Sunday, Bloody (Good), Sunday

By: Justin Jacobs

Was it just me, or was yesterday on of the best sports viewing days of the year? There was something about the Lakers big victory over the Spurs, Immelman’s big win at Augusta and watching the Yankees/Sox (even if the wrong team won) that was a hell of a lot of fun to watch. That’s the great thing about sports, no matter how crappy your week was, all it takes a one great day of sports to get you back in a good mood.

Of course nothing made me happier yesterday than watching the Lakers crush the Spurs yesterday 106-85, and in doing so all-but ensuring themselves the top seed in the Western Conference. All that stands in the Lakers way of home-court throughout the Western Conference playoffs now are the lowly Sacramento Kings. The most impressive part of the L.A.’s victory over San Antonio was their tenacious defense. Believe me, as someone who has watched or listened to just about all of the Lakers games this year, when they decide to turn up the volume on D, they are almost impossible to beat. Pau Gasol and company held Tim Duncan to 6-19 shooting, which is what you have to do against the Spurs. It will be interesting to see what happens when the Spurs get Manu Ginobli back for the playoffs, but it’s comforting to know that the Lake Show will have home court advantage if/when they play in the playoffs.

(The Lakers looked poised for a deep post-season run)

As much as I love to watch Tiger Woods crush people’s dreams in major championships, it was refreshing to see a poor schmuck have to deal with pressure in winning The Masters. Yeah, I put my hatred for South Africans aside for a couple of hours and found myself kind of rooting Trevor Immelman as he nervously dealt with the final four holes at Augusta. I felt for the guy when he put his first shot on 17 into the drink, and I don’t even play golf. Immelman says he didn’t look at the scoreboard during his final round, but you could tell by the look on his face after that ugly shot that he was aware of his situation. We all know that Tiger is going to win many more majors, but for one day it was nice to see someone not named Woods get into the winning circle.

(Even Tiger can struggle in the clutch)

And while we’re on the subject of Tiger losing, do yourselves a favor out there and don’t listen to the crap some of the “experts” will say about Tiger struggling yesterday. There are sure to be idiots out there who will feel the need to put-down Tiger because he didn’t drain every birdie/eagle putt. Yes, not even Tiger can make every putt, and his struggling at times yesterday just reminds us all that golf is hard… or so I hear. And if Tiger can place second in the biggest major of the year with his B-game, God only knows what will happen when he’s on his game this year. I’ve got him down for two of the next four majors.

(Boston fans, you can’t take them anywhere)

Now to the bit of disappointing sports news from yesterday, young Yankees ace in the making Phillip Hughes struggled against those dreaded Red Sox giving up seven runs in just two innings of work in a 8-5 loss last night. Hughes biggest problem yesterday was location, Phil threw 65 pitches in two innings and only 35 of them were strikes. I know what’s going through the heads of thousands of Yankees fans out there, and no, it’s not time to panic. Even though Hughes struggled with location, his stuff was still pretty nasty. Any time you can have a young pitcher who has a mid-90’s heater and nasty curveball on the cheap you take it. I’m sure there is going to be some chatter about the Yankees not trading Hughes and Kennedy for Santana this off season, but once Hughes learns some control he’s going to be one hell of a pitcher in this league.

(You’re alright kid)

Another bright point for the Yankees yesterday was the play of the Yankees prospect short-stop, Alberto Gonzalez. Gonzalez did a fine job in filling in for the injured Derek Jeter, going 1-1 with an RBI and a walk. Young Alberto showed good poise at the plate against a tough pitcher in Dice-K. I’m excited to see what this kid will do in the future, and I’ve got my fingers crossed that he will be able to fill the void that’s left when (God forbid) Jeter steps down as the Yankees SS. Of course with Hank Steinbrenner in charge, who knows if we’ll get to see Gonzalez as an everyday starter for the Yankees squad?

(Me)

Ah yes, one last thing I almost forgot to mention; I was victorious in my match-up with Chad in fantasy baseball this week 6-4. It was a hard earned victory, but I was able to sweep all five hitting categories (thank you very much Joe Crede) and squeak out a victory in saves, thanks to a Sunday afternoon save by the struggling Trevor Hoffman. It always feels good to get a W over Chad, not just for bragging purposes, but also because his team is a bit-time threat in our league… but mostly for bragging purposes. After last week’s 6-4 victory my team is now 8-10-2. As always, I’ll keep you posted on the progress of my team.

So that was my Sunday. It was quite a lazy day in the life of Justin Jacobs, international man of leisure, but was a lot of fun none-the-less. This week is looking to be pretty interesting; we have the start of the NBA Playoffs and the big ramp-up for the NFL draft, which is taking place on my birthday no-less! So stay tuned to TOUTS for all of your off-kilter sports musings, and have a great Monday everyone!