I have relatively little NEW news to post this morning, just a few items that I thought interesting and a few comments on such items. Since it is the first Sunday of the first full week in April, we will begin with the Augusta National.
You will see a Clemson alum on the course Sunday, as defending US Open champ Lucas Glover made the cut, but is stuck in the pack with an up and down performance this week at Augusta. Current Clemson golfer Ben Martin missed the cut after a tough week in his first Augusta appearance. Personally, I was excited by Phil's back to back eagles yesterday and will be witching to see if Lefty can win at Augusta for the third time. He has the experience and certainly has the game to go out and win this thing.
There is no doubt, however, that my house is strongly hoping to see Champions Tour representative Fred Couples make a magical Sunday run to see Boom Boom try on that Green Jacket another time. What has really shocked me this week was seeing Ernie Els struggle (relatively) all week. Els has been on top of his game so far this year, and I really expected a little more out of the South Africa native who has dominated Tour play to this point.
Bach to the Tigers. Clemson was able to fight back to take the 2nd game of the Duke series in extra frames yesterday and will attempt to take the series this afternoon. I for one have been surprised by this series. I was a little skeptical of Dr. B's analysis of this team until this series, but Duke is definitely a team that plays tough and leaves itself in a position to win each and every game. This proves a few things: A) Don't doubt the doctor and B) Beware of the Devils, as they are better and more dangerous than their record indicates. Clemson will be fortunate if it can take the series today as Duke had numerous chances to knock the Tigers out yesterday.
I was not able to make it to the Spring game yesterday, but Dr. B confirmed quite a few items yesterday. First and foremost, the Spring game is really not a game at all, more of a glorified practice and probably a waste of time (from a coaching standpoint). The 2010 version was apparently a bit of a cluster****, and you really should not take anything meaningful from the scores/stats. We basically got what we expected. A stout defense, good play out of the running backs, and a lot of questions offensively. I am really encouraged to hear the positives out of Dwayne Allen. Clemson's '10 passing game will surely run through him if we are to be successful. Imagine if we did not have to waste Michael Palmer's redshirt a few years ago and were fortunate enough to have both of those guys on this team. The biggest concern (barring Kyle Parker leaving this summer) will be the offensive line. I am crossing my fingers but preparing for the worst given Brad Scott's track record here with the Tigers.
Over the next few weeks, we should be shifting into more of a baseball mode and building ideas and stories for downtime and keying mostly on football related items. You may see a meltdown or two depending on TDP's actions/inactions over the next week and will more than likely see us getting more and more in depth with the personnel, from top to bottom, as we assess the successes and shortcomings we have seen and expect to see as we move forward.