December 5th update

Tiger Woods Wins… Finally

• Tiger Woods for the first time since 2009 in his last action of 2011. Woods shot two birdies in on the last two holes to beat former Masters Champion Zach Johnson by one stroke. It was Woods’ first win in 749 days.
• This event is one hosted by Woods as a fundraiser for his foundation (Woods donated his winnings - $1.2 million – to his foundation as well). There were only 17 other golfers included in the field.
• Even with the short field this victory is raising hopes amongst golf fans that Woods (still the sport’s premier star) will be on his way back to glory after his extramarital scandal and subsequent swoon. Woods, who had the record for most consecutive weeks ranked #1, had been ranked #52 coming into this tournament. This victory catapults him to a more respectable #21.


Multiple thrillers headline the NFL

• Tim Tebow's Denver Broncos once again won a thrilling last second game, 35-32 over the Minnesota Vikings and this time Tebow actually had a pretty solid passing game. He only completed 10 passes but did so efficiently, as he only threw 15 total passes. He has 202 total yards and 2 long touchdown passes to Demaryius Thomas. The Broncos came back from 2 deficits in the last few minutes and after intercepting Vikings rookie Christian Ponder, made a field goal as time expired.
• Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers continued to win shootouts, this time beating the New York Giants 38-35 after the Giants had tied the game with less than a minute remaining. Rodgers and the Packers are 12-0, haven't lost in more than a calendar year and looks like he may set multiple NFL records. He's been so good that I'm seriously considering changing my car insurance to State Farm and getting my Discount Double Check.
• In other action, rookie quarterback T.J. Yates led the Houston Texans to their 6th straight win as they defeated the Atlanta Falcons 17-10. The Texans have sustained tons of injuries but continue to win. They've already tied their franchise record for wins with 9 (with 4 left to eclipse it) and look like a lock to play in their first playoff game ever. The Texans are currently the only team in America's 4 major sports (MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL) never to have won a playoff game.
• In other games, the Dallas Cowboys lost in OT to the Arizona Cardinals after Dallas's coach called a timeout before his own kicker made a game winning field goal and then watched as he missed the second attempt and the Indianapolis Colts showed signs of life but still lost 31-24 to the New England Patriots and look like they will very possibly go an entire season without winning a single game.


BCS Championship Will Feature SEC Rematch

• As opined on this site last week, this years college football title game will be a rematch of a general stinker from earlier in the year. The #2 Alabama Crimson Tide will this time travel to Louisiana to take on the #1 Louisiana State Tigers. Their November 5th matchup was a quite boring 9-6 victory by the Tigers. This is a highly controversial game because of the fact that Alabama already had a chance against LSU in the previous game while there are some other teams that seemingly have an argument to get their first chance against LSU (who is a unanimous #1).
• The Orange Bowl will feature the Big East Champion West Virginia Mountaineers vs the ACC champion Clemson Tigers. The Sugar Bowl will feature two wildcard teams with the Michigan Wolverines against the Virginia Tech Hokies. This is a bit of a surprise as the Hokies lost to Clemson this weekend in the ACC title game, Virginia Tech’s second loss to the Tigers this season.
• The Fiesta Bowl features presumptive Heisman Trophy winner Andrew Luck and the Stanford Cardinal vs the Oklahoma State Cowboys (the Big 12 Champs). The final Bowl game will feature Pac 12 champions Oregon Ducks against the Big 10 champions Wisconsin Badgers.
• Update from Friday: We reported that if UCLA lost this weekend they would not be bowl eligible. Since then, they appealed this to the NCAA and were awarded bowl eligibility. They will be playing Illinois in the Kraft Fight Hunger bowl on December 31st.