Idle rants

Well OK. After just one round of a tournament, he finds himself tied for 83rd place and already a whopping eight shots off the lead. But guess who is the lead story at the Quicken National tourney, press conference and all? Yep, Eldrick Tont Woods must be back swinging his clubs again. Only Tiger can generate this sort of mania, for reasons yours truly has yet to understand.

What's that? After two rounds he's now 13 shots behind, in 104th place, and didn't come close to making the cut? Only one thing to do. Another press conference. Please.

Skin pigmentation aside, ever notice that rookie NBA Commish Adam Silver bears a striking resemblance to the President? The long skinny head, toothy smile, big ears, pencil neck, and the mastery of politically correct non-speak while trying to appeal to the masses for their own popularity are shared traits. Throw in the swagger and cockiness of dudes pretending to have everything under control, while in reality both are up to their eyeballs dealing with various controversies, and it's hard to tell them apart. Maybe they should switch jobs for a few months. Would anybody care? Better yet, would it even matter?

After a recent slump, the Detroit Tigers seem to be on a roll again. Given the pitifully weak division they play in, NOT winning it to make the postseason would be a colossal failure. Hope springs eternal, but wake me up in October when the playoffs start. Hype this, and hype that over the years, but the Tigers haven't won the World Series since 1984 -- 30 years ago. Have they got what it takes this year? We'll see. Nobody remembers or cares about shoulda, coulda, woulda. Runner-up doesn't count.

Glad that whole brouhaha over manager Brad Ausmus making a wisecrack about beating his wife has finally blown over. Hey, he was obviously just kidding. But leave it to certain others to pounce on such a thing in the name of a story or a (cha-ching) cause. Some want Ausmus to donate money here and there. Others want him to become some sort of spokeman for the plight of battered women, etc. Two words -- shut up. It was a joke. One was free to chuckle at his attempt at humor or disapprove of same, but get over it, especially those in the latter camp.

The latest edition of Sports Illustrated offers a very interesting article about the Houston Astros. Currently, the Astros are 15 games behind in their own division and slugging it out with the likes of the Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks for the worst record in all of major league baseball. But this article suggests Houston is actually on the rise. Amazingly, it predicts the Astros might well win the World Series by 2017. That's quite a projection. May the force be with Ben Reiter, the author, but methinks he may have bitten off more copy than he can chew with that call. And keep him away from the Detroit Lions. Their fans don't need any hot-shot SI scribe getting their hopes up. It is what it's always been with the Lions. Still chasing that elusive Super Bowl appearance -- but the chances of it happening any year soon are slim to none.

So Venus Williams got knocked off again by a relative unknown at a major tennis tournament (Wimbledon) in the early rounds? Maybe it's time for Ms. V to call it quits. Other than collecting paychecks here and there, the elder Williams sister hasn't been world class competitive for several years, and it's only going to get worse as time marches on. She can't hang with the latest generation of power-strokers and fellow on-court shriekers anymore.

Also glad to see the Uruguayan serial biter, Luis Suarez, was suspended for the next 9 international matches, and is banned from any contact with major league futboll for 4 months. This chomping of his incisors into an opponent's flesh has to stop. When he's allowed to return, perhaps one of the terms of his probation should be Suarez has to wear a Hannibal Lector mask for a couple years while competing. Couldn't hurt.