JIM LANG ON SPORTS

• The LA Kings

Barring a miracle comeback by the New York Rangers, the Los Angeles Kings are on the verge of winning their second Stanley Cup Final in the past three years. As someone noted on Twitter this week that would mean that Darryl Sutter will have smiled at least twice in the past three years.

Since 1990 only two Coaches have won multiple Stanley Cups, Scotty Bowman and Joel Quenneville. One more victory by the Kings and Sutter would join that select list of coaches. There are many coaches in the NHL that are slick with the media and fill reporter’s notebooks with great quotes. But few of them have even one Stanley Cup title on their resume, let alone two. Darryl Sutter will leave the witty comments to other people. He’s too busy coaching his ass off and winning.

There is a lot more to the Kings success than just good coaching. At the top of that list is General Manager Dean Lombardi and the job he has done stocking the Kings with depth and talent at every position.

You look at the Kings and it isn’t hard to figure out why they are one of the elite teams in the NHL.
They have a smart GM.

They are well coached.

They have quality goaltending.

They have a perennial all-star on the blueline in Drew Doughty. (He’s only 24 years old!)

They have a nice combination of size and speed up front.  They have a ton of leadership in the dressing room.  Have I forgotten anything? So get used to seeing playoff games at the Staples Center for the next years, because the LA Kings are not going anywhere.  

• The World Cup

Toronto and the surrounding suburbs are home to the most culturally diverse communities in Canada. That cultural diversity is on full display every four years during the World Cup of soccer. There are 32 countries taking part in this year’s World Cup in Brazil and I guarantee you that you can find a sports bar or café dedicated to fans of any one of those places somewhere in the Greater Toronto Area.

Saturday most of Little Italy in Toronto will come to a stand-still as the Azzurri take on England in a much anticipated Group D match-up. Apparently England is already complaining about the steamy weather they will be forced to play in on Saturday.  Imagine that, hot and humid weather in Brazil?  Did these guys not attend Geography class is school?

It is pretty much always hot and humid in Brazil. Besides, the weather is going to be the same for all the teams. So suck it up and instead of complaining, go out there and shock the world.

My wife’s family is Dutch and my grandfather immigrated to Canada from Germany so I end up cheering for both of those countries.  I would dearly love to cheer for Canada at the World Cup but they haven’t been able to qualify since 1986.  I can think of nothing else more embarrassing for sports in Canada than the fact the men’s team have gone nearly three decades with-out qualifying for the World Cup.

So like every other Canadian I will be forced to adopt some other country during the World Cup.  

• Tiger Woods

In some ways June of 2008 isn’t that long ago. But for Tiger Woods and his legions of fans around the world, June of 2008 seems like a lifetime ago. That was the month and the year that Tiger beat Rocco Mediate in a playoff at the U.S. Open. That was Tiger’s 14th victory in a major. That was also Tiger’s last victory in a major.

Here we are in 2014 and the U.S. Open is about to get underway at Pinehurst in North Carolina and Tiger is nowhere to be found. While Woods continues to recover from back surgery the rest of the golf world are busy going about their business.

With each year that passes by without Tiger winning a major the chances of him equalling Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors gets smaller and smaller.  At this point in his career just winning his 15th major would be a significant accomplishment for Woods.

While Tiger Woods struggles to stay healthy and regain the level of play that made him untouchable a decade ago, the Tour is filled with young, talented golfers at the peak of their ability.  Some of my fondest golf memories revolve around Tiger winning majors. I loved watching it and as the television ratings would suggest, so did the rest of North America.

I still feel Tiger will find a way to guy at least one more Major before he retires. But I can’t see how he will be able to win four more Majors to tie Nicklaus.  

• The U.S. Open

Since Tiger’s win at the 2008 U.S. Open there have been 19 different Major winners. Some, like Bubba Watson, have won two Majors in that time. So needless to say the field is wide open when they tee it off at Pinehurst Thursday morning.

That includes Weyburn, Saskatchewan’s Graham DeLaet. Ranked 20th on the tour money list, DeLaet has six top 10 finishes this year and twice was a runner-up.  DeLaet is playing with J.B. Holmes and Gary Woodland. They tee-off at 1:36PM EST on Thursday and then they tee it up at 7:51AM on Friday.

DeLaet is still very much a golfer on the rise and his reputation isn’t on the line this weekend.

But it sure is for Dustin Johnson. Unless he wants to be known more for being Paulina Gretzky’s fiancé Johnson needs to win a major. Johnson hits the ball a mile and by most people standards, has the kind of game you need to beat the big boys at a major.

Bubba Watson told reporters this week that he felt the greens at Pinehurst were “unfriendly” and expects a “tough test of golf”. Then again, what else would you expect at the U.S. Open?

According to oddsmakers at the website golfodds.com – here are the top choices to win the U.S. Open:

Rory McIlroy: 10/1
Adam Scott: 12/1
Phil Mickelson: 15/1
Jordan Spieth: 20/1
Justin Rose: 20/1
Matt Kuchar: 20/1
Bubba Watson: 20/1

Spieth is an intriguing choice at 20/1 considering that he is only 20 years old.  I don’t really care who wins this weekend, I just want an exciting back nine on Sunday.  

• A hole-in-one

I have been golfing a long time and I haven’t hit a hole-in-one yet. I have come close a number of times, but still no Ace to put on my golfing resume.  Up until this week I had never witnessed someone hit a hole-in-one.

This past Monday I was involved in a charity tournament to raise money for Prostate cancer. Our third hole of the day was a par 3, 135 yards.

My buddy Pete grabbed his 9 iron and stepped up to the tee. He didn’t hit it exactly the way he wanted to and the ball hit the front of the green just beyond the first cut. The ball took three small bounces and landed in the cup; a freaking hole-in-one.

At first Pete said “I can’t see my ball.”

The rest of us started yelling “That’s because it is in the hole!”

All of sudden the four of us were jumping around and hugging each other when we realized what had just happened. Now in this tournament they had some really nice prizes for anyone who hit a hole-in-one on four of the par 3’s. There were three cash prizes of $5,000 dollars and a two year lease on a brand new Lexus on the line on the four respective holes.  Of course Pete hit his hole-in-one on the only Par 3 that had no prize attached to it.

(Follow Jim on Twitter at @JimLangSports)