Talking Points: Tiger Woods still has it

What’s the buzz from the world of sports? Here are some items that will have people talking:

1

Guess we can stop writing the golf obituary for Tiger Woods.

Turns out that guy can still play a little bit.

Some in the media mocked Tiger’s assessment after his first round of the Masters, when he said he felt good about the 71 and that he was “only” six shots back. The old Tiger Woods, they claimed, would never have been happy with that.

Baloney. That’s just selective memory.

The old Tiger Woods just wanted to make sure he did not play his way out of contention in the early rounds. And while there were plenty of lower scores after the first round on Thursday, a 1-under showing at Augusta is not bad.

So Tiger showed up Friday for the second round and struggled in the early going. No big deal. He shot 31 on the back nine and was 7-under in the last 11 holes he played.

Tiger Woods is back in contention.

Not sure if he is going to win this weekend, but the game is better off with him near the top of the leaderboard.

2

That’s just Manny retiring Manny.

What the heck?

Manny Ramirez apparently was looking at a 100-game suspension from baseball after another positive drug test. So instead, he has opted to retire.

Ramirez could have appealed the drug test and kept on playing until a final ruling was made. Instead, he said he is walking away.

Interestingly, we at Talking Points believe he would have won his appeal. There is no evidence he was taking performance enhancing drugs. In his one and only season with the Tampa Bay Rays, he was 1 for 17.

Does baseball suspend players for performance diminishing drugs?