5-at-10: Friday mailbag on the Masters, the Braves biggest question, “Get Up!” and Rushmores

From a lot of you (and various Masters’ items mixed in)

Favorite hole? Favorite tournament? Favorite story? Favorite this week? Favorite moment? Favorite place to watch on the grounds?

Gang –

We got a slew of Masters questions this week, so we combined them into one.

Before we get to that, we will share a note we got from a good friend from Thursday’s opening round.

“Thursday at the Masters: A friend of mine was there with his wife. They were at 15 for Sergio’s travails. During his third or fourth attempt, as the ball was on the green, rolling, he yells, “get in the hole!” A security guard told him if he did that again he would be removed from the grounds.”

So there’s that.

Hole: All of them, well, except 17. It’s rather forgettable. If you had to peg me down, we’ll go with 12 and 7. Yes all the par-5s are fun. But 12 is amazing and that it’s less than 150 yards and has decided so many tournaments is amazing. As for 7, well, I made birdie there so that has to count for something.

Tournament: 1986 is the default answer for everyone my age and older. And that’s cool. The sneaky best one, believe it or not, was 2011. Rory imploded on the final 9, Tiger finished tied for fourth, right behind Jason Day and Adam Scott and Charl Schwartzel birdied the final four holes to win the thing.

Story: Tangential to Augusta, the legendary story that Honors Course founder Jack Lupton was playing in a big money game at his course in Ooltewah and when a rain storm came in, he and his group got in a plane, flew to Augusta and finished there. Not entirely, 100 percent certain that story is true, but I choose to believe it.

Favorite: Jordan Spieth, but who knows how the first couple of days will play out with Tiger mania. (Late note: Wrote this before Thursday. Swear.) Jordan’s stats there – dude has led or shared after seven of his 17 tournament rounds for Pete’s sake – put him in that Tiger 1997-2005 time frame. If he’s there, he has to be considered a front-runner.

Moment: Tiger’s chip at 16. Was in the media shed at the time and the rippling echoes of that were indescribable. Loudest we’ve ever heard the joint, and that’s saying something.

Place: In this category, you have to have options. Of course Amen Corner is great, but that’s not on our list. the place between 1 tee and 9 green is good. The place between 2 green and 3 tee is excellent. The traffic around 16, which is amazing and all the other quick walk places it allows is pretty sweet too.

Masters contest

Gang, we’ll have them up around lunch.

Sorry about that.

As for this week’s Rushmores:

NCAA men’s hoops title games: 1979 (Bird-Magic), 1983 (Valvano looking to hug someone), Nova-Georgetown in 1985, Nova-UNC from two years ago.
Acting performances/roles in the last 20 years: Ledger as the Joker, Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men, Waltz in Inglorious Bastards and Ed Norton in American History X.

Rushmore of 80s comedians: (And I should have put in there that this was not just stand-up) Murphy, Murray, Chase, Kinison (who had only limited movie experience but his stand-up was that amazing)

Rushmore of Augusta National (non-golf version): Pimento cheese sandwiches, the logo, the patrons, undulations that can not be felt on TV but are undeniable on your first visit.

From Scott

What do you think of Greenie’s new ESPN show?

Scott

Great question.

Personally I like it. My favorite ESPN non-sports entity is the LeBatarde Show with Stugotz, and there’s not a real close second.

But after a few days, if I had to list a second, “Get Up,” the new vehicle with Mike Greenberg, Michele Beadle, Jalen Rose and Booger McFarland, would certainly be in the conversation.

TV sources are reporting that the numbers are dreadful. “Get Up!” drew a 0.24 for its Tuesday show. Debut drew a drew a 0.28 overnight rating and averaged 283,000 viewers on Monday.

It will be here for a while because ESPN pushed a whole lot of chips in this. One thought: Not sure why Booger is there.

Greenberg is excellent. Beadle is a great foil/instigator. I like Jalen Rose. But four people seems like one too many.

Also, Greenberg coming out and saying that the show would be 100 percent sports and no politics did not help. And that’s simply true of every format.

Heck, the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon was crushing everyone in the late-night ratings. Then Trump happened and Colbert’s smart takes surged to the front and Jimmy Kimmel’s fight with the President moved him to a clear No. 2.

Fallon is falling. And he can’t compete in this climate. Heck, a rebooted Roseanne is the No. 1 show on TV because it took a pro-Trump stand.

The lament of ESPN only doing sports is an even more fractured business model than being overly political.



From Mike

Jay, love your show and your column. Keep up the good work.

Did you write anything about the Mets-Phillies game being Facebook only? What are your thoughts?

Mike –

I love this question and the truth of the matter is, this is the first step toward this process not an experiment. (Facebook’s information indiscretions notwithstanding.)

And the big loser here is not only the channels, but the cable providers themselves.

As more and more folks watch on devices and tablets and crave that freedom and flexibility, finding reliable (Stewwie, insert Facebook/reliable joke here) and mobile and with enough power to stream action without interruption will be paramount for younger viewers.

It also will be paramount for leagues who want to stay fun from of younger viewers.

Sweet buckets, it’s hard to believe that baseball – the oldest and stodgiest and most slow of all the sports – is on the cutting edge of presentation in the hand-held world.



From Ron

I think this Braves team is better than you do apparently.

Why are you so down on them and what do you think is the most important issue that must address?

Thanks and keep up the good job you do for the paper and ESPN.

Ron –

The Braves do not have a rotation built for long-term success.

It’s flawed and spotty.

The biggest question for this bunch this year in my view is whether Mike Foltynewicz is a bona fide 1. We think he has the study to be.

And overpowering No. 1. Power breaking stuff. He was operating in the high 90s in his last start against the Nationals and overpowered Bryce Harper, which is saying something this year.

That question is paramount because if Folty can be a true ace, that means Julio Teheran and his flat slider could be a 2 or a 3.

And more importantly it means the Braves can spend monster dollars on a bat in this free agent frenzy. Now they still mayweed to add a starting pitcher or two – especially if Sean Newcomb can’t throw strikes consistently – but if they can add a monster bat to but behind Acuna and in front of Freeman in that order, they could have the best line-up this side of Chicago in the NL.