Drive for Show Putt for Dough

photo courtesy of willowgolf.com.au

Josh Inglis
Saturday April 27th 2013

I love golf.  I have loved golf since I was a pre-pubescent Cleveland Indians fan.  From my Nana's living room or patio I could watch players attempt the 186 yard 12th hole par three on the Georgetown golf course.  Then after twilight, I could  go and try my own luck with the hole or just walk the course and find balls.  I never had the money to be part of the clubhouse elite, but I would use my paper route money as a kid to go shoot a round or three throughout the summer months. 

I guess it was around the time I was a teenager I found out just how God Damn difficult and frustrating the game of golf can be.  Even today, I still have no problems putting the ball 50 plus times a round.  That's a smooth 2.8 putts per hole. Fairways no problem.  You can upgrade your driver to hit the ball more accurately off the tee, but you can't buy a putter to help you drop those stupid 4 to 6 footers.

Here's an example, I was golfing with some good friends whose handicaps are around 13 to 18.  I was also golfing with my buddy Jake who went to school on a golf scholarship.  Off the tee he was long but inconsistent so I just assumed our scores would be a little similar as I was hitting the fairway.  Never really paying much attention to his strokes around, and on the green.  Back at the clubhouse I was embarrassed to see that he had beaten me by something like 17 strokes.  I asked how he had managed that? He replied "Drive for show putt for dough."

You need to putt well to win.  This isn't breaking news.  But I was curious to see just how well the top golfers, on tour, are at putting.  I wasn't expecting to see the top 10 players all inside the top 25 in putting but I also wasn't expecting to see how inconsistent other areas of their games were.  

Below you will find stats I found at pgatour.com.  Also, I have added Body Mass Index (BMI) just for my own amusement.  I know there are many problems with BMI but with only height and weight at my disposal I didn't really have the ability to give these guys a full body analysis (probably could have worded that last sentence better).  I only did the top ten players because, truthfully, I don't want to do more.  It's early in the season but Snedeker has already played 31 rounds of golf.  I wont play 31 rounds in the next 5 years. I think that's enough of a population to analyze.

DD= driving distance
DA% = driving accuracy
GIR% = greens in regulation percentage
SGP = strokes gained - putting
BMI = body mass index

the numbers are the rankings vs all the other players on tour

'Strokes Gained-Putting measures a players performance relative to his fellow competitors in a given tournament. This analysis offers the most accurate portrayal of a player's overall putting performance'

http://www.pgatour.com/stats/academicdata/shotlink.html


Tiger Woods 6'1" 185 ilbs  BMI= 24.1  
 DD = 30th  DA% = 152nd  GIR% = 59th  SGP = 1st
FedEx Cup rank = 1 st

Brandt Snedeker  6'1" 185 ilbs   BMI= 24.1 
DD = 143rd  DA% = 11th  GIR% = 9th  SGP  = 25th 
FedEx Cup rank = 2nd 

Matt Kuchar 6'5" 195 ilbs  BMI= 23.1
DD = 129th   DA% = 137th  GIR% = 104th  SGP  = 36th
FedEx Cup rank = 3rd 

Kevin Streelman 5'10" 175ilbs  BMI = 25.1
 DD =  79th   DA% = 20th   GIR% =  40th  SGP = 43rd
Fed Ex Cup rank = 4th

Adam Scott  6'0" 180 ilbs  BMI= 24.1
DD = 8th   DA% = 153rd  GIR% =  70th  SGP = 77th
FedEx Cup rank = 5th

Graeme McDowell 5'11'' 168 ilbs   BMI= 23.4
DD = 152nd   DA% = 8th  GIR% = 161st  SGP  =9th
FedEx Cup rank = 6th

Phil Mickelson  6'3'' 200ilbs  BMI=  25
DD = 62nd  DA% = 160th  GIR% =  20th SGP  = 46th
FedEx Cup rank = 7th

Dustin Johnson  6'4" 190 ilbs  BMI = 23.1  
DD = 5th   DA% = 182nd  GIR% = 43rd  SGP  = 33rd
FedEx Cup rank 8th

Steve Stricker 6' 0" 190ilbs    BMI = 25.8
DD =  151st   DA% = 17th  GIR% = 2nd  SGP  =  12th
FedEx Cup rank 9th 

Russell Henley  6'0" 180 ilbs   BMI = 24.1
DD =  62nd   DA% = 39th  GIR% =  69th  SGP  = 18th
FedEx Cup rank 10th

Ok, lets see what we can get from this information

• BMI ranges from 23.1 to 25.8 (Stricker pushing the scales) proving you should be in somewhat good shape to compete in a professional sport.  I know earth shattering stuff.
• DD- Driving distance ranges from 5th overall (Johnson) to 152nd overall (McDowell) giving a 147 position ranking difference within the best golfers.  I guess driving distance doesn't make a whole lot of difference in the long run.
• DA% - Driving accuracy percentage has a low of 11th (Snedeker) and a high of 182nd (Johnson).  That's 171 position difference in rankings.  Woods is the number one golfer in the world and he hits the fairways at a 55.71% clip. Also, Johnson is the fifth longest player, on average, off the tee at 302.8 but only hits 49.51% of his fairways.  Driving accuracy, arguably, might be the least important of these stats in order to be successful.
• GIR% - Greens in regulation percentage goes as low as 2nd overall  (Stricker) to a high of 161 overall (McDowell)  158 position differences.  Seems as "important" as driving distance.
• SGP - Strokes gained - putting. Currently the best player on tour leads everyone in this category ranking 1st overall.  The worst in this group is Adam Scott at 77th overall. Giving a difference of 76 ranks.  Also if we take Scott out of the ranks, the next person with the worst SGP is Mickelson at at 46th overall creating a difference of only 45 ranks.  

Basically all the information above tells us what we already knew.  You need to putt well in order to get the CREAM. However I was very surprised to see how poorly some golfers were in other important categories like hitting a ball far onto the fairway from the tee.  

Nobody gets excited when you make 5 footers. Nike isn't going to make a commercial featuring people making gimmes. I would still rather crush a ball from the blocks for 300 plus yards than be consistent at short putts.  I guess there in lies the reason I have never been or maybe will never be, a good golfer. But man......nothing beats golf.

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I'm perfectly fine with imperfect

Photo Courtesy CCLLBaseball.com

Graham Walker

April 26, 2013

I worry sometimes when talk of modernizing baseball comes up in various circles. It’s been a topic off and on for numerous years now. There are video reviews that we see in other sports, but through the test of time baseball has persevered without.

Some could ask if the sport is behind the times, look at the NHL for example, every few years new rules and regulations creep into the game, additionally, we have seen new camera angles and video replay for the refs to review.

However, no other sport official has more influence on a game than in baseball. Every pitch has the potential for human error. And to be honest, that’s fine with me.

Last night Crew Chief Jeff Kellogg decided to make up his own version of Major League Baseball’s rules and reverse a call without dispute from Yankee’s skip Joe Girardi. But are calls like this reason to take the human element out of the game?

If we could manufacture a robot that knew every rule and would never miss a call, would you want that? Would it be enjoyable to watch? We could call balls and strikes called over the stadium intercom and have ‘Siri’ provide the color. Where do we draw the line? Is sport about right or wrong? Aren't blown calls the stuff that city folklore is made of? Remember back to Armando Galarraga's imperfect game. That particular game will forever be remembered and had the last call not have been blown, none of us would be able to recall it (well maybe Armando).   

For the most part they get it right. On average the umpire crew has to make an average 147 calls a game and the percentage they get wrong is so small we could present the union with a six-sigma award.

The point is we have humans calling our game, it is imperfect, and it is with error and that is the way it should remain. Baseball, I would argue, is more about the passion, the emotion, the romance, and the intangibles. The game the pro’s play is no different than the one we all played and fell in love with on sandlots as kids.

If the game was good enough for the last 100 plus years without digital interjection, I say, “if it ain’t broke…”

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John Gibbons goes Back To Back

Photo courtesy of leaderpost.com

Josh Inglis
Friday April 26th 2013



After giving ol' JG the gears yesterday about finally showing some emotion he did it again Thursday night in New York.  John Gibbons was tossed again, this time by 2B umpire Jeff Kellogg. 

He was tossed for arguing a trapped ball call at first base that was originally ruled an out but  shortly overturned by 2nd base umpire Kellogg. “My sense was that the ball was resting on the ground and his glove was around the top of the ball,” said Kellogg

There was no appeal from the Yankees on the first call.  This was what sent JG off his rocker.  Gibbons later said  “I asked (Kellogg) how could they overturn it if there is no appeal by the other side? I thought the rule was that there had to be an appeal by the other side for them to get together. That was my interpretation of the rule.”

Gibbons moves included some finger pointing, a hat removal, some pinkie pointing, spiking his hat into the dirt , getting ejected and then  talking to the man who had just ejected him in an odd but casual manner.  Just check it out on the link below.

Watch Video Here

Gibbons has a chance to make it a 3-peat on Friday in New York.  If he is shown the door for a 3rd time in a row I will never say a bad thing about the man who I thought had the heart beat of a hibernating bear.

quotes courtesy of  Howie Rumberg, The Associated Press

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Rams with the 8th select Tavon Austin

photo courtesy of  nfl.si.com

Josh Inglis

@B2Bsportsinglis


In the 2013 NFL draft the St Louis Rams have traded away their 16th, 46th, 78th, and 222nd picks to the Toronto Buffalo Bills for their 8th and 71st.  The Rams then used that 8th overall pick and selected West Virginia hybrid WR Tavon Austin.  Austin was the first "skilled" position player taken in the draft, as the first 7 picks were O-line men or D-line men.

St Louis makes the most sense as current quarterback Sam Bradford was looking at a 3 player receiving core that caught a combined 83 balls for 1115 yards (Givens, Quick, Pettis out are Amendola and Gibson) and a back field of Daryl Richardson and Isaiah Pead (Steven Jackson to ATL) that, together, had 708 TOTAL yards from scrimmage.  Needless to say, the Rams made the right move to get someone who can hopefully contribute immediately.

At  5' 8"and 174 ilbs, Austin isn't an ideal size for an NFL receiver but his ability to line up anywhere on the field and his ability to take it to the house on any touch makes him the most explosive offensive weapon in this years shallow draft.

Feel free to use the first overall pick in your dynasty leagues on Tavon, I don't think I will be getting him at 1.03.  Also, Tavon should be the first rookie off the board in this years Re-drafts.  I'll go out on a limb and say an ADP of 98.

Here is some further proof of his ceiling courtesy of Drew Silva on twitter @drewsilv

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John Gibbons has a pulse

Josh Inglis
@B2Bsportsinglis


John Gibbons is alive, finally.  All it took was an anemic 8-13 start to the season for his club to wake him up.  John was ejected Wednesday night arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Mike DiMuro in defense of 3rd baseman Brett Lawrie. It was Gibbons first ejection of the season and the first by any Blue Jay player this year.

Watch John G get tossed

I imagine most Blue Jay fans are quite disappointed with how things have gone so far considering the teams expectations.  Competitive is all Torontonians want from their Roger Center inhabitants.  That includes once removed skipper John Michael Gibbons.  If you've paid the money to see them or caught the games on TV or on MLB TV you will have surely noticed this character throughout the game.....

This lump of mash potatoes is in charge of an underachieving group of talented players who, after 22 games looks like this statistically:

• Tied for 2nd in the league for most runs against.  Trailing only the Chris Carter led Houston Astros
• Tied for the most unearned runs in the league
• Have allowed the most hits in the majors to date
• 3rd most hits allowed
• Has a 5.67 ERA between his first 4 starters in the rotation (I like JA Happ and not throwing him in with the group he sits at 3.68 ERA 1.14 WHIP and 7.77 K/9)
• Their 3 and 4 batters are hitting .190 and .210 respectively 

Maybe the team needed someone to kick the tires and get things going or maybe it was just from a frustrated manager whose job may be in jeopardy come July if things don't improve. Either way the pitching is bound to improve and Jose and Edwin will find their strokes, but I'm not sure if that is going to equal a winning formula.  It sure seems John Farrell has things figured out right now in Boston.

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Upton Gets Turned Around

photo courtesy Getty Images 

Josh Inglis

@B2Bsportsinglis

The Atlanta Braves lost for just the 6th time this year Wednesday night at Colorado by a score of 5 to 6 in 12 innings.  Even with the loss the Braves still have the best record in the majors. Its safe to say that new left fielder Justin Upton, who is batting .316 11HR 16 RBIs 1.199 OPS and 63 total bases on 79 AB, has a lot to do with that but his defense wasn't on display in the bottom half of the 9th when, arguably, the best closer in the past 2 years was trying to record his 17th straight save opportunity without giving up a run.

Upton got turned around twice off a Dexter Fowler deep fly ball that went off the wall with runners on the corners, giving Fowler a 2 run double which cost the Braves the lead and ultimately the game later on in the 12th when pinch hitting Yorvit Torrealba hit a single to left and scored Wilin Rosario from second.  Upton had a tough play to get Rosario at home but the throw was off line and had no chance. I'm sure Atlanta fans won't mind as long as Upton keeps pounding the ball.  

The Braves will have a day to think about the tough loss as they are off on Thursday and will get back to action on Friday as Paul  Maholm takes his 1.03 ERA and his 8.62 K/9 to Detroit against Anibal Sanchez and the 10 - 9 Tigers.

Check out the highlights here from mlb.com

• 3B Chris Johnson (the throw in on the Upton trade) is hitting a cool .397 over 63 at bats.  Filling the shoes of one of the best pure hitting 3rd basemen of all time in Chipper Jones
• BJ Upton has 29 strike outs  in 80 at bats while fellow whiffer Dan Uggla  has 26 Ks in 65 AB. Giving the two a respectable 0.379 combine strike out average. Fun betting game with friends is BJ and Uggla 4.5 K combined for any game.  I prefer the over.
• Prior to the game Craig Kimbrel had only allowed one earned run in his last 35 innings of work for a 0.257 ERA over that span

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Manny still hitting game winners

Josh Inglis
@B2Bsportsinglis


Check out the Manny Ramirez blog done by our good friend Brandon Dubreuil @brandondubreuil

Manny continues to hit game winning bombs.  Just not in the Western Hemisphere. The link below shows his game winner in extra innings this past week against the Elephants.

mannydoestaiwan.com

below you will find the link for the repost on hardballtalk.com which is maybe the most daily viewed baseball website on the web


manny does taiwan on hardballtalk.com

For those that don't know, Manny Ramirez is playing professional baseball in Taiwan for the EDA Rhinos of the CPBL.

Everyone loves Manny

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What Would Al Davis Do?

Josh Inglis

Article idea by Jake Cousineau

The first round of the 2013 NFL draft is upon us, and for the second straight year, arguably the most famous of all NFL GMs will not be making the trip to Radio City Music Hall in New York.

Allen Davis passed away Oct 8, 2011 from heart failure at his home in Oakland and and in doing so has left a void in every NFL fan and follower.  Love or hate Al Davis you can't deny that he was the most well known owner in the league if not in all of professional sports in North America.  He went from coordinator to head coach and GM to AFL commissioner to head of football operations to eventually ownership.

 Three superbowl wins, and 4 AFC championships proves as evidence as Al's legacy.  However, due to recent drafts (2007), a number of high draft pick busts (JaMarcus, Rolando) and his final move, a questionable 3rd round supplemental  draft pick on Terrelle Pryor it had  left Al as a punch line come draft day.






Now I am not here to judge a man who gave 60 years of his life to better a sport or on his ability to evaluate talent, (he did trade a coach, John Gruden, for two 1st round picks, two second round picks and $8 million in cash and then proceeded to make the superbowl the following season however eventually losing to the coach he had traded away)  I'm just making the point that when the Oakland Raiders were on the clock during the first day it might have been the most exciting part of the draft just due to absolute uncertainty alone.

With many teams' picks already known or specific to 2 or 3 players, having Al and his passion for forty times is a sight that is surely missed. However, with his brother Jerry still writing the names on the cards there still may be a little unexpectedness  left in the organization.  Having four top 100 picks and ten picks in total in the draft there is plenty of opportunity for surprise.

The man who has been trying to fill Al Davis' shoes is 2nd year GM Reggie Mckenzie. Mckenzie's first draft as the Raiders' GM was 2012.  In that year the silver and black's first pick wasn't until the 3rd round where he drafted Utah guard Tony Bergstrom with the 95th overall pick.  

In Al Davis fashion here is a look at the fastest 40 times from the combine.


4.27 Marquise Goodwin, Texas wide receiver
4.34 Tavon Austin, West Virginia wide receiver
*4.34 Onterio McCalebb, Auburn running back
4.34 Ryan Swope, Texas A&M wide receiver
4.36 Darius Slay, Mississippi State cornerback
4.37 Knile Davis, Arkansas running back
4.37 Dee Milliner, Alabama cornerback
4.38 Josh Boyce, Texas Christian wide receiver
4.38 Kenny Stills, Oklahoma wide receiver
4.38 Desmond Trufant, Washington cornerback
4.39 Robert Alford, Southeastern Louisiana cornerback
4.39 Jamar Taylor, Boise State cornerback
4.40 Brandon McGee, Miami cornerback
4.41 Sanders Commings, Georgia cornerback
4.41 Kayvon Webster, South Florida cornerback

My In Memory of Al pick
4.43 Denard Robinson, Michigan Wide Receiver 

*Onterio ran an unofficial time 4.21 which would have been a forty time record had it stood

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A $147 000 000 Mistake

Zach Greinke maybe should have decided to hit someone else in the Padres
line-up other than the 6'2'' 235 pound Carlos Quentin.  Alexi Amarista, who stands at 5'8'' 152ilbs, seems like the brighter option as the next batter in the order.  Anyway we all know how the story ends, Quentin does the double take move to the mound, charges Greinke, reminiscent of his outside linebacker days in Highschool, hits Greinke 6 feet back and breaks his collar bone in the process.




Vin Scully (who pretty much was the internet before the internet) does his best work on the call.  I'm guessing it takes a lot to get a rise out of the man who has seen everything in baseball.

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