His pre-scandal his domination was so profound, his lack of success at TPC Sawgrass was really hidden to the average golf fan.

At THE PLAYERS his record is as follows: 14 starts and just one victory, two withdraws and four top-10 finishes.

Struggles from years gone by at particular courses here or there, including THE PLAYERS, pale in comparison to the overarching struggle with his game at this point in his career.

Last week at a golf course with a little less fame-Quail Hollow at the Wells Fargo Championship-he missed a cut for just the eighth time in his professional career.

So what’s Tiger got to do to contend for THE PLAYERS, (unofficially the fifth major in Pro Golf).

Basically he’s got to feel it. If he’s on we should know soon enough, and if he’s not we’ll know it also( watchout for the flying clubs.)

“I’ve done really well or I haven’t (at this course),” Woods said this week in preparation for THE PLAYERS Championship.

“The years‑‑ either I’ve been right there in contention with a chance or I haven’t,” he added. “I think that’s the nature of this golf course, though. When you’re off on this golf course you’re going to get penalized pretty severely, but when you’re on, this golf course seems pretty easy because all the balls tend to funnel towards flags. ”

Phil Mickelson, like Tiger has not excelled at THE PLAYERS. He does have one win, the 2007 tournament, but only has two other top 10 finishes (3rd in ’04 and and 8th in ’98)  in 18 total career starts.

Combined Mickelson and Woods have 32 career starts, with just a victory a piece and a combined six Top 10s. Tiger has two withdraws in the last two years.

This year Mickleson is not having a bad season, he’s ranked 4th in FedEx Cup points and has a win at Pebble Beach and a T3 at The Masters. Last week he finished T26 at Quail Hallow.  The bar has been set at winning or else for Mickelson who is freshly minted as a the newest inductee to the World Golf Hall of Fame this week.

Mickleson will want to to take advantage of the Par 5s this week, but that’s easier said than done. No doubt he has wanted to do that every year.

“The course really hasn’t changed much over the years,” Mickleson said.  ”My strategy hasn’t really changed, and even though I have won, my record is not what I would have liked.  I believe I can perform a little bit better on this golf course than I have.”

It’s fun to watch Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson, young guys, who will someday possibly be legends of the game, but for my money it’s all about the two giant legends that are currently still in the prime of their careers with majors (unofficial majors included) left to win.

That’s why I’ll be pulling for Tiger and Phil this weekend at THE PLAYERS.

THE PLAYER Championship tees off Thursday morning from the TPC Sawgrass. Be sure to compare tickets at Seathound.com to find the very best passes for this week’s event.

—Move over Jared, (and Blake Griffin) Subway has a new spokesperson: Robert Griffin III, who this time last year I distinctly remember hearing nothing about save for a few Big 12 early season previews.

Griffin was the most mentioned name on ESPN during the NFL draft by a long shot, and major corporations are buying into his marketability.

Subway has made no secret that it wants to target to the sports fan demo.  In the NFL alone they have claim on Drew Brees and Tim Tebow as top sandwich promoters, along with Blake Griffin of Los Angeles Clippers and NBA fame.

Griffin will appear on NBC’s The Biggest Loser on Oct. 4 in conjunction with his Subway deal.

RG3 with his 50lb likeness, designed by sculptor James Victor. Photo by John Lamparski/WireImage

Adding to the hype was the 50-lb. RG3 sculpture made entirely out of Subway ingredients on display at a Manhattan Subway just before the NFL Draft..

Griffin also has a deal with Adidas (you can see his TV spot below), EA Sports (He’s the cover athlete for NCAA Football ’13), and Castro Oil, yes motor oil of all products.

He has also signed an autograph deal with Panini, which will sell officially licensed Griffin III trading cards.

Andrew Luck, the guy who has been touted as the next big thing for about two years now, signed with Nike. Nike wasn’t going to lose out on Luck, having lost Peyton Manning to Reebok.  Luck will also promote Pepsi and a bevy of other groceries for the food and drink giant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQbQv8NLjaw

Texas A&M Quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who climbed up draft boards just as Griffin did, was drafted by the Dolphins at No. 8 overall. Tannehill, like Griffin, will be an Adidas promoter.

You can catch Luck with the Colts, RGIII with the ‘Skins and Tannehill with the Dolphins in person by finding an  incredible deal on tickets when you search here on Seathound.com Don’t waste another moment, find your ticket today!

But we can speculate.

We can speculate that Rose’s game is built on agility, changing directions and driving to the basket, all of which require healthy knee joints.

Rose has won an NBA MVP award by the age of 22, so even if he never regains form, he’s accomplished more than most players could dream about. But the direction, the goal, the energy, the task for Rose was to get the Bulls back to the NBA Finals for the first time since his Airness graced the United Center.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duVzNZaGvLA

Hopefully for Rose and basketball fans in Chicago and the world over, he’ll be ready to go full force by next November. But if not, with tears to his MCL and ACL joints in his knee, it’s quite possible we’ve seen the peak of Rose’s career.

Here are some of the players in NBA history who had the unfortunate circumstance of injury and have we have to ask “What could have been?”

Benard King

King was a scoring machine from the time he came out of Tennessee. Then on March 23, 1985 he torn his ACL in his right knee in a game against the Kansas City Kings in Kansas City, Mo.

King would go on to play 14 total seasons in the NBA, but King was never the prolific scorer he was before the injury.

Grant Hill

The irony is that at age 39, Grant Hill is one of the most durable players to ever play the game, but there’s still a wonder about what he could have been without nagging ankle problems. The injuries first crept up on Hill in 2000, prior to the injuries. Hill was consistently among the Top 5 leaders in scoring and finished third in MVP voting in the ’96-’97 seasons.

Penny Hardaway

Lil Penny was not only a basketball sensation, the next Magic Johnson a 6-foot-7 point guard who wan an All-First Team selection in 1994-95. Penny might though be remembered more as a marketing sensation for his ‘Lil Penny Nike Spot featuring a puppet which have now becomes classics, immortalized by youtube.

Hardaway’s career faded away after he left Orlando and his career was hampered by arthritic knees.

Yao Ming

Ming’s career is nothing to laugh at, he was a force inside for several years with the Rockets, but most importantly he is one of the key figures in globalizing the sports of basketball and specifically in China and the Far East.

Ming retired after nine seasons in 2011.

Greg Oden

Oden accomplished the least of all the players mentioned her, but the potential was always there. It seemed if something could go wrong with Oden’s knees and feet it has. Oden vows he will comeback and not retired, but the odds are not on his side.

Again Rose doesn’t necessarily belong on this list now, only time will tell.

Seattle, WA, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Philip Humber celebrates after recording the final out in a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. The White Sox won 4-0. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE

This is a man who the New York Yankees drafted in the 29th round of the 2001 draft who elected for the lecture halls at Rice University in lieu of the pinstripes.

This is the pitcher who the New York Mets were sure about in the 2004 draft. So sure they used the third-overall pick on the big strong pitcher from Buncombe, Texas.

And this is the same pitcher who bounced around the majors since his debut in 2006, desperately trying to keep his career going.  A pitcher who was a long shot to join his fourth major league team, the Chicago White Sox, in 2011 but did in fact, putting up decent numbers, nine wins and nine losses.

And this is the pitcher who just threw a perfect game Saturday afternoon in Seattle.

Even though Saturday was just his 12th big league win, after joining an elite group of 21st big league throwers to ever achieve perfection, Philip Humber simply can’t be labeled a bust anymore.

He recently told the Chicago Tribune, “I’ve been through everything you can go through in baseball so far. “I’ve had Tommy John surgery, been the hot prospect, been a bust, been given a lot of opportunities and been given up on. You get to the point where you say, you know what, baseball’s not my whole life and if I’m going to play it I’m going to play because I enjoy it. That’s where I’m at.’”

He actually pitched brilliantly in his season debut April 16th in a no-decision loss against Baltimore, a game which has received less fan fare for obvious reasons. Humber struck out seven with one earned run.

Saturday night he faced 27 batters and retired 27 batters against the Mariners in Seattle. According to MLB.com Humber needed only 96 pitches to accomplish the feat, the fewest in a perfect game since David Cone’s 88 vs. the Expos on July 18, 1999.

He may be one of the lowest paid (*adjusted for inflation of course) ever to throw a perfect game. He is set to make $500,000 in 2012 for the White Sox and the gamble to sign him in 2011, is paying off nicely. His ERA through two games is 0.63.

The Mets, not so nice, they used the third overall pick on Humber in 2004, passing up on Jared Weaver and missing out on Justin Verlander who went No. 2 overall the Tigers.

The Mets sent Humber to the Twins in 2008 as part of the Johan Santana trade. Time will tell, but it looks like the Mets may have missed again. Because out of no where, a legitimate ace appears to be on the White Sox roster, even though no one seems to have anticipated this, not even the pitcher himself.

Upon reflecting upon the 20 other men who had thrown a perfect game, Humber humbly concluded after the game (Via the Chicago Tribune): “I don’t know what Philip Humber is doing in this list. I have no idea what my name is doing there. But I’m thankful it’s there.”

See Philip Humber for yourself, when you shop for the best prices for White Sox tickets on Seathound.com

This familiar NFL icon has vaulted the Broncos into must see territory for the 2012 season

The third Tuesday in April should be a national holiday-at least from the responsibilities of evening life…

Clear out the calendar for that night, have friends over and turn on the TV: it’s the NFL Schedule release.

Tuesday the NFL announced  its 17-week, 256-game regular-season schedule for 2012, which kicks off on Wednesday night, September 5 and concludes on Sunday, December 30 with 16 division games.

A true measure of team’s popularity as a whole, as measured by the NFL’s schedule makers and TV networks is the number of times a team appears on primetime schedule. It has become a true off-season measuring stick.

The league caps the number of times a team can be scheduled for a primetime game at five. This  season eight teams received the honor of five PT games:  The Chargers, Bears, Broncos, Eagles, Giants, 49ers, Packers and Steelers.  You can guess why the Broncos appear on this list, we’ll get to that in a moment.

As announced several weeks ago the opening game of the season will be Wednesday Sept. 5 (8:30 p.m. ET) on NBC with the New York Giants hosting the Dallas Cowboys.

RG3 and the Redskins at Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day 

The league has growing confidence in a young man by the name of Robert Griffin III. A year ago this time you could not have convinced me the marketing machinery of the most power pro sports league in the world would not be 100 percent behind Andrew Luck. As things turned out, Peyton Manning’s neck gave out, and the Indianapolis Colts went in a full rebuilding-mode. Luck had a good not great season at Stanford while RG III went lights out at Baylor. The Redskins gave a way the farm to the Rams for the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft and will select RG3 next week. In a year’s time, RG3 went from a late first rounder to a can’t miss prospect with GM’s, coaches and scouts gushing over him. The NFL also buys in and will showcase him on Turkey day. The Redskins aren’t on primetime a ton, but still thanksgiving is a huge spotlight. And turn on any NFL TV show now, such as ESPN’s NFL Live and the talk is all about RG3.

The early Thanksgiving game will in Detroit as it has been on 72 occasions previously. The Lions will host the Houston Texans. The late game will be on NBC with the Jets hosting the Patriots.

Manning and the Broncos on Primetime National TV 5 times

The network’s are going with old faithful, Mr. Peyton Manning one last time. Whether he fails or proves the Colts made a huge mistake, it should be what the suits call “compelling drama” and deliver eyeballs.

But the league and the network people are  risking that Manning will actually be on the field healthy and ready to go next September. Maybe that’s why the Broncos get primetime coverage in the first two weeks of the seasons, as the networks are hedging their bet against Manning’s longevity over a 16-game seasons. At the very least fans will want to witness the rapid decline of his career. And in the worst-case scenario, we’re looking at Caleb Hanie, Manning’s current backup.

The Broncos will open the season by hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football Week 1.

In Week 2 the Broncos play at Atlanta for Monday Night Football.

Week 6 the Broncos visit the Chargers for Monday Night Football.

Week 8 the Broncos host the Saints on Sunday Night Football.

And if that wasn’t enough Manning will be showcased Thursday Dec. 6 against Oakland on the NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football.

The league limits teams to five primetime appearances, or likely we would see more.

Andrew Luck and the Colts disappear from primetime

As mentioned above it’s really interesting to see how much attention has been taken away from Andrew Luck, a rare media phenomenon.

The people in the know still say he’s the best quarterback prospect coming out of college since Peyton Manning, but the story has been about RG3.

The Colts are in full rebuilding mode and are not expected to be that great. The NFL doesn’t either the Colts have just one primetime game, a Thursday Nighter against the Jags of all teams Nov. 8

An average NFL game is watched by 17.5 million people.

NFL games were the highest rated program locally across the nation 91-percent of the time.

In 2011, the NFL reached 20o million unique viewers. No not unique personalities, but actually 200 million different people watched at least some part of an NFL game.

NFL TV ratings have never been higher. TV drives everything about the NFL, that will continue in 2012.

Following a 96-86 win in overtime over the Miami Heat Thursday night in Chicago, the Bulls have positioned themselves as the best team in the Eastern Conference.

They now have a four-game lead for the best record in the conference and homecourt advantage should they meet the Heat in the conference finals.

The prevailing commentary among many fans and commentators alike is the Heat simply don’t care until the playoffs begin. That’s not a new idea among NBA fans.  But it’s not that the Heat didn’t put worth an effort Thursday night. But it seems as though they were willing to concede another loss to the Bulls in the regular season (The Heat defeated the Bulls 97-93 in January but the Bulls returned the favor with a 106-102 win March 14th.) with a “see ya in the playoffs” stare back.

Of course these games do matter,  because the Bulls now know, without a doubt they can beat the Heat in a seven-game series.

The depth comparison between the two teams is not comparable.

In Thursday’s primetime, nationally televised game , the Bulls bench outscored the Heat 47-7. Kyle Korver scored 17  points off the bench, C.J. Watson scored 16 points, while Derrick Rose, is still not at 100-percent and only scored a career-low two points.  The Bulls can also stroke it from long distance, going 11 of 22 on three-point shots in Thursday’s win.

Meanwhile the Heat have just 10 games left in the season and haven’t figured out their rotation. They have lost two straight games, also losing  Tuesday night to Boston, and have dropped three of the last four games.

“It’s tough,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.  ”You reach these moments at times when you feel like you put so much into it collectively but can’t get over the hump. We talked about it right before the game. We said, ‘There is no easy road. What we’re trying to do will be the hardest thing that we’ll have to do collectively.”

But you know LeBron and Co. will be there are the end right? Maybe not. This year seems different. The Bulls aren’t the same team which lost to the Heat in five games in last year’s Eastern Conference finals.

The roster is almost identical, except for the addition of Richard Hamilton, but the team is playing so much better. Losing Rose for 12 games seems to have actually helped the Bulls quite a bit. If Rose is healthy, watchout, the Bulls are the favorite to reach the NBA Finals.

—When Marlins Jeffrey Loria hired Ozzie Guillen this is what he paid for: someone who is going to get people talking about the Marlins in Miami.

But the problem is, Ozzie Guillen is nuts. When the great Oz does something, he’s going to go ahead and do it big. There is no scaling back with Oz-at least not up until now.

We may have seen the last of the quotable Ozzie Guillen.

Prior to the biggest gaffe of his major league career, which began in 1985, Guillen’s job description was to keep reporters notebooks filled, and provide video clips with lots of bleeps, everyone laughed and all was good.

Then Ozzie made a huge political blunder, vouching his support for Fidel Castro in this Time Magazine article.

Then things got bigger than Ozzie’s big mouth, this wasn’t just another quotable Ozzie moment. It went beyond the scope of control in Major League Baseball. It became a non-sports story, where a non-sports media, with no formal ties to MLB or the Marlins or Ozzie began covering it.

Guillen is lucky to still have a job. He’ll come away with a five-game suspension, which many will argue is a slap on the wrist.

The Marlins issued a prepared statement:

“The Marlins acknowledge the seriousness of the comments attributed to Guillen. The pain and suffering caused by Fidel Castro cannot be minimized especially in a community filled with victims of the dictatorship.”

He made a public apology in which he vowed to never talk politics again. He apologized several times saying he has learned his lesson.

According to ESPN, Guillen said in Spanish, “I feel like I betrayed my Latin community. I am here to say I am sorry with my heart in my hands and I want to say I’m sorry to all those people who are hurt indirectly or directly.”

Guillen said that he was somehow misinterpreted because he gave the interview in English. Yet he concluded this was the biggest mistake of his entire life.

Many have the right to question the sincerity of his apology, only doing so once the comments began to make national headlines complete with protesters outside the gates of the Marlins’ new stadium.

The question is,  can the man who has built a public persona on saying anything anytime with no restraint (remember Showtime is filming a reality TV series about the Marlins) suddenly put the brakes on it?

Guillen probably can. Because the worst is over, he’ll take if five game suspension, he won’t lose his job and MLB won’t reprimand him further. He stopped just short of losing his job.

Tiger Woods during the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida. ICON

The Masters will always be, and has been since its inception in 1934, “the” golf tournament and one of the Top 5 American sporting events.

But not every tournament has the build up, the drama, the anticipation. Can you name last year’s Masters champion?

For the last 15 years or so the reason why some years are more anticipated than others goes by the nickname Tiger. He’s 36-years old, divorced, has major knee problems and has won the Masters four times but not in the last six years.

Coming off his first win in two years, which came at the Arnold Palmer Invitational two weeks ago, we are led to believe Tiger is primed and ready. His game is as good as it has been since pre-Thanksgiving 2009 and adding to the drama, this year, he has a host of other challengers whose names golf nuts and casual sports fans recognize.

No not, Charl Schwartzel, who won last year’s masters. Rather Rory McIlroy 2011 Masters T14th who is ranked as the No. 2 player in the World, and Phil Mickelson who has won the green jacket three times. And World No. 1  Luke Donald.

Or the two top-ranked Americans, Hunter Mahan and Steve Stricker.

Other among the 96-player field the experts are giving a shot to win it all include: Graeme McDowell, Adam Scott, Bo Van Pelt, Martin Kaymer, Brandt Snedeker,Nick Watney, Lee Westwood, Bubba Watson and Keegan Bradley.

Another storyline which will quickly fade once the first ball is struck from Tee  No. 1 Thursday morning is the issue regarding membership and the fact that Augusta National doesn’t allow women as official members. This time it’s not Martha Burke leading the protests but rather someone noticed that the new CEO of IBM is a woman by the name of Ginni Rometty. IBM is a major sponsor of the Masters and the previous four IBM CEOs all have become members of Augusta.

Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne swiftly said this week that membership is a private matter and refused to discuss the topic with the media. But the advance headlines can’t hurt either.

But really the story at Augusta, at least for now, all goes back to Tiger. In advance of the Masters, ESPN columnist Rick Reilly published a story about Woods’ half-brother who is suffering from multiple sclerosis and is in financial need but hasn’t heard from Tiger since 2005.

Storylines, and drama follow Tiger Woods wherever he goes, he the definition of an international superstar if there ever was one-but if he can win another Masters at this stage-the storylines might revert back to the tone five years or so ago back when they were mostly about what an out-of-this-world golf player he is.

Tickets for Thursday’s opening round of The Masters start at $625 when you compare prices on Seathound.com

The initial drama was painted into a Rick Pitino-John Calipari feud, which may or may not exist, but is over now after Kentucky took care of business Saturday night against the Cardinal.

Kentucky fans began rioting, before they even won the Championship, because there’s no doubt about it they will win.

Accuscore, a service which provides computer simulations of just about every sporting event, has predicted the Kentucky Wildcats will cut down the nets tonight in New Orleans.

Kentucky will defeat Kansas 73.36-64.8 according to Accuscore. The two schools rank No. 1 and No. 2 all-time in wins, Kentucky with 2,089 wins and Kansas with 2,070 wins.

The computers are not alone. Real paid college basketball experts are picking Kentucky as well.

“I haven’t seen anybody pick us,” Kansas coach Bill Self said via Yahoo Sports. “If anybody did pick us, it would probably be Digger (Phelps), and that would be the kiss of death.”

Guys like John Gasaway of ESPN Insider, Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated, Dick Vitale of ESPN, are picking Kentucky,  ESPN’s Sports Nation fan vote (73-27 in favor of UK).

Is there anyone who actually thinks Kansas can win?

Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, at least believes there’s a chance.

“If Kentucky is hitting their shots, there just isn’t much you can do,” Hoiberg told ESPN.  ”But if they’re having an off-night, and Kansas is hitting their shots, they have a very good chance to win.”

Part of the allure of Kentucky is a dominator, freshman player of the year Anthony Davis, someone who can take over the game at any time, Kemba Walker for last year’s championship UConn, Carmelo Anthony in 2003, Danny Manning for KU in ’88, Patrick Ewing for Georgetown in ’84 among a few.

But Anthony Davis, the star of the tournament, is not superman claims Self . At least that is what he is trying to convince his players, or perhaps attempt to get in the head of the 19-year old projected No. 1 pick who seems to never get rattled.

“Anthony Davis is a great player, but he’s not Superman,” Self said at a press conference this weekend.

Kansas is not a great scoring team, and Davis’ ability to block shots has been so prolific, he was compared to Celtics great Bill Russell.

Davis just has two NCAA Championships and 11 NBA titles to go, he can start with a win tonight in New Orleans.

It’s almost a forgone conclusion.

Kentucky has six legitimate NBA players (as of now): Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Doron Lamb, Marquis Teague, Darius Miller, and Terrance Jones.

Kidd-Gilchrist, Davis and Teague are freshman and could potentially be one-and-dones.

Davis would be the No. 1 overall pick if he chooses to enter the NBA draft. Kidd Gilchrist is a lock for the lottery and is expected to go Top 10. He has already stated he’ll enter June’s draft.  Teague is a first-round at this point.

This week NBA commissioner David Stern and NCAA president Mark Emmert debated the topic of the age requirement, currently 19 in the public forum of mass media.

Stern said the age requirement is good for business. One and done’s rise to fame their freshman year and are marketing ready by the time they are a NBA rookies.

Stern said he wouldn’t be opposed to extending the requirement to age 20 and two years removed from high school.

Stern sees the league as all-business, non academic.

“We don’t think it’s appropriate for us to lecture kids whether they should or shouldn’t go to school,” Stern said this week, via the USA TODAY.

“For our business purposes, the longer we can get to look at young men playing against first-rate competition, that’s a good thing, because draft picks are a very valuable thing.”

Stern also said, sarcastically via the USA TODAY, “A college could always have players who are not one and done, they could do that. They could actually require the players go to classes. I’m really digging myself a hole. Or they could get the players to agree that they stay in school and ask for their scholarship money back if they didn’t fulfill their promises.”

Stern of course is mocking the reality of big-time collegiate sports in that athletics comes first, academics second.

Emmert addressed the issue this way, “I happen to dislike the one-and-done rule enormously and wish it didn’t exist,” Emmert said Friday via the Kansas City Star.

“I think it forces young men to go to college that have little or no interest in going to college.”

“I don’t think we should blow the one-and-done out of proportion and suggest that’s somehow undermining all of academics and the NCAA. It’s 15 kids. They have a chance to go play professionally because that’s what the rules allow and they all want to pursue it. So that’s fine.”

Ultimately the NCAA and NBA are interdependent. Yet the NBA holds the cards in that they can chose to enforce their rules as they see fit (pro sports leagues are generally exempt from anti-trust laws).

Stern, as he stated this week, will do what is best for the NBA, and eliminating the age rule all together would benefit the NCAA more than the NBA.

It does seem possible that at some point in the future the NBA may increase the rule from one year removed from high school or age 19 to two years removed from high school or age 20.

The USA TODAY reports that the NBA Players Association and the NBA will discuss the age restriction topic after the season ends.