5-at-10: Happy birthday 'Murica, LIV golfers' legal approach, Braves bankable balance

FILE - Ian Poulter watches his shot off the sixth tee during the third round of the Dell Technologies Match Play Championship golf tournament March 25, 2022, in Austin, Texas. Poulter and two other players who signed up for the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series are allowed in the Scottish Open this week. That is after they won a stay Monday, July 4, 2022, from a British court. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
FILE - Ian Poulter watches his shot off the sixth tee during the third round of the Dell Technologies Match Play Championship golf tournament March 25, 2022, in Austin, Texas. Poulter and two other players who signed up for the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series are allowed in the Scottish Open this week. That is after they won a stay Monday, July 4, 2022, from a British court. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

Happy birthday day America

I went to bed wondering two things:

- Man, can we trust Will Smith in leverage moments late in games (yes, he was amazing in the playoffs last year, and that earns him the benefit of the doubt, but Smith takes more time off a Southern man's life than Budweiser, Copenhagen and women named for flowers or spices.)

- Is the greatest country in the world still the greatest country in the world?

I believe America is great - was before Donald, was likely less so big picture after Donald.

I believe any American can be anything, but the whole of Americans are having a hard time agreeing on anything. Even steps to protect each other.

And amid all the turmoil around us - from the SCOTUS controversy to the rampant and senseless gun violence that reappeared last night in Chicago - I believe in America and its past and future greatness.

It's because of that firm conviction that I must bank on better days before us.

In some ways, America's greatness has become one of our greatest conflicts.

And while we debate the freedoms and the verbiage and even the intent of our Founding Fathers, reading about the process to approve our Constitution in the late 1700s and seeing terms like gerrymandering and the contentious stances of the Federalists and anti-Federalists actually made me realize there has always been a divide. Always been disagreements.

And that is every bit the cornerstone of freedom as anything else I can think of.

Can we as a country be better? Certainly, now, then and always. Are we as a country those awful things so many are calling our nation right now? Not in my view, but we certainly can disagree on that. And that disagreement - hopefully peacefully and respectfully - is as American as fireworks on Independence Day.

Of course, we can be and should be better. But as we are exploring ways to fix our policies and procedures, and please know this is not about political leanings, do any of us on either side of the aisle - not the extremes mind you - trust these elected officials to rewrite our core ways and make things better?

Yes, smart gun restrictions should happen. I said that before last night's tragedy and I will say it after the next one, too.

But do any of us truly believe that Ted Cruz, AOC, Nancy Pelosi and the rest of these bought-self-serving knucklenoggins can be trusted to make these complex issues better for everyone?

Didn't mean to start so heavy this morning, but I woke up. poured my coffee and said my regular morning prayer."Lord, help me be the man I want to be today; help me be the man You want me to be today; Thank you for this day, my family and our many blessings," is how it goes.

I added one this morning, because I saw a wonderful quote in my readings Tuesday, and it was from arguably the greatest American ever, Thomas Jefferson, who said, "the cement of this union is the heart-blood of every American."

Lord, may we all realize that sentiment and find ways to embrace that wisdom.

A dividing wedge

So Ian Poulter's attorneys have successfully argued for Poulter to play in the Scottish Open this week.

The DP Tour - what used to be the European Tour - has followed the lead of the PGA Tour and told the LIV golfers like Poulter, "thanks but hit the bricks" and suspended those players and in some cases pulled their tour cards. (Side note: You have to expect the PGA golfers who have faced similar treatment are going to litigate the PGA's edicts too.)

The DP Tour has been forced to take three LIV golfers who took their approach to court. The DP folks also said they will expand the field to accommodate those large LIV-ers so the folks that were planning to play won't lose their spots.

Poulter's place in this will be very interesting. I always enjoyed speaking to him at the Masters. He was funny and gave thoughtful responses if he was asked fair-minded questions.

And he's been a European Ryder Cup legend through the years, a fact that has made him unbelievably popular across the pond. His game is fading as he ages - insightful, I know Spy - so the LIV decision to cash generational checks as he heads to the twilight of his career is understandable.

But now, returning to the DP Tour, how will the European fans treat a former Ryder Cup hero?

July 4 Fireworks

Man, the Atlanta Braves made it tough on Sequatchie County High School alum Dakota Hudson on Monday evening.

Rockets fired off the Braves' bats and a single run in the first became four more in the second and another in the third, and before we could get the dishes loaded, the drama was gone. But I will say this - and full credit to Chip Carey and his stat folks.

The Braves lineup has arguably one of the most inexplicable stats I can recall in recent memory. Check this.

According to Carey, the Braves 1-3 spots - not the specific hitters but the spots in their order - had 124 RBIs entering Monday's game. The 4-6 spots in the Atlanta order had 121 RBIs; the 7-9 spots had 121 RBIs.

That's inexplicable balance and a testament to the completeness of that starting crew.

This and that

- Here's some UT recruiting news from Paschall. Money talks, recruiting pitches get balks. Period and move along.

- Speaking of the LIV controversy, Justin Thomas again proved he is a funny cat. So, over the weekend, Talor Gooch's 4 Aces team won the LIV team portion of the Portland tournament, and in the post-match conference, Gooch said of the LIV team win, ""I haven't played a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, but I can't imagine there's a whole hell of a lot of difference. This was as cool as it gets. We've been saying it all week. The energy is just different, it's awesome." Of course, it was met with an array of responses from incredulous looks to complete mockery. JT's answer was a very succinct and clear one. After completing his Monday JP McManus Pro-Am obligations, Thomas said simply, "The golf course is beautiful, it seems like it's great for spectators. I mean, it feels pretty close to a Ryder Cup today' before bursting into guffaws. Golf clap, JT. Golf clap.

- Rest Easy Hank "the Hammer" Goldberg, the longtime ESPN prognosticator, who died Monday. He was 82. And he was light years ahead of the curve of the sports picking platforms in and around us that are seemingly everywhere.

- Joey Chestnutt cruised at the hot dog eating contest, even though he failed to go over the total of 74.5. Chestnutt finished with 63 dogs and buns eaten in 10 minutes. The next closest competitor finished with 43. According to the social media machines, how about this for a filling 10 minutes for Chestnutt, who made $10,000 for winning his 15th overall hot dog contest and his seventh in a row: He consumed 18,900 calories, 1,134 grams of fat, 2,268 grams of cholesterol, 46,179 grams of sodium and 1,595 grams of carbs. He also tackled a protester in between dogs. That's a full day if I'm being frank.

- Kudos to Drew Lock, who handled a social media barb like a grown man. After a Seahawks fan tweeted that tennis is not a sport, the U.S. Open social media account fired back, "not a sport says the person about to watch 17 games of Drew Lock at QB." (Side note: Yes, Drew Lock appears to be the front-runner to be the Seahawks starting QB. Side questions on the side: When did that happen, and when did the Seahawks go full-blown "We stink, let's rebuild" mode?) Anywell, Monday, Lock, who did not respond to the initial salvo offered this on our nation's birthday: "Happy 4th to all but especially to the intern at the usopen." I thought it was gracious. Of course, the trolls attacked him for that too. So the lesson here is to stay away from social media unless you have to.

- While Rob Manfred is catering to the 'change crowd' and discussing robot umps (thankfully) and Pete Rose, here's the latest failure in leadership under his tenure. Can anyone explain why, not unlike how the NBA owns Christmas Day, the NFL owns Thanksgiving, and heck, college football owns Labor Day, does MLB not absolutely own Independence Day? Should be wall-to-wall games with a blackout restrictions lifted and share the love with all the broadcast partners. Have games on ESPN, Fox and MLB Network as well as the regional sites. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Manfred?

- One more thing: Those MLB hats to celebrate Independence Day looked cheap to me. Thoughts?

Today's questions

True or false, it's Tuesday. Hope you had a great holiday, Ernie.

True or false, the banned former PGA Tour players will sue and get back on Tour.

True or false, Ian Poulter will be booed this week in Scotland.

True or false, you trust Ted Cruz or AOC to make things better for our kids' kids in this great nation.

True or false, you are proud to be an American. And true or false, that Lee Greenwood song gets you every single time - especially to start verse two "From the lakes of Minnesota to the hills of Tennessee."

You know the drill. Answer some T or Fs, leave some T or Fs.

As for today July 5, let's review.

On this day in 1994, Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos. You know, if he keeps pushing, I think he and his company could make it.

In honor of The Hammer, who else makes the Rushmore fo sports media prognosticators. Go.

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