The On Deck Circle

This article has been submited by Trevor Smith, as it will be every Monday.

Welcome, friends and countrymen, to ODC’s newest segment: The Weekend Hangover. Appearing each Monday morning, the Hangover is a quick-hitter format rundown of the biggest news and happenings in the world of sports that you might have missed over the weekend while you were out making it rain (or for you quieter folks, listening to Jack Johnson).

HANGOVER HEADACHES: HEADLINES
Tiger Dominates. Again: Woods stole the thunder from Daniel Day Lewis and the rest of the folks in Hollywood on Sunday. Submitting what was truly the best male performance in a leading role, Tiger proved once again why he is the greatest golfer of all-time and clearly the most dominant athlete in any sport of this era. There will be blood indeed. His prodigious victory over Stewart Cink, at the unheard of mark of 8 and 7, in the 36-hole final of the WGC Match Play marked his 15th victory in 26 WGC tournaments, along with two seconds, two fourths and two fifths. Mark August 10th in your iCal now, because it’s the afternoon that Eldrick will complete the Grand Slam and go 4/4 in majors this season. Cink himself best summed it up when asked what the win says about Tiger’s game: “It says he’s the best that’s ever played.”

Memphis Goes Down: In the battle for the hearts and minds of Tennessee, the boys from Knoxville kicked the Tigers of Memphis off their perch at the top of the College Basketball world. Aside from derailing the Tigers bid for a perfect season, the game also exposed that perpetually putrid free-throw shooting is likely to kill John Calipari’s boys in March, as you cannot expect to cut down the nets if you shoot .585 from the line as a team, no matter how terrific Rose and Douglas-Roberts are. Much respect goes to Bruce Pearl’s boys in orange who likely locked up a #1 seed for the Big Dance. Sidenote: watch out for Texas, who look Rojo Caliente at the moment (as do my boys at UNC)

Eduardo da Silva’s Broken Leg: I know many ODC readers may not follow the beautiful game much, but I love the sport and simply have to bring these types of images to your attention (Note: Arsenal has since had all videos removed from YouTube). Following a tackle by Birmingham defender Martin Taylor during Arsenal’s 2-2 draw, the 25 year old Croatian striker will miss at least the rest of this season and Euro 2008 this summer. Whether this loss will impact Arsenal’s hold on the top-spot in the Premiership and their chances against AC Milan in Champions League is still unknown, but don’t think they aren’t wishing they hadn’t done the recent transfer for him.

ASPIRIN AND COFFEE: ODDS AND ENDS
Klitschko Unifies Belts: If a Heavyweight dominates the division but no one watches, does it make a sound? Sadly this division looks more played out than Souljah Boy .
NASCAR’s long day: Something called the Auto Club 500 was heavily delayed by rain on Sunday. I wanted to include this to make it clear that it is not humanly possible for me to care less about a sport than NASCAR unless Cole Trickle and Mellow Yellow are involved.
Pistons Embarrass Suns at Home: Coupled with LA’s beatdown of the Sonics, this bumps Phoenix from the top of the West. Normally this would not be an issue, except there are only 5 game dividings the #1 and #9 seeds in the conference. The early return on the Shaq Trade: I am a genius.
Mats Refuses to Waive No-trade Clause: I can’t help but think that Sundin did this to sabotage the Leafs: he was so angry that they would be disloyal and try to move him that he refused out of spite so that he can walk away at the end of the year and leave them nothing in return. That, or I am still drunk from Cuba and have lost all reason.
Francona Gets a Three-Year Extension: As Yankee fans everywhere take another Zoloft.
Trev Smith Nearly Run Over by Bull: So, yeah, grad trip was sensational.

This article has been submited by Trevor Smith, as it will be every Monday.