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Masters
And they’re off. Anyone else racing — I mean racing, people — to get done with the day’s responsibilities to plop in front of the tube and OD on Masters coverage?
Yeah, me neither.
(Side note: The expanded coverage streaming by Amazon Prime is quite intriguing to me. And know this, people: Amazon is only going to continue pushing chips into the live-sports broadcasting pot. Sooner rather than later, Amazon will be as big as any sports-TV broadcast partner not named ESPN. Which makes all the sports bigwigs smile.)
As for the Masters, I love this event. In the non-college football realm of things, this is a clear 1 for me. Above the Madness. Above the Super Bowl and the Series. NBA Playoffs? P-shaw. I’d watch a final round recap before I’d find anything short of a Game 7 of Finals.
I did a radio show out of Alabama earlier this weekend, and they asked me what makes the Masters so special.
There is the tradition of course. There is the beauty, too. There is the pressure and the prestige. There is so, So, SO much, but I think the springboard to undeniable greatness is one all-important word.
Respect.
And it’s a triangle of respect that is ever-increasingly rare — in sports, business and life — and magnified by its scarcity.
The players respect the event for all the right reasons. The history, the stature, the stakes and the moments.
The members respect the event and safeguard its standards and legacy.
The patrons respect the event for its greatness, its grandeur and its heritage. For Pete Jacobson’s sake, how many gatherings in the world today can you get roughly 50,000 people at a single event — half of whom are likely millionaires — and everyone checks their cell phone at the door.
Moreover, the respect triangle is maintained by those three critical groups and equally shared among those three groups.
Players respect the patrons, members respect the patrons, patrons respect other patrons.
Members respect the players, patrons respect the players, players respect the players — past and present. Heck, even Patrick Reed seems cordial this week.
Patrons respect the members. Players respect the members (look at stories like former major winner Mark Calcavecchia getting booted for rules violations and not saying a bad word about Augusta National). And the members-members relationship is a Skull and Bones kinda brotherhood.
Makes me think of the “Goodfellas” scene. “One day … one day, some the kids in the neighborhood carried my mom’s groceries all the way home. You know why? It was outta respect.”
The Masters, people. A tradition unlike any other that is built on a familiar traditional value that we need to replicate as many times as possible.
NCAA proposal
So, the NCAA bungled everything over the last several decades.
On that we can all agree, right?
Every chance to enforce important rules. Every chance to redirect the narrative. Every chance to lead rather than react. Every chance to govern rather than defer (with fingers crossed) to the courts.
Well, let’s see if this can be a starting point as the NCAA is shaping a five-in-five proposal for eligibility of college athletes. That five-year clock starts at an athlete’s high school graduation or 19th birthday, whichever comes first.
This seems like it should be a foregone conclusion to almost all of us, right?
It seems like a square peg, square hole kinda answer.
But nothing is ever that simple, especially in college sports.
And while I would rather have to work on Chinese trigonometry than ask the federal government for help, the need for protection and cohesion for the NCAA is clear.
This from a CBSsports.com article puts it rather plainly.
“As Scott Schneider, a Title IX and employment attorney, pointed out to CBS Sports during the Charles Bediako lawsuit, there is a ‘real structural problem for how the NCAA is organized.’ Due to the NCAA’s unincorporated association structure, it is technically a citizen in each state where it has a member institution. That makes it vulnerable to state courts that may be more friendly to the local university than the national NCAA organization. As Schneider put it, ‘If I can file a case in a favorable forum, I’m probably going to get a good result.'”
So there’s that.
And yes, the juco issues will need to be ironed out since junior colleges do not fall under the NCAA umbrella.
But can’t we start with the things that feel like they should have baby-step solutions at this point?
Braves update
Hey, the Braves are pretty good.
Yes, the starting pitching is iffy, but the bullpen is solid and the offense is doing work, even if Ronald Acuña apparently thinks the season starts after Tax Day.
Some news to know:
> Drake Baldwin is crushing. Five homers and an MLB-best 15 RBIs to start the season for the Braves catcher and reigning NL Rookie of the Year is awesome sauce.
> Jorge Soler and Reynaldo Lopez each received seven-game suspensions for their punches and brawling the other night in California. OK.
> Speaking of that fight, Walt Weiss’ tackle of Soler has become a social media smash.
We’ll defer to BackupQB, but it was a textbook tackle (other than lowering his head — eyes up, son).
Moreover, it was a moment for the Braves’ first-year manager.
Did you have any kinda feeling of positivity or energy or investment from Brian Snitker over the previous decade(s) that we do right now for Weiss, a martial arts black belt who Chipper Jones says is a bad dude?
And that’s a great thing — and well worth Lopez missing one start.
This and that
> WHAT? Super Tecmo Bowl is back. As trading cards. And yes, I will be on the hunt for the STB Bo Jackson card. Mini Bo Jackson Rushmore: THE Bo Jackson, my dog Bo Jackson (he’ll be 11 next month, which is Spy ancient for a pure-blood English Bulldog), Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson and THE Ohio State RB Bo Jackson. Thoughts?
> Not exactly rules, people, but worth a few minutes between Masters viewing this morning is Paschall catching up with Jason Freier, the Lookouts poohbah as he takes a somewhat subtle victory lap about the upcoming opening of Erlanger Park.
> As for rules, of course Paschall has UT football goodness. Here’s more on the Vols secondary, which figures to be improved from a season ago. At least it dang well needs to be.
> Side softball note: Yes, I now read almost all of the prep softball stuff in the TFP. And yes, I know I overshare, but hey, we’re in this together. Deep in this story about Sequatchie’s rally over Marion County are details about a Lady Indians freshman catcher with four RBIs in the win. Yeah, she’s the travel-team catcher for the Lil’ Miss 5-at-10. They’ve got a chance to be pretty good this summer as long as their goof of a coach can stay out of the way.
> More on the Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini photo-op at an Arizona resort. Both said the photos are harmless. And yes, Ms. Russini is correct, reporters frequently hang out with sources away from the daily duties. In bathing suits, though?
> Yikes. CNN was forced to apologize for publishing a story “Remembering the life of Michael J. Fox.” Yeah, Alex P. Keaton/Marty McFly is still alive.
Today’s questions
Fire away on an AGT — Anything Goes Thursday, as the kids say — and we need a mailbag or two.
As for me, what’s your single favorite big-picture sporting event? (I used big-picture, so no UK hoops for Chas or AU football for me.)
Your turn.
As for today, April 9, let’s review.
Robert E Lee surrendered at Appomattox on this day in 1865.
“All the President’s Men” premiered on this day 50 years ago? Have we done a journalism movie Rushmore before? Because that likely is far left, right?
Go and remember the mailbag.