about - the months leading up to a new season where you can forget about last year and start to believe that your team may actually have gotten better and stand a chance. And, who could blame the folks in DC for getting a little stoked, with the addition of McNabb and Shanahan, the team seemed like it was growing up and taking a new direction. Unfortunately for them, however, Charlie Weiss's departure from Notre Dame left a void in the sports media - so now all the news that Skins fans get to read about seems is another discontent, overpaid fat guy ruining it for their team.

Since Roger Goodell took over the reigns at the NFL he has attempted to clean up its bad-boy image by instilling a very tough line of punishment to dissuade its players from partaking in questionable off-the-field activities. Yet, somehow, that hasn't stopped trouble from finding a slew of the League's biggest stars this off-season.

First it was Ben Roethlisberger's much publicized Georgia bathroom incident where he allegedly sexually assaulted a college co-ed. Just as that incident seemed to finally come to a close, with Big Ben catching a hefty suspension, came some great footage of Vince Young throwing hay-makers in the back room at a strip club. That was followed up by the always dangerous Michael Vick being back on top of the news after one of his old dog-fighting cronies was shot at Vick's own birthday party (although supposedly #7 was no longer there). And, now, as if he was feeling somewhat left out, recurring trouble maker Cedric Benson has been charged with assault in Texas after a bar brawl in his former college home of Austin.

Add on to that the ridiculously awful story of former NFL great Lawrence Taylor, who has been accused this summer of basically violently raping an underage sex slave, and the rarely talked about police investigation into the claim that NFL good-guy Marvin Harrison (who still hasn't officially retired) killed a man in Philadelphia, and the commish has got to be really wondering when Ashton Kutcher is going to jump out and tell him he's getting 'Punkd'.

While none of these guys has been proven guilty in a court of law for these specific indiscretions, each of them has clearly made some very bad decisions and decided to associate with people and places that famous multi-millionaires have no business with. You don't ever hear about gunshots being fired at Jake Gyllenhal's birthday dinner or Tobey Maguire smacking around a strip club hostess - so why can't these similarly aged, similarly wealthy, similarly famous football players figure out a way to have fun and enjoy their lives without all of the drama?!

The strange part about this summers various incidents, is that its not a handful of lesser known third stringers getting into beef - these are some of the biggest names in the entire NFL and are guys who are considered the leaders of the most popular franchises. If Goodell's extremely strict disciplinarian record isn't persuading these guys to mind their P's & Q's, then what will?

We're not sure how we would handle this kind of trouble on our squad, but we sure can feel for Goodell as he's got the unenviable job of trying to sort out what appears to be quite a mess.

Kevork Djansezian - Getty Images

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While many people are content to criticize the pairing of Gerrard and Lampard in midfield, it isn’t the problem.  Both Lampard and Gerrard have been at their peaks in the EPL with space to roam and pick up stray clearances with first-class strikers ahead of them. 

When defences are sagging back to defend against the likes of Fernando Torres or Didier Drogba, there is room for Lampard and Gerrard to operate.

Unfortunately, Fabio Capello has chosen Emile Heskey to lead his forward line with Wayne Rooney occupying the hole that either midfielder would step up into.

Heskey is a good player and a useful one, but possession football is best executed with midfielders who can pass and forwards who can drift to places on the pitch where there is space.  Heskey provides a monument for defences to anchor around, leaving them only Rooney to track around the field.

Strikers are meant to score, and create offense, and despite the belief of many, Heskey hasn’t done THAT all season.

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Not since 1987 has a Shark gotten his revenge like this.  But that was on the silver screen and this is on the frozen stage.

"Jumbo" Joe Thornton was shipped out of Boston for his failure to lead the Bruins to the promised land.  And since his arrival in San Jose, he’s been a regular season superstar and a playoff flop, as have the Sharks

With exits early in the playoffs in the last two years, the book on Jumbo has been that he retreats from the spotlight and shrinks when the moment is biggest.

But this year, he has broken out of the playoff purgatory and vanquished his demons…sort of.

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Atlanta Hawks - As I mentioned last week it sure didn't look like the Hawks had much of any interest in making it to the second round, and after the beating they took from the Magic it sure seems like I was right. The Hawks, who are actually a pretty talented team, seemed quite content just sliding past a banged up Bucks squad and literally laid down in what turned out to be an embarrassing sweep. The Magic did look dominant and are probably the hottest team in hoops right now, but could the Hawks have thrown their fans a friggin bone?!

If I had spent $350 to cop some near-courtside tix next to Lil John or Jermaine Dupri for tonight's game 4, I would have honestly considered asking for at least a partial refund on my way out the door. Over the 4 losses this series the Hawks were outscored by 101 points and allowed the Magic's all world center Dwight Howard to miss only 5 shots in the entire series. Since defense in the NBA is really all about effort, it shouldn't be much of a surprise to see the Hawks getting totally abused - because they gave up around May 1 and decided to call it a season.

In all reality their was very little chance the Hawks ever stood in this series, but as a fan of their team I sure would have expected them to actually try to win a game at home just so they could end the season with a decent feeling of hope for next year.

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3 months ago: MONTREAL- MAY 8: Josh Koscheck (top) punches Paul Daley in their welter weight bout at UFC 113 at Bell Centre on May 8, 2010 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)

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It's hard to believe there was a Josh Koscheck fight last night where someone other than Koscheck came out looking like the biggest idiot.

But there was Paul Daley, after being frustrated by Koscheck's dominance of him for most of the fight, throwing a sucker punch that seemed to land at least in part.  Referee Dan Miragliotta put it best as he grabbed Daley around the neck and held him back against the cage, "Are you kidding me?! You're a professional!"

Professional, however, will now be a debatable term, as Dana White absolutely did the right thing after the show in cutting Daley from the organization. In a sport trying to gain a reputation as being anything but a bunch of classless bums brawling, Daley's embarrassing act gave all of those that stand in UFC's way from being sanctioned more ammunition. Luckily, with a trained, dangerous fighter taking a shot at an unprepared Koscheck, the damage wasn't any worse, or so would have been the reaction the company had to deal with.

So as Daley now heads to look for work, Josh Koscheck, fresh off berating the Montreal-crowd, will head to a massive clash with George St. Pierre. With a hero-villain story to be played out on the next season of the Ultimate Fighter, this fight should manage a huge day at the box-office.

Unfortunately, with the filming of the reality show, it will still be a little while until we get to see the GSP-Koscheck clash. In that time, Paul Daley may be able to make his triumphant return to MMA and fight in front of dozens of people in some of the greatest bars within a driving distance of his house. And whenever and where ever that fight is, let's hope they have another referee in the cage big enough to keep Daley in line.

Ben Roethlisberger - After a whole lot of rumors and speculation, the Ocmulgee County, George DA announced today that he would not be pressing charges against Big Ben for the apparently strange sexual activity that went down in "Da Club" with a sorority girl about a month ago. While it must have definitely come as a weight off of the QB's shoulders, the way this has all played out he is still coming across as a "dirt-bag" who was up to no good - and it seems like that label won't be leaving him anytime soon.

To further the point that he is a total idiot, Big Ben broke out one of the worst "undercuts" seen in a decade

As a follow up to the DA's announcement - where they detailed his creepy encounter where he had a bodyguard bring some hammered co-ed to a small bathroom of a sh*t-hole country "club" (and I don't mean the kind where they play golf) so he could get his Tiger on -  Big Ben held a press conference where he basically mumbled out some weak apology to his family and friends and then looked like he was ready to get back to business... and by "business" I mean getting hammered and chasing skirts, because he's got 5 more months before the 2010 NFL season.

Roethlisberger has been a very good - not great - pro QB  since his rookie year and has brought a pair of titles to Pittsburgh. However the Steelers tanked down the stretch last season and, just yesterday, traded away Ben's second favorite WR target Santonio Holmes (who had some recent off-field troubles of his own) to the Jets for just  a 5th round pick. But his handling of this whole situation, coupled with the previous incident in Lake Tahoe, has to have left fans questioning the guy who is the face of their franchise and the leader of their team during what looks to be a very pivotal upcoming season for the beloved organization.