Well the weekend is over...There was plenty of sports...NASCAR let the NRA sponsor a race which with all the talk about gun laws got people all kinds of fired up...Me, I don't care...NASCAR is a business and the NRA has money to spend...Do I agree with everything they say...No...But I don't watch NASCAR either, so I don't give a damn...

Adam Scott won the Masters...I heard it went to a playoff but I didn't watch...Why? Because golf bores me, and the wife didn't want me taking a nap...Plus there was the whole shit about Tiger Woods supposedly not knowing the rules, and taking an illegal drop...The officials okay'ed his score card, then a viewer at home called and pointed out the violation...If people can call you up from home, and point out the rules that your officials missed, or screwed up on...Your sport/game is fucking stupid!

Besides that...These cocksuckers at the Masters gave a one stroke penalty to a 14 year old, who was out their holding his own, for playing too slow....FUCK YOU! But Tiger does something that would have gotten anyone else DQ'ed and he's given a two stroke penalty and allowed to stay in the hunt...Fucking Golf and the Masters can eat my ass!

-Let's go to a real sport...

Saturday night was the NCAA Hockey Championship in Pittsburgh...It was a battle of Connecticut as the Nation's #1 team Quinnipiac took on the Cinderella Yale Bulldogs...No matter who won, it would be their schools first NCAA Hockey title...

Well, Yale came to finish the Cinderella Story, lead by goalie Jeff Malcolm on his 24th birthday...

It was a tight, close game through two periods...Yale finally scoring first with just under 4 seconds left in the second period...

They carried the momentum into the third going up 3-0...Quinnipiac pulled their goalie, Hoby Baker finalist Eric Hartzell with 7 minutes left, trying to use the extra attacker to help them back in the game...But Malcolm held strong, making 36 saves...Yale fired in an empty net goal to put it out of reach, and winning 4-0...

Yale had proven once again not to count out underdogs...And that they can compete with the big guns in D-1 Hockey...Great win for Yale...And great for College Hockey...But the night belonged to the birthday boy Jeff Malcolm...The heart and soul of the team...The goalie in the tourney that they didn't talk about....Looks like he's finally caught the eye of a few people...

-This weekend was my and Mrs. Beeze's 12 year anniversary...We went out Friday for a cheap date...We started out, where it all began...A little bar, with great tacos...It was where we went the first time we went out after work...It was that night that I knew she was the one...SO we had a beer and a couple tacos and the went to the movies...Going to the movies is one of her favorite things to do...We saw Olympus Has Fallen...Spoiler Alert.......It had good action...The one dude was a good ass kicker and had some good lines...But it was bullshit...And the CGI stuff looked like crap....

As we drove home, we started talking about how the time has flown by...12 years went by quick...I never imagined my life like this...And now I wouldn't consider changing it...3 kids, a house, a mini-van, coaching baseball, selling a guitar to get my daughter a clarinet...I'm still madly in love with my wife...I'm a lucky guy...Wouldn't change a thing...(but if I found a million dollars in my wallet tomorrow that wouldn't be awful)

Have a week...

The Beeze

Should Tiger Woods have withdrawn for the Masters?

Should they have DQ'ed him?

Now that the Catholic cardinals have assembled their weapon of Mass Construction (c’mon, that was funny) we can move onto more important issues.  Like the PGA considering a ban on anchoring  putters. 

Now, I’m probably like most cats that have strolled the links waving a golf club in one hand, and a beverage in the other, in that I can hit the crap out of a golf ball given a solid driver, but my short game falls…a little short.  I’m known to drive the ball to the green in 2 strokes, and put it in the cup with no less than 6-more.  In short, I suck.  Bad.

And, frankly, I don’t have the temperament for golf.  The last time I went golfing, I was on hole 13 when I got so frustrated I wrapped my 9-iron around a tree.  Truly, I’m not kidding.  My family refuses to take me out to putt-putt.  I’m that bitter and angry that I can’t get the ball through the windmill that I’m a hazard to be around.

Getting back to the issue at hand, the PGA wants to consider a ban to take effect in 2016 on “belly putters” because they take too much skill out of the game.  Why?  Because an increasing number of tour members are using them.   According to the PGA website, not one of the top 20 golfers use an anchored putting stroke.  Seems to me that in and of itself undercuts their argument; these competitive cats see an advantage, they’d be on it like a boss.  They’re not. 

Now, you’re not likely to get me on the links any time soon; I broke the head off a brand new “Big Bertha” – on the first swing I took with it -  by driving it straight down: A $225 driver – with a sweet club cover and everything – down the tubes.  The head went further than the ball did.  Would an anchored putter help my game?  Seriously?  Psychiatric help might help my game, but a belly putter?  Not likely.  Does it help the pros by “taking the skill out” of the game?  I suppose over a long term, it could have a dumbing down effect – like the slam dunk vs. a charity stripe throw to a 7’1” Shaquille O’Neal – but seriously, the game is so skill driven and so competitive that if anchoring a putter to my belly would give me a fraction of a stroke difference over 13 tour appearances, I would do it.  That doesn’t seem to be happening.

But just because people increasingly use something, it doesn’t mean that it works.  I mean any 1980’s kid that wore Marithe Francois Girbaud inverse pleated pants knows that just because everyone is doing it, it doesn’t mean it works.  None of the Top 20 actually use one?  Probably not happening, it’s a matter of style.  The accusation it takes the skill out of the short game hasn’t been proven – if you’re going to ban something because it creates an advantage (real or perceived), you need to test it.  And that hasn’t been done.

Here’s the simple solution: take the top 100 golfers.  Randomly assign them to a belly putter vs. traditional putter groups and have them putt 1000 times.    Which group out performs the other?  Then debate the issue.  If the belly putters outperform, that gives you data with which to have a debate – not a perfect debate, I mean my experimental design has significant flaws, but some data (even flawed data) is better than no data.  That data is just not present in this discussion. 

So to the PGA I say, don’t be like the Luddites fighting the power of technological advancement: destroying the machines of progress – a futile fight.   Look at data, don’t just make a gut reaction because you don’t like the form.

Hello and welcome to another Wednesday of deep thoughts. There is plenty of baseball to discuss this week, but a bit of football is first on the docket today. The big news this week is Boldin going to San Francisco and Harvin going to Seattle. Picking up Boldin for a 6^th round pick was sort of a no brainer for the 49ers. For you Ravens fans, I hope you enjoyed that Super Bowl, but it may be awhile before you get back. As Sully mentioned to me on Tuesday, the Ravens supposedly traded Boldin to say room to re-sign Dannell Ellerbe. I guess somebody forget to send Ellerbe that memo as he signed 5 year deal with the Dolphins…oops. So, maybe they can sew up Kruger? Nope…he gone. Kruger is headed to Cleveland, where they agreed to pay him $40 million over 5 years. Don’t look now, but the Ravens are unraveling in this off season. The Ravens have lost not only very good players, but leadership on offense and defense. I heard a stat today…Boldin caught 60 + % of the passes thrown to him last year. The rest of the receivers were something like 43%. It is fine to have Flacco signed to a long term deal, but the Ravens better find someone for him to throw to. With the newly missing pieces to their defense, it will take more points from the Raven offense to make up for what will surely be a defense trying to find its way. I will go out on a limb and say the Ravens don’t make the playoffs next year…sorry Felber. Of course, Raven fans have that SB victory to tide them over for a few years.

Everyone thinks that the Seahawks overpaid for Harvin, and maybe they did. But, it is pretty clear that a slot receiver is a valuable commodity and Harvin could be a huge surprise next year. Or, he could be a big headache…as in the migraines that he has been prone to. But, look at the team that the Seahawk management has put together…pretty damn good. Russell Wilson has been a huge part of this success and Seattle went out and got a receiver to make Wilson even more successful. You may not like what the Seahawks paid for Harvin, but I am pretty sure that Wilson was a lot happier on Tuesday than Joe Flacco. I will join everyone else in assuming that the NFC West games will be battles for foreseeable future. Oh yeah, Jeff Fisher is building a team in St. Louis as well. All I can say is Arizona better get better quickly. The NFC West will be beastly next year.

Reports on Wednesday indicate that Wes Welker is in serious talks with the Denver Broncos about finalizing a contract. Apparently the Patriots do not think at 31 years old that he is worth the money that he is asking. Welker reportedly is also still "disgruntled" with the way that New England used in him in early 2012. For his career, Welker has 672 receptions and 37 TDs during his 93 game Patriot career. Many in the NFL think that much of this production is because Tom Brady was Welker's QB. I guess Denver thinks that they have a pretty good option to throw him the ball as well. This is huge news and will be a big deal for New England in 2013. It has been said that it is better to let go of a player too early than too late...this may be true, but it will be strange to see Welker catching passes from anyone besides Brady.

It is a done deal...late Wednesday afternoon, the Broncos signed Welker to a 2 year deal worth 12 million. Now Patriot fans will have another reason to hate Peyton Manning. Although Stokely was a decent slot receiver, he is not Wes Welker. Word from New England is that Tom Brady is livid. Remember that Brady reworked his contract to give the Patriots room to sign "the right players". The way that the hoodie used Welker early last year revealed that something was amiss. Welker made just over 9 million for 2012 under the franchize tag. If Welker was willing to play for 6 million the next two years and Brady's new contract gave the Pats an extra 15 million, I am surprised that they did not work out a deal. Of course, it is rumored that the Pats are working on signing Amendola from the Rams...so maybe things will work out for Brady and his guys...

In other NFL news…Mike Wallace got paid by the Dolphins as well. One thing that I know, if the Steelers are letting a receiver go…there is probably a reason. Can you name a receiver that played well after leaving Pittsburgh? Anyone?

Now, let’s talk some baseball. I have heard some argue that the WBC is a waste of time. They don’t have enough “big” name players on the US team. This is not the NBA all star game. Joe Torre built the US team with a purpose. Look at the players on this team…there is not one base clogger. No need for a Prince on this team. When you have Giancarlo Stanton hitting in the 8^th spot…you have a pretty deep roster. Ryan Braun says it better than I can…"You have a lot of guys who can do a lot of different things. We have guys who can bunt, who can hit-and-run and steal bases. We're going from first to third. We're scoring from first on doubles.” That would be Braun scoring from first on Joe Mauer’s two strike double to left center…a pea rod that could not be cut off by Puerto Rico’s Angel Pagan. By the way, I would pay good money to watch Joe Mauer hit anywhere. If there is a prettier swing, I don’t know who it is. Mauer hitting clean up walked 3 times against PR…for which David Wright rewarded the US team with 5 RBIs.

Some of you think that the MLB players are missing out by not being at spring training. Realistically, spring training is no longer for getting in shape. Spring training is primarily used now to look at young players and get starters a chance to see live pitching. Which, of course they are getting in spades by playing in the WBC. Another complaint is that pitchers are not ready to pitch in competitive game. The fact is that there is a pitch count that gradually goes up as the tournament progresses…sort of like spring training. By the way, Zach Greinke is not pitching in the WBC. Joe Torre and Greg Maddux are being extra cautious with pitchers. Torre clearly understand what MLB managers want and he is working hard to take care of their players. Rather than bringing in Kimbrel in the 8^th inning against Canada, Torre brought in Steve Cishek to get out of the 8^th. Kimbrel came for the 9^th inning, just as he is normally used. Torre must be doing a good job because there have been no complaints regarding the US players use. If you have taken the time to watch a complete game, you will notice one thing. These games matter very much to the players and fans. Playing for your country is a bit different in this setting. This is more like Olympic hockey in that many NHL players show up playing for their countries. The difference is that baseball is our game.

If you have not watched any of the WBC, you probably still saw the donnybrook between Mexico and Canada. Others have covered this, and I agree with most of what I have read. Mexico was wrong to take offense at the Canadian bunt. Because the run differential is used to break ties, it was perfectly logical that Canada bunt in that situation. The best line that I have heard was the press conference after the game. A reporter asked Canadian skipper Ernie Whitt if any players were hurt…his answer was, “you can’t hurt us Canadians”. Classic!

 It is time that we acknowledge what is happening under our nose, a damn fine US team is playing winning baseball. Check out the game with US and DR, this will be baseball played at a very high level. You may not like the time of year, but you can not argue that this is very good baseball…As they said on the MLB channel, they should have beaten us early, because the longer the US is in the tournament, the more the talent takes over.

You probably heard about the guy that died when his house fell into a sinkhole in Florida? I have one better. A golfer in Illinois was standing in the middle of the fairway when the ground just opened up beneath his feet. He was standing in the middle of the fairway, and then before he knew it, he was underground. Luckily, this story had a happier ending than the poor guy in Florida. With the help of the course manager and a 20 foot length of rope, this guy was pulled to safety. Although he suffered a dislocated shoulder…it could have been much worse!

As a Longhorn fan, I jokingly poke fun at OU fans from time to time. I read today that an OU football fan has been jailed for trying to sell her child for $1000 on facebook. Can this be true? Apparently, she was trying to raise bail to get her boyfriend out of jail…instead, she joined him. SI used to do a segment called signs the apocalypse is upon us. I think this would qualify for that segment. This is not a joke...

Speaking of Longhorns, freshmen baseball player Ben Johnson had a nice day this weekend. Hitting lead off for the first time, he led off the game with a dinger to right field and added two doubles and a single for a 4 for 4 day. You may remember that Johnson played with my son at Westwood last year. Way to go Ben!

Westwood lost a tough game last Friday night. They got a one hit performance from a guy that really did not pitch until this year. Leading 3 to 1 in the bottom of the 7^th, umpire could have rung up the lead off man, but instead he got a pass. Another walk followed probably because he was pissed about the lead off man walking…and suddenly his night was done. We brought in our hard throwing D1 pitcher to close out the game. Their hitter laid down a pretty bunt down the 3^rd base line that our pitcher tried to make a throw on... bad idea. Two runs scored…runner on 3^rd. A wild pitch and the game was done. What a tough way to lose. The good news is that Westwood rallied to score 10 runs on Saturday to get one from the district favorites. We played another game Tuesday night at the AAA stadium of the Round Rock Express. Our ace took the mound with scouts from several MLB teams watching…it is great to throw hard, but you have to throw strikes too. It was a bad night. It seemed like every batter went to a full count. Some we got, others walked…then a hit here and an error there and it got ugly. 9 to 1 ugly. Baseball is a simple game…you throw the ball, you catch the ball and then you hit. If you can’t throw and catch…you can never hit enough to win. We play again Wednesday and Thursday, so hopefully...I will have good news next week.

Incidentally, if you happen to visit Austin. We are now a BYOB town, when shopping. That is right, bring your own bag when visiting a supermarket in Austin. You can buy a heaver plastic bag or bring your own...we no longer have the small plastic bags. Is that crazy or what?

That’s all I have today, but I will leave you with a bit of Jack Handey.

“Probably the saddest thing you will ever see is a mosquito sucking on a dummy. Forget it, little friend.”

“Broken promises don’t upset me. I just think, what did they believe me?”

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a few deep thoughts of your own.

For those of you who are reading me for the first time, and as a refresher for those who may vaguely recall my previous body of blogging contributions to TSN and to YouGab, here are a few personal notes.  I live in a small cow town, Damascus,  Maryland.  As far as local sporting allegiances, I estimate it at about 50 – 50, Redskins & Ravens, 70 – 30  O’s & Nationals, sadly dominated by woebegone Capitals fans and home to about 10 Wizard fans…in case you did not know this, Washington does have a professional basketball team and that really is their name. I generally go Redskins, Nationals, Capitals, O's, Wiz & Ravens as my rooting hierarchy.  Above all, I am a sports fan.

I have the spent the last two non-blogging years drifting on the sea of sports websites on an almost Jason Bourne – like search seeking to reclaim my sports identity, although I did not have to kill anyone to do that (close call once in a beer line at FedEx field though).    Along the way, I discovered a renewed passion for baseball, an odd affinity to dog sled racing, 83 channels of sports programming on my Comcast box (who is this Jim Rome guy and why does he have his own TV show? and what's the deal with all the Euro-football?) and an old Brooks Robinson autographed baseball.   I lost my big toe in a strange Mayan end-of-the world sports ritual resulting in the Family giving me my coveted Sicilian handle, “Billy Nine Toes.”

Ultimately, I was shocked back to reality when Lance Armstrong appeared on Oprah followed by all-time nice guy Phil Mickelson groused about money like he was Maurice Jones-Drew.  Suddenly, almost magically, the first blog entry in quite some time popped off my keyboard and it all came back to me…yes, I used to post at YouGab…it’s all clear now.    Fortunately, I did keep a sports journal of my virtual & real travels…here are a few notes from the last couple of years…

Feb 2011.  In what could have been the defining moment of my sports amnesia experience, Lance Armstrong retires a hero.  Apparently, after being on the cover of SI in 2002 as Sportsman of the Year, SI developed its own case of amnesia.  In Lance’s case, he just forgot that he used every mode of PED’s under the sun.

Nov 2011. Inasmuchas my office is near State College, this story was too close to home.  The Legend of Joe Pa is no more…the whole Penn State story represented the seedy side of youth sports that nobody likes to think about and even less likes to write about.  A really low moment.  As a parent that devoted years to coaching youth sports,  you know that the kids and the parents trust you.  How could they let that happen?   (Note:  Joe was also a Sportsman of the Year in 1986).

Dec 2011.  In one final hurrah before the Sports Czar lowered the boom on the Crescent City, Drew Brees maxes out the passing yardage record.  The undocumented story was D Coach Gregg Williams tutoring the Saints receivers on how to twist an ankle during a pile-up.  Team generates unusually large (and suspicious) number of late fumbles to create artificial scrums.  Goodell is still looking into the matter.

Feb 2012.  The Giants won the Super Bowl….the Giants won the Super Bowl.  Unbelievable.  I’m remain nonplused.

March 2012.  The 2012 Fantasy Iditarod Season is lost due to a lockout by the owners (would that be...me?!).  The lockout ends the domination of the event by Alaska weathermen.  In related news,  the real race was won by Dallas Seavey  with a time of just over 9 days followed by female musher Aily Zirkle  only 1 hour behind.   If I had only run the contest, I might have finally won my own event.  

April 2012.  A small stroke of poetic justice occurred when some guy named Bubba actually wins the Masters.  22 old guys wearing hideous green sports coats pass out…nobody notices as they assume it is just time for their naps.  On the lighter side, I got to have a beer with a few of my buds on the 16^th green. (I'm on the right).

A small piece of advice if you ever go to a golf tournament – drinking 3 martinis in a hospitality tent after wandering around in the heat all day is not a good idea.  Several koi at the rental property suffered the consequences as a result; details another day.

Oct 2012.  During a visit to the Native American History Museum, I participated in a study that revealed 23% of the visitors werewearing some form of Washington Redskins apparel.  This number spiked when the data from a spy-cam revealed a surprising and rather disturbing trend that showed an alarming affinity for Redskins thong panties worn by women weighing in at over 250 pounds.  The study results prompt D.C. mayor to demand a name change for the team as a requirement to move back to the city.  Owner Dan Snyder responded with a well-known and probably equally native hand gesture.

Dec 2012.  I was nearly snapped back to reality in a surreal sports moment.  The Redskins actually won something other than the offseason – a division title.  In a shocking visual twist, Jerry Jones facelift gave way…unrecognizable as he left FedEx field, he was accosted by stadium security.  In response to his claims to be Jerry Jones, stadium staff told him, “you’re not pretty enough.”

So there it is, 24 months of sports hell, but in the immortal words of George Costanza, “I’m back, baby, I’m back!!”

Now down to business…

Next week I get to post just before the Super Bowl.  In addition to giving you my Fearless Forecast on the Big Game, I will publish the winner of the Chili Cook-Off.  How to accomplish this off of a blog you ask?  Send me your recipe and I will reproduce a couple of them this week and put them up against my own recipe.  The winning recipe as judged by my family (never one to be biased towards me) will be the winner.  I hope I don’t win by default.

I will also take salsa recipes to go along with the mandatory chips. 

Bring it on!

Coming in February...

We are getting very close to the pitchers and catchers reporting – I am definitely looking forward to that and I will be covering that very closely…much closer than, say, hockey season which I am finding hard to watch.  Is that because the Caps stink?, maybe so…nevertheless…give me baseball.

So there we go – thanks to all the YouGab guys for welcoming me back with open arms, Sully, Frag and the rest, thanks a bunch.  Until next week, adios muchachos!