Cue the Schmaltzy Music, It's Masters Time

Hello, Friends (as Jim Nantz would say), it is time once again for The Masters.

Before commenting on this year's event, allow me to comment on what I saw while watching the telecast of the traditional Par 3 event, held every Wednesday at Augusta National before the tournament tees off on Thursday.  All players and all past Champions are invited to play in the Par 3 event, and it is usually just a big old laugh fest, fun for fans, er, excuse me, Patrons, and players alike.  In may respects, it is the equivalent of a baseball Old Timers game, and much of the ESPN attention is focused on these said old timers, most specifically the threesome of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player.  No one needs to be told of the greatness of this trio.  The reverence with which all golfers, from the best of the current touring pros right down to the weekend hacker, hold these three guys is understandable and unquestionably deserved.  I myself stand second to no one in my respect and admiration for these guys.

That said, I don't like watching these three guys playing now for the same reason that I don't like watching baseball old timers games.  Palmer is 82, Player is 77, and Nicklaus is 72, and they looked every bit of those years watching them play yesterday.  If you were behind this threesome on a Saturday morning at your local muni and didn't know who they were, you'd be bitching to the marshals to tell those old guys to speed it up or get off the course.  It was almost painful to watch, like watching Willie Mays with the Mets.

I have read for many, many years that Jack Nicklaus has long said that he would never allow himself to become a "ceremonial golfer", and I am betting that he hates going out there year after year and playing in the Masters Par 3.  I suppose that when Augusta calls, you do what they ask because you feel you owe it to them and to the game, but,from what I've read about Nicklaus, I am guessing that he would have rather been in his office in Palm Beach than on that par 3 course yesterday.

Hey, it's great when the Pirates bring Maz out to throw out the occasional first pitch, but I wouldn't want to see him try to go nine innings and try to hit off of Justin Verlander in 2013.  Same with these guys.  It's great to have Arnie, Jack, and Gary hit those "first drives" on Thursday morning, but they should be allowed to actually play golf on their own time these days.

Now, as for the Tournament itself, how can you not pick Tiger Woods to win?  That's my pick. Now settle back, put on your green jacket, smell the magnolias, have a pimento cheese sandwich, and enjoy A Tradition Like No Other.

Fun With the TV Clicker

Fun with the TV clicker late this afternoon and early evening.

Went back and forth between NBC and watching Tiger Woods put the finishing touches on his WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral in Miami.

This was a wire-to-wire win for Woods.  It was his second win of the season and was his 76th career PGA Tour win, which is now only six behind Sam Snead's all time record of 82.  This is a record that Tiger is sure to bag, probably sometime in 2014 by the looks of how he has been playing so far this year.

The other programming being watched was the USA's 9-4 win over Canada in the World Baseball Classic.  This win advanced the USA out of pool play and into the second round of the WBC.

Nothing like a little jingoism to infuse some life and interest into the WBC.  I believe that the USA will play either Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic in the first round of a single elimination bracket-style tournament.  Single elimination is a tough way to go, and this is especially true in baseball.  Makes it a real crap shoot, but at least there is now some rooting interest in this event.

The other exciting news from this game is that Jameson Taillon was the starting pitcher for Team Canada and pitched four innings, struck out three, and gave up two runs, only one earned.  Those were real big league players he was pitching against for the USA, so that was indeed good news. 

The PGA Tour Turns Back the Clock

Most people think that the PGA tour doesn't really begin until The Masters (A Tradition Like No Other), but, in fact, the golfers have been teeing it up since the first weekend in January, but it's kind of gotten lost in the shuffle of the NFL Playoffs.  Until, that is, the past two weeks.

In case you missed it, two weeks ago Tiger Woods won, and in pretty much Tiger-like fashion, the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.  This was the eighth time that Woods has won a tournament at Torrey Pines.  This past weekend out in Scottsdale, Phil Mickelson went wire to wire in a beatdown of the rest of the field, including a round of 60!

I don't think that we will ever see the dominant Tiger Woods of the early part of this 21st century, but let's remember that he did win three tournaments last year, and he looked pretty damn good two weeks ago.  Of course, Woods has set major championships as his standard, so the big question about him is always, will he ever win another Major, and if so will he break Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 Majors (he has 14)?  My thought - yes, he will win another Major, sometime, but, no, he will not break Jack's record.

Mickelson has reached an age, he is 42, where guys just don't win with regularity on the big Tour.  I'm not sure how many more performances like we saw this past weekend Phil has left in him.  Still, his performance last weekend, and Woods' the week before, does tantalize you with hopes of Tiger-Lefty showdowns at Augusta and the US Open later in the year.

Speaking of Mickelson, how did you like the pity party he threw for himself about how he was getting screwed by the tax laws on the Federal and the State of California levels.  My heart really ached for him.  By the way, he made $45 million in 2012.  I would happily trade him my income and taxes for his income and taxes.  Guys who have grown up in the life of country clubs and elite amateur and then professional golf, they really have a handle on the real world, don't they?

Some of the biggest off the course news this year was the signing of Rory McIlroy, the current #1 in the world, to a mega-millions deal by Nike.  In case you haven't seen it yet, Nike has produced this cool commercial featuring their two big guns.  Interestingly enough, Woods and McIlroy were NOT together when this commercial was produced.  A triumph of clever film editing.

A Football / Baseball / Golf Hodge-Podge

Some quick hit thoughts (apologies to Peter King) for a Friday morning....

With no Pirates game to occupy me, I did watch the final Steelers practice game of the year, and four things stand out:

1. Charlie Batch threw about as pretty a touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders as you will see all season, and he will probably end up getting released today.  Crazy.
2. Two jaw dropping punt returns for touchdowns by rookie Chris Rainey in the first quarter, both nullified by Steelers penalties.  Poor officiating by the scab refs, or poor special teams play by the Steelers?
3. An absolutely brutal looking knee injury to rookie linebacker Sean Spence.  Why do NFL teams play four of these meaningless games, other than to get two full gates for the owners?
4. It seemed that on every play, huge chunks of turf went flying through the air.  Good to see that the Heinz Field playing surface was in mid-season form.

On to other thoughts.....

Football:

• During the Steelers game I switched briefly to ESPN for the South Carolina-Vanderbilt SEC tussle.  Steve Spurrier, the Ol' Ball Coach, always seemed to me to be a "young" guy.  Not anymore.  He looked ancient last night,and what's with the voice?  If it gets any higher, he'll shatter glass.
• And speaking of voices, why is Lou Holtz still on the air?
• I see that Fraud Graham's Arizona State Sun Devils high octaned themselves a sixty-something to six win over Northern Arizona last night.  Can't wait until ASU starts playing some of the big boys in the PAC 12.  I'll even be rooting for a snake like Lane Kiffen to put the Whoop-Ass on Coach Fraud. 
• College Football begins in earnest tomorrow: Youngstown State @ Pitt, Ohio U. @ Penn State, Marshall @ WVU, Robert Morris @ North Dakota State.  All compelling games for various reasons.
• The big TV game of the week pits Michigan against Alabama in Jerry's Palace in Dallas.  That should be a fun game, and kudos to each school for being willing to open against each other rather than the traditional opening game against Cupcake University.

Baseball:

• It was fun switching to MLB Network last night and seeing the Nats hand it to the Cardinals, 8-1, allowing the Pirates to pick up a half game in the wild card race.  September baseball could be a whole lot of fun this year.
• First, however, three games in Miller Park beginning tonight.  Got to take care of those annoying Brewers.  I'm not greedy.  I'll happily settle for two out of three.
• Am anxiously awaiting to see how the Pirates will set the post-season roster by midnight tonight and whether or not that make a Waiver Deadline Deal, also by midnight.

Golf:

The PGA Tour is in the midst of their FedEx Cup playoffs, and the Ryder Cup is just around the corner, but some old news, if you don't mind.

Rory McIlroy won the PGA Championship earlier this month by eight shots, a most dominating and convincing win, not unlike his US Open win in 2011.  Congratulations to the young Irishman, who is indeed one of the top half dozen or so players on tour today.  Stop, however, with the "next Tiger" nonsense.  I will probably be dead by the time this will finally be reckoned, but I am willing to bet that Rory, who now has two Majors on his resume, will not get within sniffing distance of Tiger Woods' total of fourteen (14) Majors wins.  As I said, it will probably be another 20 or so years, give or take, (and that's if everything goes right for him) before McIlroy is not longer a factor, so I may not be around to collect my bet, but I say he gets nowhere near 14 Majors, and I'd be shocked if he gets that total to double figures.

On the subject of Woods, right now, he is 36 years old and very good golfer, just like about 50 or so other guys on Tour.  He is no longer "Tiger Woods".  He will continue to win golf tournaments, and may even win another Major or two, but the Jack Nicklaus standard of 18 Majors is safe, at least in my lifetime.  I do think, however, that Woods has a very good chance of breaking Sam Snead's PGA Tour record of 82 career wins.  Woods has 74.

US Open is Underway

So, I am sure that many of you are clamoring for a Grandstander prediction for the US Open now underway at Olympic Country Club in San Francisco.  After his win two weeks ago at The Memorial, Tiger Woods is the betting favorite and the trendy pick, and I suppose he has as good a shot as anyone.

Fans of Phil Mickelson, and I am one, wonder if Lefty will ever be able to capture a US Open, after he has finished second five times in this Championship in his career.  At the age of 41, time might be running out for Lefty, but I see one thing that might spur him on this week.  If there is anything that gets Mickelson's juices flowing it's major championships and the chance to put a beat down on Tiger Woods, and the two of them, along with Masters winner Bubba Watson will be paired together in the opening two rounds this week.  That can work against you, too, since you can get caught up playing the golfer in your group rather than the course, but I think Mickelson is smarter than that.  So is Woods, for that matter.

In fact, I will ooffer one prediction: Woods will finish ahead of Mickelson this week.

I have  not been able to muster up any kind of feeling to register a learned prediction other than this: an American will win the US Open this week.  Sorry about that Rory, Luke, Lee, Ian, and all you other Internationals. 

 And if you want to go with karma for a pick, how about this?  Earlier in the week, as a promotional gig before a Giants game at AT&T Park, Dustin Johnson and Giants pitcher Matt Cain were hitting drivers from home plate over the right field seats and into McCovey Cove.  We now know that Cain responded by pitching a perfect game last night.  Will some of that same karma rub off on Johnson?  Johnson has contended in majors before and he's coming off a nice win in Memphis last week.  Hey, it's as good a reason to pick him as anyone else.

Enjoy the Open.  With it being played in California, we will be seeing it in Prime Time here in the east.  I like that.