Its a great time of year to be a sports fan. Got so much to look forward to in the next month or so.
MLB Baseball season starts tonight. A great excuse to stay up to 3am over here in sunny Scotland. Looking forward to this season, have no idea who will win this season, after the Red Sox and White Sox winning the last 2 seasons, surely the Cubs must be in with a shout of making it 3 teams in 3 years to lose their 'curse' tag?
The Masters Tournament starts this Thursday as well. Always the best Major in a visual sense, just with they would stop changing the Augusta National course so much every year, just playing into Tiger's hands.
Talking of Tiger, still a chance he might not play in it this year, due to the ill health of his father. He is the obvious favourite, but if he doesn't show up, who will win? Phil Mickelson has just won the Bellsouth Classic by about 47 shots, so he is obviously in top form, and being a previous winner, will be there or thereabouts on sunday. Vijay has went off the boil, Els and Goosen both a bit inconsistant just now. About time Harrington and Clarke, or most Europeans for that matter, showed up and won a major. Myself, going for a huge outsider in KJ Choi. Always plays well at Augusta, just a slight worry that the course will be too long for him.
This Saturday we also have the Grand National at Aintree, the World's greatest horserace. As I work for a bookmakers, its our busiest day of the year by far, virtually the entire British public have a bet on the race. Bookmakers love it, as it's a total lottery, so much can happen in a race over 4 and a half miles, 40 runners and 30 huge fences. As for a winner, hmmm, Hedgehunter will be the favourite, think I will go for Ollie Magern.
Also I have to mention Gretna, for reaching the Scottish Cup Final. A huge achievement for a team that has been playing in the Professional Leagues in Scotland for less than 5 years, and come from a town with a population of only 3,000. They will play Hearts in the final on Sat 13th May, and with Hearts doing so well in the SPL, they are already almost guaranteed a place in next season's UEFA Cup. Incredible!!
