Masters
Great feedback on the Rushmore of sports venues on Wednesday gang.
(Side point about the first point: Thanks everyone. For making this a small and friendly gathering spot. I know we're not all going to agree on each thing, but the decency around here from the difference viewpoints is awesome. And, not to go all Budweiser Dwyane Wade tribute, in some small ways offers me a little hope for interweb conversations in general.)
So the ball was teed Thursday morning in Augusta.
Moment of silence please. Little more.
That will do.
OK, in addition to the Masters being, well the Masters, here's another talking point. A couple in fact.
First, the fact that the Masters has arguably the coolest clothes line in all of sports is pretty sweet.
Second, it's lingo is second to none.
Fans are patrons.
The course is the grounds.
Tickets are badges.
It's part of the lore and the legend.
Speaking of that, if I started with "A tradition unlike any other" as the bar to top, what moniker for a sports event is better? Fastest two minutes in sports (for the Derby) is pretty sweet, but it's not better.
Masters predictions
OK, couple of house-cleaning Masters items.
I am hoping to post all the entries of the Masterfully Mastering the Masterpiece that is the Masters Challenge before the radio show today. Fingers crossed.
Of course the Par-3 contest was Wednesday, and among the highlights was Sergio Garcia's wife hitting a near perfect shot - with a pretty sweet swing too - and leaving Sergio, the 2017 Masters champ, hanging during the celebration. Good times.
But they are actually golfing their balls as we type. It's on.
Keith Mitchell is even through 2, which is a missed chance considering that the second is a down-hill par 5 that he could easily reach with a good drive.
So let's offer some picks. Not contest picks. Actual picks. (Here's what the ESPN experts have to say on the matter, and man, if I had a sixth pick it likely would have been Molinari. Dude has the feel of being one of those cats who is going to be impossible to shake in these things for a long time, right?)
I'll take Rory to win. Other than Tiger and Keith, I want Rory to win.
I will predict that Tiger is in the mix heading into Saturday but slides back.
I want Sunday to be a star-studded afternoon with Rory and DJ and Francesco and all the bigwigs thrown' haymakers.
Mainly I want the rain to be kind to my viewing habits.
I don't ask for much, but I need this one Mother Nature. C'mon now.
NBA Exits
OK, we referenced the Wade video from Budweiser, and seriously, wow.
Now we see that Dirk was a bubbling mess of emotional Jell-O last night during the introductions at San Antonio.
Hey, they are both great players. First balloters who are NBA champs and among the top handful at their craft.
No, I am not saying Dirk is a top-five power forward - he's close, but not top five - but he is a top-five stretch 4, and more than anyone since Magic made the monster point guard cool, I can argue that Dirk changed the NBA. His skill set at that size as the sport embraced the 3 was emulated as much Jordan's tongue-wagging by players around the globe and embraced and coveted by front office folks everywhere.
Wade is right there among the top-five shooting guards of all-time. The top three are clear to me - MJ, Kobe and The Logo - and after that let the debate begin.
But today's talking is beyond the NBA because over the last 25 years, which athletes were the most connected athletes to their town. Across all sports. Like Jeter in NYC. Brady in Boston. Dirk in Dallas is in the conversation, as is Wade in Miami.
Thoughts?
This and that
- The whole winning-it-all, White House-invite should never have been this difficult. Here's hoping every champion from now on - whether it's Trump or his political opposite in office - follows the almost-perfect example set by Baylor coach Kim Mulkey. Here's her comment when asked about a possible invite to D.C. ""I've been every time for every president," she told the AP at the WNBA draft Wednesday night. "It's not a political issue for me. It's an honor to go to the White House. I want everyone to say they went to the White House. Not many people can say that. I hope [the] Virginia men go and I can meet [coach] Tony Bennett. We were honored when President Bush was in the office. We were honored when Barack Obama was in the office. We'd be honored if Donald Trump invited us. With politics aside, we should go to say we went to the White House."
- Speaking of the NBA, here's the playoff bracket. Not sure how much I'll watch this time around. We'll see but my NBA consumption has dropped exponentially this year. Yes, LeBron's dumpster fire in L.A. is part of that, but so too was the time change.
- Hey we have a few rules around these parts. Just a few. Keep it clean. Remember we try to be a F-O-I-B (family-oriented, interweb-based sports thingy) as possible. Also, place nice. The contests are free to enter. And when Weeds writes college basketball, we read and link Weeds' writing on college basketball. And, like the other rules before it, that one is genderless, so here is TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer on the Lady Vols landing Kellie Harper as the coach to replace the coach who replaced THE COACH.
- We may have to add a college football rule to the list. If TFP college football wizard (is wizard too strong? Would sage be better?) David Paschall updates us on the Auburn quarterback conundrum. (We may not be able to link every Paschall college football article for the simple fact that he writes so many.)
Today's questions
Let's try something new: Top of the head Thursday, where I ask a couple or three question that just pop into the melon during the daily morning coffee-slurpin' keyboard-pounding' breakfast-slinin' lunch-makin' drills.
Saw Randy Quaid's name on the trending topics on Twitter this morning, and naturally I had to click on it. First, if the starting point is Randy Quaid for the name you see trending on Twitter that you 100 percent know is either arrested or dead, who would be next on the totem pole?
Did you know that the best place on a totem pole is the bottom, so if you are atop the totem pole you are the least important?
On this day, April 11, well, let's explore.
It's National Barbershop Quartet Day. Not sure if we have a complete Rushmore of Barbershop Quartets, but we'll start with Homer Simpson and the Be Sharps in the summer of 1985 when a maturing Joe Piscopo left Saturday Night Live and their all-time classic "Baby on Board." We will add the reference from Keyser Soze from Skokie, Illinois.
It's National Eight-Track Day. Man, we haven't seen the last of those puppies. (Kids ask your parents. Or their parents.)
It's also National Pet Day. That's why we have posted a photo of our dog Bo Jackson.
It was 51 years ago today that LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act.
Hey, remember the mailbag, and since this is the last day of the Masters Rushmore week, let's not miss the forest for the trees. Or tees.
If they put a Rushmore out front of the Masters, who makes the Masters Rushmore?
Go.