Tiger Woods shared some details about his rehab process in his first public interview since his February car accident.
Woods spoke to Daniel Rapaport of Golf Digest about where he is physically and how his rehab is going. Woods admitted that he’s no stranger to injury rehab, but described the current process as “more painful than anything I have ever experienced.”
Woods suffered open fractures to both his tibia and fibula bones in his right leg in the Feb. 23 accident. It’s not yet clear if Woods will regain full strength and movement in that leg. He refused to comment on whether or not he would play golf again, sharing a more immediate goal instead.
“My physical therapy has been keeping me busy,” Woods said. “I do my routines every day and am focused on my No. 1 goal right now: walking on my own. Taking it one step at a time.”
Woods added that he has been “helped tremendously” by the outpouring of support from people both inside and outside of golf.
Public appearances have been rare for Woods since the accident, though we’ve had a few glimpses of him as he recovers. It sounds like a slow and steady process, and because of that, it may be a while before we get any clear idea of where things stand with his golfing future.
It’s been a strange week for the Philadelphia Phillies, with manager Joe Girardi withholding injury information about outfielder Bryce Harper. Now, two days later, Girardi won’t be giving injury information about anyone on his team to anyone in public.
On Thursday, Girardi faced questions about why second baseman Jean Segura pinch-hit during the eighth inning of Thursday’s game against Miami, but did not stay in to play second base. The Phillies manager responded by informing the media that he would no longer be publicly divulging injury information, citing the fact that he thinks it’s “somewhat unfair to us” to do so.
This is certainly a strange stance to take. It’s hard to envision how the Marlins, or any of Philadelphia’s opponents, would gain some sort of advantage from Girardi discussing whether or not Segura is hurt after the game finished. One also has to wonder how this relates to Girardi’s remarks on Harper’s injury and whether he was spoken to about his public insistence that there was no medical issue there. A blanket policy of not commenting would certainly save Girardi a bit of face after coming out of that whole situation looking silly.
Unlike most other sports, MLB does not mandate that teams release any sort of injury report or make that information publicly available unless a player lands on the IL. Managers are usually forthcoming about that information when asked, but Girardi is putting a stop to that in Philadelphia.
Tim Tebow is being welcomed back into the NFL despite not playing in a game since 2012. That isn’t sitting well with everyone, including one former 1,000-yard rusher.
Brandon Jacobs, a two-time Super Bowl-winning running back for the New York Giants, took a shot at Tebow on Twitter Thursday by claiming that he wants to come back as a defensive end. Jacobs touted his strength and speed, adding that there is “no way Tim Tebow is a better athlete than I am.”
Jacobs claims he’s serious, but we have our doubts that the 38-year-old actually has his sights set on playing defensive end in the NFL. This looks like an obvious shot at Tebow being handed a shot at making the Jacksonville Jaguars as a tight end despite his time away from the NFL and his lack of experience at the position.
Jacobs definitely isn’t alone in scoffing at Tebow’s comeback. There are a lot of NFL hopefuls who would love to have the opportunity the former quarterback is getting with Jacksonville, and even those without anything at stake don’t think much of the tryout.
That said, Tebow’s return is clearly great for marketing. Maybe that’s part of the point, not that that will come as much consolation to Jacobs and those who agree with him.
Javier Baez stole a run for the Chicago Cubs on Thursday on a play that we almost certainly will not see duplicated this season and potentially beyond. As you might expect, starting pitcher Kyle Kendricks loved it.
Kendricks, who pitched seven strong innings and got the win for Chicago over the Pittsburgh Pirates, was asked about Baez’s crazy rundown play after the game. He said Cubs players loved it and don’t expect to ever see it again.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. I don’t think you’ll ever see it again,” Hendricks said, via Bob Nightengale of USA Today. “The dugout was just losing it. They couldn’t believe what they just saw with their eyes. Guys were going crazy.”
Baez hit what looked like a routine, inning-ending ground ball with two outs in the top of the third. The throw to first was slightly off-target, which pulled Pirates first baseman Will Craig off the bag. Craig went to apply the tag to Baez, but Baez began sprinting in the other direction. He got caught in a rundown and allowed a run to score.
You can see the play below:
The play actually led to two runs for the Cubs, as Baez scored on a single in the next at-bat.
We’re used to Baez applying awesome tags to runners (here’s one example), but his play on Thursday was a thing of beauty for Chicago. The Pirates? Not so much. Starting pitchers will take run support any way it comes, which is why Hendricks appreciated the play so much.
Tom Brady wasted no time talking trash to Aaron Rodgers after it was announced on Wednesday that the two quarterbacks will be facing one another in “The Match” this year. It probably took Rodgers a while to process it all, but he came up with the perfect response.
This year’s installment of “The Match” pits Brady and Phil Mickelson against Rodgers and Bryson DeChambeau. After the news dropped, Brady immediately took to Twitter to create memes roasting Rodgers and DeChambeau. One of them took a shot at Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers for their ill-advised decision to kick a late-game field goal in their playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season.
The meme Brady used was created when Brooks Koepka showed just how much he hates DeChambeau during an interview at the PGA Championship last week. Koepka felt the need to hilariously apologize to Rodgers for his role in all the trolling. That drew this response from the reigning NFL MVP:
Rodgers then shared an awesome “Star Wars” mash-up that someone made supporting him and DeChambeau.
Koepka isn’t involved in “The Match” and was just trying to make light of the situation, but that didn’t stop DeChambeau from taunting him in a separate tweet.
All of those involved (and even some who aren’t) are certainly doing a great job promoting the event. July 6 can’t come soon enough.
It’s been six years since Rajon Rondo’s tumultuous tenure with the Dallas Mavericks, but apparently even after all this time it’s paying some dividends for Rondo.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle admitted that the Mavericks are running fewer plays on offense in part because Rondo still remembers a bunch of them and has been calling them out to his Los Angeles Clippers teammates.
The irony of this is that Rondo, who frequently clashed with Carlisle and was essentially benched during his lone playoff run with Dallas, did little to help the team’s offense. He never quite fit the system, but evidently he picked things up enough to know it even now.
Rondo’s knowledge hasn’t done a ton to help the Clippers. The team finds itself in a 2-0 hole after a pair of home losses. The Clippers probably wish Rondo had some insider knowledge on how to slow down Luka Doncic, because even this change didn’t help much in Game 2.
There is a growing belief that it is only a matter of time before the Atlanta Falcons trade Julio Jones, and it is starting to sound like the All-Pro wide receiver may find a new home sooner rather than later.
The Falcons have been mulling over several trade offers for Jones, ESPN’s Dianna Russini reports. One of those offers includes a future first-round pick.
Atlanta can save more than $15 million in salary cap space if Jones is traded after June 1. According to Russini, the sense from NFL teams is that Jones could be moved as soon as next week.
It initially seemed like the Falcons wanted to trade Jones because they are in desperate need of salary cap space. However, we learned this week that Jones requested a trade earlier in the offseason. The 32-year-old admitted that on live TV (video here), though it is still unclear if he knew he was on the air.
Several teams reportedly have interest in Jones, so the Falcons obviously want to create a bidding war. Jones is said to have two teams at the top of his wish list, though he does not have a no-trade clause.
Jones had 51 catches for 771 yards and three touchdowns in nine games last season. It was the first time he did not surpass the 1,000-yard receiving mark since 2013, when he appeared in just five games.
Photo: Lisa Ferdinando/U.S. Secretary of Defense via CC-BY 2.0
Chicago Cubs shortstop Javier Baez showed us a perfect example on Thursday of why you should never give up on a play.
Baez was batting with two outs in the top of the third inning of his team’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He hit what appeared to be a routine ground ball to third, but it turned out to be anything but. Erik Gonzalez’s throw to first base was slightly off target and forced Will Craig off the bag. Knowing that Craig had to apply the tag, Baez stopped and began running in the other direction.
What followed was pandemonium. Baez got himself caught in a rundown long enough for a run to score. He then advanced to second on a throwing error. You can see it all unfold below:
The heads-up play actually led to two runs, as Ian Happ singled in the next at-bat and drove Baez home.
While the play was obviously embarrassing for Pittsburgh, it was made possible by Baez refusing to become an easy out. Nobody is more of a wizard with tag plays, as we saw with this insane no-look tag from Baez two years ago. Who knew he was also an expert at avoiding them?
The NBA has issued a statement in response to multiple incidents on Wednesday night in which fan behavior appeared to cross the line.
In a statement on Thursday, the NBA said it will begin enforcing an “enhanced code of conduct” during the playoffs now that fans are back in arenas.
The statement came not long after the Philadelphia 76ers announced they have identified the fan who dumped popcorn on Russell Westbrook’s head during the team’s game against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night. That fan had his season tickets revoked and has been banned from the Wells Fargo Center indefinitely.
Another incident occurred at Madison Square Garden during the New York Knicks’ game against the Atlanta Hawks. A fan appeared to spit at Trae Young as the Hawks star was getting ready to inbound the ball (video here). Knicks fans also taunted Young with vulgar chants during Game 1, though he seemed to feed off of that.
Fans obviously have a lot of pent up excitement from not being able to attend games during the pandemic. The NBA is determined to make sure they expel that energy in an appropriate manner.
New York Knicks fans went to great lengths to taunt Trae Young during Game 2 of the team’s playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night. One fan may have taken things too far, and Young has issued a response.
Young was getting set to inbound the ball during the fourth quarter when a fan at Madison Square Garden appeared to spit at him. A video showed what looked like spit flying toward Young’s arm. The act startled a fan who was sitting in a courtside seat.
Young was too focused on the game to notice, but he responded with a tweet on Thursday.
The Hawks star is right. If a fan did spit at him, that is extremely childish.
Knicks fans received sheets of paper before Game 2 instructing them how to taunt Young. They also showered him in F-word chants during Game 1, and Young seemed to feed off of it (video here). Spitting obviously crosses the line.
A Philadelphia 76ers fan dumped popcorn on Russell Westbrook’s head on Wednesday night, and that fan was identified and punished accordingly. The same could, and should, happen if a Knicks fan spit at Young.
