Those who weren’t around to witness Tiger Woods in his heyday might wonder why do people still care what happens to a 42 (43 in December) year-old golfer coming off multiple back operations who hasn’t won a major tournament since 2008, and hasn’t won anything at all since 2013. But when Woods surged in both the British Open and PGA Tournaments during the late rounds, ratings went through the roof. The final round of this year’s PGA, where he shot a 64, his best final score ever in a major, enjoyed an audience surge of 69 percent over last year’s…
Author: Ron Wynn
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLLE, TN — The Vanderbilt Commodores announced their 2018 football schedule last week, and while there are some definitely winnable games early, overall it looks like a formidable one. As has often proven the case, the Commodores will be heavy underdogs in a lot of their SEC games, but if they can at least manage a couple of conference victories, coupled with wins in those games they are favored, they should have a good shot at making a bowl game. They narrowly missed that mark last season with a 5-7 record. But on the flip side, should…
MLB has had its fair share of problems this season, and last week former manager Dusty Baker resurfaced to remind them of a perennial one. Baker was fired last season after leading the Washington Nationals to a 97 win season and another playoff berth. He’d previously led the Cincinnati Reds to consecutive 90 win seasons, and three in four years. The Reds also made it to the playoffs in his final two seasons. But there’s one bit of shared history in both those jobs. Baker got fired right after those teams didn’t make it to the World Series. Interestingly enough,…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN —Predators general manager David Poile has achieved the landmark goal every player or executive in any team sport desires as much, if not more, than a championship. He is now a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. The announcement was made Thursday, and the Poile family now has both a father and son in the Hall. Poile’s father Bud is also in the Hall of Fame as a former player, coach and executive. Poile enters with a class that also includes Michigan coach Gordon “Red” Berenson; Natalie Darwitz, the captain of the U.S.…
One would think that with all the problems in the world and this nation the person elected to be its leader would be spending the bulk of his time dealing with those. But no, rather than grapple with rising inflation, police misconduct, crumbling infrastructure all over the country, even the corruption and ineffectiveness within his various cabinet posts, Donald Trump is spending a lot of presidential time and energy on two things: playing golf and criticizing NFL players. The preseason began last week, and has been the case for the past two seasons, a handful of players on various teams…
Most Presidents would applaud the efforts of athletes to do good things in their community, particularly where they involve education. But Donald Trump is far from most, and last week he once again displayed the kind of intemperate, idiotic personality that is a disgrace from any politician, let alone one who is supposed to be the leader of a powerful nation. Using his favorite medium Twitter (whose character limit seems ideal for his nonsensical rants and rage) Trump attacked both Lebron James and CNN anchor/host Don Lemon, calling them dumb and offering nothing but scorn for someone (James) he once…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The Titans are getting ready to open the preseason Thursday night against the Green Bay Packers, and last week they made a move to strengthen the roster at a key defensive position. They announced last Saturday the signing of two safeties. One was former New Orleans Saint Kenny Vaccaro. The second was free agent Jason Thompson. The loss of Johnathan Cyrpien to a season-ending injury made acquiring more personnel in the defensive backfield a key necessity, and the Vaccaro signing is considered more essential than that of Thompson. Vaccaro has played five seasons in…
The NFL might have thought they had gotten past the national anthem controversy a couple of weeks ago, but then last week the Dallas Cowboys put it out front once more. First team owner Jerry Jones publicly said not only did all Dallas Cowboy team members have to stand at attention during the playing of the anthem, but that any who either stayed in the locker room or made any other type of protest would no longer be members of the Cowboys. That was then followed by team captain and QB Dak Prescott’s comments in the Dallas Morning News. Though…
By Ron Wynn The Nashville Predators latest acquisition was Monday, when the team announced it had signed restricted free-agent forward Mikka Salomaki to a two-year, $1.5 million contract. The 25-year-old forward played in 58 games for the Predators last season, with eight points and 34 penalty minutes. However his value increases when other areas are factored into the results, most notably his career high 35 shots blocked and 114 hits, fourth highest on the team. At his price range ($750,000 per season) he ranks as a bargain. That follows last Wednesday’s return of defenseman Dan Hamhuis, who signed a two-year,…
It’s been seemingly one problem after another this season with MLB when it comes to issues of promotion and image. Just last week, when the focus should have been on the All-Star Game, instead there was a back and forth between the Commissioner’s office and the Los Angeles Angels over whether outfielder Mike Trout, hailed as the consensus best all-round player in the sport, was being negligent in helping MLB promote the game and by extension his stardom. The Commissioner said yes, he said no, as did his team. Then there’s also the issue of competitive imbalance, with three teams…