Tiger is Back

As Tiger Woods safely hit over the water on the 18th hole Sunday, he approached the green with a feeling of relief. He had just secured his first PGA victory in over 30 months. It was just two weeks ago when Tiger re injured his achilles and it seemed that all the progress he had made over the past few months was for nothing. Instead, Tiger dominated this weekend in the Arnold Palmer event, a tournament he has previously won six times. He set himself up on Friday after he shot a (-7) 65 sending him to the top of the leader board going into the weekend. With his traditional red shirt on Sunday, Tiger separated him self from the field late shooting a (-2) 70 and ended up winning by five strokes over the second place finisher Graeme McDowell.

It is quite hard to imagine how long it has been since Tiger Woods has last won a PGA tour event. He has played in 26 events and spent 924 days waiting until he could raise another trophy. It must've been extremely sweet winning in Bay Hill because he has lived in Florida for such a large portion of his life. It showed this tournament as he had a gigantic crowd the entire time supporting him on every shot good or bad. With the Masters two weeks away, Tiger will be looking to carry this momentum into Augusta as he tries to catch Jack Nicklaus record of 18 majors won. It appeared that Tiger would never be able to catch Jack due to the issues he has been dealing with, but with the win this weekend, five more majors seems very doable for the once number one player in the world.

March MADNESS

March is definitely the most exciting month for basketball fans. Every year, we make brackets hoping this is the year ours is perfect. All of our dreams came to an end the second day when Norfolk State beat Missouri and Lehigh beat Duke. Here is a review of rounds one and two of the tournament.

Biggest Upsets:
1st Round- #15 Lehigh over #2 Duke: 75-70
The Lehigh Mountain Hawks claimed they were not afraid of the powerhouse school Duke entering Friday's game. No one believed them at the time but the Patriot League Champions proved they were serious. Let by guard CJ McCollum (30 pts), Lehigh was able to shock the world and send Duke home in disbelief. Down two at the half, Lehigh managed to put up 47 points in the second half and after getting up by five points with four minutes left, they never turned back.

1st Round- #15 Norfolk State over #2 Missouri: 86-84

A no name player before this game, Norfolk State's forward Kyle O'Quinn had the game of his life putting up 26 points and 14 rebounds as he helped his team defeat the third best team in the country. Going into the tournament, Missouri was hot after winning the Big 12 championship. They had high aspirations of getting far in this tournament but they did not suspect to run into trouble so soon. Norfolk State was prepared for them and ran with the high pace Missouri team all night. As Missouri missed the final shot at the buzzer, the players from Norfolk State stormed the court yelling out "we messed up some brackets"! They sure did

as after this game, the nation was left with only two perfect brackets as over six million were tarnished.

Most Exciting Games:

2nd Round- #4 Wisconsin over #5 Vandy: 60-57

Going in, these teams were so even you knew it would come down to the wire. The one thing you know about Wisconsin is that they have the stingiest defense in the country. Giving up only 54 points per game this season, Wisconsin prides themselves on the defensive end night in and night out. Trailing 59-57 with only a few seconds left, Vandy's guard John Jenkins got an open look for three but came up just short. Wisconsin then went to the line where making both free throws would seal it. The Wisconsin player made the first but on the second came up short and Vandy called a timeout. With 2.5 seconds left, it was desperation time and on their heave down the court, a Wisconsin player tipped it and before a Vandy player could get to it, the final buzzer sounded and Wisconsin advanced to the Sweet 16.

2nd Round- #4 Indiana over #12 VCU: 63-61

Everyone remembers remembers VCU's historic run to the Final Four last year when they became the highest seed (11) to ever get that far in the tournament. They were back again this year and pulled off a first round upset over #5 Wichita State who many analyzers thought was the most dangerous team in the tournament. VCU was back as being the Cinderella team as they faced Indiana. VCU actually led for a large portion of this game but with twenty second left, the score was tied and Indiana had the ball. After a shot went off the rim, the ball bounced right to an Indiana player 10 feet from the basket and he knocked it down putting Indiana up by two with only ten seconds left. VCU did not  call a time out as they rushed up the court. After a few passes, the point guard found a player outside for three. The ball appeared to be on line but it came up a bit short and Indiana pulled out the victory. VCU goes home disappointed but they should keep their heads up high because they proved the school's basketball program is not just a one year wonder. They will be in the mix for years to come.

After one week of exhilarating basketball, we are down to sixteen teams. All four number one seeds are still in it but Syracuse has looked shaky the first two games and UNC's point guard just fractured his wrist so anything is possible. Here are the eight match ups which will start later this week.

#1 Kentucky vs #4 Indiana                             #1 Syracuse vs #4 Wisconsin

#10 Xavier vs #3 Baylor                                 #6 Cincinnati vs #2 Ohio State

#1 Michigan State vs #4 Louisville                 #1 UNC vs #13 Ohio

#7 Florida vs #3 Marquette                             #2 Kansas vs #11 NC State

If you haven't seen them already on TV, Baylor has been sporting the neon green jerseys. Very interesting choice may I say.

NFL Bounty Issue

Just recently, the Saints have been in the news for having a bounty system from 2008-2011 while defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was coaching. For those of you who do not know what a bounty system is, basically coaches from the Saints would pay defensive players large amounts of money to perform tasks. These tasks included getting sacks, causing fumbles, and even injuring other players. When the Saints played the Vikings in 2010 with Brett Favre at the helm, the Saints defenders were constantly after the quarterback giving him late hits and knocking Favre down until he eventually could barely walk due to a sprained ankle. It just came out this week, Saints defenders such as middle line backer Jonathan Vilma were after Favre trying to get him out of the game. Favre came out with a statement saying that the game against the Saints did not feel particularly right and he knew something was up. Sources said that some players were offered up to $10,000 to make sure Favre didn't last the entire game.

This is an issue the NFL should take very seriously. It should not be allowed under all circumstances for this to be accepted in the sport. Playing football is grueling enough and for offensive players to know defensive players are out to get them for money is just disturbing. I expect for the NFL to come down hard on the Saints with fines and other punishments because they need to get rid of these bounty systems before they escalate. Good thing this news came out when it did or players could have gotten seriously injured down the road.

New Orleans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is responsible for these bounties.