7 Things We Missed This Weekend

Since it's Monday morning it's time once again for some quick hits on all of the non-football headlines of the past week and weekend. Today we cover golf, racing, soccer, baseball, cheating, and some guy named Dude Perfect. Yes, I'm serious. Here now, 7 Things We Missed...

1. The Tour Championship

-Phil Mickelson came back from a shocking 8 on Thursday to take the Tour Championship by storm and pull away with a comfortable win. Of course, El Tigre took home the 10 Million Dollars (like he needs it) by winning the Fed Ex Cup. For everyone in golf, it was the perfect year-ending scenario with Lefty and Tiger both winning a trophy. Even with winning the Cup and multiple tourneys, after the round you could sense Tiger's disappointment when mentioning his 0 majors this season. If we remember anything from the 2009 PGA Tour Season, it was the close calls in the Majors (Perry, Mick, Watson, Woods) and the drama and anguish of the fan favorites falling just short. Mickelson and Woods have one more bow on the grand stage at the vastly underrated President's Cup in 2 weeks. Here's the highlights from Yahoo...

2. 4-Peat??

-Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin finished 1-2 in the NASCAR race at Dover yesterday. While Mark might be the sentimental favorite, the 48 is looming large in his mirror in the standings. You also have to be impressed with Juan Pablo Montoya, finally making his mark with the good ol' boys and sitting 3rd in the standings, without a win this season. It should be nip and tuck throughout the chase with the old man fighting for his first title vs the superstar going for his 4th in a row. Should JJ get that 4th title, it'd be the most impressive accomplishment in NASCAR history. If you really wanna know what JJ and Crew Chief Chad Knaus think, here's a link to the postrace interviews.

3. The Yankees Clinch

-Look out America, your favorites are back! The Yanks swept the Sawx this weekend to win the AL East, become the first team to 100 wins, and they locked up homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. Boston has to be worried, especially since NYY are 9-1 against the Red Sox in their last 10 meetings. The Tigers and Twins meet for a 4 game series starting today to decide the AL Central, but the winner will only get a bonus week before being knocked out by the Bronx Bombers. Roll the soon to be taken down footage...

4. Gretzky Quits

-This week, Wayne Gretzky stepped down as Coyotes head coach and GM. He was 143-161-24 in 4 seasons as coach. He has to be considered a major flop in the desert. Oh, and the team is bankrupt. Oh, and his wife was involved in the Tocchet gambling scandal. It's a close race between him and Michael Jordan for "Best Player, Worst GM" award, although at least the Bobcats aren't going under. With the NHL as hot as it's been since the lockout, the league doesn't need rumors about the spiraling future of a franchise associated with Wayne Gretzky in the news. Evidently the AP has a Youtube channel, so here's the Gretzky Era Recap!

5. The Night Life Ain't No Good Life...

-A huge scandal in world sport was exposed this week as F1 Team Renault were found guilty of race-fixing at last year's Singapore GP. Nelson Piquet Jr. admitted to intentionally crashing to help teammate Fernando Alonso win. The news only came out a year later once Piquet was released. Former team boss Flavio Briatore has been banned from F1 for life and Renault lost all major sponsorship. Because of the inherit danger in F1 it's been called the worst cheating scandal in sports history. I won't go that far, but it was pretty shocking. Ironically, Alonso picked up Renault's first Top 3 finish this year... at Singapore. Here's the scandal footage...

On the other hand, this week's Singapore GP and watching the F1 cars race at night on the Marina Bay Circuit is one of the coolest sights in sports. It is awe-inspiring to see those cars race under the lights. Lewis Hamilton picked up the win this weekend, but Brawn's Jenson Button has had the title wrapped up for a while after winning 6 of the first 7 races. Former Ferrari director Ross Brawn built an amazing car and Brawn's rise has been one of the surprises of the season in all sports as they have dominated F1.

6. Where's Becks??

-The Crew pretty much wrapped up the Supporters' Shield with a 2-0 win over the LA Galaxy Saturday night in MLS action. Of course, the Yoders and the rest of the sellout crowd were disappointed that David Beckham was held out due to a hangnail or something. The fans did respond nicely with a "Where's Your Spice Boy" chant, which was entertaining. Becks might not have transformed MLS's on-field product, but he does put the butts in the seats. Impressive victory for the boys from C-Bus, especially with a crucial Champions League game vs Saprissa on Tuesday. Here's the highlights.

7. Dude... whaa??

-This video (made by something or someone named Dude Perfect) is one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. Of course, this probably took 300 times to do, but it's still pretty awesome.

That's what we missed, we'll be back later today with a shaken up YCS!

The Beckham Experiment Blows Up

So, this wasn't exactly the ceremonial return that MLS and David Beckham were hoping for. Becks made his grand return home to Los Angeles last night in a friendly against his other part-time team, AC Milan. The game ended tied at 2, but Becks was the story. Most of the lead-up for Beckham's return focused on his relationship with Landon Donovan, especially after the release of Grant Wahl's book, The Beckham Experiment. Donovan and Beckham worked well in their victory over the New York Red Bulls last week, but the fans' reaction to Beckham wasn't a story... until last night.

Beckham was booed vociferously by the most loyal Galaxy supporters. Signs calling Beckham a fraud and wishing he wouldn't return can't be what MLS and Beckham were hoping for in his first home game after the Milan loan spell. Furthermore, Beckham actually confronted some of the negative fans in a corner of the stadium. Roll the footage:

The worrying thing here for Beckham and MLS is that the people booing him are representatives of LA Galaxy supporter groups, the most loyal and vocal fans. Sports fans can be a very unforgiving bunch with long memories.

After the great run American soccer has had this summer, maybe fans have decided that we don't need the David Beckham's of the world here anymore. US Soccer is certainly on the upswing with their Confederations Cup success. Does MLS even need Becks anymore? Judging by the reaction last night, perhaps not.

Will Becks be forgiven? I'm not so sure. Becks isn't being booed because of on-field performance, or an incident with the law, he did something much worse in the eyes of these fans: turned his back on his team and soccer in the US.

To an extent, Beckham's plight is understandable. He came to MLS in the twilight of his career, wanting to take advantage of a great situation both personally and professionally. Would you turn down $250 Million to play professionally in LA? However, things changed when Fabio Capello wanted him back in the fold for the England squad leading up to World Cup 2010. Becks felt he had to be playing against top-level competition to earn his place in the England team for one last World Cup. Working out the loan deal with Milan should have been a win-win for all involved.

However, the Galaxy supporters are right to feel abandoned. Beckham was supposed to save the Galaxy and MLS and he has been a disappointment on and off the pitch. Leaving his team to run back to Europe is a peculiar way to build a league and help the game in America. What is painful for MLS and the Galaxy fans is Beckham's constant desire for European football at the expense of the league and the team.

Ultimately, Beckham and his people have handled the situation poorly. The constant rumors persist that he will ditch MLS and return to Milan, or elsewhere in Europe permanently. Donovan's diss and Wahl's criticism aren't helping his image in America either. So to help the situation, Beckham decided to pick fights with his team's most passionate fans. Beckham claims that he is still committed to MLS in the long-term, but right now he is only committed to one thing - David Beckham.