Wednesday, September 23, 2009

FedEx Cup championship scenarios

How all 30 golfers competing in the Tour Championship can claim the FedEx Cup
S.greenwood / Getty Images
Under the new points system in place for the FedEx Cup this season, all 30 players in this week's season-ending Tour Championship (on NBC, Sat. and Sun.) have a chance to win the FedEx Cup title.

Any of the top five players in the points standings — Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson and Heath Slocum — control their own destiny and can claim the FedEx Cup title with a win in the Tour Championship.

The remaining 25 players can still win the FedEx Cup crown, but they'll need to win the Tour Championship, plus get help from the players at the top of points standings. Sixth-place Padraig Harrington also can win the FedEx Cup title without winning this week, but he can finish no lower than second in order to claim the crown.

Below are the scenarios for all 30 golfers and how they can claim the FedEx Cup championship this week. They are listed in order of their current FedEx Cup reset point totals (players were given new point totals after the BMW Championship.)

Favre calls injury report fine "very unfair," opens Packers to possible scrutiny

Last week, the league office conveniently announced that a total of $125,000 in fines had been imposed on the Jets for failing to disclose the fact that quarterback Brett Favre had a partially torn biceps tendon in the late stages of the 2008 season after Favre's weekly Wednesday press availability had ended.

So he wasn't asked about it last Wednesday, and he wasn't asked about it after Sunday's 27-13 win at Detroit.

But Favre finally was asked about the situation today.

"I think it's very unfair. I just think it's wrong," Favre said. "They did everything that I felt like they were supposed to. I practiced like half a day on the Wednesday after we knew that I had a torn biceps. The only reason I brought that up was I wanted to address to them that I felt like maybe there were some throws, or I could have played better and because of this injury. . . . I just wanted to let them know that. I never asked them to put me on the injury report."

There are a couple of problems with his logic. First, if Favre practiced "like half a day" on the Wednesday after they knew of the injury, he should have been listed on the injury report as being a limited participant in practice for that day. But he wasn't.

Second, it's not up to the player to ask to be put on the injury report. Rarely if ever would a player want to have an injured area of his body highlighted for the opposing defense's benefit.

Sure, some players might appreciate having a known excuse for poor play. But when the player can cite the injury ad nauseum after the fact (as Favre did in this case), there's no need to mention the injury on the injury report in order to later use the injury as a crutch. (This year, however, Favre has opted to pre-excuse potential poor play, citing in advance of the season injuries like a partially torn rotator cuff, cracked ribs, and sore ankles.)

In making his case for the unfairness of the fine imposed on the Jets, Favre also might have pulled his other former team, the Packers, into the crosshairs of the league office.

"I can't tell you how many times I probably should have been on the injury report and was not," Favre said.

Oops.

Favre also said that, before the fines were announced, he apologized to Jets G.M. Mike Tannenbaum and former Jets coach Eric Mangini for getting them in trouble.

"I've talked with Mike and just spoke briefly with Eric when we played those guys but [the fine] hadn't come out yet. Just expressed that I was sorry that it led to that. It meant nothing. But I think it was unfair the way they were treated."

In a roundabout way, Favre has a point. When it comes to cheating on the injury report, plenty of teams do it. The problem here is that, in his endless quest to explain away last year's collapse down the stretch by pointing to an injury that otherwise had been hidden, Favre said too much about the fact that he was injured, and that forced the league to take action.

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    Malaysia PM Sets Big Reforms to Boost Investment

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    Myanmar Court Upholds Bans on Suu Kyi Witnesses

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General Motors Close to Opel Deal with RHJ


General Motors Close to Opel Deal with RHJ General Motors Corp (GMGMQ.PK) is close to a deal with Belgium-based RHJ International (RHJI.BR) to sell a stake in Opel, and a memorandum could be signed within days, the Financial Times reported citing a person close to the sale process.