Shooting

For those of you who don't know, Top Shot is a competitive shooting reality show on The History Channel. they showcase marksmen from all walks of life participating in some of the craziest competitions involving guns you will ever see.

Each week someone gets eliminated until only one person claims the $100,000 prize and the title of Top Shot.

This season has featured some of the worlds biggest guns like the Gatling gun to the most high tech like the corner shot, to things as primitive as a rock, yes I said rock.

This year there has been one member of the house who has garnered as much attention for his shooting as he has for his personality.

Jake Zweig has become the focal point of Top Shot this season. He has been at the center of controversy involving players on both teams. I wanted to talk with Jake to see if this was the real Jake Zweig or if what we were seeing was a manufactured TV character created through editing.

Jake agreed to talk to me and this past Wednesday we talked in depth about his life, his time in the Navy Seals, coaching college football and his time on Top Shot. My goal was to find out what the man was really like, and what I found was someone who was not at all what I expected.

Jake Zweig has led one of the most interesting lives of anyone I have ever encountered, and while talking to him he proved every preconceived notion I had from watching the show to be wrong. So without further delay, here is my interview with Jake Zweig.

Thanks for talking with me Jake, so give me the quick version of your life story

I grew up in a small town, Steilacoom, just West of Fort Lewis, Washington, which is the 3rd largest army base in the world. As a young kid I spent most of my time shooting BB guns in the backyard and time in a 12 foot aluminum boat fishing in front of my house. My dad built me a little bike trailer to carry my boat down to the boat ramp, so I spent about 50% of my time shooting BB guns and bow and arrow and the other 50 fishing in my boat. About sixth grade I started sports pretty heavily. I started wrestling and playing Football.

Around that time in sixth grade I won the Washington State science fair three years in a row in 7h 8th and 9th grade, so by that time I had a full scholarship to Washington university from beating everyone in the engineering part of the science fair three years in a row including all the high school seniors. I also won a league wrestling championship during middle school.

Around high school I started going through a transformation in my body and went from 145 to about 115. I started going to wrestling camps and getting good at wrestling. It was around this time that I got accepted to the Naval Academy as a freshman with a pre-candidate questionnaire and a recommendation from a 4 star admiral and a 2 star general.

I won a State Championship my Senior year in Wrestling and started in the state Football Championship. After that I had a choice between the Naval academy, West Point and a few other Division 1 colleges and it came down to West Point had a dreary building so I chose the Naval Academy.
 

I went to the Navy prep school because I came out of High School not really knowing how to read to well. So the first week at Prep School Jim Golladay who was the first Navy seal to graduate from the academy received the bronze star for his actions in Panama. I didn't know what a Navy Seal was but I knew about Army Rangers and Green Berets and that's all what I wanted to do growing up next to Fort Lewis,All the people I knew and my friends parents were in the Army. So that's what started me down that path.

I will say this, I am not a very good conformist, so to say I didn't fit in well at the naval academy is an understatement, I tried to conform but I am just not a good conformist. I played football there and wrestled til my senior year.

I didn't get a Seal billet out of the Naval academy because I had been in a little trouble there, nothing big, just conduct problems. They said once you get your qualification on a ship we will pick you up, so I went there and got qualified in six months. It normally takes 18-24 months but I was working 100-110 hour weeks and eventually I got my Surface Warfare Officer Pin, and got picked up on the first lateral transfer board to Seal teams. I spent another year on the ship and reported to Seal training in 1997.

So what inspired you to go for the Seal Team?

It wasn't really that it was an inspiration, it was that they were doing the things I wanted to do, traveling the world. I wasn't doing it for the glory, I had the unfortunate chance to get shot in high school so I wasn't oblivious to gunfights. 

Wait, you got shot in High School? Where?

In my hip

Does it give you trouble walking or running?

No, but the bullet is still in my hip, the doctors couldn't get it out. I went to the Navy academy the month after it happened.

It didn't affect you in training?

No, I was out running the next day, it didn't hit me in any important areas.

So why did you decide not to do Military as a career?

It was interesting, Being a Seal is a job that looks great from the outside but you have to give up your whole life to be a Navy Seal, the Divorce rate is 98% in the Seal teams so the people who tell you that you can have a family and be a seal don't know what they are talking about. It came down to I didn't think we were going to War and I wanted to have a family so I decided to go to Michigan and get my Masters in Business Administration. I am still involved with Omega Psi Phi my fraternity from the Naval Academy and what I will do is take these helmets they get and paint them up with their insignias and colors and then send it back to them.

When did you get out of the Seals?

I got out in May of 2001, right before everything started.

So what got you into coaching football when you had gotten an MBA in business?

My old roommate tells me I have been talking about my two goals since we were in the Naval Academy, I said I was going to be a National Championship Head Coach and then go on to be a US Senator. I don't remember that too much but he's smarter than I am so I take his word for it.

I worked at a company where we had these life meeting with your boss every quarter and I was making six figures and I was working towards coaching but it was really hard to get in. I spent a full year just trying to figure out how to get a job in Coaching.

So I sat down on a Saturday and said how can I build a relationship with these coaches? So I went with the brute force method and I sat on the sidelines of all the spring trainings and all the practices during the 2004 season in Maryland in a suit and tie. I would go work my nine hour day and then take a train up to college park. Some days people would talk to me and some days they wouldn't and after a few months I had a good relationship with some of the coaches. I would run around the field with the defensive coordinator and stuff like that.

At the end of the year they had an assistant coach position open up and I took it. I went from making six figures a year to making around seven thousand a year.

As much as I want to think I am driven by money, when I was younger I was very driven by money, but I realized money doesn't have any importance in how happy you are in life, as long as you can pay your bills excess money doesn't really do anything for you.

My fiance knew I hated my job and she said go do it, so I did it.

Do you think you will ever move into the NFL?

It's funny, in this business you probably only control about 15% of what you do and where you're going, it all depends on who's moving and what's open. I can't get a job in the NFL if the guy I want to work for never needs a new coach. I might end up in the NFL, it's not really up to me I just have to drive forward with what I want to achieve. I have changed my goals a bit and the NFL is in those goals. But where I do it is not as important is getting it done to me.

You just started with Bryant University, how's that?

I am working for my prep school head coach from 21 years ago so that's great. Marty Fine is Awesome, this is a guy who I have known for 21 years who has had my back , and gives me great advice and he is one of the top people helping me in my coaching career. I don't care who you are, you don't do anything by yourself, you usually need a ton of help to get where you're going.

So now that you have competed in a professional marksmanship competition do you think you will do anymore?

No, absolutely not. I have never been a big competitive shooting guy, in fact I have never been in a shooting competition before Top Shot. I tend to look at things for what they are and the competitive shooting world is a very small world so sometimes you might only be shooting against six or seven guys for your division at nationals. It doesn't have a lot of intrigue for me.

So how often do you shoot in your day to day life?

When I was in New Hampshire I would probably shoot every other day, I could shoot out my back yard in New Hampshire, but now that I am up in Rhode Island at Bryant I can't do that. I haven't shot a gun since the 4th of July. I can shoot, but it is not as big a part of my life as it was when I was growing up.

So do you still own many guns or do you usually use the guns at the range?

I own some firearms, I have some pistols, some survival weapons, some rifles, that kind of stuff. I have a number of guns, but it's less than ten. Every gun has a purpose.

I got a five dollar shotgun from a garage sale that I have had for about ten years. It was a side by side Remington 16 gauge shotgun all rusted out sitting in this barrel the guy had and I asked how much he wanted and he said 5 bucks, so I cleaned it up and it works great.

I want to talk about your art a little bit, so you think it would surprise people that you are an artist?

Yeah, it always surprises people. I started when I was in 2th grade in Washington. Living in Washington there is a couple huge factors growing up, Art and science are really big in Washington so every school has an art studio.

My father, who has since passed, was a big artist so it's in my genes. People who meet me don't usually know me that well, so it surprises them to find out I have this capacity.

What is your favorite thing you have made

When I was in fifth grade I made this cookie jar. It was tall and had this nice top on it, but I made the opening too small so you couldn't really get your hand in there. A few months later my grandfather, who had basically raised me passed away and my grandmother came over one day a few weeks later for dinner, and she asked if she could use it for my grandfather's urn for his ashes. Little did I know three months earlier when I was making it that it would be my Grandfather's urn. So I gave it to my grandmother, she put my grand father in there and we got to throw his ashes out of a plane over Washington. It was a little different but that's my favorite piece I have made.

Do you ever try and sell your artwork or is it for personal pleasure that you do it?

Yeah, I've sold some of the helmets I have made, and I have sold some ceramic stuff too. It depends, I have a couple pieces that I am making right now to hang on the wall that are very ornamental. I have sold some stuff but there is no way I could supplement my income with art. I sell some stuff but it is not something I do just to sell.

Do you ever still tinker around with science stuff?

Yeah, I am always doing something with science. I have been working on replicating some of Tesla's experiments from the early 1900's involving rotating magnetic fields, using AC power to make solid state magnets that rotate in six axises. I built a machine that can separate Hydrogen from Oxygen using electrolysis for my 1963 Galaxy to boost it's gas mileage. Science is always there somehow.

Last summer I built an incubator with a self regulating temperature gauge and hatched 19 snapping turtles from the mom I found in my driveway. All my players at New Hampshire got Snapping turtles, and when I left NH last year we released them back into the wild. So yeah I always have something going on with science.

Last personal question, Do you have any kids?

I have my first kid arriving in November.

Congratulations. So let's move into the Top Shot stuff, my first question, is Colby that loud in person?

(Laughs) No, Colby is cool. When we are up there shooting you can't really hear him that much even though he's only like ten feet away. We have earplugs in and the show uses really good mics so they pick up everything he says. There is like 17 mics of the best quality around there so they pick up everything. If you weren't shooting you could hear him though. When your on the bench he's no more than ten feet away.

So were you a fan of the first two seasons?

Yeah, I liked the first two seasons of Top Shot, I though it was a cool opportunity to go on and shoot guns.

So what pushed you to try out for season three?

I sent them a message saying I was a good shot, Navy Seal and Football Coach and I wanted to come on there and destroy the competition on their show. I originally wanted to be on season 2 but it was right in the middle of coaching season, so after they got done shooting season 2 I got the call to come out and try out for the show.

So this didn't affect your coaching schedule?

Well I had just left NH and had a few moths after filming ended to be with my wife and get my house in order, then I got the call about this job. So it all worked out just fine

What was it like the first day to find out teams were chosen based on the winners and losers from the first competition?

I thought it was funny actually because to me that would be the worst way to divide up a team. I would have to be on the winning team.

So what were your expectations going into the show?

My expectation was that it was a competition. You quickly find out that when TV is involved it is more of a TV show than a competition.

So you think Editing makes a big difference?

Absolutely editing makes a difference. You only get to see 42 minutes each week out of a 43 hour of filming.

A few of the course have been designed after military training courses, did that give you an advantage?

Yeah, it gave me an advantage, obstacle course didn't give me an advantage but things like the logs. So the first episode I think we had an advantage. I think it made a difference having me and Mike Hughes having both done training and sort of leading the team. We got our order down and who was going to shoot when. All the little things that allowed us to not lose a competition made the difference. It's funny because the first few episodes you see the red team laughing at us practicing and then they started doing it behind our backs.

So what has been your favorite competition so far that we have seen?

I don't know If I had one

What about least favorite?

The 1875 pistol. I had taught myself a certain way to shoot a pistol and I had to adjust my style

If you took your name out of the mix who would you say is the best shooter in the house from what you saw?

Probably Jarrett, Then Dustin, Then probably Gary, With Mike Hughes being in there somewhere. There were some cats on there who just couldn't shoot.

We were trying to keep Michael Marelli around by talking to the Red team about how good he was and what a great shooter he was so the Red team wouldn't vote him off, when really he didn't hit much of anything. In fact I gave him some tips on the Gatling gun prior to his elimination challenge just to try and keep him around.

So did you ever get along with Michael during the show or was it pretty tense the whole time?

There was no tension between me and Michael. He was the house clown and it was all me giving him Sh*t, it was never him giving me any. He might have been tense a little bit, but it wasn't a two way street

They showed him getting upset when you came back from Elimination, how did that make you feel?

It was kind of funny, there was the whole chalk thing on the house and I signed my last name on it prior to the elimination challenge I just came back from last week on the show.

So who did you get along with best?

Paul, the guy I sent home, I got along with him pretty well, Billy was awesome, Jarrett was cool too. Mike Hughes and I got along, I pretty much got along with everybody except Sara who went home early and Dustin.

How did being cut off from the outside world affect you?

It sucked, you don't have any books, Internet or phone. You're not allowed to leave the house so it was a lot of working out, a lot of wasting time. I wish I could have brought like 100 books, I would have been a lot better off.

Did you keep in touch with anybody?

I keep in touch with a lot of them. I talked to Mike Hughes Today, I talked to Jarrett Grimes last night, I just had dinner with Pauly about two weeks ago when I drove through Jersey. Mike Marelli actually hit me up on Facebook the other day.

So a lot of the tension on the show wasn't as bad as it seemed?
 

It depends. When they showed me getting voted into elimination on some hogwash I made it seem like I was a lunatic, but that was all calculated. I wanted to shake up the house, I wasn't going to be like Kelly from season 1 or Jamie from Season 2 where they just kept voting me into elimination because they don't like me. I wanted them to think if they voted me into elimination “Do I really want to deal with this”. A lot of these guys had never been on TV before, there wasn't any TV glamor going for me, but some of them would do what they had to do to stay on TV. I wanted to come on here and up my exposure in Football so the last thing I was going to do was sit there and not say anything. They would do there interviews and not say anything and they wouldn't have anything to use and put them on TV.

For the most part I got along with most of them though. I didn't get along with everybody but that's just how it is.

Some people have been drawing comparisons to you and George from season 2, is that a fair comparison?

Yeah, that's a fair comparison. We have similar background and he saw through the BS like I did.

Last week you got to work with Iain Harrison from season 1, how was that?

It was cool, Iain gave me some tips while we were out there. He told me I needed to treat this like SERE (Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape) school. He helped me through a tough spot on the show, he helped me get through some of the BS that was going on.

What about Jerry Miculek, he is a legend in the shooting world and you got to train with him, how was that?

I would say Jerry was the coolest trainer we had because he really seemed to know what he was talking about. That was his gun, he designed it, so it was interesting. He is a cool dude, he has done a whole lot and Cliff is the only person who has beaten him in the last fifteen years. So it was a surprise to see Michael pick Cliff to go against.

Last week you guys said you didn't have a game plan going into the challenge, do you think it contributed to the loss?

Absolutely. It was frustrating but at some point my team decided not to practice anymore and it affected the whole team. Me and Mike Hughes wanted to practice but no one wanted to so no one practiced and we had a little bit of a game plan but not as much as the previous weeks.

We only have a limited number of rounds in practice so when Mike Hughes wanted to pop off more shots I wasn't going to have it. You only see the bad stuff so I am the villain and I am fine with that.

Now Billy had to leave the competition due to his wife's pregnancy having some issues, how did that affect the team going into the challenge?

It's weird, we talked about it. Billy got the call shortly after Paul went home and it probably affected the team to lose two people that close together. Luckily Billy went home and had a baby boy and he and his wife are doing good.
 

That's good to hear that they are doing well. Now, you made the corner shot challenge look easy, did it surprise you to win by a large margin?

I though it would probably be a 4 or 5 second difference, but I picked Pauly because he is a cop and cops train to only use their gun if they absolutely have to. They only squeeze when they are absolutely sure so it has a tendency to make cops more methodical when they shoot, and I picked Paul for that reason because I thought I had a better chance against him than Billy.

I think the hat I had on made it easier to see the screen because the sun made it really hard to get your sights on that gun

What did you spend your bass pro shop gift card on?

I haven't even spent it yet, but I will probably buy a Remington 700 or something like that.

Were there any eliminations that looked so fun that you were jealous you didn't get to compete in them?

Nope, my goal was not to go to elimination, I have sawed down trees with M60's and used explosives to blow stuff up so they didn't have anything on there that I haven't gotten to do before.

You mentioned in the last episode having lost part of a pinky finger in an accident, how did you end up on the station that used a pinky to fire a gun?
 

(Laughs) Obviously I didn't end up shooting it that well because I didn't hit the first target and sat back down

Was it a team decision or did you volunteer for that station?

Well Dustin and Alex were shooting really well on the rifle, and the only person who was going to do something crazy like a blindfolded shot was Mike. So I knew I wasn't the best person for the pinky shot but I wasn't going to go and jump on a rifle because it suited me better so I felt to help the team out I would bite the bullet. As soon as I squeezed the trigger I knew I wasn't going to hit the target, but it was all very calculated.

Did you think you were going back to elimination after missing the shot

Honestly I didn't think we were going to lose that challenge. I though it could come down to the end but when you could see Cliff start shooting and his mechanics were all wrong I knew we were going to win.

When Cliff came back from elimination and you knew Michael Marelli was gone how did you feel?

I was a little sad, I say that because Mike Marelli basically wore a blue jersey the whole show, it felt like we lost our inside guy in the red team.

Do you feel that you have been portrayed accurately on the show.

Well you only get to see ten percent of what is going on so that is not me or who I am, but a lot of what you see was calculated. I talked the first few episodes about psychological warfare and I tried to use that the whole time I was on the show. But no, that's not me you are seeing on the show.

Do you read what people have been writing about you on-line?

I am on the show for exposure so I have to know what's being said about me. I read all the stuff. I have got a friend who made a comment to me about how a comment I posted on the Top Shot page got 8 times the amount of comments that they normally get.

There was a comment on there saying “If you could say one thing to Jake what would it be?” and it had like 800 responses when they typically get 100.

What were some of the comments?

All sorts of craziness. It's a bunch of armchair quarterbacks. I understand where they are coming from, but they are gonna have the audacity to talk about my Navy Seal career so they don't mean anything to me, they have no effect on me.

Would you have changed anything about your time on the show?

No, not at all.

Can you give us any details on what's coming up?

Well you saw in the preview we have the bow and arrow challenge next week, and I have been shooting along bow since I was five so I will let you see how I did. I have four bows so I shoot a bow about as much as I shoot guns. I shot a bow and arrow every day when I was a kid so you don't want to be standing in front of me with a bow and arrow. There are stereotypes and I try to break those down. It's the same thing with my Art, the science and my business degree.

If you could pick one thing the viewers of the show could remember you by what would it be

Oh man they're gonna remember me being the asshole. I don't really care how they remember me as long as they remember me. It's better to be remembered than forgotten.

Can you leave us with a Jake Zweig quote?

“I have the innate ability to do the impossible consistently”

After we had finished the questions, Jake and I talked for a little while longer and he shared another story with me that he said I could share about his Naval Academy Ring.

So while I was on your face book I saw a black ring, what was that?

I was at the naval academy and I wanted a ring different from anybody else's, and in true fashion I wanted things my way. I wanted an all black ring with a skull and cross bones. In the skull the eye has a diamond and there is a knife in his mouth with the cross bones below.

I went to the jeweler in town and paid for the custom artwork in the ring. When the Commandant wanted to see it I told him I had lost it because as soon as I got it I sent it home to Washington because I knew there would be hell to pay for it, so no one ever saw until after I was out of the academy

It's funny too because every once in awhile one of my mentees at the Naval Academy will catch wind of an all black naval academy ring and it's an urban legend out there that it exists, when really it's just the ring I had made.

Right now, there isn't a major program in place that is safe from the NCAA. They are targeting anyone and everyone that might have made some mistakes. The dirty little secret in college football is agent activity and what did and didn't coaches and Universities know. 

The Reggie Bush case set the precedent and now the NCAA is looking at just about everyone.  Florida, South and North Carolina, Alabama are just a few schools that the NCAA has on their radar.

We don't know a lot of details yet, but in the Florida case one player could have taken $100K between the SEC Championship game and The Sugar Bowl last year. If this turns out to be accurate: Congratulations to the University of Cincinnati on not getting blown out by Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators last January.

Even Jim Harbaugh could be next for his Twitter activity regarding recruits. As you know, head coaches can't talk about recruits until they sign an LOI. Jim could be using some type of twitter "code" to break that rule.

If your not keeping score at home.  Here is the following NCAA activity in the last couple of weeks:

• USC AD Out , replaced by Rhodes Scholar and NBC Notre Dame analyst Pat Haden.  (On a side note, I'm not sure I have ever seen a person needed to get fired more then Mike Garrett who took a blind eye to just about everything).  USC is also sending Reggie's Heisman Trophy back.  These are clear signs that USC is trying to "clean up"  for the appeal process. I wonder if Pat Haden is a Lane Kiffin supporter?  Of course we know that Lane was at USC when all the trouble was happening. 
• North and South Carolina investigations
• Florida and it's $100K case
• Alabama player at an agents party.

How does that miss filing of paperwork/forms and few minutes of stretching look now?  Not very serious if you ask me. Yes, Michigan made some mistakes but the above crimes seem to be much more serious. I'm guessing next month Michigan - NCAA meeting will go as follows.  

NCAA : I have seen all the paperwork on your internal investigation and your self imposed penalties.  You have done some nice work here.

David Brandon: Thank You.

NCAA:   We agree with your self imposed sanctions and even feel they are a little over the top.  But if you think that's what you deserve.  Let's go with that . 

David Brandon: OK.

NCAA : Were really busy with the SEC and Agent stuff right now, so can we wrap this up?

David Brandon: Sure.  

NCAA : Done, we officially accept your self imposed sanctions.  Want to get a Starbucks?

David Brandon:   Sure, how about a pizza too?

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Now on to some News and Notes:

• On a sad note it looks like Darryl Stonum hasn't been living up to his DUI probation and spent a couple of days in jail last month. I'm guessing he will be spending a bunch of time running during fall practice and even miss the UConn game.  (caution Freep link)

• Want some PC Wallpaper of Michigan's Schedule?  Here is some great work . Enjoy them. 

• I think we are all worried on how Michigan will start the season against a good UConn team . This mogblog contributor, did some research on how the Huskies did last year against spread teams.  The big thing that "popped" out to me was that UConn gave up 711 total yards to Cincinnati last year.  I am now a "little less" worried if our defense can make some stops.

• It seems Michigan is making sure guys are qualified before they get offered.  One example is 3 star Muskegon DE Damon Knox.  He has been told by the Michigan coaches that if he gets his work done in the classroom there will be a spot for him at Michigan.  Currently, Damon has one written offer from Ball State.  Damon spent some time at Michigan's camp this summer and impressed the Wolverine coaches.  He is 6'5 265 and known for his Bull Rush. 

Louis Oosthuizen grew up in Mossel Bay, South Africa playing on a links course in the city in the southernmost cape of the country that featured 94 pot-bunkers and constant wind. St. Andrews, the setting for the British Open, has felt just like home for the 27-year-old. And not surprisingly, the comfort, coupled with his brilliant play off the tee and steadiness everywhere else, translated to a moment he will never forget.

He entered the final round with a four-shot lead over Englishman Paul Casey, and would have to deal with a right to left wind for the front-nine’s entirety. He pushed the conditions to the wayside, striping drive after drive down fairway after fairway. He was unflappable. His mentor is Ernie Els, whom he has emulated his fluid swing after, but his idol is Tiger Woods. He admires Woods' ability to handle the pressure.

And he took after him, possessing the mindset of a champion.

Casey couldn’t put him on his toes early, which, in turn, calmed his nerves. That is, if he had any nerves to calm. Instead of watching Casey put pressure on him, he put pressure on Casey. He did all he could to force his counterpart to keep up with him. He rattled off seven straight pars to begin his round, playing mistake-free and seemingly thinking of this round as if it was just another day on the course.

He made it look easy. He was beyond impressive. And Casey just couldn’t keep up.

Casey bogeyed the second hole, but acquired that stroke right back with a birdie on the sixth. He was right back where he started, with only 14 holes with which to work. There was still time, but any chance he had was soon crushed.

Oosthuizen bogeyed the eighth hole, his first anomaly in 25 holes. He made up for this hiccup in a big way, stroking his drive on the par-four, 352-yard ninth hole hole-high, but 50-feet away from the pin. It was a relatively straight putt despite its distance, and Oosthuizen read it beautifully and rolled it in. A four-shot lead, just as they began. A eagle that all but did in Casey, who managed to birdie.

Casey was soon out of it for good, cooked by his own troubles and Oosthuizen’s amazingly steady play continued. He triple-bogeyed the twelfth hole. Oosthuizen birdied. A four-shot swing. And Louis wouldn’t look back.

As nearly every ESPN announcer said during and after the final round, he was like a surgeon. He picked his spots, hit his targets, and played some of the most composed and efficient golf that the game has ever seen. The wind was nothing to him. The deep bunkers never came into the play. He was in the fairway all week, and when he was in the rough, his flawless swing turned presumed difficulty into pars and birdies.

He didn’t hit a bad shot all day. Shooting over-par and succumbing to the circumstances would spell doom, but he didn’t find himself in any trouble. He nailed drives down the fairway time after time. He did just what he needed to, playing as perfectly as one can given what was at stake.

He missed the cut in his last two European tournaments, including just last week at the Scottish Open. He missed the cut in the seven of his previous eight major championships. He was given 200-1 odds at winning at the start of the tournament. To even afford golf clubs when he was younger, he needed help from the Ernie Els Foundation.

He came out of nowhere to blow away the field, to live a dream he “will cherish for life,” to win the 139th British Open.

As we close in on March, and fantasy playoffs, it’s a good time to evaluate the power rankings at each position in the NBA. We have now passed an active trade deadline that impacted a number of teams and players, as we have already seen in our Point Guard Power Rankings ,  Shooting Guard Power Rankings  and Small Forward Power Rankings . Now, let’s look at the power forwards.

As we’ve seen at other positions, there is some overlap in these rankings with other positions. In this group, there are some players that might be considered centers as well as some that would be considered more of a small forward, making the stats in the group fairly wide ranging. Generally, though, power forwards are asked to score, rebound and block shots. Most of these top 20 do that… a lot.

Here’s our Top 20 Power Forwards entering March:

1. Chris Bosh , Toronto – 24.5 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.1 bpg

2. David Lee , New York – 20.3 ppg, 11.5 rpg, 3.5 apg, 1.0 spg

3. Pau Gasol , LA Lakers – 17.2 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 3.5 apg, 1.8 bpg, .810 FT%

4. Amare Stoudemire , Phoenix – 21.5 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 1.0 apg, 1.0 bpg, .549 FG%

5. Dirk Nowitzki , Dallas – 24.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.1 bpg

6. Carlos Boozer , Utah – 19.5 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.1 spg

7. Zach Randolph , Memphis – 20.4 ppg, 11.7 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.0 spg

8. Al Horford , Atlanta – 13.8 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.2 bpg, .562 FG%

9. Tim Duncan , San Antonio – 19.1 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 3.1 apg, 1.7 bpg

10. Gerald Wallace , Charlotte – 19.0 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.6 spg, 1.2 bpg

11. Joakim Noah , Chicago – 10.8 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.6 bpg

12. Josh Smith , Atlanta – 15.6 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.6 spg, 2.1 bpg

13. LaMarcus Aldridge , Portland - 17.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.0 apg

14. Lamar Odom , LA Lakers – 10.3 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 3.5 apg, 0.9 spg

15. Rashard Lewis , Orlando – 14.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.1 spg, .396 3-pt %

16. Kevin Garnett , Boston – 14.2 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 2.8 apg, 0.9 spg, 0.9 bpg, .810 FT%

17. David West , New Orleans – 18.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, .856 FT%

18. Troy Murphy , Indiana – 13.7 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 2.0 apg, 0.9 spg, .373 3-pt%

19. Taj Gibson , Chicago – 8.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.2 bpg

20. Jeff Green , Oklahoma City – 14.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.1 spg, .8 bpg

Sleeper Specials

Hakim Warrick, Chicago

Kevin Love, Minnesota

Wild Card!

Antawn Jamison, Cleveland – he was having a solid season in Washington, but his role and scoring load could be inconsistent next to LeBron. Owners beware.

Sell, Sell, Sell

Marcus Camby, Portland

Luis Scola, Houston

Tyrus Thomas, Charlotte

As we close in on March, and fantasy playoffs, it’s a good time to evaluate the power rankings at each position in the NBA. We have now passed an active trade deadline that impacted a number of teams and players, as we have already seen in our Point Guard Power Rankings and Shooting Guard Power Rankings. There wasn’t as much movement at Small Forward at the deadline, and the King is still on his throne, but there are some names you should know before playoffs begin.

Because of the number of players on this list that will be free agents this summer, the contract push could play a big role in their individual performances down the stretch. Always keep an eye on players with expiring deals when we get into March, because as Neil Diamond once said, “Money talks.”

What makes ranking small forward intriguing is the multiple position availability, making this group incredibly diverse. At shooting guard, there were players that were eligible at either point guard or small forward as well, but the statistics put up by any of those three positions are going to be relatively similar. But the differences between a player like Joe Johnson, who’s also SG eligible, and Gerald Wallace, also PF eligible, are pretty obvious.

Here are the Top 20 small forwards as we enter March.

1. LeBron James, Cleveland – 29.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 8.5 apg, 1.6 spg, .97 bpg

2. Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City – 29.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.4 spg, 0.9 bpg

3. Carmelo Anthony, Denver – 29.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.2 spg 

4.  Gerald Wallace, Charlotte – 19.0 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.6 spg, 1.2 bpg

5. Josh Smith, Atlanta – 15.6 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.6 spg, 2.1 bpg

6. Andre Iguodala, Philadelphia – 17.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 5.8 apg, 1.9 spg

7. Joe Johnson, Atlanta – 21.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.1 spg

8. Rudy Gay, Memphis – 20.0 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.9 apg, 1.4 spg, .8 bpg

9. Danny Granger, Indiana – 22.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.6 spg, .9 bpg

10. Luol Deng, Chicago - 18.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.0 spg, .9 bpg

11. Caron Butler, Dallas – 16.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.4 spg

12. Paul Pierce, Boston – 17.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.2 spg, .851 ft%

13. Stephen Jackson, Charlotte – 21.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.9 apg, 1.8 spg

14. Corey Maggette, Golden State – 20.3 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.5 apg

15. Jeff Green, Oklahoma City – 14.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.1 spg, .8 bpg

16. Vince Carter, Orlando – 16.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.9 apg, .846 ft%

17. Rashard Lewis, Orlando – 14.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.1 spg, .396 3-pt %

18. Andrei Kirilenko, Utah – 12.3 ppg, 4.6 apg, 2.8 apg, 1.4 spg, 1.3 bpg

19. Michael Beasley, Miami – 15.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.0 spg

20. Danilo Gallinari, New York – 13.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.6 apg, .9 spg, .387 3-pt %

Sleeper Specials:

John Salmons, Milwaukee – 13.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.3 spg, .384 3-pt %

Wilson Chandler, New York – 15.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.0 apg

Omri Casspi, Sacramento – 11.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.4 apg, .385 3-pt %

Time to Sell:

Jason Richardson, Phoenix – 15.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.8 apg

Trevor Ariza, Houston – 15.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 3.7 apg, 1.7 spg

Hedu Turkoglu, Toronto – 12.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.3 apg

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We are pleased to announce our website re-design, and in some way, a re-launch. There has been plenty of bumps in the road, along with some distractions, but we are pleased to set the foundation of Basketball.org with this newly designed layout.

For those of you who don’t know, Basketball.org’s mission is to be an online community dedicated to enhancing the abilities of basketball players, teams, and coaches worldwide through the use of innovative technology.

With the new design, players, coaches, and parents have the best resources available online to learn the Skills of basketball (Shooting, Passing, Rebounding, Defense), while we are also providing Basketball Drills to help improve players and teams.

All of our content is provided and approved by our resident expert, George Irvine , who has coached, played with, and coached with some of the top basketball minds and players this great sport has seen. All of this content will be released on a weekly and/or bi-weekly basis, and we encourage you to sign up for a FREE monthly newsletter to get these updates directly to your email inbox.

In addition to the instructional skills and drills that we are providing to players and coaches, we are releasing a “Court Finder” powered by the location check-in app company Foursquare . Here you can find a basketball court and games near you and see pertinent information on the court, how it is rated, videos, pictures, and much more. If you are a member of Foursquare, you can even see who is currently playing at the court. If we do not have your court (which we probably don’t yet), please please submit the court to us and we will post it.

Basketball.org is extremely excited about the future of our site and we know it is only going to improve over time with the excellent content that is to be released, along with plenty of community building functionalities. We understand that we can not achieve our mission without the help of our user base and we strongly encourage any and all feedback . Thanks and enjoy the new site!

For the first release on the new Basketball.org, former NBA coach and player George Irvine discusses the proper way to shoot a basketball.

Irvine has coached many great shooters, including Reggie Miller, Chris Mullin, BJ Armstrong, and Byron Scott, to name a few, and he has developed a keen sense of what makes you a great shooter—being fundamentally sound.

When teaching younger players (or players from all ages), it is pertinent to understand the basics and make sure the fundamentals are second nature in a player’s game. These articles take you step by step on how to create the proper foundation for shooting, then how to expand your skills to take you to the next level.

In addition to the shooting skill articles, we are releasing three basketball shooting drills (Mikan Drill, Shooting Consistency, Two-Man Shooting) that help players improve their shooting stroke. All of these drills are “NBA Coach Certified”; therefore, you know that these drills will help you improve your game.

In order to make you and this Web site better, please do not hesitate to contact us with any and all questions.

Basketball Shooting Skills Articles:	New Basketball Shooting Drills:
Basketball Shooting Layups Basketball Shot Jump Shot vs. Set Shot	Mikan Drill Shooting Consistency Two Man Shooting

As we close in on March, and fantasy playoffs, it’s a good time to evaluate the power rankings at each position in the NBA. We have now passed an active trade deadline that impacted a number of teams and players, as we have already seen in our Point Guard Power Rankings . Some of the shooting guards making these power rankings weren’t even considered a couple months ago, while others have seen their stock drop because of added depth on their depth chart.

Perhaps the biggest wild card when ranking the shooting guards moving forward is Tracy McGrady. In very limited action for the Knicks, he’s looked as healthy as we’ve seen him in years, but still needs to find his niche in the Knicks’ offense (is there one?). Meanwhile, players like Kevin Martin and Trever Ariza are now splitting time in a crowded Houston back court.

We’ll see a couple names doubled over from the point guard rankings because of eligibility. Here are the power rankings or shooting guards. 

  1. Kevin Durant , Oklahoma City – 29.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.4 spg, 0.9 bpg

2. Joe Johnson , Atlanta – 21.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.1 spg, .372 3-pt %

3. Dwyane Wade , Miami – 26.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 6.4 apg, 1.8 spg, 1.1 bpg

4. Kobe Bryant , LA Lakers – 28.0 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.6 apg, 1.7 spg

5. Monta Ellis , Golden State – 25.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 5.4 apg, 2.2 spg

6. Andre Iguodala , Philadelphia – 17.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 5.8 apg, 1.9 spg

7. Paul Pierce , Boston – 17.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.2 spg, .851 ft%

8. Brandon Roy , Portland – 22.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 4.8 apg, 1.0 spg

9. Tyreke Evans, Sacramento – 20.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 5.3 apg, 1.5 apg

10. Kevin Martin , Houston – 19.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.1 spg

  11. Tracy McGrady, New York – 26 pts, 4 reb, 5 ast in 1 gm w/ Knicks

12. Stephen Jackson , Charlotte – 21.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.9 apg, 1.8 spg

13. Stephen Curry, Golden State – 15.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 5.1 apg, 1.9 spg, .417 3-pt %, .880 ft%

14. Eric Gordon, LA Clippers – 17.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.1 spg, .364 3-pt %

15. OJ Mayo , Memphis – 17.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 3.1 apg, 1.3 spg, .390 3-pt %

16. Vince Carter , Orlando – 16.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.9 apg, .846 ft%

17. Josh Howard , Washington – 12.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.4 apg

18. Manu Ginobili , San Antonio – 13.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.6 apg, .852 ft%

19. Ben Gordon , Detroit – 15.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 0.7 spg

20. Jason Richardson , Phoenix – 14.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.9 apg, 0.9 spg

Sleeper Specials:

Anthony Morrow, Golden State – 12.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg, .896 ft%, .452 3-pt %

John Salmons, Milwaukee – 13.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.3 spg, .384 3-pt %

Time to Sell:

Trevor Ariza, Houston – 15.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 3.7 apg, 1.7 spg

Ray Allen, Boston – 16.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.8 apg, .892 ft%

Richard Hamilton, Detroit – 18.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 4.7 apg, .865 ft%

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In my last post I went through the five best point guards in the NBA today. I've decided to make this into somewhat of a mini-series in which I will outline the best players at each position in the league.

Today that position will be Shooting Guard.

A good shooting guard is someone that can stretch the floor, keep the opposing defense honest, and also create points for himself. The best shooting guards, however, are always a scoring threat, can create shots for themselves, and can absolutely take control of the game.

1. Kobe Bryant

Bryant is arguably the most dominant player in basketball today.

He can beat you in a variety of ways, he'll post you up, blow by you, hit a pull up jumper, or hit a three-pointer if you give him an open shot.

Kobe has netted four game winners this year: a pull up over Ray Allen, a last second three-pointer, a running bank shot three-pointer against the Heat, and a fade away jumper against the Bucks.

Kobe is averaging 28 points, 4.6 assists, and 5.4 rebounds per game showing how his versatility. 

As a 12 time All-star, a four-time NBA Champion, a two-time scoring title champion, and a seven-time All-first team All-NBA Defender, The Black Mamba has built quite the resume.

2. Dwayne Wade

The Flash is one of the most electric and exciting players in the NBA. He can blow by any defender at any point in the game and he can finish in the lane with any of the bigs.

Wade is a freakish athlete with an incredibly quick first step and a great pull up jump shot.

He is the 2009 scoring champion, 2006 NBA Champion and Finals MVP, and a six-time All-star. He is still a rising star, but you have to wonder how many times he can bounce back up after the beating he takes. Hopefully D-Wade will fall down seven times and get up eight for a very long time.

3. Brandon Roy

Brandon Roy is one of the most underrated players in basketball today.

He is averaging 23.1 points, 5 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game. With a great ability  to get to the basket and finish, Roy is shooting just over 35 percent from three-point line, showing that he is completely capable from hitting a shot anywhere on the court.

Roy can also pull up off the dribble as well as the first guards on this list.

Roy was the 2007 rookie of the year and a three time NBA all-star, look for his number of all-star appearances to sky rocket in the future as his scoring has improved every year he's been in the league.

4. Joe Johnson

Joe Johnson is the leading scorer on a up-and-coming Atlanta Hawks team that could make a deep run into the playoffs.

Averaging 21.9 points 4.7 assists and 4.7 rebounds game, Johnson has seen his stats take a huge rise since moving from the Suns to the Hawks. He has become the go to scorer on a team full of talented guys. He can get to the hoop with ease and hit a jump shot with a hand in his face.

Johnson is a four-time NBA All-star and will more than likely to continue to make appearances in that game.

5. Monta Ellis

The 6' 3" Monta Ellis is showing that for his size he can score as good as anyone in the game.

Ellis has a freakishly good crossover and a tendency to make his defenders look absolutely silly. He can get to the lane and go up and above many shot blockers in the league.

If Ellis could develop a good jump shot and a better three point shot—he only shoots 30 percent from the three-point line for his career—he would become absolutely unstoppable.

Ellis, however, will also need to start taking care of the ball because he is averaging 4.2 turnovers per game.

Ellis was the 2006-2007 most improved player of the year and has continued to improve ever since exploding on the scene. If you catch Ellis on the right night you could see him go off for 40 points in an electrifying performance.

Honorable Mention: Andre Iguodala, Manu Ginobili, Stephen Jackson

Also Check Out: http://bleacherreport.com/users/246119-kyle-crawford