Rocco, Rocco, Rocco . . .

Sports by the Numbers Stat of the Week

1 The number of U.S. Open titles (1) it takes to make your childhood dreams come true. Sorry Rocco, I shook your hand once and for the brief moment we spoke you were genuine and sincere – and it would have been sweet to see you realize your lifelong dream – but I think we all know that you will never again have an opportunity like you did this year.

Honorable Mentions

3 It takes only one national championship to make a golfer immortal – but Tiger now has (3) U.S. Open titles, and he joins Jack Nicklaus as the only golfer in history to win all four professional majors at least three times each.

7 Tiger has now won (7) tournaments at Torrey Pines. No other player in history has won seven tournaments on the same golf course – and with Tiger winning both the Buick Invitational and the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines this year, he becomes the first player in history to win two titles on the same course during the same season.

14 Tiger now owns (14) major titles – second only to Nicklaus.

54 Tiger has never lost a (54) hole lead in a major championship – and he is 44-3 overall when he owns at least a share of the lead heading into Sunday.

65 Tiger now owns (65) PGA Tour titles – the third highest total in history behind Nicklaus and Sam Snead.

500 Tiger has now been the world #1 for (500) weeks – unbelievable.

Commentary

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By David Horne, Sports by the Numbers co-author

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Mike Greenberg, of Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio, wrote in a recent issue of ESPN The Magazine that, “Not even Woods can come off this kind of layoff [after knee surgery] to show up on a U.S. Open course and beat the world’s best players. If you’re offering me Tiger or the field, I’m eagerly taking the field.”

It must suck to put ink to that kind of prediction. I was watching Monday’s playoff on a big screen TV above the bar at Outback, and when Tiger won I overheard someone say, “I swear that guy made a deal with the devil.”

He might have – but if he did, I think it was Tiger who was giving out terms. I think everyone in the restaurant was pulling for Rocco, but I also think we all knew in our hearts that in the end it would be Mike Golic, the other half of the Mike & Mike show, who got it right.

He wrote in the same article, “You can eagerly take the field – I’ll eagerly take Tiger.”

It is always a crapshoot when you start making predictions about success in sports – and even the best prognosticators often get it wrong.

In the same issue of ESPN The Magazine previously mentioned, Stuart Scott predicted that, “Big Brown will win the Triple Crown.”

That didn’t work out so well.

I guess if you make enough predictions then you are bound to get some right – the trick is to make some tough calls that others think “no way is that going to happen,” and then it happens.

I don’t think Mike Golic picking Tiger to win the Open qualifies here – after all, I started Tiger on my Yahoo! Fantasy Golf team, so technically I picked him too.

I’m willing to give it a shot though – here are some easy calls, and some dicey ones, from the world of sports:

1. The only thing that will keep Tiger from winning another major title this year is if he doesn’t play.
2. Rocco will have more sleepless nights than the Yankees after the 2004 ALCS – I don’t care how much fun he says it was.
3. Dale Jr. got a win this past weekend – and he is my pick to win in Daytona next month.
4. The New York Giants will not repeat as Super Bowl champs – and Eli Manning will never win another Super Bowl.
5. Coco Crisp will get drilled again by Tampa – I hope it happens on June 30, because I have tickets for that night, right behind the Rays dugout.
6. No baseball this October in the Big Apple – the Yankees and the Mets are going to the playoffs only if they buy tickets like the rest of us.
7. No baseball this October in Florida – for the Marlins or the Rays.
8. Chipper Jones is not going to bat .400 – but he will win his first career batting title, assuming he stays healthy and gets enough at bats to qualify.
9. The American League will win the All-Star game . . . again.
10. Roger Clemens’ career is over.
11. Barry Bonds’ career is over.
12. MLB 2008 playoff teams: Boston, Anaheim, Chicago White Sox, and Cleveland; Philadelphia, Chicago Cubs, Arizona, and Atlanta.
13. The Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox will face each other in the 2008 World Series – and the Cubs will lose.
14. The Sooners will win the Big 12 in 2008, and finally win another BCS bowl.
15. The Gators will win the SEC in 2008, and the Sugar Bowl.

Got some of your own? Let me know.