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01/23/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's amazing the things we choose to care about.
Hank Haney, the famed former swing coach for Tiger Woods, is writing a book titled "The Big Miss." It's about Haney's years coaching Woods and Haney's said numerous times that this will not be some tell-all scandal rag.
But Woods isn't satisfied.
"I think it's unprofessional and very disappointing," Woods told ESPN.com in a telephone interview, "especially because it's someone I worked with and trusted as a friend. There have been other one-sided books about me, and I think people understand that this book is about money. I'm not going to waste my time reading it."
Those are some harsh words from Tiger, but they aren't appropriate.
There is a murky area about whether it's bad form to write a book about people you worked with, or for. Some pros probably won't use Haney after this, but to my knowledge, he isn't really coaching much these days.
Clearly, Woods has never liked when employees talk out of school about him, but Haney is no longer an employee, so, per the First Amendment, a book seems like fair game.
"I was a witness to greatness," Haney said "to the AP last Thursday. "And I get asked the question all the time about Tiger. I wanted to talk about it and I wanted to share it with people. That's the bottom line."
Haney has been clear that there won't be any stories of tawdriness. Haney said when Woods' 2009 car accident revealed about 10 inappropriate transgressions, he had no knowledge of the behavior.
What is Woods so afraid of then? Haney isn't a terribly controversial guy. After following him on twitter for a year, the most controversial stance I've witnessed is he advocates Five Guys burgers over others.
What if this book just lauds Woods' work ethic and ability? Tiger hasn't even read the thing yet and he's condemning, which, by the way, will boost sales more than any Haney appearance on "The Daily Show."
"I'm not sure I understand the unprofessionalism part," Haney told the AP. "He hasn't read the book. There's a lot of positives in there. I think he's the greatest golfer who ever lived.
"I was just in a position to observe greatness and anyone who observes greatness likes to share it. I feel like I wrote a book that was fair and honest. It's golf history."
Woods has no interest in people around him writing or saying anything about him. That's a tad naive, although, when I interviewed Jimmy Roberts a few years back about a book he was doing, he said that he approached Woods, who turned Roberts down because he had his own book deal going he had yet to complete.
So maybe Woods doesn't want anyone spilling beans before he does.
The fact is this: Woods has no standing to complain about someone writing an accurate depiction of him. If he felt that strongly, maybe he should've had a confidentiality arrangement in his deal with Haney that prevented this in the event their relationship ended.
Haney will come off poorly if he tells tales of witnessing a woman sneak in Tiger's mansion through a side door. However, if Woods didn't want people writing books about his behavior, he should've considered not behaving that way.
Woods has much more important things to worry about, like his golf game. He starts his year in Abu Dhabi this week, then Pebble a little later where the possibility exists his amateur partner, Tony Romo, might shoot lower than him.
Instead, he sounds like a bitter guy with something to hide.
Yes, Haney is trying to make money. He doesn't make royalties on those Five Guys tweets. That's the American way. Hank should thank Tiger for the stories, the years of service, the talk show, the notoriety and now 50,000 more copies of "The Big Miss."
RANDOM THOUGHTS
- If you're a tournament official and your event is struggling, bring in a former President of the United States. President Clinton helped make the Humana Challenge, formerly the Bob Hope, somewhat relevant again. Any Democrat President who can get male, professional golfers to play in an event he's running is a masters salesman. PGA Tour golfers would rather vote for a water buffalo than a Democrat.
- Mark Wilson is underrated, yes. Five tour wins is a decent number in the Tiger Woods era, but winning after the Masters would help. All five of his wins came early on in seasons.
- Imagine playing two of your idols in a playoff, then beating them. That's what happened to Branden Grace when he knocked off Ernie Els and Retief Goosen at the Volvo Golf Champions event. It was his second win in a row and with two wins in three events, I'd vote for him right now for European Tour Player of the Year.
- Movie moment - "50 First Dates" is where Drew Barrymore has some rare form of amnesia where she re-lives the same day over and over. She marries Adam Sandler and they have a baby while he does science on a boat near Alaska. What doctor lets her have a baby? She doesn't know she's pregnant every morning, so what if she wakes up and feels like having a Bloody Mary? She doesn't know. Bad fake medical work.
<< Stampeders cut ties with franchise rushing leader Reynolds
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Unable to find a trading partner, the Calgary
Stampeders have released running back Joffrey Reynolds.
The 32-year-old Reynolds played eight seasons with the Stampeders and became
the franchise's all-time
<< Van Buyten sidelined by broken foot
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich defender Daniel Van Buyten is
facing a spell on the sidelines after it was confirmed that he sustained a
metatarsal fracture in his left foot.
Van Buyten suffered the injury in Friday's 3
<< Marseille loses Mbia to thigh injury
Marseille, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marseille is set to be without defender
Stephane Mbia for the next two or three weeks after he sustained a thigh
injury in the club's 3-1 Coupe de France win over Le Havre.
Mbia was forced out o
<< Stars lock up D Goligoski with four-year extension
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Stars on Monday signed defenseman
Alex Goligoski to a four-year contract extension worth $18.4 million.
Goligoski was set to be a restricted free agent at the end of this season.
"Alex Goligosk
United's Jones out with ankle injury >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United defender Phil Jones
is likely to spend the next few weeks on the sidelines after damaging ankle
ligaments in his team's 2-1 win over Arsenal on Sunday.
Jones landed awkwardly on t
Malkin, Hartnell, Nabokov named NHL's 'Three Stars' >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin,
Philadelphia Flyers winger Scott Hartnell and New York Islanders goaltender
Evgeni Nabokov have been named the NHL's 'Three Stars' for the week ending
January
Kentucky returns to top spot in men's hoops poll >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kentucky is back at the top of the Associated
Press men's college basketball poll.
It's the second time the Wildcats have ascended to the No. 1 spot this season.
They had a two-week stay as the top-ranked
Irony abound on Championship Sunday >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco 49ers had been living off
turnovers and stellar special teams play all throughout their tremendous 2011
season. Tom Brady had been bailing out a condemned New England Patriots defense
time a
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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