We find out this morning who the 4 captain's picks will be for the US Ryder Cup team. Tiger Woods will be one of the choices. I don't see how captain Corey Pavin can leave Woods off the team despite his struggles. He is still the Number 1 player in the world and I'm sure the TV people are putting alot of pressure on the golf folks to make sure Woods makes the trip over the pond. The bigger question is what will Pavin do if Woods doesnt play well in the opening matches? Will he have the balls to sit him down in favor of someone who is playing better? Woods doesnt have a stellar Ryder Cup record but has played well in the past when teamed with Steve Stricker. I say you put Woods in all the matches(just not paired with Phil) and let the chips fall where they may. The 38th Ryder Cup begins October 1st in Newport, Wales. The players who are already on the team by virtue of their play this year include Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan, Jeff Overton, Stricker, and Bubba Watson. Johnson, Kuchar, Overton and Watson are making their first Ryder Cup appearances and could be joined by some of the captain's picks. They will find that the Ryder Cup...especially played in Europe is nothing like the clambakes they are used to every weekend.

It appears that Packer GM Ted Thompson isnt too concerned about the Packer special teams. He says they will be able to find someone on the roster to return kicks & punts. They said the same thing last year and struggled to find that person when Will Blackmon was injured. Blackmon is gone...so it seems that Jordy Nelson or Brandon Jackson, both of whom struggle with the jobs, are in line to to take another crack at it. Charles Woodson has done it but he is so important to the defense there is no way it can be justified putting him back there to get creamed on a weekly basis. It seems to me that this cavalier attitude about such an important part of the game is not the way a Super Bowl contending team should be handling this. Protecting the ball in the return game is too important to just use anybody back there.

It doesnt have the cache of the Cold War matchups, but Team USA will face Russia on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the World Basketball Championships. The Americans routed Angola on Monday 121-66 while the Russians were pounding New Zealand 78-56.

Songs of The Day  (from my I-pod) Unfortunatly both of today's tunes could have come from the Tiger Woods playlist.

Give It To Me-J. Geils Band (1973) an early hit for the bluesy band out of Boston. Ex DJ Peter Wolf did the singing while Geils played guitar.

Give It To Me Baby-Rick James (1981) liquid funk from the late Canadian lit up the dance floors in the early 80's. Hard to believe he played in a band with Neil Young when both were youngsters in Toronto.