Well, this is no good:

An arrest warrant has been issued for former New York Giants star Mark Ingram after he failed to report to federal prison to begin serving nearly eight years for bank fraud and money laundering.

It's also, unfortunately, not at all unexpected, as Mr. Ingram has tried all sorts of things to avoid prison time, firing a litany of court-appointed attorneys at one point even filing a motion claiming that he was immune from prosecution due to his being a foreign head-of-state - despite his having been born in Rockford, Illinois.

I really don't much care what happens with respect to the elder Mr. Ingram, but I am concerned about the effect all this could be having on his son, our own Mark Ingram. I would imagine that this is all very difficult for him, especially as he deals with finals and preparations for a BCS bowl game. 

Several articles earlier this fall indicated that the elder Ingram was "trying to keep his son from making the same mistakes...".

Let's keep the young Mark in our thoughts and prayers, and hope that the elder Mark gets his act together and does the right thing, ASAP.

 

Had anyone asked me on August 29 of this year (and I suppose several people did) what I would have anticipated Alabama's final regular season record to be, I'd have likely said (which is to say, I'm sure I did say) that I would expect 8-4, would be pleased with 9-3, and positively thrilled with 10-2.

And who wouldn't have been? It'd have been wholly unreasonable to expect more. And while reason is not necessarily a quality often ascribed to the more rabid among our number, I'd imagine one would be hard-pressed to find any Bama fan who could honestly say they expected anything approximating what we've seen.

As difficult as it may be to recall the rather dark days we all experienced as last autumn drew to a close, I think it important that we all do so, if only to be able to fully appreciate what has been accomplished in a dizzyingly brief amount of time.

A perfect regular season is a special thing. A perfect regular season in the SEC is an incredibly special thing. And a perfect regular season in the SEC following a 6-6 season? Well, that just doesn't happen in the real world. Not in 2008.

But it has. And no matter what happens come Saturday in Atlanta and in January, what Coach Saban and his staff and, most importantly, this group of young men has accomplished these past several months should be appreciated, applauded, and revered. By any standards, this is one hell of a football team.

That said, I will employ the same state-of-mind that I had as the Tide approached a neutral-site non-conference season-opener against the then 9th ranked team in the country: one of cautious optimism.

Twelve down. Two to go.

Roll Tide.

USA Today has released their pre-season coaches poll, and - not surprisingly - Georgia is ranked #1.

And deservedly so. With the way UGA finished the 2007 season - eight straight wins and an absolute pummeling of Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl - the case was made (once again) for (at minimum) a +1 National Championship scenario.

I'm a little surprised to see  the Tide atop the "others receiving votes" pile. While I was certain we'd show up in that classification, I rather expected us to be mid-pack. As it stands, we're 8 points behind #25 Fresno State.

Clemson, it should be noted, is ranked 9th. A win in Atlanta would do a hell of a lot to set the tone for the season, instilling much-needed confidence in the slew of young players we'll be fielding as the year progresses.

The team representing that cow college on the other side of the state comes in at #11, and our neighbors to the north appear in the #18 slot.

All in all, the SEC places five teams in the top 25, and a total of nine in the top 55 (including the "others").

Roll Tide.

 

 

(MADRID) - Sergio Garcia's 51st place finish in this years' Open Championship would, under normal circumstances, be disappointing. But given the athletic performances of several of his countrymen in recent weeks, it may actually be dangerous.

Two weeks ago today, Rafael Nadal won the men's singles final at Wimbledon, defeating world number one Roger Federer in what is already being described as the greatest match ever played. One week prior, Spain's National Football (soccer) Team captured the Euro Cup (2008 UEFA European Football Championship), defeating Germany in the final. 

Garcia was among the favorites coming in to this weeks Open at Royal Birkdale, having lost the Claret Jug last year in a playoff to Irishman Padraig Harrington. Harrington defended his title today.

Garcia's performance at this years' Open is not sitting well in Madrid, where fans were hoping to keep their nation's winning streak alive.

Nadal, speaking on behalf of himself and La Selección, as Spain's national team is commonly known, minced no words when describing what awaits Garcia back home.

"We're going to kick his ass" Nadal said via an interpreter, as he carefully balanced two beautiful women on each arm. "His performance is unacceptable."

"The Inquisition? That was nothing." Nadal concluded.

According to a spokesperson, Garcia was halfway through a case of Michelob Ultra, and as such was unavailable for comment.

(Bumped up from diaries, for obvious reasons. And it's official.)

The Associated Press is reporting that Annika Sorenstam will retire from competitive play on the LPGA Tour at the conclusion of this season.

http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1739723,00.html

"Annika Sorenstam will retire after the season, ending an LPGA Tour career in which she has won 72 tournaments to date and delivered a defining moment when she teed it up against the men on the PGA Tour.

She was to announce her decision at a news conference Tuesday at the Sybase Classic in Clifton, N.J., a person familiar with her plans told The Associated Press.

The 37-year-old Sorenstam has hinted at retirement the past several seasons, saying she wanted to devote more time to her growing business and to start a family. She is engaged to Mike McGee, son of former PGA Tour player Jerry McGee."

It's difficult to imagine a more impressive career for any athlete in any sport. Five consecutive LPGA Player of the Year awards just about says it all.

Godspeed, Annika.

Today's Augusta, Georgia forecast, courtesy of wunderground.com:

Mostly sunny and breezy. Highs in the upper 60s. West winds 20 to 25 mph with gusts around 30 mph.

The likelihood of anyone going particularly low today is, I would think, slim to none. I can scarcely imagine Augusta National yielding more than a handful of scores under par, and the 68s and 69s of the past few days have probably been blown clear across South Carolina and out into the Atlantic.

Poll

Who wins this thing?

25%

Mother Nature

1 votes

25%

Trevor Immelman

1 votes

25%

Paul Casey

1 votes

25%

Brandt Snedeker

1 votes

0%

Tiger Woods

0 votes

0%

Phil Mickelson

0 votes

0%

Steve Flesch

0 votes

0%

Stewart Cink

0 votes

0%

Other

0 votes

0%

Augusta National

0 votes

4 votes | Poll has closed

Continue reading this post »

[editor's note, by Todd]
Bumped from the diaries.

Alabama senior Michael Thompson is currently the low amateur at The Masters, and is one stroke over the projected cut line. I will update this post after his round today is complete. Hopefully, he can get a stroke back and get to play the weekend.

(He is, by the way, wearing a white-with-red-script "A" cap.)

What moved me to post this though was his action on the Par 5 15th hole. As his set-up over his birdie putt - a putt that would have put him at least one stroke under the likely cut line, his ball moved ever so slightly - no more that a 1/4". He did not touch the ball, but the rules state that once a player addresses his putt, if the ball moves, it's a one stroke penalty.

Thompson was the only person on the course who could have possible seen so minute a movement. Still, he immediately stepped away from the ball, beckoned to a rules official, and called the penalty on himself.

The following par putt didn't fall, and he wound up with a bogey six. But the character he displayed in calling the penalty on himself is really the point here. There are, of course, echoes of Bobby Jones in his having done so.

It's all about character.

UPDATE: Thompson went on to Bogey 16, par 17 and 18, and as such will not make the cut. He also missed being the low amateur by - get this - one stroke.

The par at 18 was something else, though: his second shot finished on the green, but was well above the hole, necessitating a putt of approximately 50 feet with a break of (I'm not making this up) about 110 degrees. He lagged the ball to within two feet and finished with a par.

According to the Golf Pregame show on TGC, Stewart Cink has been disqualified from the final round of the Zurich Classic after a series of events that can best be considered ... well ... bizarre.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=GOL&id=126&line=4634&spln=1

It seems that Cink and Zach Johnson were discussing over breakfast this morning some of the more arcane rules of golf. Johnson brought up an odd one, indeed, and Cink thought..."Hmm...I wonder if I've ever done that? Wait...I think I did that yesterday!".

Yesterday on 15, Cink's tee shot came to rest adjacent to a fairway bunker, necessitating that Cink stand in the bunker to play his second shot, which came to rest in a greenside bunker. He then proceeded to rake the fairway bunker in which he had been standing.

This is, according to the rules, a no-no: "Testing the surface of a hazard", it results in a two stroke penalty.

Unfortunately, no one caught the violation at the time, and as such Cink finished his round and signed his card w/o a penalty. So, when he called a rule official this morning to self-report the apparent rules violation, he was disqualified for having signed an incorrect scorecard.

Now, can someone remind me why we like this crazy-ass game so much?