I like this 31 year old, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, but now resides in Las Vegas to get the job done this week at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, Jack Nicklaus’s tournament.  He was in a playoff here last year, and lost out to Hideki Matsuyama on the first playoff hole, the 18th. He’s been close so many times, so I like this young guy, who’s not long, but very accurate with his driver and irons, and is an excellent putter, to get over the hump and capture Jack’s 2015 Memorial Tournament.
The 16th hole is the hardest hole on the course, a par 3 playing anywhere from 200 to 210 over water with bunkers guarding the green. It can be a difficult par. No.18 is a classic, 470 yard par four with bunkers all over the right side which threaten a player’s tee shot and water on the left if a player pulls a Weird Al Yankovic and hurls  it over there. Big green, plenty of dramatics on this hole. Tiger has won here five times, the last time coming in 2013, but I don’t know what to expect from him and I don’t like him to win. Weather looks good on Thursday and Saturday, Friday and Sunday a little questionable at this point, with wind around 10-13 all four days. Golf Channel will have coverage Thursday and Friday from 1:30- 5:30 PM CT/2:30-6:30 PM ET. Golf Channel will also have coverage Saturday and Sundey from 11:30 AM-1:30 PM CT/ 12:30-2:30 PM ET.  CBS will take over Saturday and Sunday from 1:30- 5PM CT/2:30-6 PM ET.

I like guys like Patrick Reed, defending champion Hedeki Matsuyama, Russell Henley and, of course, Jordan Spieth (broken record, but he’s always a factor), to be in the hunt, but I’m going with this young guy to finally get over the hump and capture an important victory on the PGA Tour. He’s a little bit annoying to watch play, but he plays all the time, which I like. I see him winning Jack’s tournament, a tournament that means a lot to the players because it’s Jack’s course and his tournament.

Kevin Na

Stanley Cup Finals

Everybody is picking the Chicago Blackhawks to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in this series, but the Lightning are for real. They beat the New York Rangers in Madison Square Gaaden in game seven of the conference championship series, where the Rangers had come in 7-0 in game sevens on their home ice. They also beat the vaunted Detroit Red Wings in game seven in an earlier round. But the Blackhawks are studs, and if they win this Stanley Cup it will be their third since 2010. They have won it twice in the past five years   in 2010 and in 2013 and their tradition is out the roof good.  I like stud scorers and former Conn Smythe Trophy winners (MVP’s of the league) Jonathan Toews (2010)  and Patrick Kane (2013) to lead the Blackhawks to another Stanley Cup title. Should be a fun series though. Game 1 is tonight at 7 PM CT/8 PM ET on NBC.

Blackhawks in 6

I’m a sports writer. Obviously, I love sports and I love SEC football. But a friend of mine emailed me this morning and wanted me to write about the situation at Penn State, what it means in the more important realm of education versus football. Here are my thoughts.
College football can be deemed to be too important for some more serious-minded people. The Paterno/Sandusky debacle was an example of a football coach, Joe Paterno,  who had way too much control of a university, and, as it turns out, was amoral; he was consumed  with winning football games and it looks like nothing else mattered to him. In 1998, when Paterno first heard about Sandusky showering with a boy and, according to an assistant, molesting the kid, he did nothing. It was proven in court that Sandusky did commit that heinous crime and many more, Paterno responded by first not doing anything about it and then talking to the AD about keeping it under wraps. That’s not only amoral, it’s illegal.

Paterno was not winning as much at the time and this seemed to get in his way. Pretty heinous there. He had so much power at Penn State that whatever he said went. The president and the AD were puppets for Paterno. Rick Reilly of ESPN wrote that he went to Happy Valley in 1998 to write what was going to be a glowing article on Paterno, whom he thought was a saint at the time. A professor called Reilly and said Reilly didn’t know the real Paterno. The professor told Reilly he would let nothing get in the way of winning. Not a thing. He was not a moral person according  to the professor. He basically said to Reilly that Paterno was a bad guy. Reilly blew it off at the time  thinking it was just  sour grapes from a professor who was highly envious of Paterno’s success. But the professor was right as it turns out. They are a lot of the time. They’re smart people and a lot of them are quality, highly ethical people.

Paterno did not have ethics or a moral compass as it turned out and let this sociopath go on and destroy many young boys’ lives. The Paterno legacy is destroyed. There is nothing good to say about him. Former Penn State players and people in Pennsylvania may defend him but there is no defense for this despicable act, by Paterno and that animal Sandusky. Paterno was culpable in letting this pig destroy lives. Sandusky should get life in prison. I’m from the old school. I would just hang him. I know that doesn’t work today in this all too forgiving, give’em a third, fourth or fifth chance society, but that might be a little better deterrent than just giving the guy life. Well, he may be killed in jail anyway. He’s going to suffer, especially when Judgment Day arrives. He’s not going upstairs. He’s going to be in a bad place for eternity. That’s for sure. He deserves every bit of retribution that he will get.

This speaks to the importance of college football and education. I love college football; I really do. But these blasphemous incidents make you take a step back and say “Wait a minute, this is out of control. College sports needs to be put on the back burner a little bit. This is way more important than sports.”

It’s a very serious matter. There are some incredibly talented and hard working teachers and professors out there who work their backsides off to educate kids and help them become the best people they can be. They deserve a lot of recognition and they deserve to be compensated better.  I was up at Washington and Lee with my daughter in June and we talked to the kindest, most helpful professor. He was incredible. We asked him where the bookstore was and he couldn’t have been more helpful telling us to look at the student lounges and see what we thought. Seemed to love what he does and loved the school. There are a lot of dedicated teachers out there who deserve a lot more credit than coaches who are just about winning. Their value should be more recognized. We always need to start keeping college sports in more of a perspective. It’s a great release. It is for millions and million of people. But perspective is something that we always need to have when balancing the importance of athletics/football  to that of life. Athletics are important, but life is much more important. The well being of people is so much more important than wins and losses on the football field. We need to keep that in mind. The Penn State tragedy brought that to the forefront. Human beings come first. Football is entertainment. It’s not nearly as important. It just isn’t. Joe Paterno had too much power. He abused it and ruined kids’ lives. He will be remembered for that and nothing else that he accomplished on the football field. Time will not heal the feelings for Paterno. He ruined people’s lives and he deserves every bit of castigation as he is getting and he will get. He turned out to be an amoral guy, who let this pathetically abhorrent behavior by one of his former assistants goes on. There is no defense for him. He was an animal. He will be remembered forever in infamy.

Sometimes we need to tone it down with our obsession with football. It’s just not as important as family, belief in God, education and work. It should never be close to that level. It’s a game. I’ll keep reporting on it because I hope you enjoy the columns I write and I know I love writing about it. It’s what I do. But it’s not life. Never will be. We need to keep the importance of the game in perspective. It’s just a game. It’s fun, a lot of fun. But it’s entertainment. School teachers, professors, doctors, nurses and ministers are a lot more important to people in the grand scheme of life. Those professions should be where our heroes are. It’s a lot of fun to watch a guy run 85 yards for a touchdown, but how important is that compared to a doctor saving a man or woman’s life, or delivering a baby, or a teacher spending time after school tutoring a struggling student who wants to excel, and needs all the tutoring and emotional support he or she can get? That’s life. That’s real.

Football is entertainment. Living a good, decent life is a lot more important. The Joe Paterno/ Jerry Sandusky tragedy should remind us of that. Their peons and should be treated as such. They destroyed lives and there is nothing worse than that. They deserve all the infamy that they will get.

What a tourney. Tom Lehman was so solid throughout the four rounds shooting 69,69, 68, 68–good for -14– to capture his second Regions Tradition title in a row, the second major on the Champions Tour. What an event Shoal Creek put on. That was a lot of hard work and terrific effort by head pro Eric Williamson and his staff. They deserve a lot of credit for their diligent and successful efforts. Didn’t see any announced attendance figures, but Gene Hallman, who headed up the promotion of the event, said the crowds were even better than last year. Sunday looked well attended despite the rain. There are a lot of big time golf fans in the area, and the event couldn’t have been held at a finer golf club. Shoal Creek reminds me a lot of Augusta: it’s beautiful, the greens are large, it’s penalizing if you’re not accurate, and there is plenty of sand. Lehman played some beautiful golf, and while Bernhard Langer  (66 on Sunday, finished at -12, two shots back of Lehman) and Chen Soon Lu (66 on Sunday, -12 for tourney)  put a little heat on Lehman on Sunday, he never wavered. He’s the best ball striker on the tour, so when he’s putting well he is difficult to beat. Shoal has the tournament next year and the Champions Tour is in negotiations with Shoal right now for the rights to host the tournament beyond 2013. Shoal Creek deserves it. They do a phenomenal job with this event and it’s a golfers’ mecca. Hope Shoal can secure the tournament for three more years and beyond. Those Champions Tour players can also flat out play. They’re not hitting it 300+ like a lot of the younger PGA guys are, but they’re getting it out there 275 to 290, and they are very accurate. With guys like Lehman, Langer, Jay Haas, John Cook and Kenny Perry (who’s the longest hitter on the tour at 296), the tour has really improved in the past five years. It’s going to get even better when guys like David Toms, Vijzy Singh and Davis Love come out in the next couple of years. The future is very bright for the Champions Tour and Shoal Creek deserves to be a part of it. One of these days, Shoal Creek may land a regular tour event, but until that time this is a pretty good option. It’s only going to get better. Proud of Shoal Creek and the patrons of the tournament for supporting it so well. It was a first-class event and the players loved it. A lot of them say it’s their favorite stop on the tour. Lehman is now second on the Charles Schwab Cup rankings to Langer. The winner of the Schwab Cup gets a $1 million dollar payment. Pretty nice. Lehman said at the end of the tournament, as he was heading out for his 25th wedding anniversary, “See you in Cabo.” Must be nice. Pro golfers work pretty hard, but they’re about the only professional athletes who can go to Cabo San Lucas during their season. It’s a grind, but a pretty nice way to make a living.
NBA finals start tonight in Oklahoma City at 9 ET/8 CT on ABC. Should be a tremendous series. Kevin Durant (averaging 27.8 ppg, 7.9 rbg and 4.2 assists in 15 playoff games) and LeBron James (30.8, 9.6 rbg, 5 assists in 18 games) are both on a mission. Durant wants to prove he’s ready to be a champion at the age of 23. LeBron wants to get it done at age 27 after so many years of near misses and frustration. They’re both elite and good enough to be champions. OKC has some very fine complimentary players in Russell Westbrook (21.7 ppg, 5.1 rbg and 5.6 apg in playoffs), James Harden (17.6 ppg, 5.2 rbg) and Serge Ibaka (10.7 ppg, 5.9 rbg), all of whom are championship caliber players. Harden is the best sixth man in the game and just keeps hitting clutch shot after clutch shot. But ‘Bron has a nice supporting cast too in Dwayne Wade (22.9, 5 rbg and 4.1 apg), Chris Bosh (13.7 6.9 rbg), Mario Chalmers (11.6 ppg) and Shane Battier, a lockdown defender and clutch three-point shooter. Ibaka’s stellar. He was 12-for-12 in game five of the conference finals against San Antonio. Nice rebounder, too. There is some real talent on OKC. But with Bosh now healthy for the Heat and playing some excellent basketball–he was outstanding in the Heat’s game seven victory over the Celtics–the Heat are just too veteran-laden and talented for a very fine, but very young OKC team. Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka are all under 24-years old, and while experience can be overrated at times, experience with equal or even better talent can get you over the top of a talented younger opponent. OKC has been in a lot of wars, these guys do have playoff experience, but they don’t have finals experience. While they’re good enough to make this series very interesting, just like LeBron Raymone James to capture what has been an elusive Larry O’Brien Trophy, with assistance from DWade, Bosh, Chalmers and Battier. LeBron just looks unstoppable right now. You can’t stop him when he’s got a head full of steam going to the basket. Nobody can in basketball. And he’s shooting the ball well from the outside, which in the past had been his Achilles Heel. But not in these playoffs. Last year he was dominant in the playoffs up until the finals, but was schooled by a veteran Dallas team led by Dirk Nowitski and Jason Kidd. But this year, the Heat is not lackadaisical. They’re focused, driven and on a mission. And they’ve got that finals’ experience from last year. That will help a lot.  Heat gets it done in six. Should be fun.

It’s hard to put into words how incredibly shocking that news was from Auburn. Just a tremendous tragedy as Ladarious Phillips, Ed Christian, both former Auburn players who were still at the University though Phillips was transferring to Jax State, and Demario Pitts were killed in a shooting early Sunday morning. From what I’ve read, the kids didn’t do anything wrong. The two former players were trying to break up a fight between the shooter, Desmonte Leonard, another guy with him, and a couple of other guys, including Pitts, over a girl. Just tragic. Feel for the boys’ families. Hopefully the law enforcement officers in Montgomery can apprehend Leonard and bring him to justice. They’re having some trouble finding him at this point, but are working around the clock and they believe he’s in Montgomery. Christian, an offensive lineman, had to leave the team due to a debilitating back injury. He was known as a kind, gentle guy, whose dad was a cop. It appears he was  just trying to make peace in the altercation. Phillips wanted more playing time than Gene Chizik was going to give him, so he was supposed to be up in Jacksonville working out with the team. Jax State Coach Jack Crowe wasn’t sure how much Phillips wanted to play football because he wasn’t up in Jacksonville this summer yet, though his coach in high school, Mike Battles at Handley, said he had NFL talent. The other kid, Pitts, was involved in the original altercation. I’ve heard that most of the Auburn team was at the party. Luckily for them, they left earlier. Just an excruciating tragedy for the players’ families and the Auburn family. Tough to see three young men with their lives and potential ahead of them lose their lives at such a young age. Time will heal ultimately for some– not the boys’ families– but it will take some time to get over this shocking event.

Will have a U.S. Open preview and picks tomorrow. Golfers play at Olympic Club in San Francisco for the year’s second major, the 112th playing of the United States Open. Olympic not that long for U.S. Open venues at 6,822, but a very difficult, challenging course that requires extremely accurate ball striking. It’s a very tight course where there is little margin for error. It may not be as long as venues like Pinehurst No.2 or  Shinnecock Hills, but it’s just as difficult due to the narrow fairways and difficult though outstanding greens. The weather can be a factor, too, with a lot of wind coming off the coast. Lee Janzen won the last Open played there in 1998 shooting only even par for the tournament. Should be a real test of mettle for these young guns. Tiger Woods looks like he can win it right now, but there is a lot of depth. To me, he’s one of the three elite guys in the field along with Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson. Bubba hasn’t played much since his Masters win, so he might be rusty. Tiger was phenomenal in the Memorial two weeks ago showing that magic from the glory years in which he won 14 Majors. But that was his fifth time to win at the Memorial and his other win, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, was his seventh there, so there’s no guarantee he’ll win this tournament. A lot of talented players. Will have more tomorrow.

Tom Lehman captures his second Tradition title while LeBron James targets his first NBA title.

This is very disturbing grand jury testimonies from two more victims of this animal, psychopath, Jerry Sandusky. It’s graphic, I warn you. Very sad for these victims. I said earlier that I thought Sandusky should get the death penalty. I still think he should though that won’t happen. He’s accused of sexually molesting 10 boys now. He’s a pig and should pay the ultimate price for ruining at least 10 boys’ lives. There probably will be more come forward.
Sandusky:

LeBron James went on ESPN two nights ago and talked to reporter Rachel Nichols about some of his regrets about the way he handled leaving Cleveland. He said he regretted leaving the fans and that if he was a fan of a great athlete in his city and the athlete left him/her there would be a sense of betrayal. LeBron understood that and said he was sorry for how it happened. He  said he thought the way he handled his departure from Cleveland in “The Decision,” was a mistake.
It was a very honest interview by the superstar for the Miami Heat. I’ve always thought LeBron was a nice guy, good person who has always been misunderstood. I’ve always liked him a lot and have admired his basketball skills. He’s made some errors in judgment in some of the things he’s said and done like saying he wanted to dunk over President Bush; that was disrespectful. But I cut him some slack. He’s a young man and young men, particularly in the public eye like professional athletes, are going to say some things they probably regret. I’m sure he regrets that comment. But he’s a good guy and I’ve forgiven him for the way he handled “The Decision.” I remember watching him play in Cleveland last year. The fans were booing him while the Cavs were beating the Heat, he looked to be almost in tears. This was his home state; the place he grew up in. He was born in Akron, but had been a Cleveland Cavalier for eight years. He is a sensitive, and I’d say, nice person.

Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith, whom I both like and enjoy watching at night on ESPN’s First Take, were pretty hard on ‘Bron yesterday. A. said he’s acting like a superstar but hasn’t done anything yet–he hasn’t won an NBA title. Skip said he’s just not mentally tough. Well, maybe ‘Bron is just really a nice, sensitive guy. He’s a competitor; there is no doubt about it. I’ve watched him play. He’s relentless and tough. But off the court, it’s OK for him to be a nice guy. What’s wrong with that? And it’s OK to be a nice guy on the court and in that I mean respectful of your opponent, congratulating your opponent when they win and being humble in defeat. Nobody likes to lose, but losing with grace and dignity is the right thing to do. Acting like a poor loser is not the way to act. You can not like losing, but you’ve got to be a mature man, and handle it with class.

John Wooden was one of the nicest, kindest, gentle men to ever coach in sports. I read a powerful quote by him one time. The Wizard of Westwood said,”You should never try to be better than someone else, but you should never cease to try to be the best you can be.” John Wooden was a genuinely nice person. Did he have success? How about 10 national championships in 12 years at UCLA, seven national titles in a row and 88 straight wins; an alltime record. Anything wrong with Wooden being a nice guy?

Of course, Wooden and now LeBron were and are intense competitors. I’ll give a smaller example of how I treat a golf round with a friend or if I’m in a tournament. I’m so focused on playing the course, as they say, that I don’t think about beating my opponent. I’m just trying to be the best I can be. I want to complement and respect my playing partner or opponent. I’ll encourage them when they hit a good shot or make a putt. That’s the way it should be. Golf is competitive, but it’s a gentleman’s game and should be treated that way. Being the best you can be is important, but showing class and respecting your playing partner or opponent is just as important.

There are tremendous competitors out there like Nick Saban, Coach K and Bill Belichick. They are terrific coaches. But I bet they feel better about themselves when they compete with class. Don’t get me wrong they want to win; all competitors do. But when they’ll look back on their careers they want to be remembered for the relationships they had with their players and the impact they had. They’re strong, tough and relentless, but they’re decent people.

LeBron is a good guy, a nice guy. I really like him and always have. “The Decision” was exciting for me, but I was hoping he would have stayed in Cleveland. LeBron regrets the way he handled it, and told Nichols so in the interview. It’s OK to show some vulnerability. I think people like you better when you do that. And it’s OK to be a nice guy. You can be an intense competitor in the arena or the stadium, but you can also be a good sport and you can show integrity and be respectful of your opponent on the court or inside the stadium. That’s a good thing. It’s a spiritual thing. That’s the way the Lord wants you to act.

The thing about nice guys finishing last is a bunch of baloney. There are millions of nice guys who are winners. How about Drew Brees, who is one of the classiest, nicest guys you’ll ever want to meet. He’s done OK. Super Bowl champion in 2009 and looking to be a Super Bowl champion in 2011. The Packers will definitely have a say in that, but Drew and the Saints are in definite contention. And he’s got plenty of good years left as he’s 31. If you have read Drew’s book Coming Back Stronger, you have read what a class act he is and what a good person he is. He helps the city of New Orleans in many ways and helped in rebuilding the city physically and spiritually through his play in 2006. And, yes, he’s a very nice guy.

Tim Tebow is another one. Just a nice person, Christian guy. Many doubters in the media and in the public have lined up  to criticize Tim for his Christian beliefs and his play at quarterback. Well, he’s 6-1 as a starter and hasn’t lost any of his humility and his decency.

LeBron is a nice person. And I see him winning some championships alongside his two teammates, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.Chris is another very nice, respectful person who has been roundly criticized by sportswriters and commentators like Bayless who has called him “Bosh Spice,” since he came to the Heat. Chris actually went on the show and Skip explained to him why he called him that. Chris handled it with grace and dignity. He’s a thoughtful guy who played at Georgia Tech, a fine academic institution. He said to Skip that it bothered his family a lot more than it bothered him. He also said that Skip’s name for him “motivated him.” He never attacked Skip verbally, just handled it with decency and grace. He’s a fine basketball player and had a very good finals last year, so I expect Chris, ‘Bron and DWade to be very motivated this season.

Nice people finish first all the time. I think Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are nice guys. Trent Richardson and RGIII are nice guys. They are the ultimate warriors, but they’re class guys off the field. All four of those guys are. So I can make an argument that nice guys are better competitors than the rough, cantankerous guys. Nice guys keep  their cool. They execute better. You always compete better when you’re calm and focused than when you’re angry. I think you lose your focus when you’re angry. Your emotions get the best of you.

LeBron could be the next nice guy to win it all. More importantly, he’s showing his maturity and decency for making mistakes in the past and admitting them. He’s a good guy and I wish him the best. He deserves it. He’s worked hard, tried to be the best he could be and admitted his mistakes to the national public. It’s OK to be nice. As a matter of fact, it’s an asset. People like nice people. You can be a great competitor on the floor and be a nice guy off of it. I think you’ll like yourself better if you are.

(LeBron is a nice person who is somewhat misunderstood.)

Will have more on the football happenings over the weekend today or tomorrow. Wanted to check out the Tide game one more time and look at Saban show. Can’t find Chizik show for some reason. Not sure what’s going on there, but looking into it. Wondering if he doesn’t have a show this year. Will find out. Watched Auburn from kickoff to final play. Awesome game. Tide looked great on defense and A.J. did pretty well leading the team. Thought he played well and that’s a good sign. More on Tigers and Tide later.
Just wanted to share Rick Reilly’s column on ESPN.com with you on the heroes of 9/11. That was a pretty powerful day yesterday if you were watching the news, reading the paper or just watching football. The NFL did a great job of honoring our fallen countrymen and women from the fateful day. Here is Reilly’s column on the four heroes from Flight 93. Will be in touch later today or first thing tomorrow on SEC and national football with some big games coming up this weekend including AU @ Clemson, Tennessee @ Florida and Oklahoma @Florida State.

Flight 93:

I wish you could bypass the car show commercial at beginning with the gay guy talking, but these guys rock pretty well, especially the drummer.
Pearl Jam:

I will have more previews of SEC football teams this week starting with Arkansas tomorrow and continuing with Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, but thought it would be more appropriate today to talk about the tragedy that occurred in Alabama and neighboring states in the South last Wednesday  The tornadoes that ripped through this state on Thursday were massive and unforgiving in their destructiveness. Everything has paled in comparison the last five days since the tragedy struck.
It looked like an EF5 tornado though some are classifying it as an EF4 with winds of 175 miles an hour. But by looking at that tornado in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham which was caught by the CBS 42 cameras, it was enormous and very, very terrifying. Please keep Tuscaloosa, Pleasant Grove, Pratt City, Concord, DeKalb County, Cullman, Lake Martin and Marion County among other places in Alabama in your thoughts and prayers. The positive about this is that many, many people have come to the aid of the places and the people that and who were devastated by this disaster. If you could make any kind of contribution at all to the Red Cross or the Salvation Army for “Tornado Relief,” that would be greatly appreciated by all the people of Alabama. I know Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia took hits, too, so our prayers go out to them as well.

I’ll preview the rest of the teams in the SEC beginning tomorrow. I just thought today it was more appropriate to talk about the terrible tragedy and to help those in need in these areas that were ravaged by the tornadoes. Please keep those people in your prayers.

(Pleasant Grove, Alabama took a massive hit.)