Sean B. Fitzgerald It doesn’t go something like this, it goes exactly like this.

Spring Training is here.

Everyone relax. Last night I saw baseball scores scrolling along the bottom of ESPN. All is right with the world.

Arod booed at Dunedin, Florida for first spring training game, homers
I mean, he homered off a guy who'll be bagging groceries in a couple weeks. But still, it's progress. Plus, he decided to talk to the media after the game, which suprised me. I truly thought he was going to take the Bonds' road after the press conference last week and not answer any steroids questions. The one thing that continues to baffle me is that after the game, he was picked up in a truck by his cousin Yuri Sucart. The same cousin who he accused of convincing him of taking steroids and injecting him with them. There are two ways I can take that piece of information. Either he is sticking it to everyone by saying, "Look, that was part of my past. Yuri and I don't deal with that stuff anymore. He is still my cousin and I am not going to alienate him over some mistakes we've made". Or, he literally does not get it. He needs someone to pick him up and there is nothing odd with having the same cousin who dealt with steroids pick you up after a spring training game. From what we've seen of Arod over the past eight or nine years, I am guessing the latter is correct. There is something off about Rodriguez that is clear to the public but not clear to his public relations' handlers. Up until last week, he had never said or done the right thing. Madonna, opting out during the World Series, flip-flopping over the WBC, his divorce, being awful during the playoffs. I give him credit for coming half clean last week, but if he continues to deal with his cousin, he is going to have to answer some more questions.

Tiger returns to golf yesterday by winning first round in Accenture Match Play
Yes! I can watch golf again. I'm suprised that the golf going public isn't dead from holding their breath for eight months. Look, I enjoy golf. I even play it sometimes. When the weather gets good, my father and I go to the driving ranges or play a nine hole Par 3 golf course on Sundays. It's a lot of fun. But watching the damn sport when Tiger isn't involved is more boring than a leaky faucet. As soon as Tiger went down with that knee injury last summer, I forgot about the sport altogether. Sure, I saw the highlights on ESPN. For instance, I know that Irishman Padraig Harrington won two majors in Tiger's absense. However, I didn't see one of his putts, drives, approach shots, or even him holding up the trophy. In order for golf to truly have a constant television audience, more players need to reach Tiger's level of skill. Or he at least needs to have a worthy advisary. And you're not allowed to say that Phil Mickelson is one. Once a year he destroys the field, hitting every fifty-foot putt and stays on the fairway the entire tournament. But the other 361 days of the year, he's hacking away with a putter in the brush. There are a few young players who seem to be on the verge of being competitive with Woods, but until then, golf won't matter without Tiger.