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Shanoff’s Wake-Up Call: Tiger Eclipses NBA

Jun 16, 2008, 12:19 PM UTC

â†µToday’s Calls: Tiger vs. Rocco, Lakers vs. Boston fans, Ken Griffey vs. Tampa, Tigers vs. the AL Central, Dale Earnhardt Jr. vs. Joey Logano, Yao vs. Expectations, MLB Replay vs. Reality and More.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Opening Pitch: Compared to Tiger, the rest of the sports world is just playing games.â†µ

â†µâ†µ(The NBA Finalists? Give me a break. Lightweights.)â†µ

â†µâ†µTiger is playing the U.S. Open on one good leg, (with no teammates to prop him up, so take that, Paul Pierce) so naturally, Woods spent Saturday putting together a triple play of some of his best shots ever.â†µ

â†µâ†µThen, he spent Sunday sinking a sure-why-not-do-it-the-hard-way birdie on 18 to force an 18-hole playoff with hard-luck Rocco Mediate.â†µ

â†µâ†µAnd he will spend today winning the U.S. Open. (Because, really, does anyone give Mediate a shot in a one-on-one death match with Tiger?)â†µ

â†µâ†µI’m not sure if this was the best weekend of golf in Tiger’s career (the 1997 Masters set a high bar), but it was by far his most thrilling.â†µ

â†µâ†µStart with the gimpy knee, this being his first tournament coming off knee surgery. Then add those ridiculous shots Saturday in primetime. (Everyone has to have a favorite: Mine is the crazy chip-in, because of Tiger’s “you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me” reaction.) Then the wild swing Sunday -- from double bogey start to the birdie finish.â†µ

â†µâ†µOh, and it was the first Father’s Day as a dad for the athlete who also had one of sports’ most celebrated father-son relationships of all time.â†µ

â†µâ†µIt is so clear: No athlete in sports delivers like Tiger. It isn’t even close, particularly when you consider that he can make even the most casual (read: “non”) golf fan want to tune in to see what he will do.â†µ

â†µâ†µIf, like me, you didn’t want to see the U.S. Open end Sunday, be thankful Tiger apparently didn’t either. He is obviously having WAY too much fun this weekend. Like the rest of us watching him.â†µ

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â†µâ†µNBA Finals: Lakers send it back to Boston. Celtics fans can correct me, but I think most of them, if given the choice, would prefer to win their first NBA title since 1986 on their home court. Losing Game 5 in L.A., while up 3-1, was really no biggie.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Lakers’ win last night in their L.A. finale was about pride -- a “not in our house” game. Apparently, they couldn’t hold on to win after blowing a 24-point lead, but they could lose a 14-point fourth-quarter lead and still win. (Oh: THAT was their mistake in Game 4; too much of a lead.)â†µ

â†µâ†µThe fact remains: No team has ever come back from being down 3-1 in the NBA Finals; no Finals team has ever won two straight on the road in Games 6 and 7. The Lakers will lose*, but at least L.A. won’t watch Boston celebrate a championship on the Lakers’ home court.â†µ

â†µâ†µMLB Instant History: No Manny, no Papi, no problem. The Red Sox can drill the ball just fine without their biggest boppers, if that 9-0 clobbering of the Reds Sunday is any indication. â†µ

â†µâ†µKen Griffey to the Rays? Now that the Kid has hit 600, the Reds are likely to unload him. For his part, Griffey says he would be open to playing in Tampa, near his Orlando home. As long as the Rays don’t have to mortgage their best young arms to get him, they should do this.â†µ

â†µâ†µSix straight wins for the Tigers: Could this be a final surge before the All-Star break to give them the momentum to compete for a playoff spot in the second half? What a U-turn that would be. Their biggest problem: The wild card seems like it will be unreachable; it is division title or bust ... metaphorically and literally.â†µ

â†µâ†µMore: That’s one more win for Pedro Martinez (and Billy Wagner didn’t screw up the save, which at this point is remarkable enough to note). ... And it may or may not dissuade the Mets from making two moves: Firing Willie Randolph or acquiring, say, Brian Fuentes. ... Speaking of the Rox, who had Aaron Cook with 10 wins by June 16? ... (You could ask the same question about Joe Saunders.)â†µ

â†µâ†µOddities: Twins starter Scott Baker struck out four batters in one inning, the first time any Twins pitcher has ever done that. It shouldn’t be a surprise that it came against the free-swinging Brewers. OK, someone out there has to have Baker on a fantasy roster, and he or she has to be smiling today.â†µ

â†µâ†µInjury Watch: Here’s hoping Yadier Molina can quickly recover from his scary-looking neck injury. ... Plus: Chien-Ming Wang sprained his foot running the bases (and he was working on a good game, too). ... Speaking of injuries, maybe Chipper Jones should avoid BP for a while. (He’s hitting .402, does he really need it?) â†µ

â†µâ†µMLB Instant ... Replay(!): Rumor has it this will kick in August 1. Kudos to MLB for not waiting until the offseason to implement it. While umps (and only umps) will make the call whether to review HRs, I cannot imagine a too-close-to-call scenario where an ump wouldn’t ask to check the replay.â†µ

â†µâ†µNASCAR: Sure, we could talk about Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won his first race in the past 76 tries Sunday in Michigan, but why not talk about Joey Logano, who became the youngest winner in the history of the Nationwide series. You can keep your Juniors, your Jimmies or your Jeffs -- Joey is the future of NASCAR, and the future started Saturday.â†µ

â†µâ†µNBA: Yao Ming to return to the court in mid-July? The Rockets have to be holding their breath as their franchise goes on an aggressive schedule to be ready for the Olympics in August. Undoubtedly, China is even more nervous than Yao’s NBA team.â†µ

â†µâ†µNBA Draft: Today is the deadline for would-be NBA draftees to say “in or out,” and Joe Alexander is staying in. You would too if you saw your stock rocket up from tangential first-rounder to top 10. Have yet to hear from a blogger or fan who isn’t totally high on him.â†µ

â†µâ†µSports Law: Sonics vs. Seattle trial starts today. If Clay Bennett et al. wins, the Sonics will move to Oklahoma City immediately; if the city wins, the Sonics are locked in to staying in Seattle for two more years (at least until the inevitable appeal). OK: So who’s live-blogging?â†µ

â†µâ†µNFL: After all his offseason bluster, did it really surprise you that Chad Johnson was out there participating in minicamp? It shouldn’t. He’s all bark, zero bite. Meanwhile, I cannot begin to care that Jeremy Shockey got into a shouting match with Giants GM Jerry Reese; Shockey couldn’t be less of a dud these days.â†µ

â†µâ†µSoccer: I think it’s safe to say that the United States won’t have any World Cup qualifiers quite as easy as Sunday’s 8-0 romp over Barbados.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Last Word: *I’m not saying the Lakers have NO chance. If they can win Game 6 on Tuesday (and, based on Games 1 and 2, they certainly have a puncher’s chance), they at least put themselves in a situation to make history. By then, Celtics fans will probably be so freaked about a karmic boomerang from the 2004 ALCS that they would almost be expecting to lose.â†µ

â†µâ†µDan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com.â†µ

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