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	<title>Sports &#187; Josh Sanburn &#124; TIME.com</title>
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	<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com</link>
	<description>Where sports is on the mind</description>
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		<title>Sports &#187; Josh Sanburn &#124; TIME.com</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com</link>
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		<title>The Masters: Tiger Woods is Back to His Old Form, With a Little Help From His Opponents</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/04/11/the-masters-tiger-woods-is-back-to-his-old-form-with-a-little-help-from-his-opponents/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/04/11/the-masters-tiger-woods-is-back-to-his-old-form-with-a-little-help-from-his-opponents/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:00:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh Sanburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Augusta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Masters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tiger Woods]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2345697</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Golf: the gentleman’s game. The sport of whispers and tucked-in polos and tiny claps and putting tips from fellow competitors that transform the short game of the former No. 1 player to help him regain the title of No. 1 player. Now, Tiger Woods is primed to win a 15th major, and there&#8217;s talk of Tiger not only beating Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors, but capturing 20. (MORE: Can Bubba Watson, Rory McIlroy Take Down Tiger?) Last month at the World Golf Championships at Doral, fellow PGA Tour player Steve Stricker gave Tiger Woods the most famous free putting lesson in history. Stricker suggested that Woods &#8212;  a long-time friend &#8212; make a slight adjustment in his setup over the ball on the green. They reportedly worked together for 45 minutes, possibly an hour. Tiger went on to win the tournament. Stricker finished second. Two weeks later, Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational to regain the world’s No. 1 ranking for the first time since 2010. Stricker’s lesson isn’t the only episode of altruism shown to Tiger on his long road back. As reported by Sports Illustrated last week, in 2010 Woods asked fellow competitor Sean O’Hair for the phone number of his former swing coach Sean Foley. While Tiger almost certainly could’ve gotten Foley’s contact info without going to another PGA Tour player, O’Hair happily obliged. Since then, Woods’ swing has gotten simpler, more compact and more repeatable. And he’s won six times on Tour since he started working with Foley. These two episodes – two of Tiger’s competitors gladly helping and even going out of their way to help him improve his game – seems much rarer in other sports. Is LeBron James giving free throw lessons to Dwight Howard? Is Albert Pujols offering batting tips to Miguel Cabrera? If such altruism takes place, it&#8217;s rarely publicized. Golf, however, is just different. In fact, back in 2009, the roles were reversed for Woods and O&#8217;Hair. Tiger noticed something funny in O&#8217;Hair&#8217;s backstroke on the greens during a<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2345697&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Golf</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/golf-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/518821422.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">GOLF-US-MASTERS-WOODS</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jsanburn</media:title>
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		<title>Why Indiana Should Be Happy It Didn’t Get the Overall No. 1 Seed</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/03/20/why-indiana-should-be-happy-it-didnt-get-the-overall-no-1-seed/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/03/20/why-indiana-should-be-happy-it-didnt-get-the-overall-no-1-seed/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh Sanburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Basketball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[College Sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[March Madness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2345091</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Many of the Indiana faithful expected the Indiana Hoosiers to get the overall No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday, despite the fact that they got bounced from the Big Ten Tournament early. But they didn’t, and Hoosier fans should be thankful. The Hoosiers were the one team NCAA selection committee chairman Mike Bobinski said was a lock to be a No. 1 seed no matter what happened during the Big Ten Tournament&#8217;s final two days. And IU certainly had the resume: an outright Big Ten conference title, nine weeks ranked No. 1, nine wins against the top 50 in the RPI, zero losses to teams outside of the top 50, and two players in consideration for national player of the year in Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo. (MORE: Bracket Breakdown: 5 March Madness Story Lines) But the last few games hurt the Hoosiers’ chances to be an overall No. 1. They lost three of their last six and more importantly got dismissed early from the Big Ten Tournament despite being the top seed. Instead, the overall No. 1 seed went to Louisville. But IU shouldn&#8217;t be moping. The Midwest is loaded with teams that could conceivably reach the Final Four besides Louisville. Duke – which could have easily received a No. 1 seed – is the region’s No. 2 seed, setting up a potentially legendary match-up between Mike Krzyzewski and Rick Pitino. While Duke has looked disappointing at times this year – especially against Maryland in the ACC Tournament – Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee still lead one of the nation’s best offenses. Plus, Duke beat Louisville in a non-conference game earlier in the season, granted without Cardinals&#8217; center Gorgui Dieng. Likewise, Michigan State and even St. Louis could pose serious challenges for Louisville in the Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight. It’s true that Sparty has lost four of its last seven games (all to ranked Big Ten teams, mind you) and couldn’t contain Ohio State’s Aaron Craft in the Big Ten Tournament championship game. But Izzo and his six<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2345091&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/03/20/why-indiana-should-be-happy-it-didnt-get-the-overall-no-1-seed/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>March Madness</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/college-sports-2/march-madness/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/indiana_0320.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">indiana_0320</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jsanburn</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Predicting the NCAA Men&#8217;s Basketball Field — and Discovering the Selection Committee&#8217;s Biases</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/03/15/predicting-the-ncaa-mens-basketball-field-and-discovering-the-selection-committees-biases/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/03/15/predicting-the-ncaa-mens-basketball-field-and-discovering-the-selection-committees-biases/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Mar 2013 10:00:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh Sanburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Basketball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[College Sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[March Madness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2345015</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The NCAA men’s basketball selection committee is biased toward bigger conferences and better-known teams. Those biases are surprisingly consistent and quantifiable. If you don’t believe that, just ask these guys. Hardly a March goes by without the NCAA Selection Committee getting an earful from college basketball fans about teams getting shafted and others miraculously awarded bids to the men’s basketball tournament. (MORE: Why is College Basketball Scoring in Decline? One Expert&#8217;s Take) The process by which the selection committee chooses its 37 at-large bids has always felt like some version of a papal conclave, where a bunch of gray-hairs convene to deem who’s worthy. Instead of white smoke and a pope, we’re given Selection Sunday and a glorious bracket. The only thing we seem to know about the process itself is that we don&#8217;t really know anything about it. Bits of information come out each year during the annual CBS sit-down with the committee chair, but most of us are often left with 68 teams and a bunch of questions about how they got there. For many fans, it often seems that major conferences historically get the nod over mid-majors. While last year 11 mid-majors got at-large bids, the number of Gonzagas and Butlers that generally make it are in the single digits. And the research done by professors Jay Coleman, Allen Lynch and Mike DuMond backs that up. Exposing the committee’s biases wasn’t the goal of Coleman, a professor at the University of North Florida, back in the 1990s when he stumbled across the now well-known basketball metric RPI, a ranking based on win-loss records and strength of schedule. But Coleman soon started using that data set to predict which teams the selection committee would select to compete in the NCAA tourney, and along with Lynch of Mercer University and later DuMond of Florida State University, they created a model using SAS software called the &#8220;Dance Card&#8221; that predicts which teams the selection committee will select. Often, they have accuracy rates near 95%. That may not seem terribly impressive. A<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2345015&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/03/15/predicting-the-ncaa-mens-basketball-field-and-discovering-the-selection-committees-biases/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>March Madness</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/college-sports-2/march-madness/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">jsanburn</media:title>
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		<title>Why The Big Ten Is College Basketball’s Elite Conference</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/01/15/why-the-big-ten-is-college-basketballs-elite-conference/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/01/15/why-the-big-ten-is-college-basketballs-elite-conference/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Jan 2013 10:00:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh Sanburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[College Sports]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2343761</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s not just that the Big Ten – historically a football powerhouse – is far and away the strongest basketball conference this year. Realignment is establishing the conference as the country’s premiere league. Ask even the most diehard of college sports fans these days how many teams are in the Big East. Or who’s going to be in the ACC next season. Or which conference includes Boise State. On second thought, don’t. (MORE: The NFL&#8217;s Thrilling Playoff Weekend: Did Fear Cost Peyton Manning?) Realignment is upending every major conference in college athletics. Additional revenue streams that will come from more powerful expanded leagues with lucrative television deals is driving the endless shake-up. And college basketball is just along for the ride. Because the real money is in college football. In 2010-2011, the top 15 revenue-generating college basketball programs brought in $293 million while the top 15 college football programs earned almost $1 billion. As universities jump from one conference to the next, the Big Ten is beginning to emerge instead as the elite basketball conference. For years the Big Ten was known more for being a center of college football. Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State dominated the college football landscape. With more than 20 national titles between the three programs, football often seemed to revolve around the Midwest throughout the 1980s and 1990s – with an occasional tilt toward Florida and Florida State. But the balance of power decidedly shifted over the last decade or so toward the south. Eight of the last 10 BCS national champions have come from the SEC. And while the Big Ten’s addition of Nebraska helps keep it relatively top-heavy, scandals have put permanent marks on both Ohio State and Penn State, and Michigan is not near the dominant power football program it once was. That’s opened the door for men’s basketball to emerge as the league’s most dominant sport. This year, six schools from the Big Ten (Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio State and Michigan State) are ranked in the Top 25 (and<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2343761&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/01/15/why-the-big-ten-is-college-basketballs-elite-conference/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>College Sports</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/college-sports-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/157147252.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">BIG TEN</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">jsanburn</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>U.S. Open: Bubba Watson&#8217;s Loopy Swing and Olympic Club Not a Great Match</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/06/13/bubba-watsons-golf-swing/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/06/13/bubba-watsons-golf-swing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Jun 2012 19:24:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh Sanburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Athletes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bubba Watson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[golf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[golf swing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[green jacket]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Masters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[phil mickelson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tiger Woods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Open]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2339649</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When the U.S. Open begins Thursday, this year&#8217;s Masters champ, Bubba Watson, will be paired with fellow Green Jacket holders Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. That may be where the similarities end. Not only is Watson&#8217;s boyish personality and off-the-course demeanor the complete opposite of Tiger&#8217;s and Phil&#8217;s, so&#8217;s his swing. Whereas Woods and Mickelson both spent years working with coaches to fine-tune their club movement, Watson&#8217;s is purely homegrown. He didn&#8217;t learn the game through a swing guru or from how-to books. He learned how to swing a golf club through feel and imagination, or in his words, &#8220;I see it. I feel it. I hit it.&#8221; Watson&#8217;s loopy swing will likely face its stiffest challenge ever on Thursday. Not only will he be in the featured group alongside Tiger and Phil, but the site of this year&#8217;s U.S. Open, Olympic Club, has a number of tight fairways that could cause serious problems for Watson&#8217;s wayward tee shots. &#8220;Hopefully I don&#8217;t hit too many people,&#8221; Watson said Tuesday. MORE: Birdies with Bubba — The Masters Champ Re-Energizes Golf<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2339649&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Golf</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/golf-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/watson_tout.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">watson_tout</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jsanburn</media:title>
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		<title>Dream Team Documentary: Film Sheds Light On &#8217;92 Olympic Legends</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/06/13/dream-team-documentary-film-sheds-light-on-92-olympic-legends/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/06/13/dream-team-documentary-film-sheds-light-on-92-olympic-legends/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Jun 2012 10:00:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh Sanburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Basketball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Olympics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barcelona]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Charles Barkley]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dream Team]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gold medal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Larry Bird]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Magic Johnson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[michael jordan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NBA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[olympics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[summer olympics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[USA Men's Basketball]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2339840</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For years, there were only stories about the Dream Team losing to college kids and playing historic scrimmages against each other. In NBA TV's new documentary, those stories are finally backed up through rare, never-before-seen footage. One of the executive producers of "The Dream Team" talks to us about digging up that footage, how he got all 12 players to sit down for interviews, why Isiah Thomas didn’t want to talk, and how the NBA would be different without this one team.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2339840&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Olympics</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/olympics-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/600_ks_magicjohnson_0612.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Magic Johnson</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">jsanburn</media:title>
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		<title>NBA Playoffs: Why Indiana Pacers Fans Aren&#8217;t Showing Up to Games</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/05/17/indiana-pacers-fans-dont-attend-games/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/05/17/indiana-pacers-fans-dont-attend-games/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 May 2012 16:00:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh Sanburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Basketball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[attendance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Danny Granger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[indiana]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indiana Pacers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Miami Heat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NBA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NBA Attendance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NBA playoffs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ron artest]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2338979</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Indiana Pacers haven’t been this good in almost a decade, and on Thursday night, the Miami Heat will come to Indiana for Game 3 of the NBA Playoffs. But will Pacers fans even attend? It’s been a long road for the Pacers franchise since that ugly night in Detroit in 2004. As soon as a handful of Pacers entered the stands that evening and brawled with fans and Pistons players, they waved goodbye to years of building toward winning an NBA championship. Ron Artest alone was suspended for 73 games that season, and the team lost any hope of competing for a title. A couple years later they lost Reggie Miller, who retired after 18 years and was the face of the franchise. Afterwards, they were bottom dwellers, catfish in the Eastern Conference’s Central Division. They posted one of their worst seasons in 2006-07, when they finished 35-47. (MORE: Why Lakers-Thunder is the Series to Watch) But since then, they’ve been on a successful rebuilding track. Under the leadership of Larry Bird, who won NBA Executive of the Year Wednesday, they’ve acquired a number of promising young players, including 7-2 center Roy Hibbert, the athletic Paul George, and some quality reserves in Darren Collison and Tyler Hansbrough. This season was a break-out year for the Pacers, finishing third in the Eastern Conference and handily beating the Orlando Magic four games to one in the first round of the playoffs. You would think that this year, finally, their attendance figures would be through the roof. Let’s face it: basketball is practically a religion in Indiana. So every game’s probably sold out at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, which by the way is a great place to watch a ballgame. Right? It turns out that the Pacers have the the second-to-worse attendance figures in the NBA. The only team that drew fewer fans than the Pacers is the New Jersey Nets. And they’re leaving the state next season. During the regular season, the Pacers averaged 14,168 fans per game, just a couple hundred more<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2338979&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/05/17/indiana-pacers-fans-dont-attend-games/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Basketball</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/basketball-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/pacers.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Orlando Magic v Indiana Pacers - Game Five</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jsanburn</media:title>
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		<title>The 17th at Sawgrass Rarely Decides a Winner, So Why All the Criticism?</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/05/11/the-17th-at-sawgrass-rarely-decides-a-winner-so-why-all-the-criticism/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/05/11/the-17th-at-sawgrass-rarely-decides-a-winner-so-why-all-the-criticism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 May 2012 16:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh Sanburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[17th Hole]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Toms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Island Green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Majors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sawgrass]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Players Championship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tiger Woods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TPC]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2338815</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s the most talked about par 3 in golf every year, but the idea that it&#8217;s gimmicky or shouldn&#8217;t be used in a sudden-death playoff is weak. Even non-golfers recognize the par-3 17th at Sawgrass. How could you not remember a green surrounded by nothing but water? Its 137 yards is a chip for pros, most of which use a wedge to knock it on. Most duffers could even land the green if it wasn’t for all that blue before their eyes. It scares the khakis off them. (MORE: How Bubba Watson Conquered the Masters) But if you look past the hype and fear surrounding the 17th, in the three decades that the Players Championship has been played at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida—near Jacksonville—the hole has only decided a winner after the PGA Tour began using it in playoffs, in 2008. That year, Sergio Garcia and Paul Goydos squared off on the 17th. Garcia knocked it on the green while Goydos splashed it in the water. Match over. Last year, David Toms lost on the 17th in a playoff to K.J. Choi, but that’s really only because Toms failed to make a routine 3 ½ foot par putt. But that’s not to say that the 17th hasn’t hurt those chasing the leaders on Sunday. Len Mattiace made an 8 on the hole in 1998 when he was a shot back. More recently, but just as cringe-worthy, Sean O’Hair scored a 7 on the hole in 2007 as he tried to catch eventual winner Phil Mickelson. Still, the par 3 is Sawgrass’s biggest draw on television, and attracts mobs of fans who attend the Players. (Goydos is quoted saying that “I think our pension is funded by beers sold on 17.”) And it’s one reason why the Players is consistently talked about as “the fifth major.” Sunday is always going to be exciting knowing that the 17th is awaiting. (MORE: Why I&#8217;m Rooting for Tiger but Didn&#8217;t Want My Female Friends to Know) Over the<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2338815&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Golf</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/golf-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/seagrass_0510.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Players Championship Golf</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jsanburn</media:title>
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		<title>NHL Hockey Teams Who Wear Black Are Called for More Penalties</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/04/27/nhl-hockey-teams-who-wear-black-are-called-for-more-penalties/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/04/27/nhl-hockey-teams-who-wear-black-are-called-for-more-penalties/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh Sanburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hockey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hockey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NHL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[penalties]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Power Play]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2338143</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[New research finds that hockey teams wearing black are called for more penalties than their white-jerseyed competitors. But it’s not entirely clear why. The study, which will be published in the May issue of Social Psychological and Personality Science, shows that teams wearing black jerseys were more likely to get penalized for aggressive fouls than teams in white. (MORE: Why the Pittsburgh Penguins — And Their Fans — Hate the Philadelphia Flyers) University of Florida psychologist Gregory Webster, a co-author of the study, told NPR that teams with darker-colored jerseys were penalized for two minutes more per game than teams with white jerseys. Those with black jerseys were given an average of 1,528 penalty minutes a season while those wearing white were assessed 1,386. The researchers studied more than 52,000 NHL games over three decades, and they were helped by a rule change in 2003, when home teams switched from wearing white jerseys at home to their darker uniforms. That helped eliminate any bias referees might have had for home teams. (MORE: Why a Seven-Game Suspension is Too Short for World Peace) The study doesn’t answer why teams with black jerseys were more frequently penalized, but Webster has several theories. First, those wearing dark jerseys are more easily seen on ice. But that doesn’t account for the fact that there was no visible spike in penalties for players wearing colors other than black. Another theory is that darker colors somehow make players more aggressive. And a third is that there’s simply a bias toward white and against black. “There is this very strong cultural association that comes through in how we think about colors in terms of being associated with good and black with bad,” Webster told NPR. “Many of us are raised from childhood with some of these associations. And over time, we develop a kind of cognitive bias. That’s been shown time and time again in social psychology.”<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2338143&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Hockey</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/hockey-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/black-uniforms-hockey.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Black Uniforms Hockey</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jsanburn</media:title>
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		<title>Why I’m Rooting for Tiger But Didn’t Want My Female Friends to Know</title>
		<link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/04/05/why-im-rooting-for-tiger-but-didnt-want-my-female-friends-to-know/</link>
		<comments>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/04/05/why-im-rooting-for-tiger-but-didnt-want-my-female-friends-to-know/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Apr 2012 06:00:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Josh Sanburn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[golf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PGA Tour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tiger Woods]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/?p=2337061</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I recently mentioned to a friend of mine that I thought Tiger Woods had a good chance to win the Masters this week. As I was getting ready to tell her that I’m whole-heartedly supporting a Tiger comeback, I hesitated. I realized I was ashamed to admit to her that I was rooting for him. Two weeks ago, Tiger finally won a golf tournament. It was his first win since his marital infidelities broke his marriage, and seemingly, his golf game. For months after his spring 2010 return, he didn’t look like himself, playing his way out of tournaments, letting his putter get the best of him and showing no signs of his highly competitive self. His nagging injuries didn’t help either. For a while, I sort of gave up on him. I was happy that Phil Mickelson was winning consistently and that young players like Rory McIlroy were beginning to challenge golf’s old guard. Then I realized that the game had grown stale. Yeah, Phil’s fun to root for, but it’s best when his nemesis is in contention. The young guns are exciting, but to fully come into their own, shouldn’t they have to take down the one player who’s still arguably the world’s most talented? (MORE: Will Augusta National Finally Offer Membership to a Woman?) So sometime last year – I don’t know when, exactly – I started rooting for Tiger again. Now I want him to play well. I want him to win majors. I even want him to challenge the record of 18 major championships set by Jack Nicklaus, far and away my favorite player. I only recently discovered I didn’t want my female friends to know. According to a survey released on Tuesday by Nielsen and E-Poll, which measures an athlete’s endorsement power and marketability, only 17% of respondents said they like Tiger. More than half said they like Phil Mickelson and even more had a favorable opinion of Tom Watson. Yet it’s clear that Tiger is starting to regain his fan base. A recent<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=keepingscore.blogs.time.com&#038;blog=33268979&#038;post=2337061&#038;subd=timekeepingscore&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Golf</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/category/golf-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timekeepingscore.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/tiger-woods.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Tiger Woods</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jsanburn</media:title>
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