Readers, if you have been wondering why you have not been receiving your regular dose of wonderful Head To The Net posts, it is because we here at HTTN are relaunching the website. I have put the articles on hold until the new look and feel is unveiled, but this is too important to wait.
Tiger Woods, the recovering sex addict and best golfer in the world who is set to resume his playing career at The Masters today, is undergoing an image transformation. The new Nike television commercial features the voice of his late father, Earl Woods. Tiger has said that he wished his father was still around to straighten him out (I paraphrase). All voice clips in this commercial are real, and they are put together in such a way that it looks like Woods Sr. is talking to his son about his recent indescretions. And Tiger looks like any boy being reprimanded by the old man.
As you hear the voice of the departed speaking with an eerily omnipotent air, can't you just imagine that Tiger still hears his father speaking to him very often, with words very similar to these? See for yourself:
"I felt entitled."
During his closed door, no questions allowed “public” address three weeks ago, Tiger Woods used this reasoning to explain the choices he had made over the last two years. In his first interview since the incident just released by ESPN on Sunday, March 22, he again cited entitlement as his downfall.
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the interview here:
The Breakdown
The combination of his previously aired public statement and this seemingly staged interview shows me that Woods continues to feel entitled. Because he is the most famous athlete in the world, he thinks he can answer his own set of questions to his own set of reporters. And he feels entitled to make his comeback at the single most controlled tournament of the year – reporters have been banned from Augusta for life for simply insulting the quality of the grass.
The Eyes
Why does it look like Woods’ eyes were intentionally pepper sprayed prior to the interview? Are we supposed to feel like he’s been crying for 4 months straight? Or that this is what a person looks like after going through 45 days of in-patient therapy? This attempt to evoke a sense of sympathy within only makes people angry.
The Answer
Tiger, until you tell the world how you came to crash your Escalade into a tree, and what it is you’re even being treated for, people are going to guess. They will keep drawing conclusions and continue making jokes. And although TMZ and ET are pretty harsh, you created this monster with your actions. When you were perfect, you were allowed space and put on a pedestal, but it’s gone now.
The time has come to lower yourself to the level of the fans: open up; be real. If you do, the public will open up their arms and help you get back to what you want to be.
"I can't suspend Matt Cooke for being a repeat offender, I have to find a reason. Right now our rules say that shoulders to head are legal." – NHL Head Disciplinarian, Colin Campbell, explaining the non-suspension to Matt Cooke.
Mr. Campbell, there’s also nothing in the rule book saying that I can’t poke the butt end of my stick into a player’s left eye. There are a lot of things that aren’t explicitly laid out in the rule book, but the rules do explicitly say that a player should not intentionally commit an act that could injure another. Is this not precisely why there is an NHL disciplinarian – to watch and police the rules of the game?
You’ve probably seen it many times, but here is another look at Cooke’s hit on Marc Savard:
Campbell compared it to a hit by Mike Richards on David Booth from earlier in the season in which he also handed out no suspension. He stated that since there was no punishment for that hit, the NHL had to be consistent and not discipline Cooke for the hit in question.
For comparison, here’s a look at Richards’ hit:
In conclusion, upon taking a closer look at the Cooke hit, he comes from the side at a player who doesn’t even have the puck, and he means to injure him. Not any regular, measurable injury either, like a broken bone or a sprain, this is a blow to the most delicate, important part of the body.
There should have been a suspension on both hits, and it should have sent a message. Unfortunately, the message now sent is this: “Until the end of the 2009-10 season, take your liberties with people’s heads. We can do nothing to stop you!”
For more on my thoughts on the headshot epidemic, read my previous post on headshots here.
The Vancouver Canucks lead the entire NHL in third period comebacks with 10 this season. 3 of them have come in the 5 games since the Olympic break. Punctuated by Tuesday’s 6-4 win, in which the team trailed twice by 3 goals, everyone is wondering how they’re able to keep doing it. Here are five theories:
1. Now that the players are past the Olympics and the substance testing, the Canucks’ Olympians are taking full advantage, and like BC Bud, BC Sudafed is the most potent stuff you can find.
2. The Canucks are attempting to single handedly reverse the over-referenced stat: “The team that scores the first goal of the game usually wins.”
3. Since the Olympic games, Roberto Luongo has been trying to emulate the thrill he felt in the gold medal game. The following conversation was overheard in the dressing room after Tuesday’s 3 goal comeback:
Henrik Sedin: So is that how the gold medal game felt, Roberto?
Roberto Luongo: Not even close, buddy.
(at the other end of the room Ryan Kesler growls and breaks a hockey stick over his knee)
4. The boys get sh*ts and giggles from seeing Vigneault’s head looking like it’s going to explode, and they keep one upping each other to make it happen. Case in point – the sharp angle goal let in by Luongo from Colorado’s Chris Stewart - he obviously let it in on purpose. Mason Raymond took it too far with the blatant giveaway at his own blueline, though, and he paid for it by only being played for one shift in the entire third period.
5. I went through the Sedins’ contracts and found this interesting tidbit:
“The Player shalt be paid a bonus in the amount of $100 for every point scored in the third period. If thou scores a point in either the first or the second period, nary a bonus shall be paid!”
I also discovered that NHL contracts are written in old Shakespearian English – who knew?
Tragedies struck, conflicts arose, and rain fell, but like a determined athlete battling adversity, the Vancouver Olympic Games met all challenges head on and rose high above them. And here we are, at the end of two weeks, with our highest medal tally ever, and the most gold medals ever won at a Winter Games. Winning, does it make such a difference to our country? Taking a stroll down Granville Street on Saturday night might have left you deaf from all the Canadian chants. Spontaneous outbursts of "Oh Canada" would echo in your ears. Canada's athletes, to a man, said that they were competing for us. The medal winners won for us, and we graciously accepted and stood next to them on the podiums. When Alexandre Bilodeau's grin stretched from ear to ear, couch-prone Canadians across the country smiled with him. As Kevin Martin finally achieved redemption after eight long years of waiting, Canada itself felt redeemed. And when Joannie Rochette showed us the true meaning of courage, continuing to compete after losing her mother halfway through the games, we watched over her, lifting her onto the podium with all our thoughts and prayers. For two weeks, our nation has been united. For two weeks, we've all been pulling the rope in the same direction. There is nothing else that can unite such a massive, diverse group in celebration. Nothing but sports has the power, and nothing but the Olympic Games has the breadth. "I Believe," CTV's Olympic slogan could not have been better chosen. We have become a country of believers. Our heros have inspired and united everyone, from the young to the old, and our country is a happier place than before. What a difference two weeks can make. 
I think I speak for all Canadians when I say no one saw this coming. In the lead up to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, who could have ever predicted the two weeks we've had? The world has seen a side of our wonderful country that rarely shows its head, and what a triumph it has been: a celebration of sports, a celebration of athletes and individuals, and a celebration of a proud, joyous nation.
"The sport took a step backward. Brian Boitano did the same thing, technically, in 1988. There are junior skaters who can skate that same program," he stated in his column on Yahoo.com. Perhaps he has a point. Imagine if the scoring system in the Snowboarding halfpipe gave more points for five 360's than a double mctwist 1260 (Shaun White's signature move)? Boarders like Shaun would realize that trying to pull of risky moves that sap tons of energy are hardly worth it, and would go for more variety. According to Stojko, a similar thing is happening in skating, and the athletes are not being encouraged to push the envelope. If you want to read his angry tirade against the current scoring system put in place by the ISU, click here. He closes by saying "I am going to watch hockey, where athletes are allowed to push the envelope. A real sport." No argument from me there, Elvis! 
One day after Even Lysacek beat Evgeni Plushenko for the gold medal in men's figure skating, Elvis Stojko had harsh words for the current state of figure skating. He was incensed with the fact that Plushenko landed two quad jumps in his two programs and still lost to a skater whose program had a lower degree of difficulty.
Manny if you win, here are some ideas for your victory celebration: If anyone has any more ideas for Manny, feel free to add them below! GO MANNY GO!
Manuel Osborne-Paradis is my newest follower on twitter, so I'm dedicating this post to him. Racing in the Men's Downhill on Saturday morning, he will aim to become the first Canadian to win a gold medal on home snow, and our entire nation is behind him.
