Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we’re embarrassed to say we actually believed the Jags were going to beat the Patriots. Thanks a lot, John Malkovich. While this Giants fan tries to find some reason to get excited (read: some gambling angle) for a Super Bowl between the Patriots and Eagles, I'm at least glad this year’s break before the big game allows another sporting event to get the full spotlight it deserves. Tiger Woods is officially returning to the PGA Tour, folks. And golf fans don’t need any fancy teaser by CBS to get us hyped to watch.
FacebookPinterestGina FerazziThat said, we wouldn’t mind CBS pulling out all the stops to promote its weekend coverage at Torrey Pines. Provided, of course, Tiger Woods makes it to the weekend. OK, here's what else has us talking.
WE'RE BUYING
Jon Rahm: A year ago, Rahm arrived at Torrey Pines ranked No. 137 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Now he’s all the way up to No. 2 following a playoff win over Andrew Land..

HONOLULU (AP) For more than a decade, Zach Johnson has held what amounts to an annual two-day summit to inspect every part of his game, figure out what needs to get better and make a plan going forward. He referred to the most recent meeting as the best one yet.

Johnson failed to reach the Tour Championship for the second straight year. He went a second straight season without winning, dating to his 2015 British Open title at St. Andrews. He was not at the Presidents Cup, ending a streak of five consecutive teams.

”I was frustrated because I thought my game was better,” Johnson said. ”What was good was that everyone threw it on the table. We mulled it over and said, `OK, this is what we’re going to do.”

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For all the stats that were analyzed, what stood out the most was that Johnson felt he wasn’t as disciplined with his practice time and his focus. He did not describe any sense of urgency from going two years without a victory or failing to get to the ..

If you haven't noticed, the NBA has been quite chippy as of late, regardless of which teams are playing. So much so that the LAPD had to be called last week after the Clippers-Rockets game.
On Monday, tensions were once again high, this time in a game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Washington Wizards. During the Mavericks 98-75 drubbing of Washington, Wizards guard John Wall and Mavs guard J.J. Barea had an on-court confrontation in the fourth quarter that led to a war of words in the postgame, with Wall calling Barea a “little midget trying to get mad” and Barea responding by saying that none of Wall's teammates like him.
But that was nothing compared to what happened between Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle and his own player. Wait, what?
That's right, backup center Salah Mejri was called for a loose ball foul late in the third quarter, a call he questioned the referees over, which earned him a technical foul. Mejri, who had just two points on the night, wasn&#..

Proving once again there are really no new ideas but instead just recycled ideas that eventually end up on cable, The Hollywood Reporter revealed this week that a TV series is in the works based around The Mighty Ducks movies from the 1990s. Assuming the basic framework remains intact — a misfit collection of youth hockey players, a well-intentioned coach with a layered past, some type of over-entitled obnoxious league rival — it only makes that the new iteration would seek to present the modern-day Ducks with a set of challenges unique to these interesting times.
Just spitballing here, but for instance:
Once portly and affable, goaltender Greg Goldberg drops 25 pounds and is now shredded thanks to strict gluten- and hormone-free diet;
draws ridicule from teammates for abundance of selfies on his
Instagram feed.
Beloved hockey sage Hans falls prey to e-mail phishing scam telling him to send money to long-lost relative in Taiwan; the Ducks have to
put on fundraiser to re-coup his losses..

HONOLULU (AP) The question was as much rhetorical as it was cynical.

Matt Kuchar was playing alone on a slow Monday in Shanghai last fall, holding court on all things golf in between shots when the topic turned to Tiger Woods. Out of the game for nine months, Woods had just begun to post video of his swing.

Woods was still a week away from announcing he would return to competition in the Bahamas after recovering from a fourth back surgery.

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”Do you think guys today believe they could have taken on Tiger at his best?” Kuchar asked.

He didn’t offer an answer, perhaps knowing that just like comparing generations, there are no answers, only speculation.

Besides, what could anyone say?

”You’d be stupid to say you couldn’t. You’d be doubting yourself,” U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka said. ”I watched it growing up. I knew exactly how good he was. I wish I could have played against him. I think it would be cool to compare yourself to it.”

The questio..

Fantasy Golf Podcast: Tiger Woods prop bets and our Torrey Pines predictions

If there's a PGA Tour pro who appreciates the value of the dollar its Zac Blair, who honed his golf skills playing money games growing up in Utah. But Blair also appreciates a classic pair of golf shoes. Especially when he sees them on eBay.
On Monday, Blair proudly showed off his newest kicks.
https://twitter.com/z_blair/status/955547055929217024
Not too shabby. And last year, Blair purchased these bad boys eBay:
https://twitter.com/z_blair/status/870967812310925312
The thought of buying used shoes might not seem appealing at first, but it has its advantages. Obviously, there's the low price (we assume) and the ability to find models that haven't been made in years (decades in this case?). But you also don't have to worry about breaking them in before taking them for a spin in a tournament round.
Blair could bust out these brown beauties at this week's Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. Regardless of how he plays in them, though, it doesn't seem like..

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) Alvaro Ortiz of Mexico saved par to end a tumultuous round of 1-under 70 on Monday, giving him a one-shot lead and a chance at redemption in the Latin America Amateur Championship.

Ortiz lost in a playoff a year ago in Panama City and says he has been thinking about it all year. The winner receives an exemption to the Masters.

Ortiz was at 4-under 209 and still has hard work ahead of him at Prince of Wales Country Club. He led by one over defending champion Toto Gana of Chile (72) and Joaquin Niemann of Chile (72), the No. 1 amateur in the world.

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Also one shot behind was 36-hole leader Jaime Lopez Rivarola of Argentina, who shot 73.

The winner also is exempt into the final stage of qualifying for the U.S. Open and British Open.

Hartford CourantConnecticut Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma looks for a call during the first half against Temple on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018 at McGonicle Hall in Philadelphia, Pa. UConn won 113-57. (John Woike/Hartford Courant/TNS via Getty Images)The New England Patriots advanced to their eighth Super Bowl in 17 years on Sunday, but they have nothing on UConn Women's Basketball when it comes to dominating their respective sport. No one does. Possibly ever. The Huskies are these Patriots, the Golden State Warriors, and the 1927 Yankees rolled into one. Not that you'd be able to glean that from listening to a typical Geno Auriemma press conference. Or following coverage of the team. Which brings us to this intriguing headline from Monday's edition of the Hartford Courant:
“UConn Women Clobber Temple In Strong Response To Recent Struggle”
A “recent struggle”? UConn Women's Basketball? I didn't think such a thing was possible, but I was wrong. That is, if you count..

Sean M. HaffeyMAMMOTH, CA – JANUARY 21: Gus Kenworthy reacts from the podium after finishing in second place in the final round of the Men's Freeski Slopestyle (AFP Platinum) during the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix on on January 21, 2018 in Mammoth, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)If you know Gus Kenworthy at all, you probably know him as The Puppy Dude—the tatted-up freeskiing badass who melted the internet’s two-sizes-too-small heart in 2014 by adopting a pair of stray puppies he found on the streets of Sochi. For a short while, those dogs—Mishka and Jake—turned Kenworthy into an inadvertent poster boy for animal adoption, but in 2015, a year removed from an Olympic silver medal and that aww-worthy viral moment, Kenworthy did something even more important:
He came out.
FacebookPinterestRogers. Collins. Sam. Kenworthy. Due to the visibility of their respective sports, you probably recognize the first three names, but Kenworthy’s announcement on the cover of ESPN the M..