FanNation - The Republic of Sport

What, those trees refused get out of Tiger's way on the 18th hole? How inconsiderate of them. Seemed like Tiger was on his way to make one of his dramatic comebacks, but those darn trees...

I really enjoyed watching the Masters on Sunday. I rarely watch golf. If I come to it when switching channels, I'll maybe watch for a few minutes, then go on. This time, I just had the urge to watch all of Sunday's broadcast. Sure glad I did. It turned out to pretty exciting. Golf? Exciting? Hmmm. (Well, I used to play a lot of miniature golf as a youngin, so I suppose there has to be some sort of excitement involved in the real game.)

I was surprised to hear some commentators criticize it as being disappointing, perhaps anti-climatic since Mr. Woods did not win. If I thought anything to be disappointing or in reality odd, is that Tiger and Phil Mickelson had been given an early tee time and finished ahead of the pack. I thought that CBS would have wanted Woods and Mickelson to start later so that they could make an "entrance" so to say, and a dramatic one at that to steal a win. Now, that would have been something. So, what was the problem? Did Tiger and Phil have to catch an early flight?

Still, Angel Cabrera created his own excitement. Something the way he was able to get into the playoff troika with his good shooting at the 18th, being able to navigate his way out the trees himself. Looked like he was in deep trouble when he hit it in that area.

Now while Kenny Perry himself congratulated Mr. Cabrera for the win, he still mentioned that he did "lose" the match. I suppose people would find that somewhat disingenuous, but I'm sure there are others who could find it understandable being he was in the lead for the majority of the day. Imagine being ahead in any type of contest for the majority of the contest. You're that close to victory. You can see it. It's there in a few short strokes. Then...

Yet, I would have to say it was his own fault. He should have made more birdies. I believe he only made two on that final day. When you keep settling for par (and I'm sure that was not his intention) in any type of contest, when you keep settling for even, then something negative is bound to happen. I had that gut feeling in watching that he needed to score more birds (that's birdies for short) otherwise something bad was just around the corner. It's similar to football teams playing not to lose.

Bad to watch any type of athlete to stumble in that way, but just as exuberant to watch someone such as Mr. Cabrera to overcome his bad shooting, to stay within his game, and to finally win. Props to him. And it was refreshing as well to see a pudgy dude like him winniing a major title. I remember he was the same guy who won another major about a couple of years ago (PGA? U.S. Open?). He was shown smoking cigarettes all over the course. I don't smoke myself, but I still thought that was pretty stylish of him. Kind of thumbing his nose at the finger-wagging establishment that's always seeking to shame us common folk from enjoying a certain vice. Way to go compadre!

Finally, I just wanted to interject a comment. This goes back to when Martha Burk wanted the club that sponsors the Masters to allow women to join. I remember seeing scenes of her out there holding up signs and that sort of thing. Well, we know nothing came of that. I would just say that if next time she or anyone else wants to try that again, it might be better to put someone in front of the cameras who looks like Cindy Crawford and not someone's mother-in-law. I think you'll get more attention that way.