FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- This is one time Rory McIlroy says he was happy to be mistaken.McIlroy was among the top four players in the world who chose not to play in the Olympics, and the four-time major champion didnt help the cause when he said it was not his role to grow the game and that he would only watch the stuff that matters on television.He did watch the golf -- at least the final hole, when Justin Rose outlasted Henrik Stenson to win golfs first gold medal in 112 years.It pleasantly surprised me, McIlroy said Wednesday at The Barclays. There was more people at the golf events than there was at the athletics. It was good to see, it really was. It seems like it was a great atmosphere down there. I think it was one of the cheaper tickets, as well, and I think that encouraged a lot of people to go.But to see the crowds and see the turnout, I was glad to be somewhat proven wrong.Golf did its part with tickets that cost about $16. It was the only sellout among Olympic venues on Sunday of the mens final round.The Olympics went as expected for Jordan Spieth.He said on the day he withdrew that his decision would loom over him during the Olympics. And he was right.I enjoyed watching the finish to the Olympics, and I wished I was there, Spieth said.He still believes he made the right decision at the time. Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and McIlroy all specifically cited the threat of the Zika virus, while Spieth said he had broader concerns about the Rio Games and that Zika was only a part of it.Spieth tweeted after the mens golf ended that it would be a goal to be in Tokyo in 2020.The potential for regret was going to be there, and it certainly was while I was watching, he said.More than the competition -- Rose and Stenson came down to the 72nd hole, while Matt Kuchar shot 63 to win the bronze -- was the Olympic experience. So when he said that I wished I was there, Spieth was talking about opening ceremony and golfers spending time at other events.Rickie Fowler sent plenty of videos, his way of trying to make the absentees see what they were missing.McIlroy didnt watch much of the traditional sports, either. He was in a cabin in upstate New York that didnt have television or even electricity, but he managed to catch up with golf on the Sunday afternoon when it finished.Johnson was in Idaho with his family, and nothing Fowler shared on social media made him jealous. He was relaxing on the lake and on the course with his family. He did watch the Olympics, just not he golf. Thats not unusual. Most players dont watch golf when they arent playing.I checked the scores on the golf just to see how it was going, but thats about the extent, Johnson said.Golf was different from when tennis first joined the Olympics in that nearly every player supported it from the start, up until uncertainly about Zika, security and other operational issues that planted doubts about the Rio Games.I would have loved to have gone and played, Johnson said. But to me, the risk wasnt worth it. So that was the reason I didnt go. I think it would be a neat experience and a lot of fun, and especially winning a gold medal would be even more fun.Day said he had no regrets. He decided not to go because of his family. His wife wants more children and he stayed home because of the Zika virus. The worlds No. 1 player only watched the final hole of Rose and Stenson, and he didnt watch much else except for Usain Bolt and a swimming relay.He said that Rose told him during a corporate outing earlier this week how many people watched golf who dont ordinary pay attention, just because it was the Olympics. And he already was looking ahead at the next chance.Theres a lot of golf to be played from now until then, Day said. If I can play my way on to that team, that would be fantastic. Cheap Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys . -- Eastern Kentucky thrives off creating havoc for others. Cairo Santos Jersey . But when it comes to determining if Raymond will find a place on the Leafs roster when training camp concludes in a week, well, that decision will ultimately fall to the head coach. http://www.cheapchiefsjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-tamba-hali-jersey . John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead. Spencer Ware Jersey . MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez also will attend the session, which was announced Monday. The league has discussed placing its next two expansion teams in Miami and Atlanta. Reggie Ragland Jersey . Soukalova missed only one target and completed the 15-kilometre course in 40 minutes, 32.6 seconds for both victories in this seasons individual discipline. Darya Domracheva of Belarus was second, 34. ?As we move higher up in #MLBRank -- and arrive at Red Sox slugger?David Ortiz in particular -- one question piques my interest: What would the ranking of the top 100 players of all time look like if we didnt have the designated hitter?Right off the bat, you wonder whether Ortiz gets to have the kind of career that puts him into this conversation. Does his having to play the field -- badly -- handicap his chances at having a career, let alone getting that five-year deal (four plus an option, actually) through 2007-11 that gave him job security while he saw his production dip to .238/.332/.462 in 2009? Maybe, and maybe not. Because what little weve seen from Big Papi afield hasnt been pretty.To put Ortiz at his worst in perspective, among all-time first base/DH types with at least 3,000 plate appearances, Papi has been worth less afield (minus-21.2 dWAR) in terms of career defense-only WAR than all but three men: Willie McCovey, Don Baylor and Frank Thomas. Keep in mind: Defense-only WAR is a counting stat -- contributed in just 277 of more than 2,300 games. Thats historically awful when you put him against the totals of the other all-time baddies in this group.Baylor played almost 1,000 games in the field, many of them with the injured elbow that ultimately forced him to DH, while McCovey spread his defensive impact across 2,300 games in 22 seasons. Well get to the Big Hurt in a moment, but he played almost four times as many games at first base as Ortiz.In short, if not for the existence of the DH, youd have to ask the original Dr. Strangeglove, first-base horror Dick Stuart, to hand over his title. From what little weve had to see, Ortiz could have been the all-time worst regular at first base in the history of the game.If the DH was originally invented more than 40 years ago to give aging or injured stars the opportunity to continue to contribute (and draw fans), Ortiz is something truly different: A man whose ability to contribute was guaranteed by the DH rule, and perhaps only by the DH rule. And when his at-bat-only contributions dipped down around one or two WAR per year in that 2008-10 stretch, if hes also wreaking damage in the infield to erase even that value, would we still get to enjoy his raking at the plate these past few seasons?Its unknowable, but lets be grateful we never saw that brand of DH-less baseball. Of course, Papi isnt the only player in this ranking we should thank the DH rule for. Todays tranche of #MLBRank players includes Thomas, Eddie Murray and Dave Winfield, and how different would their careers be without the outlet of the DH as an opporrtunity to keep kicking in offense?Frank ThomasIf you remember the part of Thomas game that most folks in Chicago would rather forget, you accepted the bad hands and lived in fear that hed be asked to make any throw longer than the flip to first base because of what he could do at the plate.dddddddddddd Fortunately for fans of Frank, he spent 1,310 games at DH against just 971 at first base. He was done as a regular first baseman after 1997, but he played 11 more years in the majors, putting up a .904 OPS with 264 home runs, playing just 131 games at first over that time, and none after 2004.Even if you think he could still play first base without exacerbating the injuries that hampered him in the second half of his career, hes probably long gone before we get to talk about tacking on those last four seasons and 85 homers he hit for the White Sox, Athletics and Blue Jays. Without the DH rule, hes not just out of this ranking, he may not even make it to Cooperstown.Eddie MurrayIn Murrays case, being able to DH gave him the opportunity to get to 500 home runs, because after being the Mets regular first baseman in 1992-93, he played just one game in the field in those final four seasons. They werent great years -- Murray hit a combined .272/.328/.436, with an OPS+ of just 95 -- well below what you want from a DH.But they got him to 504 career blasts and probably pre-punched his ticket to Cooperstown for those who might have forgotten the first decade of his career, when he was among the best players in baseball. Ironically, that career started when he won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 1977 while mostly playing DH, because the job at first belonged to veteran Lee May.Dave WinfieldFinally, while Winfield didnt spend a huge chunk of his career at DH -- he returned to the outfield for two seasons in his comeback from career-threatening back injury that shelved him for all of 1989 -- the opportunity to DH is what put him on the Toronto Blue Jays team that won the first of back-to-back World Series titles in 1992. Since that was Winfields one ring, I suspect hes pretty happy that DH-ing was an option during the tail end of his career.Taking all of that into consideration, Id say its a great (perhaps only) reason to thank former Oakland As owner Charlie Finley for suggesting that the AL adopt the DH back in 1973. Without it, we would not have gotten to enjoy Papi or the Big Hurt for what they could do, without having to endure what they could not. NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys From China NFL Jerseys From China NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys NFL China Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys ' ' '