Bucket 1.A.C
BUCKET 1.A.C
By The Fillerbuster
The Cast 040918
MARCH MADNESS TITLE GAME DEBRIEF (short style):
- Have kids not declare for the draft until AFTER the full tourney. It irritated me reading about guys going pro before the last game even played.
- Loyola Chicago was the story of the tourney near the end, but UMBC will truly be what is remembered from this tourney.
- You can have upsets, Cinderellas, and buzzer beaters. But, in this case, we still ended up with best team winning. Fault the 6 game, single elimination system all you want. Nova was the best team this year and they cut down the nets.
- Nova was already one of the best teams in the country when shooting bad. They become unbeatable when shooting great as a team. And, unfortunately for Michigan, they become literally SCARY unstoppable when a bench player scores 30 plus AND the team shoots well.
- You can’t put an asterisk by the win for one scary final performance though, as they destroyed everyone in their path for six games. They shot 4-24 in the regional final and still won by 12.
- I like Michigan’s team overall and the building blocks they have in place, but I really don’t like teams who have a PG who can’t really shoot from deep or FT’s.
- It wasn’t the end of the team’s game that night, but I noted that Wagner lost his cool a little during the game. It is one thing to play through emotion. It is another to allow emotion to dictate some of your decisions on the court.
- This is not a flash in the pan. The CULTURE of Nova that Jay has created can’t be disputed. They are a well-oiled machine. And, in case you are hoping a bunch of guys are leaving an empty cupboard, you would be misled. They have a few guys coming in (one transfer) that will make them very good again.
- Once upon a time, Jay Wright was the coach who had never won one. Now, he has 2 in 3 years. Here is hoping that Tony Bennett becomes Jay Wright II.
- Every time I watch the title game, I really feel bad for people on the East Coast who have to stay up late on a school night.
- Note that if you plan on coming off the bench and score more than 30 points in a title game, you should clean up your old Twitter accounts.
- The title game was fun, but I still think that Grant Hill’s face in the previous game when Mo was running towards him was priceless.
- It is a good year for Philly fans. Phils are on the up and up, the Eagles beat the Pats, the Flyers are in the playoffs, Nova won, etc.
THE MASTERS DEBRIEF:
How many things have you been to that let you down? How many times did you YEARN for something, go to it, and feel slightly (whether you admit it or not), very deep internally, that it didn’t live up to its billing? I know I have. Sometimes I would still act like it was still an amazing concert or sporting event, but know internally that it was now checked off my list and that future curiosity energy could now be saved in my daily life. It let me down. I almost preferred to remain in hyped wondering.
This was NOT the case with The Masters. Not. At. All.
You know the phrase “kid in a candy store?” Of course you do. We all use it to this day. And somewhere inside all of our heads is that wish that we could actually FEEL like that kid in a candy store again even though we were adults. We wish we could bottle up that goose-bumped feeling that was innocent, pure, exciting, and beyond our wildest dreams.
THAT is The Masters. THAT is how I felt when I walked in. THAT is kid-candy-magic in a bottle…captured one more time by a golf loving adult.
Some people (who obviously were jealous that I was even going) might say “you only went to a practice round…whatever.” OK. Thanks for your advocacy in the art of Satanism. Well, I counter. It was the last day one could take their camera on the course. You already can’t have your cell phones. So, aside from Black Mirror Episode Season 1, Episode III coming to life suddenly, I had a METHOD of capturing this unbridled enthusiasm (that Seinfeld reference just came out fluidly and involuntarily). I had memories. I was semi-catching the marlin of fishing for that kid in a candy store.
Think of it this way. I have already been to a Major at a course. I went to a Sunday final round where Tiger birdied the last hole to force a playoff with Rocco. I had encountered that Major feeling in a way. But, the other Championships ROTATE courses. Therefore, you are there for the event, and the course secondarily. With Augusta, I am there for the COURSE equally and maybe even more, as the course details will be on the tube (or whatever the TV is replaced with) for the rest of my years. Sure, the event is special each year, but the COURSE is special TOO.
My day at the golf mecca was the last practice round day before the tourney started…Wednesday. It was walking the course and veering off different ways when you tracked down a star playing his practice round. They can do what they want and have no tee times, so it is unpredictable aside from the manually changed boards throughout the course, trying to keep up with the players’ whereabouts. It was checking out the Par 3 contest, when legends rolled through regularly to try and get at least a hole in one in front of the fans, before they tackled the REAL obstacle down the hill. It was photographs in front of holes that have occupied only my mind for all of these years. It was putting all of my teaching in front of the TV for a week each April into REAL memories that existed. It was walking along polite people there for the magic of golf who said excuse me when paths crossed. It was 10x the needed employees to make sure no line was long, and no part of the experience was ruined. It was being able to get the closest a non-player can get to the magical 12th hole. It was getting up close and personal to my favorite two holes on the course, Azalea and Firethorn. It was magical and worth all of the hype.
The birds chirped louder. The flowers were more colorful. The grass was greener. It was the farthest thing from just a golf course I had ever seen. It was something that if you just painted it, it would be sought out for much money. But, it was real. It IS real. People actually play GOLF on this portrait. I can’t wait to go back.
It satisfied and surpassed my feelings about visiting the course. It was epic. The bracelet I wear on my wrist says on the backside “Do Epic Shit.” Well, I did, and it was wonderful.
THE DAY:
- It was a resolution day. For years, I had all of this course knowledge, and finally the pieces of the puzzle were put together in my mind.
- No cell phones are allowed, and you have to be organized with meeting spots and where you are walking. We learned AFTER the fact that the “alternative” older merchandise shop had most of the stuff you need and wasn’t like a Rolling Stones concert inside.
- We lost a guy actually in the afternoon. We initially felt bad about it, but then he sent us a picture of him IN Butler Cabin, so all in all, not a bad day for the guy.
- He knew someone on the inside before you think any random person can go in there. His buddy is a member.
- I haven’t slept on the hotel floor in a while, but did fine with it, and it is what it is when you stay at The Masters Inn with four guys and two twin beds. You would NOT stay in this hotel on any day but before you head to The Masters. I have stayed at the Sooners Inn in Norman, and that place was a Five Star in comparison to this one.
- Augusta the town is actually kind of a dump. Without researching it, I had this vision of driving into a “quaint” town with a golf course. I thought the only reason it was on a highway sign was because it was the cool Masters city. It is actually a spread out small city with pawn shops, Waffle Houses, dollar stores, and strip malls.
- If you have to go to the bathroom at The Masters in a stall, they actually have someone to wipe down the seat when you are done to clean it before the next guy.
- No name brands for food. It might taste like a Coke, and maybe BE a Coke, but they are not giving it away.
- One of the coolest things was every player SKIPPING the ball over to the 16th green after they hit their tee shot during the practice rounds. That is cool enough. But, what is scary is how accurate they are skipping the ball. Very depressing in a way. But fun.
- For the dinner before the tourney starts, you will notice that some big names show up with no jackets. I actually didn’t know that after your first year of winning it, you have to keep it at the course in the clubhouse. No dinner jacket=badass.
- I am not sure what Pimento cheese is, and I am a cheese guy, but damn do I have to find some ASAP and find out what else they are putting in that magical sandwich.
- They have egg salad sandwiches too, and it got me thinking why I don’t make egg salad sandwiches at home….hmmm.
- I took too long staring at the initial holes and unfortunately missed the magical chicken breakfast biscuit by ONE person. Only bad thing of the day.
- The 18th chute and fairway looks uphill, but TV doesn’t do it justice on the amount of incline. That thing is a HILL, and I am from Colorado. Changed my perspective on the hole to say the least.
- I knew it was advantageous to go around the trees on 13, but the skill needed for that was higher than I anticipated.
- Hole 12 is not, and should not, be accessible to patrons. It is the distant beauty that you have to PLAY the course to be on, and rightfully so.
- I don’t read one item of FaceBook and my wife just tags me in posts. For some reason, the only thing I care about is my profile picture. On Saturday, I changed it to the first Masters photo I came upon (hadn’t uploaded them yet) and it got mad response. Perfect timing.
- Tiger was very easy to find on the course. You just saw the mob approaching you, engulf you, and then move on.
- Not like I sit around reading background history of the golf tournament, so I didn’t know it used to be a nursery. That explains all of those wonderful hole names. I just thought they really liked their plants.
- The merchandise store is so crazy because there is a large list of items you CAN’T order online at all (good for them). The hat is the big one, and they have it in every single color you can imagine. I actually was the only one who didn’t get one. I have to set barriers. I am going to my grave in a Steelers hat, so although it sounded like a good idea at the time, I passed. I bought a visor for my golf outings.
- After researching some sites on the best items you can’t get online, I settled on a vest. It is very possible I might wear this new vest most days of the week…for like forever.
- As I mentioned earlier, they overstaff galore. They don’t want ANY part of your experience to be a bad one.
- The bathrooms were literally the cleanest ones I have ever seen.
- We went to Hooters. Not for wings or beers. We went because John Daly parks his RV there and signs all kinds of stuff in the parking lot. What a guy.
- I have to reach for ANY imperfections on that perfect day. If I had to reach, I would say that the rain coming down early made them close some crosswalks across the fairways. What a downer. We had to take the LONG walk around on the most beautiful course in the world.
- I went with my fraternity brother and best man at my wedding, Scott. Scott is Scott and we fall into line after whatever time period goes by. Chris was the lead wolf in the pack/Birddog. He had navigated enough Phish concerts to figure out the best way to go in the fastest way possible. Sometimes Chris really tested the no cell phone rule, but luckily just like a birddog, he showed up next to us with a smile on his face. Brian was the guy with the inside guy. When you have people who can get you into Butler Cabin, we understand that hanging all day with Scott and his college buddy is not foremost on his priority list. If you have any inside track at Augusta, you pounce.
- I probably have MANY more thoughts. I typically put everything on a list AND carry around pen and paper along with my phone. But, that day, I was too excited. Candy store.
- The last thing we saw while leaving that day? Jack Nicklaus walking up to the putting green. PERFECT.
- During the day, I took 310 photos. Once I organize them, I will post a couple of favorites. For now, here are a couple of us (still just starting to go through them and rank them).
THE TOURNAMENT:
- What a tease. I know I was drinking the Kool-Aid. Some of you were too. Tiger and Phil had some great finishes in unimportant tournaments before the big one, and we all thought them making a run MIGHT happen. I had hope.
- Watching the Sunday Masters might be my favorite sports viewing experience every single year. That includes the Super Bowl, Final Four, Stanley Cup, World Series, etc.
- Man, John Daly gave us ALMOST experiences, but Sergio’s Day 1 had to be the closest thing to Tin Cup we have ever seen. I would have loved to see that.
- You can spin it any way you want it, but Singh, Couples, and Langer all playing the weekend is really exceptional, considering the young talent that is out there. This is just more proof that course knowledge IS a key with this one. It is the only Major played at the same spot each year.
- I am not sure if there are rankings, but is Fred Couples the most liked golfer in the world? I probably think so.
- Anyone else surprised that Kevin Chappell also blew up before the weekend? The dude has to get close one of these days, as his game is tight.
- THIS is why this Masters was different. And this MAJOR was different. The entire leaderboard both Saturday and Sunday was randomness free. By that I mean this. Everyone in the top 20 or so either had won a Major already, or was on that short list of best players to never have won one. Let’s not forget Patrick Reed is not a random win. He was 2nd at the PGA last year, has the skills, and was on that list. But, the rest of the big name players all were on the board too. There was no one this year where you said “there is NO way THAT guy hangs on.” Everyone at the top had been there, and was being chased by someone who also had already been there.
- Dammit, Rickie. As Hall & Oates once said, “so close, yet so far away.” The problem is that a Major typically doesn’t fall into your lap. You have to go GET it instead of just being on the top 5 leaderboard.
- Such an interesting fact that almost came back full circle. After Spieth had the lead after Day 1, it was the NINTH round of 17 that he had played where he had led.
- And he almost brought a bookend back home on Sunday.
- I have new respect for Tony Finau. After being embarrassed at the Par 3 contest with his ankle injury, he still had a great first round AND great weekend. Props, Tony. Many players would have given up mentally even if their ankle had held up.
- I loved Charley Hoffman’s honest reaction to his hole in 1 on 16.
- My Masters pool picks weren’t great, but that will happen when the entire leaderboard is crowded with all of the big guns.
- Jon Rahm is young and talented but also doesn’t have a good look for golfers/athletes. It is very apparent though that all of his time is spent on the course and not in the gym.
- I love to see the guys on the Tour who suddenly pop on the radar for The Masters. Those who have the game that fits the course seem to suddenly make a run during the week and it is fun to see.
- They expected the weather to affect play a lot more heading into the weekend. When it started raining hard on Saturday, it affected about three shots just in those five minutes.
- I honestly thought that when Rory chipped out of the flowers right after holing that chip shot that this tourney might be his to lose. That is why they play 18.
- I wasn’t rooting for Patrick, but I will say this. We have all seen some Majors where the leader tries to give it away but no one seems to hole enough to WANT it. This weekend was different. The scores were low, many players were trying to make a run, and it was really high quality golf all around.
- He fell short, but Spieth’s Sunday run really was special and showed us how transparent and exceptionally talented he really is.
- I did not accompany my wife to The Masters party our friend was hosting, as no matter HOW much free food comes with the party attendance, it doesn’t override watching the final round on my couch without having to talk to other people.
- Right before the second round when I was kicked out of my house for a showing, I met a guy at lunch who was all about The Masters. He then left the bar and went to play 18 holes. Who the HELL plays 18 holes of golf DURING the final round of The Masters. That would be like me going to play pickup basketball right before the Final Four tipped. I don’t understand.
- Bubba’s putt INTO the bunker FROM the green was crazy and very surprising.
- Webb Simpson was the fourth player ever to eagle two straight holes in the final round, but amazingly he did it on two DIFFERENT holes. The other three all did the same two holes.
- Reed kept his internal anger off the course. I was beyond impressed. I wasn’t rooting for him, but it goes to show you that positioning is key. You can try and do what Jordan did on the final day, but that won’t happen often…and he still came up short. Patrick is a quick trigger guy. I was sitting on my couch waiting for the blowup that never happened. I was expecting it, especially after Rory cut it to one on the front nine. It did not. He had a nice lead going into the final day. A couple of guys got to or near his number, but he answered any bad shot with a good next shot, and STAYED OUT OF TROUBLE. Conservative is boring? Not at The Masters.
- Oddly, it was the 4th straight time a 1st time Major winner happened at Augusta, and the 7th of last the last 8. That is crazy.
- This tournament was more proof that he Majors are not looking for the most likable guys…just the ones that have the game to win it for four straight days.
(SIDE NOTE: I am happy to share my 300 plus pics with you if you reach out to me.)
Explanation of the blog name:
1.A.C indicates my bucket list number. So, this is #1. The “A” indicates that I never really thought about an official ranking at the top, so maybe a World Cup or something else will be #1 for that blog. But, today, I will say that The Masters was #1. The “A” also indicates that it is sports related list. I would have to think about where this falls in the overall bucket list rankings. The “c?” Well, if Augusta was #1 on my sports list, and I already went to a practice round, then…
1a: final round Masters
1b: any tournament day Masters
1c: practice round Masters
Think of it this way. I went to the Final Four years ago with Scott. I would consider that 2.C. #2 on my sports bucket list, but:
2a: Final Four with UVA in it
2b: Final Four in better city than Detroit
2c: Final Four in random city (Detroit)
(no, this elaborate system hasn’t been processed for years. I made it up when walking out of Augusta.)
In closing on my Masters experience, and sorry for you ultra-religious people, I have now been to the Western Wall in Jerusalem and now Augusta. Therefore, I have covered the most hallowed ground I can in MY lifetime.
MOVIE REVIEWS IN SHORT:
Black Panther: Great superhero movie. I was impressed by the plot development actually. That being said, to me it is still a superhero movie, meaning it is still below all high quality non-superhero movies. Watch.
Wind River: Great movie. It will bother some people who need constant action, but the heated scenes are done well, the plot moves along well while keeping you slightly in the dark, and the resolution is righteous. Watch.
Justice League: These are the superhero movies that keep my notes on Black Panther going. It brings down the curve. That being said, it was fun seeing Aquaman be a badass. Pass.
Baby Driver: If we say that some movies just need to be FUN, then here you go. Good action scenes, and fun main character. It is slightly over the top in some scenes, you still keep watching because you need resolution on some things. Watch.
Only The Brave: If you like movies (see above) that just need to be FUN, then don’t watch this movie. Not a fun movie. But, extremely well done, the plot moves along flawlessly, some issues are brought up in context that work, and the acting was great. That being said, you will be sad when you are done watching this great movie. Watch.
Bleed For This: I think they make this and suddenly realize they have a true story where they have to again make an Italian fighter lovable. They kind of succeed. Good movie if you dig boxing like me. It is not worth your time if you don’t. And the comeback scenes aren’t quite as powerful as the ones in Rocky. Pass.
LINKS TO SAVE YOU TIME ON THE INTERNET:
************Don’t forget that the This And That dropdown on the site houses the old school, one hitters blog. The Truth dropdown has more longstanding beliefs I have, however random or trivial they are.
That’s it for today. Hope you enjoyed or are at least more informed. Will I blog again? That is a CLOWN question, bro. Peace.