Thar She Blows

The last two days here in Detroit, the temperature has hung in the low-mid 40s with 20 mph winds gusting over 30. The way the wind has blown has reminded me of some of the tennis matches I had to play in high school in these conditions. Early in my high school career, if the conditions weren't good (cold, wind, extreme heat, etc.), I usually lost. My freshman year, just 4 days after finishing 3rd in the league tournament at 3rd singles, beating a junior to make all-conference, I lost in the 1st round of sectionals to a kid who played reserve tennis all year. I won the 1st set and was serving for the match when the weather started to change. It had already been cloudy, but the wind started to kick up and I didn't play for it correctly. I lost in 3 sets.

But as time went on, I became pretty tough. During my senior year, I played a kid in similar conditions to what we had today. I was hitting the ball really well for it being cold and windy and was in control. At the start of the match, we were both decked out in stocking caps, long sleeves, long pants, I even had runners' gloves on. My opponent got frustrated and how did I know this. Well, each changeover, he took off a piece in clothing in disgust. By the end of the match, he was in a t-shirt and shorts in this freezing weather. I was still chillin in my long sleeves, long pants, stocking cap, etc.

One more note about the Final Four, National Championship, etc. What makes it so great is that it's still about the game, the event is the game. There's no pregame rock concert or halftime show with someone we really don't care about singing, i.e. Ashlee Simpson. It's about basketball, period.

It's Masters week, and a great thing about it is that it provides one more week of pure drama, a little extension of March Madness. It's unfortunate hearing about Tiger Woods's dad, hopefully he can get better and become stronger. Even though it's done in an unfortunate context, it's great hearing Tiger talk about his dad the way he does. I don't know if he's going to be able to win with his dad on his mind, but I think he has the right perspective.

Thinking about the Masters has me thinking about those moments that never get old, that you can watch all night long, every night of the week. Here are some of those moments that I can't get enough of:

• 1986 Masters, Final Round. This is the 1st time I ever watched golf on tv. We were at my grandparents' house and I was bored, I didn't want to watch golf. But Jack Nicklaus, the one golfer I knew, the greatest of all time I had heard, was making an inprobable run to the title. That was enough to captivate me. That got me turned onto the Masters and interested in golf, watching Nicklaus on the back 9. I had watched some golf at an early age, I didn't think it was very exciting. Yeah, I was young, but I knew what was going on. When Nicklaus made a putt or hit a great shot on that back 9, golf galleries aren't supposed to be that loud. I don't know how many times I've gone back and watched the highlights, whether on the Golf Channel or online, but I still get excited everytime I watch it.
• Kirk Gibson's World Series home run. You know me and baseball, but this was good stuff. I remember watching this game also. I knew Gibson was hurt and not expected to play, so when he came to bat I thought, "It'd be great if he can just get on base." So what does he do??? He goes yard and the best part of the highlight is seeing all of the people leaving the game early put on their brake lights to either listen to the call or turn around and look to see what's going on. Suckers haha.
• The end of the Duke/Kentucky basketball game. The last 40 seconds was incredible, not just Christian Laettner's game-winner. Laettner put Duke ahead with a 3-point play, making an incredible twisting fadeaway jump shot. Jamal Mashburn answered with a 3 point play of his own, scoring on a great drive and reverse layup. After 2 Laettner free throws, Sean Woods hit that high arching banker to put UK ahead. When I was watching this game, I thought it was over. 2.1 seconds, have to go the length of the floor, Duke's run was over. And then UK put nobody on the ball on the inbounds and Laettner hit the shot that ended the greatest college hoops game ever.
• Miracle On Ice game. I cry everytime I watch this game, especially the last period. I cry during the movie, I'm not ashamed to admit that. Mike Eruzione's goal, Al Michaels' call of the game, the chants of "USA, USA". Us vs. them. Good vs. evil. The ultimate underdog.
• Larry Bird's steal, Game 5 Eastern Conference Finals, 1987. I remember watching THIS game. It looked like the Bad Boys (Pistons) were going to dethrone the Celtics. All they had to do was inbound the ball successfully. But this was Boston Garden, where the Celtics didn't lose big games, the ghosts in the rafters wouldn't let them. When Bird stole that ball and found Dennis Johnson for a layup, I went nuts. Bird just wouldn't let them lose.

And there are more, but I don't have enough time to talk about them all haha.

Rajon Rondo has declared for the NBA draft. I hope he hasn't signed with an agent because he has D-league written all over him. Uncoachable, no jump shot, and not a great year. Someone has given him some bad advice.

Later this week I'll have my preseason top 10 for next year in hoops.