Pucker Factor
Posted June 21, 2006, 12:39 AM ET

It has been a strange couple of days in the world of sports. We have seen some of the best performers in the world crumble right before our very eyes. It has been incredible to watch it all unfold.

It started on Sunday when the pressure of the U.S. Open brought the world's best golfers to their knees. Phil Mickelson's stupidity on the 72nd hole of our tournament will go down as one of the great folds in major golf history.

It was much more than Mickelson's double bogey on the final hole that lost the Open...the carnage on the final holes collected other world class players like Colin Montgomery, Jim Furyk and Padraig Harrington.

Mickelson's decision-making will be discussed for ages, and it is anybody's guess how he will respond. While Phil tries to figure out what went wrong, Tiger Woods missed the cut and he has his work cut out, too.

One team that did respond to the "Pucker Factor" was the Carolina Hurricanes. It looked like the Canes were on the verge of a monumental collapse when they blew a 3-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals before closing the deal Monday night in Raleigh.

Thank goodness they responded. It would have been brutal to try to live down being only the second team to blow a 3-1 lead in the Cup finals, and the first team to lose a decisive Game 7 at home since 1971.

The Canes played great, and gave us hope that somebody had the guts and courage to win in crunch time without giving it away. The Hurricanes played a tremendous final game and totally dictated policy while claiming Lord Stanley's Cup...and proudly displaying "Redneck Hockey" for the world to see.

Despite the euphoria on Tobacco Road, there were more lousy efforts ahead this week. One took place on the baseball diamond in Omaha, Nebraska. While the UNC Tar Heels remained alive, the #1 seed Clemson Tigers gave another weak effort in college baseball's grand stage.

Clemson was having another terrific year, that was soon followed by another bust in Omaha. Despite an ACC title, 50+ wins and a perfect run in the postseason leading to Omaha...the Tigers were eliminated in the big show in just three games. The Tigers have now made 11 appearances in the College World Series without making it to the championship game. Only Florida State has been as inept in Omaha. Clemson is now 10-22 all-time in the CWS.

Oh, but wait...I'm not done with the "Pucker Factor". The NBA Finals produced a surprising conclusion, too. The Dallas Mavericks easily won the first two games of the series with the Miami Heat, and were up by 13 points with 6 minutes to go in Game 3 at Miami before finding a way to lose. Superstar Dirk Nowitzki had a chance to put it away at the free throw line before missing with less than a few seconds to play.

The trend continued in balmy South Beach in games 4 and 5, allowing the Heat to go up 3-2 heading back to Big D. The Mavs still had home court advantage and all they had to do was hold serve and win their first NBA title.

What was there to worry about? Shaq and Dwayne still hadn't beaten the Mavs in Dallas in years, plus my buddy Mark Cuban had poisoned the marketplace by ripping an inconsistent NBA officiating crew. For the record, Cuban was fined $250,000 for his comments and behavior by NBA blowhard David Stern.

Don't worry about that stuff, though. Cuban is a billionaire, and probably enjoyed the attention. Plus, his Mavs were going to win the next two at home, and the postgame celebration would be a classic when Stern would have to hand over the Larry O'Brien trophy to Cuban in front of a delirious Mavericks home crowd.

I couldn't wait to see what Cuban was going to do in front of a home crowd and a national television audience....it was going to be more entertaining than the series itself.

There was only one problem with this scenario....Pat Riley and the Heat called BS on that game plan and decided to throw a party themselves. The NBA season ended with Shaq winning his fourth title and Dwayne Wade putting his stamp on superstardom with his first world championship.

For Cuban it was a lousy day and ending to what looked to be the start of something big. If it makes him feel any better, the Clemson Tiger baseball team and Phil Mickelson could feel his pain.

By the way, don't get me started with the USA soccer team, but if they lose to Ghana on Thursday......

The "Pucker Factor" is alive and well.