Masters’ winner, Patrick Reed, showed up at an NBA game wearing his green jacket – – and somehow, that became newsworthy. Oh, I get it; the reason it is newsworthy is that he made a huge fashion faux pas wearing that ugly thing out in public.
Greg Cote of the Miami Herald summarized the weekend of The Masters tersely in this comment:
“American Patrick Reed finished 15-under-par to win The Masters and his first career major, edging Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth. Way back were Tiger Woods at plus-1 and Phil Mickelson at plus-2. You know it’s bad when Sunday for Tiger and Phil is more about saving face than contending. Meantime defending champ Sergio Garcia missed the cut thanks to an 8-over par 13 on the 15th hole of the first round. Who’d he think he was, Greg Cote!?”
I have done a small sampling of the new ESPN morning offering, GET UP featuring Mike Greenberg, Michelle Beadle and Jalen Rose. I appreciate that a new program needs a bit of time to find its rhythm and its tone; also, I know that this show is in its infancy; so, I need to put these comments into that sort of landscape:
- If the suits at ESPN broke up Mike and Mike to produce a show that is “different” in some way from other ESPN offerings, they must be sorely disappointed. GET UP is cut from the same cloth as almost anything else on ESPN except for the tone and tenor.
- This is not a show full of “hot takes” or “stridently expressed wing-nut opinions”. This show is almost like a pepperoni pizza without the pepperoni. It is still good; but it just seems to be missing something.
- On the plus side, none of the three hosts is objectionable. That is not meant to damn the show by faint praise because there are indeed shows on ESPN and on FS1 where there are hosts sufficiently objectionable that I grab the remote and change the channel.
- Bottom line: Give the show time to settle in and find its grove. It is pretty bland fare so far.
Since I alluded to some of the programming on ESPN and FS1 with objectionable hosts, let me offer this:
- According to reports, Pope Francis said that there is no Hell. Most assuredly, I do not wish to challenge His Holiness on religious matters. I know when I am in over my head. Nonetheless, I wonder what the Pope would call viewing First Take and/or Undisputed day after day after day after…?
- I guess they don’t get those programs in Vatican City…
According to a recent report at Forbes.com, the new stadium in LA that will house the Rams and the Chargers will have a total price tag of almost $5B. Granted, that figure includes the cost of developing the entire 60-acre tract where the old Hollywood Park racetrack used to be and not just the cost of the stadium itself. The stadium is probably only going to cost a measly $2B. The Rams have already begun to offer PSLs at a price of $100K which sounds like an awful lot of money to spend just to earn the right to purchase over-priced season tix to the games. However, in perspective, the Rams would have to sell 20,000 of those top-shelf PSLs to recoup the cost of the stadium alone.
Here is a link to the report at Forbes.com if you are interested in what the entire development project entails.
The site of this development project calls to mind that this same site was supposed to be the place where the old LA Raiders were going to have their new stadium back in the late 80s/early 90s. The idea of a stadium to replace the racetrack was originally floated all the way back then but the difference now is that the league and the team owner is providing the major funding. Back then, the deal required massive funding from the city and/or state and that never materialized.
Finally, Dwight Perry had this comment in the Seattle Times recently regarding an athlete whose financial picture is not very bright:
“Bankrupt former champion Boris Becker, 50, says he’d like to sell off his tennis trophies but can’t remember where he left them.
“Maybe he’s hoping to write them off on this year’s taxes as a net loss.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………