March 2009 - Posts
I have to admit, I didn’t think he’d make the putt. Yeah, yeah, I know. Stupid of me to doubt that Tiger Woods could hit a little 12-footer with the match on the line, especially at Bay Hill with Arnie himself watching from inside the ropes at greenside.
But admit it. A lot of you didn’t believe he’d do it either. You couldn’t have. The guy had his knee rebuilt last June. He’d played just twice coming into Bay Hill, and all he had to show for it was a ninth-place finish. His putting was off. He’s still shaking off the rust. Yes, he’s great, but he’s not Superman. Is he?
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I don’t normally write about commercially sponsored contests, but this one involved a chance to trade emails with Christian Laettner about perhaps the greatest shot in NCAA tournament history.
If you were alive and taking in oxygen on March 28, 1992, you remember it. Duke was down 102-101 to Rick Pitino’s Kentucky squad with 2.1 seconds left. Grant Hill threw a 75-foot inbounds pass, Laettner – one of the greatest college players to ever play the game – went high to grab it, turned and threw up the 17-footer that won the game. (To refresh your memory, watch it again here.)
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If the New Jersey Devils win their fourth Stanley Cup this year, the Conn Smythe Trophy for the MVP of the playoffs should go to Martin Brodeur’s surgically repaired left biceps. Yes, it kept him out of 50 games this year, but it also brought him to the season’s final 22 games fresher than he’s ever been. And a fresh and strong Brodeur in the playoffs is something the Devils desperately need.
The trouble has been that Brodeur’s insistence on playing more games than any goalie in the league has been taking a toll on the 36-year-old goalie. Last year, when he played in all but five of the Devils’ 82 games, he looked tired and slow in the playoffs. He gave up 3.19 goals a game in a five-game first-round loss to the Rangers. That’s 1.23 goals above his career playoff average of 1.96. For one of the few times in his career, Brodeur was uniformly awful.
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