A new Tiger Woods(?) and some Quick Hiiters....

Sorry for the blank space over the past week, but it turns out the Hyatt Regency on the Chesapeake is a great spot. Despite less than ideal weather, they had more than enough activities to keep us busy all week. Great vacation spot if you are looking to take the family somewhere. A couple highlights:

• The little man (who is 4) won both the mini golf hole in 1 contest and two days later won the under-8, 9 hole mini golf tourney. When the pressure was on, the kid got holes in 1 on both the 8th and 9th holes to finish with a 23, winning by 2 strokes. He then proceeded to beat me in a 9 hole match (I know, any of you that have seen me gold probably have a comment here...)
• They have a big chess/checkers board that you stand on to move the pieces. We had a boys vs. girls challenge which quickly led to Abby and Zack moving pieces for the adults as we began to take this checkers game way too seriously. KP had me on the ropes and then made a monumental mistake that led directly to the first ever quintuple jump. I of course was then blamed for being too competitive. But let me tell you, this was the biggest come from behind victory in sports since Mike Weaver came back to drop John Tate for the heavyweight title late in the 15th round in 1980 after getting pummeled the entire fight.
• They had a great water slide in a pool with no heater. George Costanza and shrinkage immediately come to mind....

But enough about vacation. We are moving to a great time of year for sports with a lot going on so I thought it would be appropriate for some quick hitters:

• Everybody has killed Michael Vick so I do not need to harp on it (and what an idiot and jackass he is), but the only point I would make is that his actions represent one of the single dumbest business decision in history. He has perhaps cost himself more than a quarter billion (with a b) dollars. $60 million+ in base salary, the $22 million in signing bonuses the Falcons are going to attempt to re-coup, and probably a couple hundred million (my pure guess) in endorsements. A business decision has not been this bad since Ken Lay told the Enron auditors that he was sure the numbers were all correct.
• Speaking of Michael Vick, someone may want to tell Britt Reid that he is the wrong guy to emulate when working on your stay out of jail strategies. I can't think of anyone who has screwed up a second chance this badly since George Bush won a second term.
• Depressingly, the Philberts just cannot seem to overcome another mammoth injury, this time to their ace Cole Hamels. Injuries are part of the game, but this team has endured more than about any time I can think of. 4/5 of their early starting rotation is out (Hamels, Lieber, Garcia, and Eaton), both closers and their main set guy have been on the DL for months at a time (Myers, Gordon, Madson), many of their position players have been to the DL (Utley, Howard, Victorino, Bourn, and Barajas, although that is probably a blessing since Coste is better than Barajas anyway...). Clearly, today is a must win. Otherwise, they fall to 5 out in the wild card instead of 3 if they can find a way to win. Next week's series against the Mets becomes a must sweep (not sure 3 of 4 keeps them close enough with the season getting short). They just do not have the horses to make this happen. But I will still watch, just in case....
• They say that no pitcher will get to 300 maybe ever. Assuming that Randy Johnson is done and will not get his 16 more wins he would need, that statement on the surface appears to be correct. But I have a long shot for you.....Tim Wakefield. The guy just turned 41, and he may be able to pitch another 10 years (he throws 65 miles an hour, why can't he do that at age 50?). He has 167 wins right now, including 16 this year. It is a longshot, but just remember, you heard it here first.
• I will need to talk to my buddy George Rogers (www.georgerogersradio.com) about getting control of his South Carolina team. The stories out of Columbia remind me of the Miami program when it was creating criminals and thugs.

So much to talk about this week. Besides the Phillies hopefully halting their fade, the NFL and college football are getting closer (college gridiron starts Thursday), so lots to talk about this week. I will be back Monday to start to dissect it all....