There are many sports fans who feel like Opening Day is the unofficial beginning of summer, and while it does not actually begin during summer, I do believe that it at least signals that summer is not far away. The Major League Baseball season is about two weeks old, and I have been very interested in the young season so far.
Then, there are many other sports fans who feel like the unofficial beginning of summer is The Masters. After the cold winter months, seeing all of the best golfers in the world gather in Augusta, Georgia on the sprawling green course is another indication that the summer is soon to come. While I am certainly not a big fan of golf by any stretch of the imagination, I do usually at least watch the four major tournaments in parts, and The Masters is one of those tournaments. However, this past weekend, I just had hardly any interest at all in watching, and I was not the only one.
There are a lot of things that I do not like about the Augusta National Golf Club. The club only admitted its first black member after another professional golf club in Alabama (Shoal Creek) denied entry to black players, and in doing so, almost lost its chance to host the PGA Championship. Fearing similar repercussions, Augusta accepted black males into its club before they faced any significant protests from the outside world.
Augusta was however, at the middle of controversy in 2002 when their exclusion of females was brought to the forefront of the sports media world. It was not until 2012 that females were actually allowed entry into the club. I have heard many people say that the south is "behind the times," but not allowing females membership to the club until 2012 is really pathetic. I understand that these clubs have their own policies, and technically, they can run their establishments however they please. I also understand that golf is not exactly a sport that is shrouded in modernity. Many would say that golf is a game played by, and for, old white males. Therefore, combine that with the fact that we are talking about golf in Georgia, and it makes it a bit easier to see why they have such antiquated policies. The Augusta National Golf Club is different though, and there are multiple reasons for that.
There are four major PGA tournaments played each year. The Masters, The U.S. Open, The British Open, and The PGA Championship. The latter three are played in different locales each year. The only one played in the same spot every year is The Masters, and that is why Augusta is different from every other golf club in the country. Having racist and/or sexist policies might not be newsworthy, and might not really matter, for a little known golf club somewhere in middle America, but when a golf club is at the center of the PGA world for one week each year, they need to loosen up.
Despite all of these things I dislike about the club, I still usually tune in to watch at least some of The Masters, but this year I just didn't feel any compulsion to at all, and according to television ratings, there were many people around the country who felt the same way. The ratings were down by at least one million viewers per day, and this in turn caused ticket prices to drop, meaning that The Masters did not generate nearly as much money for Augusta National Golf Club as it did last year. People may try to deny the reason for this, but in my opinion, there is one main reason, and that is the absence of Tiger Woods.
I don't need to document the history of Woods' impact on the game of golf, because we all know it has been tremendous. As he has gotten older, his level of play has declined, but unlike most other professional sports, in golf, you can play well into your 40's and 50's. So, in actuality, Woods is not going anywhere, but the longer the game needs to rely on him to be the main attraction at each tournament, the worse it is for the PGA Tour.
In my opinion, Woods' best years are well behind him. He will still win tournaments in the future, but the chances of him winning any more majors seem to be shrinking by the minute. All of the sports we watch can usually be marked by some kind of esoteric era. These eras are not set concretely in terms of beginning, ending, structure, or length, but ardent sports fans can pretty much identify them in each sport.
In the NBA, we had the era of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. After that, the power shifted to the west, as we saw the Spurs and Lakers dominate for long stretches of time. And now, despite the futile denials of his detractors, we are squarely in the middle of the era of LeBron James.
In the NFL, the mid to late 1980's were dominated by the 49ers. The Cowboys followed that with a stretch of dominance, and soon after that, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the New England Patriots had a stranglehold on the league. Now, while there is no real singularly dominant team (I know, yes, my Giants have won two of the last seven Super Bowls, but their down years in between cannot really support anyone calling them a dynasty), I think many would say that we are in the middle of the era of the quarterback. Quarterbacks are getting paid the most money, they are winning Super Bowl MVP's, they are breaking records left and right, and they are the face of the league right now.
In Major League Baseball, the game was known so long as one that was best able to support "dynasties." Teams like the Cardinals, Giants, Dodgers, and Reds experienced long stretches of success, and then of course, there is the Yankees. The Yankees seemed to own the 1990's into the turn of the century, and after that "Yankee era" ended, we saw the steroid era. Home runs were flying out of ballparks on an inning-by-inning basis, and long-standing records were being shattered. What we are in right now may not be an era marked by a singular team, but in comparison to what we were used to seeing in baseball, you might be able to call it an era of parity, with recent years possibly becoming a new era of pitching.
There have been numerous World Series champions since the steroid era ended, and that is why it might be called an era of parity. The Red Sox, Cardinals, Giants, Rays, Yankees, Phillies, Rangers, and Tigers, among a few other teams, have enjoyed long runs of success recently, and most teams have enjoyed at least some success in terms of playoff participation over the past decade. Pitching has also thrived as of late, with a seemingly inane number of perfect games, no hitters, and general dominance.
However, the game of golf has been immersed in the era of Tiger Woods now for far too long. Woods won his first major (The Masters) in 1997. Since then, all of the sports I just mentioned have seen eras come and go, but golf still is clinging to the era of Tiger Woods. It is like the game is waiting for a new face to step forward and lead it, but no one has been able to do so. Have we seen flashes? Sure. Phil Mickelson is certainly a big draw, and the fact that he failed to make the cut at The Masters this year definitely did not help the television ratings. However, he just doesn't quite have the flair of Woods. Bubba Watson just won his second Masters, and he seems to be approaching the prime of his career, but the fact that I am only just mentioning his name now and he won the tournament makes it seem as though his name is inconsequential. Adam Scott? Rickie Fowler? They just don't seem to do it.
In my opinion, the closest the golf world has come to replacing Tiger Woods is Rory McIlroy. McIlroy is young and talented, and he seems to have a personality that is at least somewhat able to handle the bright lights. He has two major wins to his credit, and he has won numerous other tournaments as well. However, at this point in his career, McIlroy is still known by some more for his collapse at the 2011 Masters more than anything else. McIlroy went into the final day at the top of the leaderboard, but went on to shoot an 80 and drop into a tie for 15th place. I remember it being painful to watch on television as he struggled so badly. Two major wins are certainly great, and more than most PGA players will ever have, but no one remembers Tiger Woods for cracking under the pressure, and McIlroy still has not done enough to make us completely forget about the time he did fold when the cameras were squarely on him.
So, to sum it all up, I have to say that our society in America, as far as sports goes, is one craving the spectacular. We loved seeing baseball players hit balls farther than we could ever imagine, and pitchers throwing perfect games. We love Johnny Manziel winning the Heisman Trophy and then going out and being photographed with a bottle of champagne in each hand and a girl under each arm. We love seeing NBA players winning titles and then partying with celebrity actors and musicians. We love seeing NFL players winning the Super Bowl and then declaring "I'm going to Disney World!" Right after Bubba Watson won The Masters this year, where did he go? Disney World? A celebrity-laden party? To the front of a parade of heroes? No. He went to a waffle house. I'm sorry, but that just is not what we want to see.
So then, what is the golf world to do? Honestly, I cannot answer that question. The guys we see winning tournaments right now might be great golfers, but they are not attention grabbers. The next great, attention grabbing golfer might be right under our nose and ready to break out, or he might be a 12-year old on a public municipal golf course somewhere in South Dakota. So, maybe it is fitting that golf is a sport that is beloved and played by older men, because at this point, the game seems to be clinging to an era that has passed. The game needs someone to step up and begin a new era, and as of April 14, 2014, that has not happened. If you don't believe me, just ask ESPN, CBS, and Augusta National Golf Club. Their wallets will prove me right.
Daily Rangers Update: The playoffs will be in full swing right out of the gate on Thursday with the Flyers visiting Madison Square Garden. The NHL playoffs, more so than any other sport, are usually very wide open, and a hot streak from the team could mean we still have a lot of Rangers hockey ahead of us. Hopefully, that is the case. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Nets Update: Even with only two games left to play in the regular season, Brooklyn's postseason road is far from clear. Chicago and Toronto are now tied at #3 and #4 in the Eastern Conference, and the team that ends the season at #4 will be the one to face the Nets in the first round. After that (hoping the Nets can pull off a win in that series), they will have to go up against (barring a major upset), the #1 team in the conference, and that spot is still undecided, as it could be either Indiana or Miami. No matter who they end up playing, I think if Brooklyn makes it out of the first round, they should consider it a good showing, but if that were to happen, things will be extremely tough in round two.
Daily Diamondbacks Update: Things are not looking good in the desert. After taking two out of three from the Giants in San Francisco, the DBacks were swept at home by the Dodgers and now stand at 4-11. The Mets come to town to open a three-game series tonight, and Josh Collmenter will get the start against Zack Wheeler. Collmenter will be making his first start of the season, as the team has already decided to give up on Randall Delgado in the starting rotation. Collmenter has been superb in long relief over the past year and a half, but was not too great when he was used as a starter prior to that. Multiple starting pitchers have gotten off to fast starts in the minor leagues, and Archie Bradley is only one of them. Obviously, we still have a ton of games to play, but this has been anything but a promising start, and the young guys would be hard-pressed to actually pitch worse than our staff has thus far.
Daily Giants Update: Voluntary workouts begin in a week, and OTA's are still over a month away. Thus far, the team has seemingly tried to address their weaknesses through quantity and not quality, but it wouldn't be fair to judge the offseason before the draft, which is now less than a month away.
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