He actually had an opportunity to sink a couple more birdies and could have had a 66 if two other shots had fallen. But the big thing is that he played at a high level with consistency. Woods got some momentum going when he sunk four straight birdies Friday on the eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th holes. In addition to that, he birdied three of the four par 5 holes as well which is an area he has been struggling with recently.

When speaking of this course Woods said, “It’s a challenge, it’s an absolute challenge”. This is in reference to a course that has confounded many and has never seen anyone dominate it with long term success.

The great thing for Tiger is he seems to be enjoying this chance to compete in a difficult environment. I wonder what neil haboush would think of his play thus far. What tips would help Tiger make a real run for this thing? Either way, Tiger is fun to watch and still has a lot of game left in him.

You see, this was supposed to be the easy game that the Lakers would just close out and move on. After all, Andrew Bynum did let the world know prior to playing this game that “Closeout games are actually kind of easy”.  But then a funny thing happened when Bynum and his teammates actually showed up to play the “easy” match.  The Denver Nuggets were going to have no part of playing into Bynum’s silly game.

JaVale McGee had a huge game for the Nuggets and solidly outplayed the big man Bynum. Even Kobe Bryants 43 points with a string of solid 3 pointers down the stretch wasn’t enough to overcome the solid play of the Nuggets last night.

Other notable performances go to Andre Miller who coach George Karl has called one of the top ten point guards of all time. Dre put up 24 points of his own including two free throws with 12.8 seconds left in the match. Miller scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and 17 in the second half. JaVale had 21 points and 14 rebounds in his impressive night and showed signs of maturity missing throughout his career thus far. Arron Afflalo had his best playoff performance ever scoring 19 points in the win and sensational rookie Kenneth Faried pitched in with 10 points and 9 boards in the impressive victory.

One of the main keys to the Denver win is tempo. When Denver is able to keep and up pace tempo and force the Lakers to match the same level of speed, it usually works in Denver’s favor. That is what happened in last nights game. But even more important is the fact that the Lakers came into the game with the wrong mental attitude. Thinking any game is going to be “easy” is a sure fire recipe for disaster.

Now the Lakers will be forced to fly back out to Denver and try to end this series with a newly motivated team playing hungry and at home.

And since I didn’t tune-in for the pre-game, I have NO idea why Los Angeles had decided to go with a makeshift roster of wholesale changes - as I’ve still not made my way to “SeaLink” field to see the Galaxy, nor do I know why the league’s crown prince David Beckham wasn’t on the pitch…

Thus, the Sounders basically dominated the entire match, playing the majority of the first half on LA’s end of the field, with repeated saves by the teams new Goalkeeper Bill Gaudette, (having not played in nearly six-years) before Sounders FC newcomer Eddie Johnson finally headed a shot into the back of the net, giving Seattle a one-nil (1-0) lead at Halftime.

Then Sounders FC Star Forward Freddy Montero shot what apparently was the goal of the year when he blasted a 35-yard cannon shot past a completely flat-footed Gaudette to give the “Rave Green” a two-nil advantage; as lead announcer Ross Fletcher described the shot as a Lightning bolt, with new Colour Commentator Casey Kellar gushing how it’d be making plenty of Highlight reels over the coming next weeks…

As Seattle would finally claim its first home win against Los Angeles in front of nearly 40,000 adoring fans with a 2-0 Shut-out; Seattle’s first “W” over the Galaxy since 2009 in Los Angeles and snapping a six-game losing streak.

And after listening to part of the post game wrap-up along with Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid, I turned my attention to the daily news and thus was shocked by the newswire report I first read from the Indianapolis Star about Junior Seau’s death. As apparently the 43-year old ex-NFL player, a 12-time Pro Bowl selection had shot himself in the chest, with the 13-year San Diego Chargers Linebacker’s body having been discovered by his girlfriend upon her return from working out.

As it seems somewhat strange that the last time I was hearing anything about Seau was back when the Versus cable channel, now NBC Sports Network - home of NHL Hockey was trying to pump-up his Sports Jobs with Junior Seau show, including a half-hour episode where Junior worked as an honorary Pit crewmember with the Target Chip Ganassi Racing team, (TCGR) on Scott Dixon’s car I believe.

As apparently Junior had a very good lifestyle in his retirement - living in a beachfront house in Oceanside, CA, as obviously we’ll never know the reasons why Seau felt compelled to do this, or why does anybody commit suicide?

As a friend just pointed out, perhaps it had something to do with the just concluded National Football League Draft reminding him he was out of football forever…

Then for a Nightcap I read a story from the Seattle Times - off of the AP wire noting how ironically on the very day that Seau died, and the Galaxy were losing in Seattle - down in LaLa-land, the new brave faces of the Los Angeles Dodgers were promising returning the storied MLB Franchise back to its rightful place of glory as baseball contender’s in an introductory press briefing in Dodgers stadium. With Magic Johnson, Mark Walter and Stan Kasten all promising such euphoria from a stage perched upon Center field as they donned the storied LA white uni’s and blue caps signaling the teams third ownership change since 1998.

As ex-Lakers great Ervin “Magic” Johnson is the new face of the Dodgers while Walter and Kasten actually run the business - as the new owners shelled-out $2.0-billion to buy the troubled Franchise from past owner Fred McCourt, who was involved in a messy divorce, as his past wife Jamie was demanding that half of the Dodgers were hers…

Thus, how many of you recall that just eight years ago, during the summer of 2004 that Athens was playing host to the Summer Olympics.

As recently the Greek Athletics Federation was forced to suspend indefinitely all domestic competitions due to its perilous financial status due to deep funding cuts, with the country set to celebrate - hardly the right word, the ceremonial lighting of the Olympic torch.

As Greece will send only 75 athletes to this year’s Summer Olympics in London, half the number of participants from the 2008 Beijing games and a paltry one-sixth competitors from its home games eight years ago; as prior to the Beijing games, Greece’s government provided $30m (Euros) for its athletes preparations and pledged the same amount for this summer’s games; yet, with the country’s flagging economy not a single Euro was provided in either 2010 or 2011 - with the deep financial cuts seeing a reduction in funding by two-thirds to a paltry $6.5m provided this year which isn’t even enough to pay for training.

Adding insult to injury - Greece’s weight lifting, sailing, gymnastics - of which its women’s squad are the defending world champions and the water polo teams were all left high ‘N dry without any money to pay their way to their respective Olympic qualifying meets - forcing the sports governing body, the IOC to save the day by providing emergency funding! As Greece will send its smallest Olympic contingent to London 2012 since the Barcelona games a decade ago…

Meanwhile athletes have been routinely forced to train in austere conditions, without heated training facilities during the winter and lack of AC in the summer, not to mention lack of indoor lighting. Along with reportedly the Indoor training facility of the Olympic Stadium built for the ’04 games roof now leaking - as athletes must navigate a multitude of buckets lining the facilities floor to collect the dripping water.

As Spyros Kapralos, president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee describes the Greek Olympics legacy as “Heaven & Hell,” as the ’04 facilities sit unwanted, unused, vacant and crumbling… As can you imagine such travesty occurring at your local National Football League stadium?

As the Minnesota Vikings wrestle with legislators over the funding of a proposed $975m Hubert Humphrey Dome replacement, while the St Louis Rams have a contract clause stating their stadium must remain in the upper one-fourth echelon of top stadiums or else they’re free to walk. And then there’s the Atlanta Falcons who didn’t even have a first round pick this year - yet were supposedly shoveling the first scoops of Georgia clay in order to begin construction on a new one billion dollar facility!

Which surely makes you have to ponder even further the plight of Greece’s amateur athletes who didn’t even get paid all of last year while toiling for their country’s pride - which should perhaps leave Y’all with something to ponder as you order your Indianapolis Colts Andrew Luck Pro-team official replica jersey…

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