FROM THE PRESS BOX – Football is back, the fourth and final major of the 2018 golf season just wrapped up, the NBA released its regular-season schedule over the weekend and there’s less than two months left of the MLB’s regular season.
For the dead part of the summer, it’s been an exciting few days.
I was going to offer more fantasy football tips but that will have to wait. You can thank Tiger Woods for that.
There's nothing quite like a Tiger fist pump. pic.twitter.com/MEHWX5y0j7
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) August 13, 2018
We have another set of Ebs’ Hot Takes in store.
Enjoy.
Tiger Woods is back. Many of you scoffed at this idea when I suggested it last month.
But come on now, Tiger Woods finished second to Brooks Koepka this past weekend at the PGA Championship. Many of you thought he wouldn’t even contend.
It’s not like it was a cheap second-place finish either. Woods posted his best-ever Sunday score at a major and his 14-under-par was his best finish at a major without winning. Oh, and that 196 after three rounds? His best ever in a major. By four shots.
Tiger Woods, who finished with a 266, joins Phil Mickelson (2001) for the lowest 72-hole score by a non-winner at the PGA Championship. pic.twitter.com/LfR0wR1ar5
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) August 13, 2018
To be honest, Woods probably should have won the tournament. He three-putted an eagle try on Saturday and had a handful of birdie and par putts lip out.
But what’s most impressive after this weekend is the fact that Woods contended without ever having a consistent presence off the tee box.
If he tinkers his game just a bit come April, there’s no reason why he can’t contend in Augusta. Maybe Tiger has a victory under his belt by then.
Josh Rosen’s a bust. No. I’m just kidding. Despite his poor performance Saturday against the Los Angeles Chargers, Josh Rosen is nowhere close to being described as a bust. And to make that decision about any player after one preseason game is borderline irrational.
However, and this was my biggest concern when the Arizona Cardinals drafted him, but Rosen might not survive if they keep trotting him out there with that offensive line. Arizona’s starting offensive line isn’t very good, which means the third-teamers are dreadful.
Rosen was the least-mobile quarterback of all the rookies taken in the first round back in the spring. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s going to be tough for him to have success in this current state because he can’t make plays as easily on his feet like Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen and Sam Darnold can.
Until the offensive line play improves, it’s going to be hard to evaluate Rosen.
The NCAA made some smart changes to college basketball. In case you missed it, the NCAA recently announced some changes to to the structure of college basketball in regards to going pro and earning a degree.
The NCAA Board of Governors and DI Board of Directors adopted a series of significant policy and legislative changes.
Learn more: https://t.co/kZBdTC6L6n pic.twitter.com/J4cGVLp7Dn
— NCAA (@NCAA) August 8, 2018
It was a very lengthy press release, but basically, athletes can take more official college visits before they commit, can hire an agent when it comes to determining whether or not they want to go pro, student athletes can now return to their schools if they go undrafted and Division I schools are now required to pay for tuition, books and fees for former athletes if they decide to come back and finish out their degree.
Each and every one of these changes are big wins for college basketball players everywhere.
Was this move reactionary? Sure was. But it shouldn’t matter how we got here. It should only matter that we did.
The only logical step now is that athletes should be allowed to monetize their likeness. But for now, the steps taken this past week are monumental.
For once, it looks like the NCAA got something right.
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