And they call football a game of inches.
After watching the Canadiens eliminate the Capitals by inches, and watching Tiger miss the cut for only his sixth time as a professional, I suspect a closer-than-close finish in the muddy Great Pony Race on Saturday.
First, let’s start with the Caps and their elimination on Wednesday. If Caps winger Mike Knuble had been an inch farther outside of the crease (his placement in front of Canadiens netminder Jaroslav Halak negated a goal), or if Halak’s pads had been a half-inch narrower (come on, those pads look maaaasssiiivve), we might be looking at a different outcome. But such is life. Meanwhile, the playoffs continue and the Bruins and Flyers played a heck of an overtime thriller in the opening game of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. After all, the only thing more thrilling than overtime playoff hockey is a Game 7 of overtime playoff hockey.
The Great Pony Race has a filly and a female trainer. But don’t bring this to their attention because all parties involved—trainers, jockeys, and owners alike—don’t think it’s a big deal. What might be a big deal is that with so many double-digit-to-1 shots in this sloppy and muddy Derby, it’s setting up to be an unpredictable finish, of inches.
Finally, in a true game of inches, Tiger Woods missed the cut for only the sixth time in 241 pro starts, shooting a 79 on Friday at the Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte. This warrants the question: Have off-link distractions caught up with Tiger or did Tiger simply have a bad day? I suspect we will have to wait to see how he fares in his third tournament back to draw any type of conclusion.
