What a Weekend

This may have been one of the best weekends in the sports world. Tennis, PGA, NBA, NHL, NFL and NCAA basketball were all producing pretty big stories over the span of 4 days.

We'll start with golf. This weekend was the first big golf tournament of 2011, the Farmers Insurance Open. It was newsworthy because Tiger Woods was playing in it. Golf remains newsworthy so long as Tiger is still playing. He doesn't have to be good, he just has to show up, as he did this weekend. He played well enough on the first two days, keeping himself in contention to make a run in his red shirt. Instead, his play collapsed on Saturday and Sunday rather than improving. He clearly still needs work to win anything, let alone try to match Jack Nicklaus' major record.

This one was won, barely, by Bubba Watson. Watson just edged out Phil Mickelson and Jhonattan Vegas by scoring birdies on the final two holes. It was a great finish to see Mickelson go for an eagle on the final hole, but people still watch for Tiger. He was untouchable at his peak and fans want to see him regain that form. Until he proves he is completely washed up, fans will watch to see when he turns his career back around.

The Australian Open also culminated this weekend without Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal in the final. Instead, the next best in the world, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, entered the final match geared for an epic showdown. Murray was a big let down however and Djokovic disposed of him easily. Though it may be hard for most of the American public to follow the Aussie Open due to the time difference, it was pretty thrilling to follow Murray's run to the final as well as Federer's attempt to work back up to the number one spot.

On the women's side, Kim Clijsters is proving to be a fan favorite while clawing her way to number one. The "pregnant" interview was quite funny, showing her sense of humor off the court. Winning it all displays her seriousness on it. Another woman may have been more entertaining, Francesca Schiavone. If you want proof of that, listen to this.

The Aussie Open was a great start to what could be an interesting tennis season.

On Friday night in the NBA the Heat lost to the Knicks in what will be remembered as the "Goggle Game". Dwyane Wade wore a specially designed pair due to migraines caused by bright lights. They seemed to help for the first three quarters as he was unstoppable. The Knicks were able to quiet him in the fourth quarter and finally took down the Heat this season.

On Sunday, the marquee matchup of the season took place. The Lakers hosted the Celtics in a Finals' rematch. Only one team showed up for this one however as the Celtics easily took the win. The Lakers may still be the team to beat as they are defending champions, but they have been beaten by all of the teams that will need to beat them when it really matters. They'll need to stop showing their age if Phil Jackson wants to coach his way to a fourth three-peat.

In NCAA basketball, Duke was one of a bunch of top teams to lose. They went into Madison Square Garden, home away from home, and lost to St. John's University for the first time in eight years. SJU has been in a rebuilding process for what seems like forever, but now it may actually be working. A couple more wins like that and they can sneak their way into 'Madness'. This is another season without a clear favorite which will lead to another unpredictable Final Four. In my brackets last year, I basically picked all Big East teams and they let me down. I will likely do the same this year as that is clearly the best conference in the NCAA.

That leaves us with the NFL and NHL both having their All-Star weekends. While the NFL Pro Bowl is generally considered to be a joke, 8 million people watched the game. The game was terrible, as expected, and if you need any proof of that, watch the final play of the game.

The NHL revamped their All-Star game to playground rules. The players who were voted in had to vote for captains. The captains then selected teams. Team Staal vs. Team Lidstrom. The NHL and NBA All-Star Games are very similar in that the offense thrives. The final score saw double digits for both teams. Exhilarating. Before the game, players participated in skills competitions, which is always fun, and the NFL should take note.

Such a great weekend in sports, I don't know how any weekend can top that.

...

Oh, right. The Super Bowl is next weekend. I guess that will be entertaining enough.