ekansekans's blog: "df"

Rory McIlroy went out to dinner a few nights ago at one of this English citys finer restaurants. He got to enjoy his meal in relative peace, with only a handful of fans pestering him for a picture. Hard to imagine that happening in the approach to last years British Open, when Rorymania was at its peak. The kid likes low key a whole lot better. "Its been lovely just going about my business," McIlroy said. "Its been nice to sort of prepare and theres definitely not the madness that was going on last year." Back then, the curly-haired Northern Irishman was coming off his first major victory -- a runaway at the U.S. Open -- and being heralded as the new face of a game desperate to move past Tiger Woods stunning downfall. McIlroy didnt handle the hype all that well, struggling to a 25th-place finish at Royal St. Georges, then complaining about the dastardly conditions that are as much a part of links golf as the fairways and greens. In what passes for heresy in these parts, he flatly stated, "Im not a fan of golf tournaments where the outcome is dictated so much by the weather." When asked if he should adapt his game to become a serious challenger at golfs oldest major, McIlroy sounded downright petulant when he said hed just bide his time until he caught a break with the forecast. "Its not my sort of golf," he grumbled. "Id rather play when its 80 degrees and sunny and not much wind." Looking back, McIlroy knows that he should have held his tongue. "Those comments were just pure frustration," he conceded. "It was having really high expectations going into it, coming off a major win, and really wanting to play well, get into contention, and not doing that. Then blaming the weather, blaming the draw, blaming my luck, basically. That was just frustration." Since his eight-stroke win at Congressional, McIlroy hasnt been much of a factor in the majors. He was 64th at the last PGA Championship in Atlanta, essentially ruining his chances when he made an ill-fated attempt to play a shot off a tree root and wound up spraining his wrist. This year, he tumbled out of contention at the Masters with a 77-76 performance on the weekend, and he didnt even make the cut trying to defend his U.S. Open title at Olympic. Those struggles on the biggest stages have led some to wonder if McIlroy spent too much time savoring his triumph and not enough time working on his game. After winning at Congressional, he took a month off before showing up at the British Open without even bothering to play a competitive round in between. This year, in the midst of missing the cut in four out of five tournaments, he vowed to head to the range to work on his game -- only to be photographed hopping a Eurostar train to Paris to watch his girlfriend, tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, play in the French Open. "Im sure McIlroy wants to try and redeem himself a little bit," said Tony Jacklin, a Hall of Famer who won the 1969 British Open. "I dont mean it in an unkind way. We had great expectations earlier this year at Augusta and the U.S. Open and it didnt come to much for him. He is a precocious talent." With plenty of time to grow and mature. McIlroy is still just 23 years old, and hes quick to point out that hes played well enough to climb to the top of the world rankings three different times since his U.S. Open victory. Even now, while admittedly mired in a bit of a slump, hes still holding down the No. 2 spot behind Luke Donald. "Theres never been any distractions," McIlroy insisted. "I dont think my game completely went off. Everyone has bad spells and I had a couple of bad weeks where I didnt play so well. But its just a little blip in the radar and I feel like Im swinging well again. And I feel like this will be a great week to play well." As if to show his commitment to go the extra mile preparing for Royal Lytham & St. Annes, McIlroy played three weeks ago at the Irish Open, giving him a taste of links golf and persnickety conditions. He made it to the weekend and wound up 10th. "I felt like I played well in the bad conditions," McIlroy said. "If its like that again this week, youre just going to have to knuckle down and focus and keep fighting and stay tough and try and shoot a score in bad conditions." Hes also done some training with the Ulster Rugby Club and one of his best friends, Darren Cave. These days, McIlroy acknowledges that a lack of preparation doomed him more than the conditions at Royal St. Georges. He had planned to tune up at the French Open (the golf version), but dropped out to focus on all his media and sponsor demands. Not exactly the way to get ready for a major championship. "There were so many requests coming in and so many things to do," McIlroy recalled. "I knew if I went to the French Open my mind wouldnt be fully on it, so thats why I didnt go in the end. But in hindsight it would have been good to get that extra competitive week." He went on to say, "Obviously the hype and everything was so big last year, as well, and, yeah, maybe it had a little bit to do with it. But at the end of the day, I just didnt play well enough to figure in the tournament." Sounds like young Rory might be growing up a bit. Colin Kaepernick Womens Jersey . The Laval linebacker, taken 10th overall in last weeks CFL draft by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, has been invited to the Philadelphia Eagles rookie minicamp. Authentic Kaepernick Jersey . Sunderland earlier escaped with a 1-1 draw from its northeast derby against Newcastle thanks to Demba Bas 86th-minute own goal, denying the visitors a hard-earned victory after playing more than an hour with 10 men following Cheick Tiotes dismissal. http://elevatedcolor.com/new.html . St. Paul Saints right-fielder Jose Hernandez scored a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning off reliever Craig James, as the Goldeyes fell 7-6 to the Saints Monday night at Midway Stadium in front of 2,525 fans.LOS ANGELES -- Southern Californias newest running back is ready to move on from the turmoil of being at Penn State. "My relationship with Penn State and everything was a great experience and they gave me some excellent opportunities," Silas Redd told reporters Monday night. "But Im opening a new chapter in my life. Im a Trojan now." USC head coach Lane Kiffin recruited the 5-foot-10, 209-pound running back as soon as the NCAA opened up a kind of "free agency" that allowed all Nittany Lions to transfer and begin playing immediately instead of having to sit out a year as normally is the case. On the first day of the Trojans fall camp, Kiffin was impressed with how Redd was prepared to contribute. "I thought his preparation was really top-notch, how focused he came today and how mature he is about his approach to the game," Kiffin said. "Just kind of continues along that NFL veteran line, signing a guy who has played before in big games and carried the ball a lot." Redd immediately strengthens what had been a weakness for USC. Tailback Amir Carlisle transferred to Notre Dame and sophomore Tre Madden sustainedd a season-ending knee injury in the spring, leaving USC with only two tailbacks that have game experience: senior Curtis McNeal and redshirt sophomore D.ddddddddddddJ. Morgan. "So far so good for Day 1. Its just Day 1 install. But he did a good job," Kiffin said. "Went the wrong way a couple times like you would expect today, but his preparation, you can see that he wants to be great." Redd ran for 1,241 yards and seven touchdowns last season at Penn State. He could prove to be an every-down back at USC, and even played on special teams Monday. "This is my new family now. They have great tradition ... so I was excited to suit up," Redd said. He said his decision was between Penn State and USC. There were no other options. He eventually chose the Trojans because of what he called a "business decision." "It was just the bigger picture," Redd said. "Academically and athletically, I feel like this is the best place to be." Soon, the questions will dissipate and there will just be the game. And soon, Redd can get back to what he loves most. "Now, I can just play football." ' ' '