Saturday Morning Scramble Time

10am.  Golf game of some sort...

Bits and Pieces for a Friday

-Photo: the bulk of yesterday's golfers - a group of four from Jasper.

-Michelle Wie w/d's from the LPGA Tour Championship with a sprained ankle. Probably a very smart move on her part after she lost 2007 with her wrist injury. She was three under through 12 holes and went three over the next six holes - actually a bogey on 13 and then a double on 17 where her ankle gave way on her off the tee. Her ankle injury happened during the Solheim Cup - that's a pretty long time for a sprained ankle to be healing.

-Girls' basketball at the Lion House tonight: Shoals vs Loogootee. The Loogootee Tribune had a big article on the girls this week with much emphasis on the smallness of the squad (nine players, four of whom were seniors). In a separate article with a different author, the Barr-Reeve girls team was being heralded as one of the elite teams this season with the likes

-In women's basketball, the Notre Damers (Dames?) sneaked past the Spartans of MSU on the heroics of 5'9" Ashley Barlow, 68-67. Barlow snatched a rebound out of the hands of 6'9" Spartan Alyssa DeHaan off of a missed free throw, got fouled and made one of two of her own free throws in the closing seconds of the game up in East Lansing.

-Headline: Georgia's mascot Uga VII dies. Hmm.

-And as long as we're on college football: the betting odds on who will be the ND coach for next season's first game here. (via South Bend Tribune's twitter bag.) Meyer, Kelly and Harbaugh are the early favorites. Eric told me Harbaugh, a Michigan alum, might also be a prime contender for the Wolverine coaching job.

-Golf date with the boys (Lents, Butcher, Hudson) later this morning. All of us should be fresh after several days of non golf activity.

Bits and Pieces for a Thursday Morning

-Michelle Wie glamour shots here.  Definitely a nice way to start the morning.  Note to the Wie Lass: ditch the baseball cap.  Expect she's tried different covers and maybe the baseball cap is the best for her.  More glamour photos here.

-Girls basketball tomorrow night in Loogootee: Shoals, with Danielle Turpin, is the competition.  Btw, the Vincennes Rivet girls play both Shoals and Loogootee over here this year.  They have the Meeks girl all recovered and playing and should steamroll themselves to the state title come next February.  Will be a treat to see them at Shoals and Loogootee during the winter months.

-Question: did you get your fill of articles and comments about the Colts-Patriots Sunday night game?  How about the Michelle Wie first LPGA victory?  I did - kinda reminds me of a Thanksgiving dinner where you sit there and stuff yourself silly.

-LPGA schedule for next year has been made public.  Only 24 events, none in Japan or South Korea - with all the South Koreans on the tour - make that all the super South Koreans on the tour, how about a couple of events in that country?  They do play in Toledo, Ohio, and Springfield, Illinois, though.  Might be worth a car ride.  Here's much more from Mostly Harmless about the 2010 schedule. 

-Gonna go open up - ten o'clock tee times this morning. A little cool but, what the heck, it's not raining and it is golf - more opportunities for that elusive next hole-in-one, or to shoot your age, or maybe just trade quarters with your buddies.

Lakeview Ace Golfer Photo

Did you miss this portrait of one of Lakeview's ace golfers?  I posted it over at my new photo blog, birdman photos.

Bits and Pieces for a Tuesday

Photo: Perry Yoder strikes a putt on #9 last Saturday as his son watches.

-More on Michelle Wie from the NY Times. She just had a birthday and is now undefeated as a twenty year old. No victories as a teenager but still a pretty impressive list of accomplishments.

-Eric filled me in on the statistical sagacity of Belichick's Sunday night decision to go for it. Of course, statistics don't tell the whole story and to my way of thinking are just one tool of many used by decision makers. However, keeping the ball in the hands of his best players, like Brady and Moss, makes a whole lot of sense to me. Also like people suggesting that he expressed supreme confidence in his young defense by going for it, thinking that they would certainly be able to stop Manning, etc, if the offense failed. More good reading from the NY Times online here.

-How about Bob Stoops of Oklahoma as the next Irish coach. The bleacher report says yes here and also says to cross out Jon Gruden as a candidate here. I kinda liked the idea of Jon Gruden being the coach but Bob Stoops will do. Doesn't really matter to me as long as they win or get out of the big football go round. Ivy League would be just fine.

-Had some golfers yesterday - didn't turn cool and rainy till right around five in the afternoon. Today's another matter entirely. Could hope for a break and sneak some in but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Bits and Pieces for a Monday Morning

-Hope you didn't toddle off to bed last night and miss the super comeback by the still undefeated Colts.  Great 4th quarter for Manning and his boys aided by a single bonehead decision (more here about that from the Indy Star) by the coach of the Pats - you remember, going for it on fourth and two at their own 28 right at the two minute mark.  Not that a punt wouldn't have resulted in a similar march down the field and the winning touchdown.

-Still feeling real good about Michelle Wie's win yesterday.  Here Jason Sobel at espn.com chides the naysayers. 

-Haven't seen any comments or articles (well, here's one from the South Bend Tribune that conjectures...) on who the new Irish coach is going to be, that is, since Saturday's loss in Pittsburgh.  Expect that will change here directly what with the weekend over and the pundits returning to their jobs on a Monday morning.  Of course, Weiss hasn't been fired yet.  Any projections on the remaining games against UCON and Stanford?

-Gotta go open the golf course.  No rain yet.  Mid 50's.  Monday morning.  Great time to head out to the golf course.

The Wie Lass Wins!

Michelle Wie got her first win as a pro with a sterling effort down at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico.  She finished with a birdie on the 72nd hole to wind up with a score of 13 under and a two stroke victory over her closest competitor, Paula Creamer.  How sweet it is.  Hope she gets many more and continues her pursuit to go up against the best in the world, whatever their gender.