Tiger's Convenient Timing?

It's here! Testing for performance enhancing drugs hits golf. Many sports have already implemented this tactic to "level" the playing fields and unless you live under a rock you've heard of the many scandals that have corrupted sports. Drug testing now officially hits professional golf this week at the European Open. Golf probably doesn't strike you as a sport where you'd need a little extra juice to excel. It would benefit the big hitters, but so much of the game happens around the green and being able to stop a chip on a dime or being able to read the six foot right to left break on a green that's lightening fast. Perhaps golf is enforcing these tests to stay on par (pun intended) with the rest of the sporting world or maybe there is suspicion that perhaps steroids have made their way to the driving range.

In the past decade, golf has become more of a mainstream sport. Much of this popularity can be attributed to perhaps the most dominate athlete in his sport, EVER, Tiger Woods. Its unfortunate that with popularity comes suspicion. Yet this has been a trend we've seen over the past few years.

Here is a short lists of athletes who have dominated their sport and have faced suspicions of using performance enhancing drugs:

• Barry Bonds, Baseball
• Lance Armstrong, Cyclist
• Sammy Sosa, Baseball
• Roger Clemens, Baseball
• Floyd Landis, Cyclist
• Marion Jones, Track and Field

After viewing this list, perhaps these accusations are fair. Maybe we do have the right to question athletes success. The athletes we once stared at in awe, are now viewed with eyes of skepticism.

Now back to this issue in relation to golf....

A few weeks ago the sports world was on the edge of their seats watching the greatest golfer ever win the US Open in a playoff. Tiger limped down the fairway, cringing after many shots, but managed to compose himself and come out on top. An impressive feat for anyone. He hadn't played golf for several months, let alone walk 5 rounds in 5 consecutive days and we then later learned this was done on a torn ACL. Which now ultimately is ended his 2008 season.

This topic was brought to my attention by a very reputable and I should mention handsome source, my uncle Stu. Stu was kind enough to allow me to quote him on this subject.

"Tiger's "real" reason for taking the rest of the year off -- drug testing starts on the PGA tour next month. So, Tiger is going to get his knee surgery and then spend the rest of the year figuring out how to re-tool his game with a new knee AND without the benefit of juice. What you're going to see when Tiger comes back is that he will no longer be among the long hitters on tour. Sure, longer than average, but he'll have to revamp his non-juiced game to handle being shorter off the tee and more accurate, with more emphasis on his short game than ever before."

With the way the sports world has been this could be a very real issue. But there are two sides to every idea.

On one hand tiger has been known as a golfing phenom from the day he picked up a golf club. His ability to outdrive the field, make the impossible shot, read the unreadable putt. No other golfer has given us more holy sh** moments. He stated to be in favor of drug testing. Oh and he is only 32.

On the other hand, Tiger has bulked up over the years, kept an immaculate image and then takes the rest of the season off right before drug testing become enforced.

I have always been one to trust and have faith in people until proven otherwise. And as a fan of Tiger's it's hard to view him from any other angle, but it is quite the coincidence on his timing to get surgery.

We may never know if Tiger does have something to hide or if he couldn't walk another round without pain. It is going to be interesting to see how Tiger performs and how/if his game changes next year. Until then, we'll see if golf can maintain popularity without his participation.

- Berns

NBA draft thoughts

There was never any question whether Kevin Pritchard would be active or not. The Blazers had 5 picks in the draft. Every single player of these 5 drafted, were traded. "In KP we trust" was the slogan yesterday and it seemed to be a good one. With all the smokescreens, proposed trades, possible trades, players targeted, it was impossible to know who the Blazers really wanted. In the end there are two new additions to the Blazers squad.

• PG Jerryd Bayless of Arizona
  
• F Nicolas Batum of France

With these two additions come two subtractions as Josh McRoberts and Jarrett Jack were sent with the drafted Brandon Rush to Indiana.

The blazers shouldn't be in this situation anytime soon. The days of the lottery are a thing of the past. And if Greg Oden, Brandon Roy and LMA have anything to do with it, it's going to be a while. I don't expect a championship next year, but with the youth that has come together to grow together. This is going to be a dangerous team. The Lakers, Spurs, Rockets and the rest of the west better win their championships now.

Jerryd Bayless can shoot, run, and defend. With decent size for a PG he'll be great against the great pgs in the west. He has been described as an off guard, which is fine, as B Roy will be playing a similar role. After some time working with Steve Blake, a smart savvy pg, he'll learn how to succeed, be smart and become a part of a team. He may never lead the team in scoring, but his job is to help lead them to the finals.

Batum is an interesting pick. He will be good. He is athletic as hell, decent shooter, decent passer, good finisher inside....oh and he's 19. If you watched the draft, the highlight they showed of him was him dunking on second pick Michael Beasley. Not a bad deal. He may need a year or two in France to keep developing, so that he can come in an contribute. He'll get his time. 2 or 3 years may be the best time to come in too.

The moral of the story is the blazers are going to be good. If Oden is half the player he should be, and LMA and Roy continue to get better the way they have their first two years, it is going to get ugly for the west.

I do have some bias, but I think its safe to say most of the league is feeling the same way. Here come the blazers and with an average age of 24.7 they are going to be around for a while.

Berns

Disconnected from the "real" world

Social networks dominate the online world we live in. And this is becoming more and more true for each new generation. Email is becoming a communication tool of the past. I was actually questioned about my facebook habits, and how I managed to stay in touch and in the know with my friends. How could I possibly talk to my friends I studied abroad with, without using facebook? This question came from me, from a recent high school grad. It seems that all of her friends communicate through facebook or text messages.

You never have to hear a voice, you can control the amount of communication, you may never even see a face. How is this formal communication? How do you actually make a relationship? How do you learn social skills?

I blame technology, parents and the ease of access to technology.

Hear me out. I was 16 when I got my first cell phone, 20 when I joined my first social network and 23 when I started my first blog. There are 6 years olds getting sidekicks (type of cell phone), joining Facebook and Club Penguin (a social network designed for kids). These kids aren't riding their bikes to their friends house to play basketball, or build a tree fort. These kids come home from pre-school and start waddling their digital penguin, texting their friends about the latest Dora the Explorer episode and never have to verbally communicate with anyone.

Seriously!!! This new generation has the ability to join a social network as soon as they can operate a mouse. They are removing themselves from real social networks. They are becoming a bunch of anti-social, computer nerd pansies. At some point they will never have to leave the house. Online classes for college, order groceries for delivery from the local Safeway, online shopping, chatting online, and watching Youtube clips tell they go blind. Forget fights in the school yards. These kids are going to run to their computer screens and battle each other with their World of War Craft Orcs. Bullies are going to be the kids who know online cheat codes.

Do these technological advances give these next generations advantages in exploring the world? Perhaps. Are they going to be more informed with all that information at their finger tips? Maybe. But are these kids going to grow up with "real" social skills, street smarts, the ability to stand up for themselves and the concept of what the real world is? Not to the same extent.

We all grow up learning you can be whatever you want to be and that you control your life. But there is a difference of walking away from drugs in middle school and clicking out of a blog on a controversial topic.

Now after that whole rant, I do have to say I love what technology offers us. You couldn't play fantasy football without the internet. Watching the ducks beat oklahoma from 9 time zones away would be impossible. Staying in touch with friends from around the world in a matter of moments, beats the hell out of snail mail. Technology gives us advantages that we can now not live without. But you get my point. You can use all of these great tools, because you should, but to trap yourself into this fantasy world where the biggest fear is a computer crash or losing your cell phone, that is how these next generations are in trouble.

Berns

New to the Blogging Scene

I hate starting with a disclaimer, but I am going to anyway. I am brand new to this blogging thing, so who knows how well this will go. As far as I am concerned this may be the only successfully posted blog I have. But its worth trying anyway.

After all of the PR work I have done in the past year, I have noticed how blogging has become a key way that people obtain and share information. That being said I don't know how much information I have that would interest you, but I have always had an opinion and decided what better forum to do so. You can blame the internet for giving people like me the ability to voice my thoughts, opinions and concerns to the world.

My hope is to be a somewhat consistent blogger. The definition of consistency has yet been determined. But as life is interesting and events I care about occur, I will share. Ducks Football, the Blazers, weekends, beer....you get the point. I can tell this is going to be fun.

If you're still reading, thank you for successfully completely reading my first blog post. Stay tuned.

~Berns