Spring officially arrived last week as the PGA rolled through Augusta, Georgia and a new Masters champion was crowned. The world descended upon Georgia once again and coverage was again limited while still amazing. Isn’t that what makes the Masters so special though? You only get a few hours per day of coverage, but there are only four minutes or so of commercials every hour so you are packed full of golf once you sit down to watch. It is like the group LMFAO: shot, shot, shot, shot, shot, shot.
And the first two days of coverage set up perfectly for ESPN, who carried the first two days of the season’s first major. On Thursday, defending champion Phil Mickelson was the clear focus of the tournament, especially since first-day leader Rory McIlroy had finished before the day’s coverage began. We the viewers got to moreorless follow the defending champion around the course and see nearly every shot from Lefty. On day two of the coverage, Tiger Woods was the focus as the four-time champion tried to put all of his off-the-course and a few on-the-course demons behind him as he tried to make a move on McIlroy.
I missed “Moving Day” aka the third round as I was actually in Augusta for the weekend rounds but I was able to watch the coverage from Sunday upon my return and I will say that it doesn’t get any better than watching the back nine on television, jumping from hole to hole, seeing nearly every shot. The old saying of “The Masters doesn’t begin until the back nine on Sunday,” was certainly in play this year as leader McIlroy went triple, bogey, double to knock himself out of the tournament in just three holes. Meanwhile how exciting was it to watch a five-way tie for the lead for about twenty minutes. Woods showing flashes of 2002 Tiger for a while before Charl Schwartzel (no that is spelled correctly) finally pulled away from the two Aussies to win it all. The weird thing about Schwartzel beating out Adam Scott and Jason Day and a host of others: the bangwagon nature of the fans. I was walking the grounds, and yes, there were a large number of folks that I ran across that had made the trip from Australia and England, but for all of the roars that I heard every time McIlroy or Scott or even Schwartzel made a shot? Really? America does love a front-runner that is for sure.
For a while it appeared that Tiger Woods would go on to win yet another green jacket, and for ANYONE that thought that the crowds would never return for Tiger, he/she was wrong. The patrons following Tiger were just as strong as the 1997-2005 era when Woods was at his peak. The attitude entering the week also differed greatly in regards to would Woods ever recapture his edge. ESPN’s Rick Reilly wrote he would online and echoed as much on pre-round coverage. Locally, 680 The Fan’s Laurentino said days before the Masters that while Woods might not win, he certainly would win another and would break Jack Nicklaus’ Majors titles record. Conversely, last week on one of the Young Guns shows on 790 The Zone, one of the young guns (sorry, I still cannot tell them apart) boldly claimed that he would never win another because he isn’t sleeping around anymore and he’s lost his edge. He would try to make the point that all of the greatest athletes ever have been shady and jerks off the court, which gave them that “it’s all about me” edge that others didn’t have. He tried to use Wilt, Kobe and MJ as examples. Huh? Woods is single now. I didn’t follow then and I don’t follow now. Woods will be back. You can bank on it. Anyone that says otherwise simply doesn’t know golf.
Last thing about the Masters, how cool is it that EVERY YEAR, the world visits Georgia and always will? I think that is awesome for the state. The US Open, the (British) Open and the PGA also rotate, so it may return to a venue, but it could be years before that happens. Not with Augusta National. They will ALWAYS come back in early April. The course was once again beautiful and I can’t wait to get back there soon. The tour will come back in a Major way this August to Atlanta for the PGA Championship. Golf fans in the state of Georgia are lucky this year. They should take advantage.
I cannot believe it but for the second straight week, I am actually on the side of 680 The Fan’s Perry Laurentino. Laurentino was commenting on a story from CNNSI.com’s “NBA Insider” Sam Amick, who produced a piece about various coaches on the NBA hotseat. The Hawks coach Larry Drew was listed as a coach “Nearing the end?” Here is what Amick said of the Hawks bench general.
First, the obvious knock against the first-year Hawks coach: His team has 44 wins with three games to go after former coach Mike Woodson won 47 games and 53 in the last two seasons, respectively.
And then there is the not-so-obvious sensitive spot: the Josh Smith factor. Drew has been unable to stop the veteran from being a season-long disruption and undermining his position with his other players in the process. Add to that the relative affordability of cutting him loose (he's owed $1.5 million for next season, lockout notwithstanding), and Drew is looking very vulnerable unless he can lead a deep postseason run.
Laurentino commented that perhaps if Smith truly was being a disruption and undermining the coach, perhaps Joe Johnson should be stepping up to quiet down JSmoove. Isn’t that want should be expected of a player with Johnson’s large contract, who is making more money than LeBron James or Chris Bosh? I agree with Laurentino. Isn’t that what some of that money means? If this agreement continues I don’t know what I am going to do with myself.
Can You Believe He Said That
“They are going to have Bobby Cox Relish Night at Turner Field. He’ll be handing out hotdogs.”
That was from Steak Shapiro during “Things I Learned” from earlier this week. I couldn’t tell, but is this bit supposed to be funny? Steak does a great job playing food critic as well as the black hat, but comedy is not his forte. Maybe leave that to the people who are funny aka Nick (mornings) and Bell (afternoons)?
, but why are we so hesitant to call him out on his futile record in the games that matter
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