Koelble’s Kernels

Well, I’ll put my two cents worth in on Nick Adenhart hitting the big leagues with the Los Angeles Angels.
We all know by now he had a terrible debut, lasting just into the third inning.
I just can’t imagine what might go through the stomach of a 21-year-old, who became the youngest pitcher to toe the rubber this season. Regardless of any postgame comments, Adenhart had to be nervous.
I was glad the ESPN baseball crew, specifically Buster Olney, recognized his potential and wrote off the debut to nervousness. Nick didn’t seem to find his release point at delivery and that’s probably been reason for so many walks in recent outings.
Adenhart is scheduled to make his second start in Kansas City Tuesday (May 6) against the Royals.
I didn’t see Adenhart play high school sports when he was first at St. Maria Goretti.
My first year in the area, I covered the Williamsport-Clear Spring basketball game on Dec. 11, 2002, and Adenhart poured in 22 points to single-handedly lead Williamsport to a 41-37 win.
I was enlightened about his baseball prowess and covered a few games he either pitched, or played the field, while at Williamsport. One specifically I remember was on May 4, 2004 when Williamsport played at Brunswick.There was a huge amount of major league scouts in the seats that day — I mean no less than 12 to 15 roaming around with their radar guns.
He had an opportunity to return to the home area this past winter and was at a basketball tournament at Williamsport. I had a chance to talk with him as we were leaving the building at the same time. He was confident heading into the new season, said his arm felt great and seemed really happy.
Hope he’s just as happy Tuesday night with a win!

I remembers the old era of golf when an entire season might consist of 1 million bucs being won.
Take a look athe following money figures, especially for the PGA, thru this past weekend, and these are just the leaders:

PGA Tour FedExCup Leaders
By The Associated Press
Through May 4
Rank Name Points YTD Money
1. Tiger Woods 17,745 $4,425,000
2. Phil Mickelson 10,571 $2,614,270
3. Stewart Cink 9,174 $2,284,712
4. Anthony Kim 8,687 $2,062,360
5. Vijay Singh 8,652 $2,182,017
6. Geoff Ogilvy 8,442 $2,213,960
7. K.J. Choi 7,876 $1,801,432
8. Boo Weekley 7,809 $1,784,780
9. Justin Leonard 7,163 $1,786,402
10. Adam Scott 6,786 $1,719,644
11. Steve Stricker 6,677 $1,518,039
12. J.B. Holmes 6,560 $1,625,795
13. Sean O’Hair 6,476 $1,430,500
14. Bart Bryant 6,072 $1,425,642
15. Jim Furyk 6,037 $1,509,580
16. Ryuji Imada 5,931 $1,322,647
17. Andres Romero 5,877 $1,523,528
18. D.J. Trahan 5,462 $1,169,617
19. Trevor Immelman 5,432 $1,518,676
20. Robert Allenby 5,255 $1,251,171
21. Daniel Chopra 5,224 $1,311,724
22. Johnson Wagner 4,996 $1,131,969
23. Luke Donald 4,968 $1,188,200
24. Rory Sabbatini 4,942 $1,103,600
25. Steve Lowery 4,884 $1,164,856
26. Aaron Baddeley 4,739 $1,053,515
27. Ernie Els 4,636 $1,066,000
28. Stuart Appleby 4,476 $1,067,235
29. Chad Campbell 4,475 $1,020,886
30. Brandt Snedeker 4,465 $1,146,594
31. Jeff Quinney 4,287 $1,039,764
32. Padraig Harrington 4,287 $1,105,897
33. Steve Marino 3,920 $940,711
34. Dudley Hart 3,875 $951,449
35. Nicholas Thompson 3,835 $925,080
36. Brian Gay 3,780 $1,001,353
37. Ryan Moore 3,729 $905,696
38. John Senden 3,695 $838,443
39. Kevin Sutherland 3,644 $847,834
40. Peter Lonard 3,573 $891,466
41. Steve Elkington 3,469 $782,290
42. Cliff Kresge 3,456 $810,557
43. Stephen Ames 3,337 $796,765
44. Jerry Kelly 3,329 $804,673
45. Woody Austin 3,293 $853,181
46. Pat Perez 3,238 $769,305
47. Hunter Mahan 3,223 $820,766
48. Ben Curtis 3,205 $816,680
49. Jason Bohn 3,199 $768,893
50. Nathan Green 3,170 $705,584
51. Billy Mayfair 3,022 $669,391
52. Retief Goosen 3,017 $812,420
53. John Merrick 3,001 $740,053
54. Carl Pettersson 2,946 $695,163
55. Troy Matteson 2,910 $620,761
56. Fred Couples 2,869 $655,327
57. John Mallinger 2,867 $665,166
58. Briny Baird 2,783 $696,998
59. Mark Calcavecchia 2,767 $673,428
60. Tim Wilkinson 2,748 $680,859
61. Kenny Perry 2,748 $599,813
62. Kevin Na 2,736 $619,880
63. Tom Pernice, Jr. 2,708 $607,404
64. Mathew Goggin 2,686 $614,264
65. Ben Crane 2,677 $602,146
66. Charles Howell III 2,657 $664,101
67. Charley Hoffman 2,620 $608,013
68. George McNeill 2,567 $592,428
69. Greg Kraft 2,524 $701,379
70. Mike Weir 2,480 $654,953
71. Nick Watney 2,472 $609,688
72. Steve Flesch 2,468 $634,267
73. Rod Pampling 2,460 $559,739
74. Matt Kuchar 2,448 $597,265
75. Jonathan Byrd 2,274 $556,959
76. Charlie Wi 2,180 $520,812
77. Matt Jones 2,170 $479,534
78. Heath Slocum 2,165 $537,405
79. Charles Warren 2,145 $509,942
80. Dustin Johnson 2,121 $473,278
81. Corey Pavin 2,086 $500,057
82. Zach Johnson 2,065 $501,778

Champions Tour Money Leaders
Through May 4
Trn Money
1. Bernhard Langer 9 $964,861
2. Scott Hoch 10 $920,452
3. Jay Haas 9 $727,530
4. Denis Watson 11 $690,181
5. Tom Watson 5 $666,500
6. John Cook 11 $590,714
7. Mark Wiebe 11 $585,873
8. Fred Funk 8 $568,683
9. Loren Roberts 10 $553,904
10. Brad Bryant 10 $548,343

LPGA Money Leaders
Through May 4
Trn Money
1. Lorena Ochoa 7 $1,503,269
2. Annika Sorenstam 7 $914,281
3. Paula Creamer 8 $828,150
4. Yani Tseng 7 $445,333
5. Suzann Pettersen 7 $390,343
6. Jeong Jang 9 $348,407
7. Angela Stanford 9 $325,571
8. Jee Young Lee 9 $257,250
9. Seon Hwa Lee 9 $248,219
10. Laura Diaz 9 $244,995

Well, by now at this time of year I’ve got several rounds of golf under my belt and just getting ready for the haul over the spring and summer. But not this year.
I got some rounds in during early April but I’m on the disabled list right now — probably until the latter part of May before I get the OK from the doctor to start “rehabbing” the wonderful game I possess.
And since I’m suppose to be spending most of my non-working time off my feet while I’m home, that means I’ve got more TV time than I can ever remember.
I’m getting a chance to see plenty of syndication such as ‘Home Improvement’ and ‘Two and a Half Men’ and plenty of sports.
Today (Tuesday) I even spent the afternoon tuning into the European second-leg match between Manchester United and Barcelona, which Manchester won 1-0.
I remember back in my early newspaper days in Mansfield, Ohio, our Sunday Editor was a native Englishman and he made me fully aware of European football.
With a trip to the European championship on the line, Manchester scored in the 14th minute and the place at Old Stafford absolutely erupted. It was great that it was being shown on ESPN live. As much as I hate 1-0, 2-0-type soccer games, this one had all the chills and thrills.
I’m guessing I might tune in Wednesday for the Chelsea-Liverpool match, the winner getting Manchester United on May 21 in Moscow. In the 52-year history it will be the first time that it will be an all-English final.

Maybe there are many new coaches on the Little League scene this year, I don’t know …… but many moons ago when I played we always wanted to see the results in the newspaper the next day.

Today (Sunday) we’ve had many emails with coaches reporting scores from games played at various times Saturday and some even from Friday. I know the Saturday games aren’t being played at West Coast time.

Many phone calls come into our offices, some of them people asking ‘why aren’t our scores in the paper?’ and the answer to that is usually: IT WASN’T CALLED IN TODAY, OR, IT WAS TOO LATE FOR THE EDITION.

Coaches, don’t wait. Get the information together, get it called in at the absolute latest by 10 pm weeknights and by 9:30 pm on Saturday. The earlier the better. If you have to do so, train someone to be in charge of your calls and coordinate the call-in with your opposing team and make sure the information is accurate.

Don’t wait until Sunday — unless you’ve actually played on Sunday ……

If you read Tiger Woods’ website regularly, you know he pretty much proclaimed 2008 as the year of winning the Grand Slam of Golf pretty much in his reach.

If you listened to interviews on Thursday and Friday following his rounds, he made sure everyone knew he didn’t have the feel of being a The Masters, saying it felt more like a U.S. Open.

Dare I say I think Woods played like he didn’t know where he, or his game was for the better part of the weekend. Only his 68 on Saturday kept him in contention, and on Sunday, except for his name, his physical part of playing the game really was not a factor either.

He had his chances, he failed to take advantage of others making one collapse after another — all except for Trevor Immelman. In short, he had the least amount of damage among the rest of the leaders and walked away with the Green Jacket.

Woods should have shot better than his 68 on Saturday — it could well have been a 5, or even a 64. He’s won 13 majors, but yet he still has not won a major when he has trailed after 54 rounds.

There will be claims that the media put too much pressure on Woods to win The Masters and begin the quest for The Grand Slam. Whoa! I believe Tiger, himself, said it was attainable and I think he’s the one that applied the pressure. And he looked tired by the time he finished Sunday.

I really felt bad for Brandt Snedeker and his fall from contention. I hope it doesn’t have a major affect on him for long. I think he captured some fans along the way.

And, we’ll be innundated with news of how Tiger Woods got himself back into contention on Saturday with his 4-under 68. That will be the main story — count on it.
As I’ve said before, I like Tiger. The national media had him winning the Masters and on his way to the Grand Slam even before the tournament began. Granted, there’s one more big, big day to go Sunday, and anything can happen, espeically on Sunday’s back nine at Augusta when the sweat really starts.
However, I hope the first three rounds for players such as Trevor Immelman, Brandt Snedeker and Paul Casey don’t get wasted on Sunday.
Immelman is the only player in the field with three sub-70 rounds.
Here are two foods for thought on Woods entering Sunday, five shots behind Immelman:
1) If Woods rallies to win, it will be the second-greatest 36-hole comeback in terms of strokes — Jackie Burke was 8 behind when he won in 1956;
2) Woods has won 13 majors, but he has never won any of them when trailing after 54 holes.

I have to believe the 9 out of 10 filling out their brackets when the NCAA tournament began did NOT have Memphis winning the national championship.

Despite an outstounding record that had only a blemish on its slate against Tennessee, Memphis really has not received the attention it is deserving of.

Memphis doesn’t have any All-American darlings like Tyler Hansbrough or Kevin Love that grace the pages of magazines such as Sports Illustrated and have pro teams ready to secure their services and yes, that includes Love, whom I do not see spending much more time at UCLA.

Yet, it is Memphis in a position to become 38-1 tonight with a national championship. That would be a record for victories.

How many people can reel off names of the Memphis stars, yet its starting five?

Chris Douglas-Roberts, Joey Dorsey, Derrick Rose and whoever the others are — they are the main ingredients that have brought barnstorming coach John Caliperi’s squad to the final night of the season.

There probably aren’t many fans, outside of Memphis and those that are alums, cheering for Memphis tonight.

I wouldn’t mind seeing them win. It would bring back the underdog days of 1990 when UNLV won the title and in 1966 when Texas Western (now UTEP) shocked Kentucky and carried away the trophy.

Hagerstown’s Ashley Grier shot an opening round 3-over-par 75 on Friday and tie in 69th place

http://www.duramedfuturestour.com/2008/DaytonaBeach.asp

Well, it’s been a few days since I was last here, so here’s cleaning out some thoughts …..

BOB KNIGHT
Have you enjoyed General Knight’s insights on ESPN during this postseason Madness?
He has had some interesting takes on college basketball, except for his prediction that Pittsburgh would win the national championship.
He has seemingly fit in with Digger Phelps and Hubert Davis, and also with Dick Vitale when he has been on the set.
It’s interesting that ESPN keeps promoting Knight’s appearances in mid-week, probably while he is out hunting, fishing or soaking up the sun.
When it was first announced Knight would be on ESPN, I was somewhat surprised such a medial mogul would hire a guy that so despises the media, showing he opposed us at every given opportunity.
And, I’m guessing he’s gotten all those sweaters free from ESPN, too.

TIGER WOODS
Well, he didn’t win his 7th straight this past weekend, and while I this he’s on the verge of being the greatest golfer ever, I think he still needs to think some before he talks when he doesn’t win a tournament.
After Geoff Oglivy wins the CG Championship, Woods said he “understood Olglivy had some luck making par because he bladed a shot.”
C’mon Tiger, you mean you’ve never had any luck along the way in winning any of your tournaments?

NCAA TOURNAMENT
No doubt, I can join all of you in making the statement “my brackets are busted” after this past weekend.
In one of my brackets at least my final four — UNC, UCLA, Kansas and Stanford — is intact. In the other, I had Pitt making the final four instead of Stanford.
Nonetheless, we’ve all got to be rooting for Davidson. How can you not? But I think they come to an end this weekend — I just don’t see them beating Wisconsin.
IF there is any upset, I think it will be Western Kentucky beating UCLA because the Bruins are banged up.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
In my opinion, I think it is absolutely ridiculous Major League Baseball allows the national pasttime to begin its season in Japan.
If MLB wanted to have a game, or two, it should be at some other point in the season — maybe an extended pre, and post all-star trip.
It’s an American game and should open in America. We’re not going to have any influence on Japanese baseball to the point that it needs to be a worldly game. Japan has its baseball, they’ve sent something like 16 players to MLB, and I think their lifestyle and their game is good for them.
Let’s do it the American way and get back to what used to be the traditional season opener in Cincinnati.

I read an article by Joshua Smith from our neighbors in Frederick County at The News-Post and some of the comments were interesting, especially since they are so true.

Part of the story makes comment to the success of Frederick county basketball teams reaching the state tournament.

Two coaches pointed to “how the sport has become more organized, playing opportunities have increased and talent is spreading across the state. With AAU kids playing all year round, that’s been the equalizer. There are so many kids playing … the kids are playing all the time.”

EVERWHERE EXCEPT WASHINGTON COUNTY BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY RESTRICTIONS ON OUR SCHOOLS.

IT’S TIME TO OPEN THE DOORS DURING THE SUMMER !!