In an age recently characterized by disappointing NFL Pro Bowl‘s, tonight’s game was a huge success for the NFL and it’s tradition of honoring it’s best players.  Following last year’s debacle, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to waste my time tuning into this year’s Pro Bowl.  I had other choices!  I could catch up on a bit of work.  I could tune into some mundane movie that I’ve probably seen before.  But, I’m an NFL fan, and I wanted to see what type of show the NFL would produce.  I was totally prepared to be disappointed,

However, I witnessed tradition, competition and a love for the game.  I won’t declare it the best football game I’ve ever witnessed, but the 2013 NFL Pro Bowl is one to remember.

What made the 2013 NFL Pro Bowl Special?

1.  Commissioner Roger Goodell’s message to Pro Bowl participants. In a recent October comment, Goodell stated publicly that the NFL would consider dropping the Pro Bowl if the level of competition in the game didn’t improve.  Apparently, certain NFL Pro Bowl heeded Goodell’s warning.  And, if you happened to watch last year’s game, you probably understand why.  There were countless plays that looked like practice “walk throughs” an not football.

2. Peyton Manning’s Determination to make the 2013 NFL Pro Bowl a Competitive Game!  According to Mike Florio, Peyton Manning implored the players to provide full effort in order to keep Goodell from canceling the game.  And, the player’s listened.  I’ve never been a huge Peyton Manning fan.  He’s a great field general, but I’ve always thought of him as being a bit over hyped on pure football talent.  However, I have a renewed respect for Peyton.

Why?  Because Peyton Manning, unlike any other recent super star quarterback understands the tradition of the NFL and it’s tribute to it’s all star team.  Manning doesn’t miss a game.  If he’s invited, he participates.  I’ m a huge Green Bay Packer fan.  I could never understand why Brett Favre didn’t play in more Pro Bowls.  And, now Aaron Rogers seems to be following in his footsteps.  Tom Brady and most of the New England Patriots selected to this year’s Pro Bowl failed to show up.

Yeah, there are ton’s of arguments on why top NFL athletes shouldn’t risk injury in an exhibition game, but they are missing the point and passing up an opportunity that only Peyton Manning seems to understand.  And, as I listened to his interviews today, I finally understand why the NFL Pro Bowl is so important.  It enables a player to connect with both past and future of this great game.

There is no doubt that Peyton Manning is a first ballot hall of famer!  He doesn’t need to drag his family to Hawaii and risk injury.  He could be only one hard hit away from total paralysis. Certainly, he can afford to take his family, mine, yours and Eli’s to Hawaii for a little fun.  He is all about preserving NFL tradition and sharing it with younger players.

Nor does he view the NFL Pro Bowl in this negative light.  Manning is all about accentuating the positive, and by doing so, he is strengthening his NFL legacy.  He’s a leader unlike any other ever to play in the NFL.  It’s his leadership in the NFL and let’s call it “his off field” activity that should shape him as the greatest quarterback to ever play the game.

Grant it!  The NCAA needs some enforcement power over college sports!  After all, it wouldn’t be much of a governing body if it didn’t. The NCAA has been using bowl bans since 1953 as a sanctions tool.  To be more explicit, bowl bans have been a means by which the NCAA punishes major college institutions. But, if you think about it, who does it really hurt?

Thanks to Football Geography.com, I can show you the history of NCAA Bowl Bans:

What is the real purpose here?  According to Webster, sanction means: the detriment, loss of reward, or coercive intervention annexed to a violation of a law as a means of enforcing the law.

Wow!  That’s pretty heavy.  But, if you follow major college football, wouldn’t you agree that bowl bans by the NCAA are designed to cause “loss of reward” to a school; and you might agree as well that NCAA bowl bans are a “coercive intervention annexed to a violation of a law as a means of enforcing the law.”

Let’s just take a look at some recent NCAA Bowl Bans: Ohio State and Penn State.  Nah!  Let’s be a bit more specific and concentrate on the Penn State bowl ban.  After all, as the above graphic depicts, this bowl ban extends a bit further into the future.  And, maybe, just maybe, the NCAA will realize what it’s doing to itself and correct it’s mistakes.  If you examine the purpose of these bans and measure it against the mission and purpose of the NCAA, you’ll understand that what I am saying is hurting the NCAA more than these bowl bans are hurting the colleges it imposes these sanctions against.

OK… I did say I would concentrate on Penn State.  But, let me first say this about Ohio State, a team that went undefeated this season.  Urban Meyer drove this team to huge success in 2012. Do you suppose there would be any interest from the college football world to see Ohio State play in some bowl game this season?  The demand would be dramatic, fantastic and could potentially reward the NCAA with tons of money.

I could be wrong, but isn’t the NCAA chartered with the chore of promoting college sports?  And, isn’t it true to promote college sports means having the financial resources to do so?  I’m talking all sports programs, not just football.  If so, why doesn’t the NCAA begin to think a bit smarter about it’s bowl bans?  If it did, it could better promote other college sports programs… at least, I think it would.

It’s all about product.  Why don’t they put their best product in the bowls?  In other words, why do they keep their best products from participating?  I’m watching a game between TCU and Michigan State and it’s totally boring.  As a fan, I would appreciate a much better product.  And, what about these sponsors that are sinking huge dollars into these bowl games?  Aren’t they being cheated?

As a fan, I don’t want to watch mediocrity.  I want the best!  And, Penn State was one of the best stories of the year!  It was simply amazing how Bill O’Brien took a bunch of young college athletes at Penn State, suffering from events they knew nothing about, into a true winner!  It’s a remarkable story!  Chances are that Urban Meyer or Bill O’Brien will be named “coach of the year” for the remarkable jobs they did this year.

Yet, they were both denied participation in a college football bowl… and subject to NCAA bowl bans!  This is completely asinine!

The NCAA needs to realize that it can still punish these teams without hurting themselves!  And, this is just common sense and certainly within the ability of the NCAA to accomplish.  Here is my recommendation:

1. NCAA Bowl Bans:

Kill this!  It doesn’t serve the NCAA’s purpose.  It disallows the NCAA from putting it’s best product on the market.

2. Replace Bowl Bans with these Alternatives:

This is simple.  Let your “banned teams” play in the bowls, just defer the earnings to the NCAA coffers. Deny these teams any championships.  For example, don’t allow Ohio State to play in the Rose Bowl. Should they win, they would be crowned champions.  You can’t deny that it you put them into that position to win. So, simply allow them to compete in some of the minor bowls.

The NCAA know this  better than I.  Major college  teams like Ohio State and Penn State travel very well. In other words, their alumni attend bowls. That puts people in the seats, and that means revenue for the NCAA. I’ve watched numerous bowls where there weren’t more 6-7,000 people in the seats. That’s ridiculous! Bowl bans just don’t make good economic sense!  Let’s get this NCAA policy changed to reflect modern economic realities. The NCAA will be much better for it.

Greg Jennings becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of this football season.

This subject has been bugging me for the past couple of months.  I finally decided to write about it.  It’s now popped up at a critical time of the year for the Green Bay Packers.  It’s a time when team unity is important heading into the playoffs and contract discussions do not need to be talked about publicly.  The Packers secured a playoff position last Sunday when they defeated the Chicago Bears.

Yet, the question gets asked to Greg Jennings and he responds.  Greg appears to be a stand-up guy, but I don’t believe he needs to be as upfront with the media over his contract as he is.  It may be posturing on his behalf, but I think it detracts from team unity. On Wednesday he told reporters that “the writing is on the wall” about his future with the Packers.  Read More on NFL.com: Greg Jennings

Greg Jennings has to realize a couple of things! First and foremost, he’s a creation of the Green Bay Packers and his quarterback, Aaron Rogers.  The probability of his achieving or maintaining the level of success he’s achieved outside of Green Bay is a bit risky!

He’s now gone through two seasons with various injuries and has not been as productive as he once was. He does understand that this is a business, but he needs to understand that “he… Greg Jennings” is a business as well. On the one hand, the Packers can not afford to pay him “top receiver” salary. They need to concentrate on Aaron Roger’s and Clay Matthew’s contracts. And, what’s wrong with the franchise tag? I believe that means he’ll make in the range of $10 million.

Greg Jennings and his Old Spice Commercials

The other side of this equation is this. Jennings is making big money with his TV ads or sponsorship with Old Spice! This is just one his commercials.  On YouTube alone it has over 4.2 million hits!

Apparently, the Packers are allowing him to wear the Green Bay Packer uniform. There is a huge value in the Green Bay Packer brand!  Have you seen Eli Manning’s commercials for Citizen watch? Have you noticed that he’s not wearing the Giant’s uniform! Do you think Old Spice will want Greg Jennings without that uniform? I don’t!!

…some balance is needed here! Greg Jennings wants his family to stay in Green Bay! Another $10 million would certainly secure his financial future in Green Bay… on top of what he already has made in football.  Throw in the Old Spice contract and I think we assume he’s already a wealthy man.  He can pick up and move his family somewhere else. That’s his decision. Or, he can accept a contract that Green Bay can afford… either next year or in the future. Otherwise, I think he’ll lose his Old Spice deal. It’s all about good business and common sense!

Personally, I don’t care one way or the other!  I just find it interesting.  Is Greg Jennings a money grabbing opportunist?  I think that’s going a bit far.  He’s just doing his best to secure as much financial security for his family that he can.  What lies on the other side of his decision is what I’ll be looking at closely.

Johnny Manziel, a.k.a, Johnny Football, led the 15th-ranked Aggies to a 29-24 win against the BCS Standings No. 1 Alabama on their home turf on Saturday.

Now, courting an 8-2 record, Texas A&M should make a significant  jump in the BCS Rankings.  Their two losses were to Florida (20-17) and LSU (24-19), and both games were at home.  But, are they No.1?

A better bet might be Kansas State, or even better the Oregon Ducks.  Or, perhaps the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.  But, let’s not overlook the Ohio State Buckeye’s.  As of this writing, all four of these teams remain undefeated.  If you stick solely with the BCS Standings, you have to omit Ohio State.  In that case, I would go with the explosive Oregon Ducks.

The Ducks have quality wins over Arizona, Washington and USC.  But, they are not my No. 1 selection.  My selection is Ohio State.  The Buckeyes have quality wins over California (currently in a 7-7 tie with Oregon this Saturday night), Michigan State, Nebraska and a much improved Penn State.

I’m not discounting the remarkable undefeated season belonging to the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, but there is something to be said about the “luck of the Irish” this season.

So, what team gets your vote for the Best Team in College Football?

Peyton Manning (Photo credit: Jeffrey Beall)

I had tuned out Monday Night football this evening.  What originally sounded like a great match-up between the Peyton Manning led Denver Broncos and Philip River’s San Diego Chargers quickly feel sour in the first half.  I must admit, I didn’t pay much attention to the game.  I had it on in my office as I caught up on some work.  The score at the end of the first half was 24-0 in favor of the Chargers.  Plus, the Chargers were the home team so the second half wasn’t something I was looking forward to watching.

Peyton Manning orchestrates second half come from behind victory.

I must also admit… I’m not a big Peyton Manning fan.  I attribute this to my own bias.  I’m a huge Brett Favre fan.  Consequently, anything positive toward Peyton Manning or Tom Brady for that matter just seemed to detract from what I believe should be Favre’s legacy.  So, I’ve never been totally objective toward Peyton Manning’s accomplishments.

His performance this evening changed all that.  I believe I just witnessed one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history and Peyton Manning was the leader of this historic event.  I may be right or I might be wrong… check out what NFL.com considers the Greatest Comebacks in NFL History and judge for yourself.

Grant it, Favre is now retired and his records will stand on their own until eventually broken… that’s what records are for… right?  And, Brett will eventually be glorified in Green Bay by having his Number 4 Jersey hanging alongside the other five Packers given that honor.

But, Peyton Manning’s performance this evening out-shined any quarterback performance I’ve ever witnessed.  He just seemed to will his team to victory through his leadership.  This was a week where we witnessed some great performances.  The New York Giants dominated the San Francisco 49ers in San Francisco.  Aaron Rogers and the Green Bay Packers were near perfect in their huge win against the previously undefeated Houston Texans.

Yet, Peyton Manning’s comeback victory this evening was the greatest achievement of them all.  I fall into the camp of believers that think that Manning’s physical performance has diminished.  While he never had the rifle arm of Brett Favre or John Elway and doesn’t throw the perfect spiral of a Tom Brady or Aaron Rogers, he doesn’t need to.  And, perhaps he can’t make the throws he used to, but this is a guy coming back from an injury that has retired a lot of others.  Maybe some of his old physical capabilities will come back, but maybe they won’t.  Personally, I don’t think it really matters; not after what I witnessed tonight in the second half of this game.

Manning just kept throwing it up and “dropping it into the bucket” of his receivers.  He looked like George Patton leading his 3rd Army in WWII.  OK… I’m exaggerating a bit, but it was clear to me that Peyton led his Denver Bronco football team to a huge victory this evening.

In other words, they have lost their competitive advantage!  Armed with the best receiver corp in the NFL, the offense has gone flat. Aaron Rogers, last year’s NFL Most Valuable Player, is consistently bad on his deep balls.  I haven’t counted how many times he’s overthrown a wide open Jordy Nelson this year.  But, I do know that seldom happened in the past.

Here’s the problem!  There are entirely too many commercials with Aaron Rogers, Greg Jennings, B.J. Ragi and Clay Mathews.  When a team, in this case,  the Green Bay Packers goes Hollywood, they totally lose their competitive advantage.  And, I think it’s clear this has happened to the Green Bay Packers.

I find Aaron Roger’s commercials very entertaining:

However, when Hollywood captures a team’s attention it can be devastating.  And, this is what is happening to the Green Bay Packers!  The State Farm “discount double-check” commercials are great for State Farm, Aaron Rogers, B.J Ragi and to a lesser extent Clay Mathews, but they tear at the very fabric of the Green Bay Packer football team.  Just pay attention to the number of times these commercials are shown during an NFL game.  Hollywood has taken over the Green Bay Packers and that is what is killing this team.

And, opposing players just love to “discount double check” the Packers.  This provides additional motivation to any Green Bay Packer opponent.  It’s additional ‘bulletin board’ material that motivates any opponent the Packers face, and this team doesn’t need this.  It works against them.

And, Greg Jennings is totally destroying the team!  He’s in his ‘contract year’ and surely will ask for a ton of money that the Green Bay Packers may or may not be able to afford.  Why should they?  He hasn’t produced anything for the team this year.  But, he’s managed to totally take advantage of his past relationship and productivity with the Packers with his Old Spice Commercials:

Poor Greg!  He’s nursing a groin injury and says that he’d like to wait until its fully healed before playing for the team. Bullshit!  He’s not contributing to the team and why should he?  He’s also featured in an NFL commercial.  Jennings is making big money with his commercials.  He’s gone Hollywood.  Good for him, but very bad for the Green Bay Packers and the team.  It’s becoming obvious that Greg Jennings is not about team.  He’s about Greg Jennings.  The irony will probably be found when he signs with another team next year and losses his Hollywood appeal by not being a Green Bay Packer.

This was a great team… a team that went 15-1 last year before losing their edge and being tossed by New York Giants in the post season.  That edge has been significantly diminished this year because Hollywood has overtaken this team.  Wouldn’t it be better to drop the Hollywood connection and just concentrate on football?

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Hey, profit is important, but the NFL  has taken this to another level.  Given the opportunity to make amends and overturn last night’s Replacement Ref’s egregious mistakes, they turned to the strict interpretation of the rules and refused to directly address the most obvious deficiencies of the NFL Replacement Officials.  Here is a video on the most egregious and final play of the game… compliments of the NFL:

If you watched any news today, you know that the overwhelming public and professional opinion is that the NFL Replacement Officials blew this call on the Inaccurate Reception (Term Coined by ESPN’s Adam Shefter).   The NFL supported the decision made by these NFL Replacement Officials.

I don’t have anything against these officials.  They have a tough job.  And, I’m not going to comment on whether or not the NFL should bring back the more experienced “professionals.”  They too have made mistakes.  It’s a tough job.  However, with that said Monday nights game was an aberration of bad calls. Consequently, it’s the responsibility of the NFL to act as the final arbitrator  in this situation.  And, they failed miserably!

The simultaneous ruling on possession (in the video) was simply the icing on this rotten cake. This was preceded by an offensive pass interference that was totally missed by the NFL Replacement Officials.  The NFL claimed this was a missed call.  That’s it.  The game should have ended on that call.,. according to the official NFL statement.  Sorry Green Bay, your team management, your players and your fans.  We won’t give you this win.

And, we won’t examine any other circumstances and weigh them into this decision.  We don’t care if on your opponents preceding drive that the NFL Replacement officials made two other huge mistakes.  The roughing the passer call which cancelled out your defensive back’s interception was simply a mistake made by our officials.  Too bad!  That could have changed the course of the game and it probably would have.  Sorry they didn’t know that your linebacker made a good tackle when the opponent quarterback was out of the pocket.  Better luck next time!

Oh, and that pass interference call in the same series… it doesn’t matter that everyone in America saw the mauling your opponent’s receiver delivered to your defensive back. Our NFL Replacement Officials saw that as defensive pass interference; not offensive pass interference.  Please understand, football fans don’t know the rules, so our guys can make any ruling they want; because they are our guys.  They are employees of the NFL.  And, we don’t care about what you think you saw on the replay.  We want to provide you a true “game experience” so that you can see exactly what our refs see and rule on. They are the true professionals!  …give me a break!

There were other bad calls made by the NFL Replacement Officials throughout the game.  Some went in favor of Green Bay and some in favor of Seattle.  But, they were relatively balanced… so they didn’t really have an significant impact on the game.  And, there were circumstances when the replacement officials made some darn good calls.  However, in the end, they virtually gave the game to Seattle; and this is just plain wrong!

So, what am I saying?  I believe in justice.  And, as a football fan, I did not see justice in the NFL’s decision to uphold the the Seattle victory.  I saw no flexibility or concern for right or wrong.   If you look at this objectively, you might consider what I’m saying as a viable alternative to the NFL’s decision.  They should have recognized the trend over the final few minutes of the game.  Seattle has no momentum.  Green Bay controlled the game.  If it were not for the four clear mistakes made by their NFL Replacement Officials, Green Bay would have won that game.

I believe that is why folks have such a negative opinion about the NFL these days.  There is no right and wrong.  The replacement officials have a tough job.  But, the NFL is the final arbitrator.  It was their responsibility to do the right thing, and that just did not happen. They showed absolutely no flexibility or wisdom in their ruling.  Too bad!  A little wisdom might have been a great solution.

I’m a huge NFL fan!  But, ending this week when we commemorate the passing of an NFL legend, Steve Sabol, President of NFL Films, the NFL blew a huge one!  I would think Steve Sabol is turning in his grave.  I doubt very much if he ever saw anything like this in his life.  However, his impact and affect on football lives on.  No doubt, NFL Films have recorded this game for posterity.  I witnessed NFL history tonight, and it was extremely disappointing.  This is game that will surely go down in history!  And, it will show the fallibility of the NFL.  So, for the first time in NFL the league has a “black” mark recorded.

This was the game the NFL dredded, at least I hope they did.  The NFL Replacement Officials were finally instrumental in deciding who won or lost a game, based on their inexperience and lack of knowledge on the rules of the game.  It was heading this way, but I never really expected to happen.  Nor, did I ever believe the NFL Replacement Officials could blow a series of calls this way.

As someone put it tonight, Seattle Seahawk quaterback, Russell Wilson, is the first quaterback in NFL history to win a game by throwing an interception.  And, this is not something that will disputed.  It was a clear mistake, and a huge one! Adam Shefter, ESPN has deemed this to history as the Innacurate Reception.

This was the ultimate disaster the NFL could imagine… and it signifantly harms the reputation of the NFL.  This is a billion dollar industry with a reputation that has been built over a long period of time and with considerable effort by many very honorable men!  They built something great!  But, now, the current owners and league leadership are dragging it down!  The NFL is too good for this.

This distracts from the fantastic performance of both teams.  Just in case you don’t know, the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Green Bay Packers 14-12 this evening.  The first half was dominated by the Seahawks defense.  They completely mauled the Packers.  But, in the second half, the Packers starting generating some offense and completely shut down the Seahawk’s offense.  It was a great game!

With the Packers leading 12-7 with only minutes remaining, it looked like their defense would protect that lead.  Then it started.  There was a questionable roughing the passer call.  That was close and the officials ruled on the merit of protecting the quarterback.  It allowed Seattle to maintain control of the ball on this final drive.  However, this was followed by a horrendous bad call by the NFL Replacement Officials.  It occured on a downfield pass to Sidney Rice.  The Packer defender made a nice defensive play, but was called for interference.  This extended the Seahawk drive.  Yet, both these calls will be forgotten in NFL history.

The major blunder by these NFL Replacement Officiasl occured on a last ditch effort by the Seahawks to score with only seconds remaining.  Russell Wilson threw a “hail mary” pass into the left corner of the endzone.  Golden Tait, the Seahawk intended receiver, clearly pushed off a Packer defender… a clear offensive pass interference call.  The game should have ended there, but the call was never made.  With the ball in the air, a Packer safety , M.D. Jennings, jumped and reached over everyone to bring the ball down.  …a clear interception.  That should have ended the game.  Golden Tait managed to reach for the ball, attempting to wrestle it from M.D. Jennings.

Two officials ruled on the play.  One called it a catch and possesion by Golden Tait.  The other ruled it an interception.  The play was reviewed.  If you watched the review, you were probably as surprised as anyone when the NFL Replacement Officials ruled it a touchdown for the Seahawks.  The game commentators and comments following the game by NFL experts all spoke on the NFL  ”possession” rules and that it was clearly an interception.  Clearly, the NFL Replacement Officials did not know or abide by this rule.

This will go do down as one of the most famous plays in NFL history… like the Immaculate Reception and the Music City Miracle.  However, unlike the former, this will be a permanent blemish on NFL history.

According to ESPN analyst, John Clayton… If this was the play the NFL was waiting for for their replacement officials to blow a game, this was the game.  I’m paraphrasing here, but this is extremely close to how Clayton phrased his response.  The NFL has some serious catch-up to do on this one!

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OK, ready?  You might NOT be a NASCAR fan if…….

1. You believe that Boogity, Boogity, Boogity must be the title of a soon-to-be–released Will Ferrell movie.
2. You’re convinced The King is Elvis.
3. You had no idea that NASCAR was actually an acronym…… because you just thought it had something to do with the type of car being driven.
4. You assume a burn-out is something that happens after 25 years at the same job.
5. You think a pit stop is only something your dorky Dad says he needs to make when pulling into the Interstate rest area bathroom.
6. When a white flag is waving, you think someone is trying to surrender.
7. You suppose a provisional is what you reach for on the tee box after you may have sliced your first drive out of bounds.
8. Banking is just what you do at the ATM.
9. You believe drafting is something that’s done with your buddies over wings and beer before fantasy football season starts.
10. You think a firewall is only something that protects your laptop from spam.
11. You seem to recall that plate racing was an act you might have seen on the Letterman Show.
12. The groove is something you had back in your high school days.
13. The only happy hour you’re familiar with occurs with co-workers after 5pm.
14. You presume the pole position is………(I won’t go there!).
15. Roof flaps only describes most of the debris you have to pick-up after a major storm.
16. You figure a sway bar must be where they do line-dancing.
17. Dirty air is only something you see out your window when landing at LAX airport.
18. You had no idea that Jimmie Johnson, the ex-football coach and FOX Sports studio commentator, is also the name of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet driver and 5-time Cup Series Champion who won yesterday’s Brickyard 400.

Well, are you a NASCAR fan or not…..be honest??

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Nothing against the 34-year old Englishman who played his collegiate golf at Northwestern; but in his 12 years as a PGA Tour pro he’s won only five times plus seven European Tour wins, and his best ever major finish has been a T3 (2005 Masters and 2006 PGA Championship).  In his career, he’s also finished second 12 times and third 9 times.  By far, his biggest victory to date was the WGC Match Play Championship…..a 3 & 2 win over Martin Kaymer 17 months ago.  I’ll also concede that Donald (again last year) won BOTH the PGA and European Tour’s money list and Player of the Year, the only player to have ever accomplished that feat.  He does tend to do well in world tournaments with the largest purses, but earnings are NOT included in the ranking system.  Last year, Donald won twice on the PGA Tour and twice on the European but missed the cut in the British Open, with his best major finish a T4 in the Masters.  This season he’s won once so far (Transitions Championship in March with a fairly weak field), T32 in the Masters, and missed the U.S. Open cut.  Does it make any sense for the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world to have missed the U.S. Open cut just 5 weeks ago? 

Basically, the world golf ranking system can be very simply explained as follows.  Any golfer that plays on any of the six professional Tours (PGA, European, Japanese, Australian, Sunshine (South African), and Asian) are eligible for points which are awarded based on finish.  The point values are based on which Tour (PGA Tour is highest), strength of field (based on world golf ranking), and prestige of the particular event (e. g., THE PLAYERS’ Championship at TPC Sawgrass is weighted more than the John Deere Classic).  A major winner (Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, or PGA Championship) earns the most points…….100 points for 1st, 60 points for 2^nd, 40 points for 3^rd, and so on.  Comparatively, Open Championships of Australia, Japan, and South Africa award 32 points for a win.  In cases of co-sanctioned Tour events, the point levels for finish from each Tour are averaged and rounded up to the nearest whole number.  Points are accrued on a two-year rolling cycle.  Points earned over the most recent two-year period are decreased in weight so that a player’s most recent tournament finishes (last 13 weeks) are more heavily weighted in their average point total per tournament, which becomes their ranking.  Rankings are issued every Monday, following the completion of the previous week’s tournaments from around the world. 

The table below indicates the Top 10 Ranked Golfers in the World, which includes points earned from last week’s British Open.  You can go to www.officialworldgolfranking.com for the complete current rankings.

Top Ten World Golf Rankings

(As of July 23, 2012)

Incredibly, a T5 British Open finish kept Luke Donald at the top of the world golf rankings.  Hard to believe, this is the 54^th week (not all consecutive) that he’s held the top spot.  Tiger Woods, with a British T3 and three wins this season barely jumped over 2011 U.S. Open champ Rory McIlroy into the No. 2 slot.  Amazingly, Lee Westwood (now 0 for 58 in the majors) only slipped to 4^th despite a T45 British finish.  2012 major champions Webb Simpson (U.S. Open) and Bubba Watson (Masters) sit at 5^th and 7^th, respectively.  Notice too that even with his heart-breaking 2^nd place finish, Adam Scott jumped from 13^th into 6^th.  I’m sure he’d much rather have his hands around the Claret Jug though.  Not shown in this table…..with his victory at Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s, Ernie Els leaped from 40^th to 15^th. 

All the numerical details of the world golf ranking system have obviously not been laid out here, but it’s still easy to fundamentally grasp how the current system works.  However, TWO aspects have to change. 

1. A one-year (maybe 15-month) rolling cycle should be utilized instead of a two-year cycle.  Two years is just too long of a period of time over which to score performance, and a lot can change suddenly especially when rankings are issued on a weekly basis.  The most recent two months (not 13 weeks) can be weighted more heavily too.

2. Because the major championships are so prestigious and so elusive, points awarded for each finish position in these tournaments should be doubled.  Further, I believe at least some consideration should be given to DEDUCTING points for missing the cut in majors.  Likewise for their prestige, individual Ryder Cup and President’s Cup performance should be rewarded with “bonus” points (perhaps 10 points for each win, 5 points for each tie). 

The last 16 majors have been won by 16 different players, yet six of the current Top Ten players in the world have yet to win one.  There’s my proof for elusiveness!  Interestingly too, there have been 121 players in golf’s history to win only ONE major in their career (and just 15 of these 121 are still active on the PGA Tour….. trying to capture their second major). 

Golf is not like other sports where some of the BEST players don’t always win the Super Bowl or World Series.  In golf, like it or not, the BEST players in history (and today) are judged directly by how they performed in the majors.  The all-time best players in golf are defined by how many major championships they have won.  Luke Donald is a very solid player, unarguably one of the better players currently, but definitely not THE best!  

Let’s please re-visit the World Golf Ranking System.

Related articles

• Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and the Top 9 Golfers Without a Major Victory(bleacherreport.com)

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• Tiger up to second in world rankings(bigpondnews.com)

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