Lightning 3, Penguins 1: Pens performance: Frustrating. Fan behavior: Disgraceful

Photo creds to www.espn.com

I've been accustomed to being at sporting events for my entire life. I've had season tickets for the Pittsburgh Pirates for all 18 years of my existence. I've been to several Pittsburgh Steelers games, as well as a few NCAA Tournaments. I'm also familiar with the atmosphere of a professional hockey game. So, needless to say, I am familiar with sports, as well as it's fans. Therefore, I know when fans take what they are watching too seriously. That was most definitely the case at Consol Energy Center on Friday night.

It started about 2:00 in, when Lightning winger Ryan Callahan drove Pens defenseman Kris Letang into the boards, drawing a 5:00 major for boarding. It was a dirty hit, and Pens fans had a right to be upset about it. However, I felt that the crust of the fans surrounding me in Section 209 (particularity the 40+-year-old man sitting directly in front of me) was uncalled for as well. As dirty as Callahan was, f-bombing him to death from peanut heaven didn't help heal Kris Letang's head. Although this agitated me for a minute or two, I understood that this is just how fans are. So I accepted the juvenile behavior and continued watching the game. What happened about 10 minutes later, however, was a black eye on the great sports fans of Western Pa.

A puck was dumped behind the Lightning net, and Tampa's excellent goaltender, Ben Bishop, went out to play it. Here, he was challenged by Pens winger, Connor Sheary, who beat him to the puck and nearly set up a goal for Patrick Hornqvist. While he was getting back to his cage, Bishop's knee turned awkwardly and he went to the ground in a ton of pain. In the immediate aftermath, some fans were cheering, and to me, this was understandable, as it was not quite clear how badly Bishop was hurt and Pens fans thought that their team's chances of winning might have just increased significantly. A few seconds later, those cheers turned to boos. Yes, a pro athlete was on the ground in what I am sure was an unimaginable amount of pain for those who have not gone through it, citizens of our respectable city were booing because play was stopped. Yes, people were stupid enough to think that Bishop would be faking the injury, and yes, the worst was still to come.

About 3 minutes passed, and Consol Energy Center had, for the most part, gone silent, as the crowd settled down because they realized that what they were watching was a serious thing. Sadly, a gentleman sitting about three rows in front of me (again, no younger than 40), belted out; ''Get him a tampon''.

I won't elaborate on that insult because there is no explanation needed. However, there is a reason that I brought up the ages of the spectators in question. Say a kid my age (18) or a few years older had yelled out ''Get him a tampon'' at the top of his lungs. It still would have been horrendous, but at least a young man's juvenile behavior would have made some sense. The fact that these insensitive and vulgar insults were being shouted by gentlemen not much younger than my dad is pathetic at the very least, psychotic at the very most. The worst part about the Bishop injury reaction was what transpired on social media.

In the eyes of far too many Penguin fans, Bishop deserved to go down. That's right. By their logic, because Letang was hurt earlier by a dirty play, that means Ben Bishop, who had nothing to do with Callahan's hit, deserved to be in an intense amount of pain. "Karma" was the word of the day for many a yinzer. "Shameful" was the word of the day for me. I think that word is entirely appropriate for the behavior of our city's fan base.

Now, to be fair, Bishop was met with a respectful applause when he was carried off the ice on a stretcher. However, that only does so much to make up for the idiocy of booing him when he first went down, and it was certainly unnessceary of NBC analyst, Pierre McGwire, to praise the fans for their respect of the injury, when just 5 minutes before, they were emmensley offensive.

Aside from being disrespectful on Friday night, the Consol crowd was, from the second period forward, pretty dead. I know that the Penguins performance didn't give fans a whole lot to cheer about and that the Lightning are not as intense of an opponent as the Captials or Rangers, but the joint needed to be far louder than it was on Friday. The players had an excuse to be fatigued from an emotional six-game series with Washington. The fans did not, and they must bring it in Game 2 and give the players a much-needed energy boost.

I think that Pittsburgh sports fans are as good as any in American sports, but their actions on Friday night were uncalled for, and certainly are unbecoming of the ''City of Champions''. I hope that this type of disrespect is just an aberration and does not become anything more than that.

Leicester City represents everything good about sports

Photo creds to leicestermercury.co.uk

If you hate cliches, don't read this article. I'm warning all of my readers that this will be as corny as any sports article I have ever written. And I am not the least bit ashamed.

If you've been on ESPN at all over the past three days, you've probably heard something about the soccer team that went from 5,000/1 odds all the way to winning the ultimate prize in the greatest league in the world. Yes, the American sports media has done a fairly good job of hyping this thing up as possibly the biggest shock in the history of sports. But no matter what anybody says or writes, nothing will ever be able to capture fully just how ridiculous the Leicester City story is. I won't be an exception, but I'll do the best I can.

Get ready, here comes the first cliche. Had somebody decided to produce a movie about a football club with 5,000-1 odds coming from out of nowhere to win their country's top prize, nobody would have gone ahead and made the film. It would have been too far fetched. This analogy gets thrown around a lot, but it applies perfectly in this situation. I'm sure there are a lot of you reading this who do not follow soccer at all, and some of you may know nothing about Leicester City, so here is some background.

In 2015, Leicester very nearly finished in the bottom 3rd of the English Premier League, which would have meant that they were to be relegated to the next highest division. But the Foxes got it together in the last month of the season and finished 14th. After the season, many skeptics and fans alike felt that LCFC had gone from rubbish to something worse than rubbish when they fired their popular manager, Nigel Pearson, and brought in Claudio Ranieri, and this is where our story begins.

Claudio Ranieri turned out to be the perfect choice for the Foxes. Photo creds to www.skysports.com

Despite being one of the hottest teams in the league towards the end of the 2014/15 season, nobody was expecting anything good from the Foxes when the new season rolled around. Many people did not believe that Ranieri would be a good fit for a manager. After all, he had just been fired by the Greek national team after suffering  humiliation at the hands of the worse than lowly Pharoh Islands, and in 30+ years managing, had never won a league title anywhere. Ranieri looked like a lame duck manager coming to a lame duck club.

One thing led to another. Leicester kept winning while others kept stumbling, and on Monday, the beyond impossible dream was realized. I understand we Americans have a natural bias towards all things American, but this British game has now given us the greatest shock in the history of sports.

Leicester winning the league is a bigger shock then that magical NC State basketball championship run of 1983. What Jim Valvano's Wolfpack accomplished was incredible, but it was only over a three week period. What Leicester accomplished took place over a span of 8 months. It is far more miraculous than when Buster Douglas took out Mike Tyson on that night in Toyoko, as Douglas was just a 42-1 underdog to take out Kid Dynamite.

This will be my most controversial statement of this article, but the Leicester's story is more shocking than that of the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey team that pulled off the ''Miracle on Ice''. Yes, the win over the USSR will always be a staple in the history of sports, but it was just one night. Leicester shocked the world for a whole season. With all due respect to the late Herb Brooks, the Miracle on the Pitch was a greater miracle than the Miracle on Ice was.

What is one of the most impressive things to me is the financial world of the sport in which Leicester won the title. Fans of small market baseball teams who think God hates them should try root for teams like Aston Villa, Bournemouth or Queens Park Rangers. In the premier league, the success of your favorite club depends on the man who owns them. In the past 24 years, a total of 6 teams (including Leicester) have finished at the top of the table (Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers preceded the Foxes. With the exception of Blackburn, all 4 of those teams have a considerable amount of money, particularly when it comes to Chelsea and the Manchester teams. The reason Blackburn was able to win in the 90's was because some loaded dude (Jack Walker) bought the team and invested in buying players, not too different from what Manchester City has done in the past decade. To put this further into perspective, in that same time span, 12 different MLB teams have won a World Series, 13 NFL teams have won Superbowls, 13 NHL teams have won Stanley Cup's, and 7 NBA teams have won titles. So, it's safe to say an underdog story in the English Premier League is more inspiring than in any of America's four major sports.

Leicester did not have to resources or the tradition to spend big, so Ranieri was forced to go under the radar during last summer's transfer window. He spent little, and came away with fools gold, singing two quality and tough defenders in Christian Fuchs and Robert Huth, as well as a solid man upfront in Japanese international Shinji Okazaki. But Ranieri's biggest singing came just five days before the season started in the form of a little-known French club called Stade Malherbe Caen; enter, N'Golo Kante. Kante played as big a role as any in Leicester's run and fit perfectly into Ranieri's counter attacking 4-4-2 style that emphasized teamwork, confusion to the opposition, and excitement for the fans. Ranieri was an old man who nobody wanted as manager, but his demeanor of a hip grandfather, as well as his tactical brilliance, made him the perfect man to lead the unlikely charge.

When Chelsea's Eden Hazard scored his beautiful goal on Monday to sink the title hopes of Tottenham Hotspur, I entered a state of happiness. For the past two months, I've braced myself for Leicester winning the league, but that did not make the reality any less surreal. But as awesome and happy as I was when Leicester got the job done and etched their names into the book of coolest things in history, the word ''inspiring'' never crossed my mind. ''Shock'', ''Yay'', ''How'', ''I don't believe it'' ''They did it''. Thoise were all things that were running through my skull early Monday evening, but the word ''inspiring'' never made it there until I got a text from a buddy of mine.

My friend, Mike Roberts, is a 2015 graduate of West Allegheny High School and a big time soccer fan. When I asked him about Leicester winning it on Monday, here is what he had to say;

''It's inspiring when you see where they came from. Jaime Vardy's story, in particular, is especially remarkable. I look at things like that and let them drive my mind to believe there are no limits to what you can do. Everton is my squad, but it's special to see what happened. 

Vardy is a great example of ''rags to riches''. Photo creds to www.uktelegraph.com

Vardy's story might be the most remarkable one of all. A football outcast before the age of 25, Vardy was signed by Leicester, who were in the second division at that time, in 2012 for a reported fee of just 1,000,000 pounds. After a difficult first campaign, Vardy picked things up in the 2013-14 season, scoring 16 league goals and helping the foxes back into the EPL. The next season saw Vardy begin to get noticed around the world, as his play in April of 2015 earned him the league's player of the month award. As you could figure, Vardy broke out this season, scoring 20 goals and leading his club to the impossible.

Just 4 years ago, Vardy was playing for Fleetwood Town, a club that was in the 5th division of English football. Now, he is the toast of England, and a champion. Now here is where I get cheesy. It's as cliche as anything in the world to say that one can do anything that he sets his or her mind too , but that does not mean it is false. People like Vardy, Raneri and Jake Arietta of the Chicago Cubs has shown within the past year that you never know when an unknown is going to become a superstar. Weather we like sports or not, we should look at the inspirational figures that athletics have given us over the course of history and apply it to our own lives, no matter what we want to become known for. Leicester City is the embodiment of the phrase ''impossible is nothing'', and I highly recommend that anybody reading this tunes in on May 15th at 10:00 A.M. to see Leicester City be recognized for their accomplishments in a road game at Chelsea, there last of the season. The reason why; you will never see their likes again.

Sorry, Marc-Andre: Murray is for real

By: Joe Smeltzer
September 23rd, 2001. Foxboro, Massachusetts. 5 minutes are left to play in what has been a pretty dull defensive battle between AFC East Rivals, the New York Jets and the New England Patriots. Under center for New England is a man who is expected to be in the northeast for the next decade: #11, Drew Bledsoe. Drew had it all. He was tall, good-looking, and had a rocket for an arm. He had already led the Pats to a Superbowl appearance three years prior and looked to be a Patriot for life when Robert Kraft inked him to a 10-year contract worth $103,000,000 in March of 2001. But, fate has a funny way of inserting itself into whatever situation it wants to.

With New England down by 7 and with the ball, Bledsoe needed to make something happen. So the ball was snapped, and Bledsoe looked downfield for a receiver to throw too. When nobody was open, Bledsoe did what all quarterbacks should do and ran to the sideline to gain a few yards and get out of bounds. He accomplished his objective, but not before receiving this hit from New York's All-Pro linebacker, #57 Mo Lewis

The hit sheared a blood vessel in Bledsoe's chest, nearly killing him and putting him out of action indefinitely. Replacing him at quarterback was a scrawny kid from San Mateo, California, who, despite having a solid career at the University of Michigan, was taken in just the 6th round of the 2000 NFL Draft. The result for Bledsoe was five more years in the league and 0 Superbowl or Pro-Bowl appearances. The result for the New England Patriots was 4 Superbowls, 6 AFC Championships, 13 AFC East Titles, and the birth of the greatest quarterback the league has ever seen.

Ok, so maybe the Pittsburgh Penguins goaltending situation won't turn into the hockey equivalent of the Bledsoe-Brady saga. However, Saturday's 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals has officially convinced me that, unless things take a drastic turn for the worst, one of the league's best goaltenders shall be a spectator for the remainder of the postseason. 

To give a little background, on April Fools day of the year of our Lord, 2016, Penguins netminder Marc Andre-Fleury was sidelined indefinitely with a concussion. That put the faith of the city (or at least it's sports fans) in the hands of a 21-year-old who, just four months prior, was robbing snipers for the Hershey Bears, Grand Rapids Griffins and Utica Comments in the American Hockey League. The 21-year-old's name is Matthew Murray, and he is good. He is real good.

Not too long ago, Matt Murray wore the colors of the baby Penguins. Now, the big Penguins are depending on him. Photo creds to wbspenguins.com

So good so soon, that the #1 goaltender job is his to lose. After a Game 2 victory over Washington in what has been Murray's greatest performance to date, the kid has a playoff record of 4-1, with a Goals Against Average of 1.74 and a Save Percentage of .939, good for 3rd among current playoff goaltenders in both categories. Also on his playoff resume is a shutout in Madison Square Garden, and all four of his wins have come against two of the top goaltenders in the world. Yes, Murray is impressive, but what about Fleury?

Remember the pre-Mike Sullivan 2015-16 Pittsburgh Penguins? Well, they weren't very good. In fact, they were so underwhelming that many figured they would not make the playoffs at all, and that very well might have happened, if not for the man known as "Flower." With the Penguins offensive guns firing blankety-blanks, Fleury needed to be on his A++ game virtually every night he was in the cage. Fleury almost singlehandedly kept the Titanic from sinking, and in my opinion, he was the Penguins most valuable player of the regular season. However, this is not the regular season. 

This is the playoffs, and in the playoffs, it's all about who has the hot hand, especially when it comes to goaltenders. There are countless examples, such as Ken Dryden with Montreal in 1971, and, to a lesser extent, Johan Hedberg with the Pens in 2001, of young and unproven goaltenders catching fire at the most critical time. Murray looks like he is headed into that territory, and I do not think Mike Sullivan should tamper with the Penguins rhythm regardless of the who his options are. Going back to my opening statement, here is some more New England football history. In the 2001 AFC Title game, fittingly against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tom Brady was the one who was knocked out of the bout. Drew Bledsoe took Brady's place in a role reversal and led the Pats to victory. When SuperBowl time rolled around, Bill Belichick decided that Brady was still too hot to sit and went with the hot hand, and the rest is history

I think that the Pittsburgh Penguins have a reasonable chance to raise Lord Stanley's Cup high no matter who is in goal, but Murray is the hot hand, and the hot hand must be fed. So, I would advise Mike Sullivan to take a lesson from his hometown Patriots and ride the wave until Murray hits an undertow.

2016 NFL Draft: whom shall the Stillers take?

The NFL Draft is tonight. So let's talk about who the Steelers options are and stuff.

What the Steelers need
Secondary help, defensive tackle
The Steelers are a good football team, so their areas of improvement are not extremely wide. However, as we all saw in 2015, the secondary needs a lot of help, and this draft class is a good place to get it. I have been saying for the past year that the Steelers need help in the secondary; I still stand by that sentiment. Yes, the Steelers lost an important part of  their defense this winter when Steve McLendon signed with the New York Jets, leaving the Steel Curtin without a nose tackle. However, with the deep core of talented corners in this draft class, the Steelers can't afford not to draft one of them. The defensive tackle is an important position, but not nearly as important as it was in the days of Mean Joe and the boys. The NFL is all about passing, and corners are more important than ever, and the Steelers have to get with the times. Therefore, in the first round, Kevin Colbert, and Mike Tomlin need to come to an agreement on drafting a cornerback with pick #25.

Now that we know what the Steelers should take, let's look at who the Steelers should take.

What Mel Kiper thinks
Eli Apple, CB, Ohio State

''The secondary is the top priority in this draft if I'm drafting, and the availability of Apple late in Round 1 makes him an easy call. He has length, outstanding athletic ability and a willingness to tackle. He needs to refine his cover skills, but that goes for just about any young cornerback, and Apple has tremendous talent.''
- Mel Kiper as stated in his three-round mock draft article for ESPN.Com http://espn.go.com/nfl/draft2016/insider/story/_/id/15189670/mock-draft-2016-nfl-draft
I like Eli Apple. He is what Kiper says he is, and played a massive role in Ohio State's 2014 National Title team. However, as Kiper said, he does need to refine his cover skills, and for that, I think the Steelers should pass on him.
What Chirs Burke (NFL.com) thinks 
Karl Joseph, WVU

This is an interesting idea. Joseph's style of play could be described in 4 words: Balls to the wall. The man is reckless, and will do whatever it takes to make a play. Before missing most of his senior season at WVU due to a knee injury that was not a result of careless play, Joseph turned in a fantastic career in the Blue and Gold, which included starting every game for the Eeers as a Freshman and Sophmore and being an All-Big 12 performer as a Junior. Three things would make me advise the Steelers not to draft Joseph.

The first is his durability. Sure, one should not throw a red flag every time a college kid gets hurt, but the way Joseph plays makes injury seem more likely, and the Steelers can not afford an injury prone career. Second is that the Steelers don't need a safety as much as they need a corner. Will Allen and Mike Mitchell are both veterans and are by no means superstars, but they outperformed whatever Pittsburgh threw on the edges last year, and are not as big of an issue as the corners are. The third is that he went to WVU, which has not worked well for the Steelers in the past (see Amos Zereoue and Ryan Mundy).

What Jared Dubin (CBS Sports) thinks 
Mackensie Alexsander, CB, Clemson

Flash, Brash and hella talented. That's Mackensie Alexander for you. The Clemson corner played a big part in getting the Tigers to the National Title game in 2015. Alexander is a shutdown corner, which is something the Steelers might like to have. Although many college football fans were not fond of Alexander's confidence, being confident is a trait that every athlete needs, and if it needs to get to the point of being arrogont, so be it. Alexsander would be a solid choice at #25. The problem is, I do not expect him to drop that far. I have a gut feeling that Oakland will draft him at #14.

Who I think
William Jackson III, CB, Houston

Jackson is similar to Eli Apple. Both have great upside, but both struggle to play press coverage. However, I'd like the Steelers to draft Jackson over Apple because
1. I like the small school guy
2. Jackson will be better at reading a QB's mind
Jackson is a little small, but he is quick. He struggles with press coverage at times, but that is an area that can get better. A lot of the NFL Draft is all about gut feel, and my gut tells me the Steelers should and will go with Jackson. But you never know.

Thanks for reading, and happy draft day.

2016 NBA Playoffs: First Round Predictions

Hello, all. The NBA playoffs are here. Some matchups are interesting, others not so much. Let's get into what will happen in the first round. 

West 

#1 Warriors over #8 Rockets in 4.

The Warriors are a juggernaut. The Rockets are a mess. Daryl Morey might as well start looking for a new job. My only wish is that there will be a camera in  Kevin McHale's house throughout the series. Nobody would blame him if he chuckled a little. The way the Rockets treated McHale is almost as despicable as James Harden's defense, and I will feel no sympothy watching them get waxed by Steph and the boys. 

#2 Spurs over #7 Grizzlies in 5

San Antiono is a far superior team, but I just have a gut feeling that Memphis will sneak in a win during this series. Memphis has a good group of players that will give it their all, but the Spurs are just too good for them to handle.

#3 Thunder over #6 Mavericks in 5

KD and Russell Westbrook will ball out, while Dallas will fall out. Dallas's time has passed, and the Thunder shall handle them with ease 

#4 Clippers over #5 Blazers in 6

This series is actually somewhat compelling, but LAC has more depth than Portland does, and I just don't trust that the Blazers will get much production aside from Daminan Lillard and CJ McCollum. The Clippers are a talented team that can get production from several guys, and they will survive a fairly challenging 6 game series.

The East

#1 Cavs over #8 Pistons in 6

I think this series will go a little farther than people think. Detriot has a tough, well coached team led by Andre Drummond, but they are still an #8, and I don't think they will be much different from most other #8's. I expect them to battle Lebron and company, but the Cavs will be too talented in the end. 

#2 Toronto over #7 Indiana in 6_

Similar story with the #1 vs #8 matchup, the Pacers will not roll over easily. Paul George is one of the best players in the world, and any team that has him on the roster has a chance to do great things, especially if  Indiana can play  defense the way they are capable of. However, Kyle Lowry is equally as good as George. and DeMar Derozan is terriffic as well. The Raptors have a genuine shot to win the East, and the Pacers will not stop them. 

#4 Celtics over #5 Hawks in 7

This is the most intriguing series to watch from either conference. The Celtics have been a surprise team this year, as the tough two-way guard play of Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas and the brilliant coaching of Brad Stevens have made them one of the better teams in the East. The Hawks will not be an easy out, as Paul Millsap, Al Hortford and Jeff Teague can take over a game at any time. It will be a hard-fought series that will go down to the wire, but I think the defense and grit of Boston will send them to the quarterfinals. 

#6 Hornets over #3 Heat in 6

Finally, an upset. Kemba Walker is a absolute stud, and I have a feeling that he will completely take over this series. Walker will carry the Hornets to a 6-game victory. I don't really have a deep analysis on why this will occur, just my gut. We'll see how right my skinny gut is.

Penguins-Rangers: 3 keys to victory

It's playoff time, and the Pens are hot. Tonight, the Pittsburgh Penguins will begin what will hopefully be a long journey in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Their first hurdle will be the New York Rangers. Here is what Pittsburgh must do to move on to the next round. 

Key #1: Sid must be big time 

It's common knowledge that Sidney Crosby is one of, if not the best hockey player in the world. However, the past few years, he has not been himself in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and that's one of the reasons that the Pens have been bounced by New York in each of the past two seasons. If Crosby can be at his very best, his fellow teamates will feed off of him and Pittsburgh will be a much better team as a result 

Key #2: Depth, Depth and more Depth.

One of the biggest reasons for the Penguins playoff failures over the past few years is that the big guns have had too much pressure on them to perfeom. When your bottom 6 is not producing, the top 6 has more pressure on them, and when the top 6 has more pressure on them, more pressure often less to less production. If players like Connor Sheary, Tom Kuhnhackal and Bryan Rust are able to be key factors, it will make it easier for the likes of Crosby, Kunitz and Kessell to be themselves in the playoffs 

Key #3

Speed must kill

The Penguins biggest strength is unquestionably their speed. The roster is filled with burners who play well into Mike Sullivan's style, and I will argue that the Penguins are the fastest team in the fastest game on ice. If Pittsburgh can use their speed the way they know how, they will make life miserable for the New York Rangers. Carl Hagelin, Connor Sheary and, of course, Sidney Crosby will all need to put on the jets, and I have a good feeling that they will do just that.

 

Final Series Prediction: Pens in 6

The Penguins are on fire, and have been for a large majority of Mike Sullivan's reign as head coach. The Rangers have knocked them out of the playoffs the past two seasons, and they are due to be conquered. 

Thanks for reading, and Let's Go Pens!

Spieth's meltdown is a perfect blend of what we love and hate aboutsports

One of my faveroite stories that I've heard about Golf took place before I was born. It was the 1996 Masters (I was born in 1998). Greg Norman, an Australian who was already well known for having the worst of luck in the biggest of tournaments, entered the final day of the Masters with a commanding 6 stroke lead at -13 under par. It looked like the Shark would finally be able to put on the green jacket. Now, here is where my dad's story comes in.

On the final Sunday at Augusta, Norman learned once again that in Golf, ones biggest obstacle is the person who stares back at him in the mirror. Norman blew up, and wound up losing the tournament to Nick Faldo by 5 strokes. My dad has said for years that Norman choked to the point where he ''couldn't stand any longer'' and had to go into another room. I don't know why I've liked this story so much, I've just always have. On Sunday, I learned exactly what my dad meant when he said he couldn't take it anymore.

If there was ever a golfer who was the opposite of Greg Norman, it's Jordan Spieth. Unlike Norman, Spieth is calm, cool and collected when the big moment comes, and all of those things made him the best golfer on the planet in 2015. However, on Sunday afternoon, Spieth practically morphed into Norman. As most sports fans are well aware, the 22-year-old Texan had a 5-stroke lead over halfway through his final round, and then the rains came (aka the 12th hole). On hole #12, Spieth did his best Tin Cup impression, hitting two shots into the water and finishing the hole with a quadrople bogye. Spieth never recovered, finishing at -2 under par and in 3rd place, while at the same time, being forced to put the green jacket on the new winner, Danny Willett, as is tradition for the Masters champion from the year before to do. 

Spieth's meltdown was hard to watch for odvious reasons. It is never fun to watch somebody go from on top of the world to  at the bottom of the world in the span of less than an hour. Spieth seems to be a sharp and well spoken young man, the kind of guy you want to see be the face of the sport. For so long,  it looked like Spieth would further establish himself as the face of the sport. Instead, he wound up on the wrong side of history, and all fans should be sympathetic towards Spieth. 

 

As hard as it was to see Spieth crumble, it was also one of the things that make sports great. Until that 12th hole, the Masters was only moderately exciting. Spieth was running away, and it didin't look like anybody could stop him. It's not much fun when one guy is a man among boys, and that's how it was for the first half of Sunday afternoon. Because of Spieth's choke, The 2016 Masters will always be remembered. Because Spieth lost it, the final hour of the masters was phenomenal television, and phenomenal television is what every sport desires. Because Spieth took his foot off the gas , a relatively unknown golfer became an eternal part of the game's history.

Coming into the Masters, Danny Willett was an afterthought. Not a lot of people believed he could wear that jacket, and they had good reason to be skeptical. Sure, Willett was ranked as one of the better players in the world, but he had never won a torunament on the PGA and was not thought of to be a major threat to the likes of Spieth, Jason Day or Rory Mcilroy. Coming into Sunday, Willett was 3 strokes back of Speith for the lead at even par. But one thing led to another, and Willett became the first British man to win the masters since Sir Nick Faldo did it in 1996, the same year Norman forgot how to play put-put. 

While Willett's win is a great come-from-behind story, I'm not so sure it's good for the sport. In my mind, Golf is lacking a true superstar. Golf needs a person who can dominate the way Tiger Woods did back in the day while at the same time being a likeable person off the course (Woods is not). Jordan Spieth is really close to becoming that type of player, and winning the Masters for the second year in a row would have shot him even further up the ladder. Spieth still has plenty of time to become a transcending superstar that Golf needs, but his Agusta brain cramp stunted his growth. 

I will admit that I was rooting for Spieth to win at the Masters, and I will again be rooting for him at the U.S. Open in June. Hopefully, the 12th hole does not scar him for life and ruin a potentionally historic carrer. I don't think it will. If I had to bet, I'd say that Spieth will win the U.S. and British Open. I hope my prophecy comes true. Jordan Spieth is a good man who would be great choice to be the top guy of the PGA. 

So, Jordan Speith's meltdown on 12 will live on in Golf history forever, for good reasons and for bad. Hopefully, future majors won't need a epic collapse to be historic.