Much is being written about the sheer stupidity and outright lunacy of Albert Haynesworth's unprovoked attack on Andre Gurode. From this writers perspective the goon should be bounced from the league post haste. At what point anywhere, in any environment in society, is it considered okay to take a foot, wrapped in cleats, and stomp on the face of a man who's lying flat on his back on the ground? For no apparent reason. Maybe it is in that parallel universe known as professional sports, but not in mine.

Worse yet, and something no one has mentioned. Where were his teammates?

I can't imagine the type of bench clearing brawl that would ensue if that happened in a baseball game. How many ambulances, or better yet hearses, would they need to call if it happened in a hockey game? Would anyone reading this let it happen to a friend at a local bar without getting in at least one good shot at the assailant? But here we have the Dallas Cowboys: Sissies in tight pants.

I am stunned that not a single Cowboy took offense to one of theirs being stomped on by an opposing player. Not one Cowboy player could muster the gonads to even wag a finger in the face of the buffoon. If there's video of a confrontation of any sort, I haven't seen it.

I don't condone fighting in any sport. But I do expect my teammates to at least watch my back. If I were Andre Gurode, I would think twice about returning to a team that didn't give a hoot about me when I was at my most vulnerable.

If you've ever been stuck in traffic behind a diesel bus, choking on it's noxious exhaust, you know how refreshing it is to finally pass the polluting behemoth and gasp that first breath of fresh air. In today's sports world, awash in the nauseating fumes of so many stars du jour, Byron Nelson was that breath of fresh air.

In 1944, he won 13 of the 23 tournaments he played. The following year he won a record 18 times in 31 starts (31 victories in just 54 starts), including 11 in a row - also a record. Nelson finished second seven times in 1945, was never out of the top 10 and at one point played 19 consecutive rounds under 70. His stroke average of 68.33 for the season is still the record - based on rounds played.

This week the world lost more than a mere man, a great golfer and mentor to so many for so long.  Society as a whole lost an example of what it means do be a decent man. Long removed from the spectacle of his records and the adulation on the golf course, Byron Nelson lived his life and comported himself with a civility and dignity that is quickly evaporating from our midst.  The heat of the spotlight and the ego of the fleeting star have reduced sports to a 24-hour ESPN cycle of "me". 

 

"I don't know very much," Byron Nelson said in a 1997 interview with The Associated Press. "I know a little bit about golf. I know how to make a stew. And I know how to be a decent man." Sadly, the generosity of that generation, the generation of our fathers and mothers, is ending.

It's clich

What have the Washington Redskins learned in week one? With any luck they learned that for an offensive coordinator to come to town with a 700-page playbook requires as much folly as it does ingenuity. Football's great thinkers are doing entirely too much of it; namely thinking.

 

Like lawyers, football coaches have found job security in creating confusion that those outside the profession can't decipher. They have gone from good old X's and O's to some sort of Zen reality where they attempt to marshal the forces of good and evil on third and six. As usual, owners are hesitant to demand simplicity for fear of being made fun of by those privy to the inside joke.  After all, who is going to question the guy who needs a rickshaw to drag around his countless offensive schemes? 

 

For the knowledgeable football fan there are three basic plays: run, pass and kick. For Al Saunders, new Assistant Head Coach for Offense of the Washington Redskins, devising a way to generate 700 pages of variations of those basic elements is absurdity on a mythic scale. Exactly what are these offensive geniuses thinking? Who do they think is trying to remember all this stuff? Stephen Hawking? Let's be real here. Any playbook with 700 pages must have an awful lot of pictures in it. 

 

All preseason the Washington faithful were told they were seeing only 2 percent of the aggregate wisdom contained in the Sacred Documents. The other 98 percent they were assured would bring world peace, close the hole in the ozone layer and result in prolific scoring not seen since the glory days of the Fun Bunch and the Smurfs. If Monday night's play calling against the Minnesota Vikings is any indication, I'll be having tea with Osama before Mark Brunell completes a touchdown pass. 

 

With 700 pages of trickery, why did the Redskins call the wide receiver screen to Santana Moss three times? Did the magic playbook call for one time catching the ball with his left hand, the next with his right and the third an intentional drop to confuse the defenders? When you have first and ten at the 12-yard line and four world-class wide receivers, for the love of Mike, at least try one pass into the end zone before relapsing to the futile rush up the middle and customary field goal. 

 

Tom Cruise, roller coasters and the awe inspiring 700 pages might bamboozle owner Dan Snyder, but not the Redskins fans. Washington needs to get back to thinking about hard-nosed football instead of patting themselves on the back for creating a chimera playbook no one can grasp and isn't any more clever than the old "student body right" on third and three. 

 

 

As for my golf predictions, let me repost a previous article with an update. As Tiger Woods emerges from his self-imposed nine week hiatus and we head towards the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club in NY, the Tiger buzz begins anew. There are many things people agree on regarding Tiger Woods; his wife, his excellence at golf, his high "Q" rating for TV and his articulate nature. However, the claim he's "the best golfer ever" always begs the question: Is he that good, or is the competition that weak? This past weekend's Barclays Classic at the Westchester Country Club demonstrated once again the difficulty today's tour players have maintaining their composure down the stretch. In Sunday's final round Adam Scott, an up and coming player, was tied for the lead with Vijay Singh on the 14th hole. He three putted from 4 feet for bogey and then double bogeyed 15, handing the win to Singh. If Tiger is in the mix on Sunday, history tells us a collapse will likely follow. Over the past several months PGA fans have seen golfer after golfer stumbling to gift wrap a victory for Woods. Major winners John Daly and Jose Maria Olazabal, along with journeyman Chris DiMarco, handed titles to Tiger after missing simple shots or putts which would have sealed a victory for them. Besides Woods and Singh, no other big name player on tour averages under 70 in the final round. Golfing legend Jack Nicklaus, always gracious in his comments about Tiger, said "Somebody is going to dust my records. It might as well be Tiger, because he's such a great kid." However, when Jack set the scoring record of 17 under par at the Masters in 1965, he did it with a persimmon (real wood) driver and a balata (marshmallow) ball; prehistoric equipment today. Tiger uses the new titanium (metal) driver and super dimpled, barely legal golf balls that neither slice nor hook and fly forever. It's scary to think what Nicklaus would have done with this new equipment. Stuart Appleby actually hit a drive 426 yards earlier this year at the Mercedes Championship in Hawaii. With this amazing technology, and a visibly different fitness regimen, Tiger broke Jack's Masters record by a single stroke in 1997. Both played on the identical Augusta National course (yardage and pin placements). If Tiger is today's Nicklaus, then who is today's Gary Player (9 majors); Tom Watson (8 Majors); Arnold Palmer (8 Majors); Lee Trevino (6 Majors); Seve Ballesteros (5 Majors)? They all played and won during the Golden Bear era. Consider how many Majors Nicklaus might have if they weren't around then. Two more for sure if you just consider Tom Watson. Tom beat Jack in a classic head-to-head British Open duel at Turnberry in 1977, winning with a birdie on the final hole and again in the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach when he chipped in for birdie on the 17th hole in the final round. In a four-week span in 1971, Lee Trevino won the U.S., Canadian, and British Open championships and was named that year's Sports Illustrated "Sportsman of the Year". Today the golfer closest to genuine competition for Tiger is Phil Mickelson, who has 3 majors and appears to be starting a competitive run at age 36. Could this be his breakout year? Ernie Els was considered a threat with 3 majors but now has a bad leg, making it difficult for him to get around the course, the ball or a trophy. Maybe it will be Retief Goosen with 2 U.S. Open wins. Vijay Singh had a great run in 2004, which coincidentally was the only year Tiger failed to win a stroke play tournament. Vijay won 9 tournaments that year including the PGA Championship. But with age becoming a factor, he's 43, how much longer does he have? In 2005 he won 4 times, this year the Barclays is his only win on tour. Today the lowest player to qualify for the PGA tour earned over $500,000 without a single tournament victory. Tenacious competition seems to be inversely related to huge purses. Can you blame professional golfers for being content? After all, finishing in 27th place with a $50,000 payday is good work if you can get it. Unfortunately for Tiger Woods, and his legacy, he continues to best players unable to sustain their games from one tournament to the next. This week at Winged Foot if it's not Tiger holding the trophy, odds are it will be a first time winner, who like recent Major winners Rich Beem, Michael Campbell, Shaun Micheel, Todd Hamilton and Ben Curtis, we will rarely hear from again. UPDATE: Tiger missed the cut and Jeff Ogilvie, a first time winner, won the tournament when Mickelson, Furyk and Montgomery all puked on the final hole.