Enter The Tiger: Is the 'Grand Slam' truly in his sights?

Well ladies and gentlemen, we are all of 9 weeks into this PGA season and Eldrick 'Tiger' Woods seemingly has taken his dominance on the Tour to another level. With this past weekend's WGC Accenture Match Play Championship title, he has now won 6 straight events including his final 3 from the 2007 season (4 tour events, and 2 non).

Last year during the BMW Championship @ Cog Hill in Lemont, IL my friend Matt and I had the pleasure of watching Tiger paired up with 'Spiderman' Camilo Villegas during the 3rd round of the tournament. That was my first opportunity to see Tiger up close and personal, as we followed him for the round (minus bio breaks, food and beverage pit stops, or when we skipped ahead a hole to get a better view). We even stuck around and watched him get interviewed for XM Radio after his round. Everything I had seen on TV with regards to the size of the gallery that follows him, and the roar of the crowd when he makes an incredible shot was just magnified in person. It's a personal sports moment I won't ever forget, and it also marked the 1st victory in his current 6 event winning streak.

Seriously, is what he does tournament after tournament even humanly possible? I thought golf was a game that was made NOT to be perfected (think Robin Williams' stand up routine), and even though Tiger's game isn't 'perfect' by technicality (he doesn't birdie, or eagle every hole...), he could be the closest thing to perfect the golf world may ever see.

The PGA is made up of the top 150 golfers (Top 125 tournament money earners from the previous year, and 25 conditional tour cards. There are also exemptions given as well, but for the sake of this discussion let's call it 150), who are essentially the best golfers in the world. Any one of them on any given day, any time of day, could put anyone of us 'amateurs' (and I use that term lightly when it comes to my fledgling game) to shame on the links. I would hazard a guess that I'd be so demoralized that I probably wouldn't even want to play golf again if that were to actually happen.

Yet Tiger seems to be able to outlast, overcome, and many times overpower the field in a way that doesn't seem fathomable. He plays with that killer instinct mindset - he wants to win by as many strokes as possible. It's the "it ain't over 'til it's over" attititude to eliminate doubt and second guessing yourself at the end of the match.

Enter the blasphemous talk of capturing the Grand Slam...

When asked recently if Tiger thought it was possible to win the Grand Slam, he was quoted as saying "I think you can". As good as Tiger is, there definitely has to be some luck, timing, and good fortune added to that equation in order to pull off the "Triple Crown" of the golf world (that analogy doesn't QUITE work since there are 4 majors, but I'm sure you get my point). The most amazing part is the majority of golf and sports followers think it's possible that he can do it, and if not this season - eventually in his career.

As Tiger himself put it, "I had all four trophies on my mantle at the same time." Referring to the dubbed 'Tiger Slam' that spanned the 2000 & 2001 seasons where he won all 4 majors, but not all in the same calendar year. And as impressive as that was and still is, it's not the true definition of the Grand Slam. That will just have to be one more possibility for Woods as he enters the prime of his career. Just think about how absurd that last sentence sounded: "the prime of his career"??!! He just passed Arnold Palmer yesterday to become Number 4 on the 'Most Career Wins on the PGA Tour' list with his 63rd Tour victory, and he still has his best years ahead of him...Again, that doesn't even seem possible...

So, how will Tiger manage to continue to do the unthinkable? Maybe we'll get our first glimpse into that plan on April 10th in Augusta, GA.

"Cooler than a polar bear's toenails..."

Normally I don't post sports pictures I didn't take...so I won't. :) Although, here's a link to one that David Cannon of Getty Images captured of Tiger Woods with his shades on during his round yesterday in Dubai. This is just a classic to me!

It's been more than a week since I've been able to fill this web page with any of my sporting world insight that I know you've all been dying to read (as you all collectively think: "Yeah, right who does this guy think he is?!"). Well the wait is over - so let's get to it shall we?

My man Austin in JoCy, TN sent me a New York Times story last week about Kenny George, a 7'7'', 360 pound hooper from 'The City of Wind' who's in his junior year with the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs. Austin had a chance to see George first hand when UNC-Asheville were playing his alma-mater, the ETSU Buccaneers. The Bucs won, 89-87, in a match that came down to the wire but George didn't go down quietly going 6-7 from the field for 13 points, 9 boards, 4 dimes, and EIGHT blocks. He's averaging 4.4 blocks on the year, while putting up two separate 10 block efforts this season! I'll definitely be following the rest of Kenny George's college career and beyond now. Thanks for the knowledge Austin.

Golf season is in full swing again, at least professionally speaking. I know that's hard to believe, especially living in the Northeast, but golf is one sport that doesn't seem to really have an off season. For example, Tiger Woods' last 'official' PGA tournament for the 2007 season was 'The Tour Championship' that ended on Sept. 16th (which he won, along with the first ever FedEx Cup). He then played the Presidents Cup later that month in Montreal (USA beat the World team, but Mike Wier did beat Tiger in their head to head match up). After that he played in one of his charity tournaments, the 'Target World Challenge', which ended on Dec. 16th (he won that too). He's already played in the Buick Invitational that wrapped up on Jan. 27th (yes, you guessed it - he also won that!).

And now he's currently overseas playing in the European Tour event 'Dubai Desert Classic' where he's in 4th place going into tomorrow's final round (although he was leading after the 1st two rounds). Ernie Els, who is in the lead, is playing GREAT this tournament and has a healthy 4 stroke lead, but that's why they play the game. With all that said, this golf season is just heating up and the best is yet to come. I've made a conscious decision to hit the driving range and the links more this year - early morning style. I'm on the hunt for some Nike irons in the next couple months - I gotta fill up the new golf bag I got for Christmas :)

It's the eve of the Super Bowl and I really tried my best not to watch much of the "25/8/366" coverage they had on NFL Network, the local Boston affiliates we get here, and the regular sports channel outlets. I'm just not interested in seeing the same story on Wes Welker or Brandon Jacobs that I already saw on Week 6. Plaxico has been 'questionable' every week this year, and you know Belichick isn't going to give you a 'sound bite', so at this point I just want to watch the game. I've already come out and said in my first blog's entry comments that the Giants will win the game. So now I'm going to do my best Plaxico Burress impersonation. He predicted a 23-17 Giants win when asked by a reporter last week, I'm going with a 27-24 Giants win - the difference of a field goal. Your legs better be ready Lawrence Tynes!!