WATERCOOLER CHAT: ELS GETS CHAMPIONSHIP, TEAM USA PULLS OFF WIN, PATERNO STATUE COMES DOWN

GOLF

It was the finals of the British open.  Adam Scott was in the lead the entire way, and was hoping to present the world with an Australian champion.   Right behind him was Tiger Woods — reassuring to see that Woods was back at the top.  Adam Scott maintained a strong 4-stroke lead, but, down the line, the German, Ernie Els, started climbing the ranks.  Els has been absent from the top of the leader boards for about the last 10 years. This guy used to win all the time, but then disappeared.  Now… he kept striving and striving to tie it up with Adam Scott.  They played the 18th hole tied, and Els suddenly found himself in the lead by one stroke.  All Scott had to do was sink a 10-foot putt to force another playoff hole, but… he missed it.  That gave Ernie Els his first championship in 10 years.  But, don’t feel too badly for the young Scott — he still walked away with over $800k.

BASKETBALL

Team USA played an exhibition game against Argentina.  Unlike Dream Olympic teams of the past, the present state of basketball finds a much tougher international competition.  These countries have NBA stars, and stars from their own domestic leagues.  Plus, because of injuries, Team USA doesn’t have much inside scoring or large presence.  They’ve got Durant and Tyson Chandler down low, but that’s about it.  Team USA had to play hard against Argentina to hold them off.  Remember though that these are just exhibition games — no teams are showing all of their cards.  But even thought the U.S. has superstars like Kobe, Durant, and LeBron — they are seemingly still beatable.  Likely they will get gold, but the drama will come if they DON’T come home with gold. Team USA 86, Argentina 80.

FOOTBALL

And finally, there has been a ton of public debate at Penn State as to whether or not they should take down the Joe Paterno statue outside of the stadium.  Paterno is arguably the greatest coaching legend in college football and his statue/memorial has been a hallmark of the university.  But after it was revealed that Paterno played a big role in covering up the heinous crimes of def. coordinator Jerry Sandusky, many thought that his statue should be removed.  Others argued that the statue is a testament to his football coaching and what he meant to all the students, and should have nothing to do with the cover-up.  But, in the end, there was just too much uproar, and the university decided that the Paterno statue needed to be taken down.  They are doing all they can to move past this horrible situation, and giving the majority of people what they want (i.e. the removal of the statue) is what they settled on.  They are ready to start the rebuilding effort.
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