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The Open
by Bob Sturm
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Phil Mickelson: Just happy You Know Who's not around Over there, it's windy, cold, wet, foggy, soggy, humid and just plain miserable. One minute it's sunny, the next it looks like The Thing from "The Neverending Story" is rolling in. You get in the rough at Royal Birkdale, they have to tie a rope around your waste in case you die and they can drag your body out.
Expect poor scores, extreme concentration and, for the winner, fantastic shots.
The favs without Tiger? Phil? Eh. The World Wide Leader is rolling with Jim Furyk. Not an awful pick. Consider the chances of Geoff Ogilvie, too.
NFL discourages 'Fluffy-Fingers
What's better than celebrating scoring a touchdown in an NFL game? Apparently celebrating AND violent street gang affiliation! The NFL announced it has hired experts to review tapes and look for evidence of players flashing gang signs during touchdown celebrations. I don't know about you but I'll take T.O. or Chad Johnson's antics over that crap any day. -Brad C
"There have been some suspected things we've seen," said Milt Ahlerich, the league's vice president of security, according to the Times' report. "When we see it, we quietly jump on it immediately, directly with the team and the player or employee involved to cease and desist. Period."
The under-commented story of the week goes to ... the firing of Billy Packer!
Frankly speaking, Packer was a pompous, self-absorbed ACC homer, who seemed like the game (or, more likely, the players) had passed him by a decade ago. I'm not losing any sleep over Packer getting sacked for Clark Kellogg (who sounds like a comic-book character) and I doubt any of my top 5 college basketball buddies are either. He was a whip to listen to.
But Packer doesn't deserve anything less than a quiet exit. I think the guy was still sharp and still able to look at a team or a play and analyze with deftness. I think he loved the game. He had opinions and he wasn't afraid to share them nor was he afraid to criticize. As much as I dislike Packer, I don't consider him any more or less nauseating than John Madden or Dick Vitale who are dolls that if you pull their string they'll spout off some cliche or generic analyses.
Packer was a SOB. But you don't build a career like he has for not being good at least most of the time.
Over the past three days, one four Texas Rangers have shown up for work. Almost everyone else is enjoying a sweet break before the bulk of the second half of the season. Those not taking time off are those coming back from injury making rehab starts. Here's the deal.
Hank Blalock
The third baseman-turned first basemen had his third rehab last night ... unfortunately, he was a late defensive scratch and had to DH. In those three games: 2-7 - 1 double - 1 RBI. Barring any setback (you know, getting attacked by dinosaurs or a bizarre harpoon accident ... you never know with Blalock these days) he'll be back Friday.
The big question: Will Chris Davis still be here? Unless they want a riot, he'd better.
Eric Hurley
He started Monday for the RoughRiders and is clearly ready for the second half: 7.1 IP - 4 hits - 0 ER - 1 walk - 2 K.
Shoeless Joe Jackson
The New Orleans Hornets just got better. They signed swingman James Posey to a 4-year, $25 million deal yesterday. Posey got his years and payday. The Hornets got a legit bench guy that can score, hit a big three and play some sticky defense against the best shooting guards and small forwards in the league. 
The Tour de France has disqualified yet another rider for doping. Riccardo Ricco from Italy was forced to withdraw along with his entire Saunier-Duval team after testing positive for EPO. This is the third rider disqualified this year. After the Floyd Landis thing last year you think these guys might get a clue. Is it just me, or does cycling’s drug problem make baseball look like small potatoes? -Brad C
Italian rider Riccardo Riccò of Saunier Duval has tested positive for blood booster Erythropoietin (EPO), French sports daily L'Equipe reported on its website on Thursday. According to the paper's Damien Ressiot, one of the climber's urine samples collected by the French Anti-Doping Agency AFLD showed traces of a third generation EPO called CERA (Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator). The Saunier Duval team has voluntarily withdrawn itself from the Tour de France, and said it would not compete in any races until further notice. Directeur sportif Joxean Fernandez Matxin said he was as surprised as anybody.
"We only found out ten minutes ago. The entire team will stop racing, not only in the Tour de France. We suspend the activities of the team until we understand what has happened."
‘The Office’ spin-off gets cannedNBC had planned to create a spin-off of ‘The Office’ which was to begin airing immediately after next year’s Super Bowl. Apparently this idea has been scrapped and none too soon if you ask me.
I don’t think any true 'Office' fans liked this idea from the beginning. I think the original Office cast has found the perfect mix and you just shouldn’t mess with perfection. It seems like it would be really hard to get things like that to come together again. That’s what she said. -Brad C
Wilco
The Beatles, on the rooftop
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About the Author
Self-proclaimed as “not the guy in the next cubicle over”, Bob is known as Sports Sturm due to his vast sports knowledge and Super Bowl minutia. Others refer to him as a Sports Bully when he asserts his sports trivia dominance. If you are playing Trivial Pursuit, the Sports & Leisure piece of pie is covered.
Bob is originally from Wisconsin and has an allegiance to the Green Bay Packers. Though most of us would be fine with simply pulling for our team on Sundays, Bob chose to permanently brand his arm with a “G” tattoo and name his son “Brett”.
Bob is the hockey expert on The Ticket staff, though as with all things sports-related, he couldn’t help but take that too far as well having been accused of stalking Brett Hull at the tail end of his playing days. Bob anchors the Dallas Stars post-game shows during the regular season and reprises the role in the playoffs with the Dallas Stars Playoff Post Game Show life from Planet Bob.
Bob is the most prolific blogger on The Ticket, blogging every weekday morning on a wide range of local and topical sports topics.
Bob has 197 posts available here.
Visit Bob's web site at http://sturminator.blogspot.com
Contact Bob at sturm1310@aol.com.
