Apr 5th, 2006 - The Rights of Spring
After a long, long, long winter, there are two annual events that announce that spring has finally arrived for sports fans - and both happen this week.
Baseball?s opening day ? and the Masters.
Since we were wee, just the though or these two conjure up mental images of the greenest of green grass in the outfield and the impossible greens of Amen Corner. This week we all get to shake off the winter blahs and dream of a toasty warm summer listening to the game on the radio as we wash the car, or sneaking out early on a Saturday to play a quick round of golf.
The herald of warmer days to come is to hear Jon Miller and Joe Morgan banter on Sunday Night Baseball. Jim Nance has been warming up his dulcet pipes all winter for the four days of the first major, just aching to wax poetic about Bobby Jones? masterpiece.
Ahhh yes ? spring has finally sprung. So ummm, this year, what?s with all the firkin whining?
This week, listening to the talking heads, reading the ink stained wretches or hearing some athletes talk, you?d think it would be better for us all to find a snow bank and burry our heads in it for a while.
First off, did you know that baseball?s opening day was ?overshadowed? by the steroid scandal? Well it was. And if you didn?t notice, well then you just weren?t paying attention!
This story, the same story that is almost a decade old by the way, is making headlines, or at least it?s trying to. The mass media is trying to cram down baseball fans? throats that there has been a major drug scandal going on in the great old game and its time it was cleaned up.
Where would we all be without them?
Or without this guy?
Reacting at the speed of snail, last week MLB commissioner Bud ?Lite? Selig launched a probe into illegal steroid use in baseball. That?s ?last week.? Not ?last year? or last ?century?. Just in the nick of too late, he is making it official ? but he grudgingly admits that he was forced into it after the book, Game of Shadows was released. That?s the book by the two San Francisco Chronicle reporters that goes into very gory details of the extensive steroid use by none other than Barry Bonds.
The same Barry Bonds who is poised to surpass Babe Ruth's home-run total this spring and then, later on this season, dispatch Henry Aaron as the all-time home-run king.
The media and the powers that be have come to the conclusion that his becoming the all-time homer king might reflect poorly on the American pastime. They?ve decided that just now. Just before he?s about to do it.
So they are letting us know, finally, that something may be amiss.
All of this pre-supposes that baseball fans haven?t known about this for years, weren?t angry about it for years, and were furious as baseball for not doing anything about it for years. Like we didn?t notice when Mark ?Andro? McGwire went from looking like Paul Bunyan to more like his Ox, Blue in just a few season. Like we couldn?t put ambition + drugs = 73 home runs together by ourselves even when they refused to.
Baseball?s 2006 opening day wasn?t overshadowed.
It?s the game that has been in the dark.
Then there is the Masters. Played each year on the same course since before WWII, this year it has been dramatically lengthened to accommodate the technology that is changing the game.
To hear the players talk, this is nothing less than an abomination. How dare the codgers who run Augusta change the course to make it actually difficult?
Instead of the standard tour?s two shots, the par fives may actually take three shots ? sometimes even four ? to get the ball on the green. Who wants to play that way? A 240-yard par four? Where?s the fun in that?
The standard whine-line this week listening to the press conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday was, ?Augusta National today bears no resemblance to the course where Jack Nicklaus won his six green jackets."
True ? but Jack?s course wasn?t close to the one Horton Smith won on in 1934. How different? How about having Amen corner starting at the first hole? The tweaking has been going on since the first shovel went in the ground of that old orchard, and, apparently, so has the complaining.
From the fans point of view, seeing pros grumble about playing at Augusta would be like a normal folk moaning about the quality of the paper used for a lottery check.
The bottom line is, spring is back. The grass is green and great things are set to happen ? and some that are not so great.
But at least it ain?t winter
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
Remember to drop us a line at rants@betED.com to voice your opinion on one of McDougald's articles or on anything else you read at betED.com !
After a long, long, long winter, there are two annual events that announce that spring has finally arrived for sports fans - and both happen this week.
Baseball?s opening day ? and the Masters.
Since we were wee, just the though or these two conjure up mental images of the greenest of green grass in the outfield and the impossible greens of Amen Corner. This week we all get to shake off the winter blahs and dream of a toasty warm summer listening to the game on the radio as we wash the car, or sneaking out early on a Saturday to play a quick round of golf.
The herald of warmer days to come is to hear Jon Miller and Joe Morgan banter on Sunday Night Baseball. Jim Nance has been warming up his dulcet pipes all winter for the four days of the first major, just aching to wax poetic about Bobby Jones? masterpiece.
Ahhh yes ? spring has finally sprung. So ummm, this year, what?s with all the firkin whining?
This week, listening to the talking heads, reading the ink stained wretches or hearing some athletes talk, you?d think it would be better for us all to find a snow bank and burry our heads in it for a while.
First off, did you know that baseball?s opening day was ?overshadowed? by the steroid scandal? Well it was. And if you didn?t notice, well then you just weren?t paying attention!
This story, the same story that is almost a decade old by the way, is making headlines, or at least it?s trying to. The mass media is trying to cram down baseball fans? throats that there has been a major drug scandal going on in the great old game and its time it was cleaned up.
Where would we all be without them?
Or without this guy?
Reacting at the speed of snail, last week MLB commissioner Bud ?Lite? Selig launched a probe into illegal steroid use in baseball. That?s ?last week.? Not ?last year? or last ?century?. Just in the nick of too late, he is making it official ? but he grudgingly admits that he was forced into it after the book, Game of Shadows was released. That?s the book by the two San Francisco Chronicle reporters that goes into very gory details of the extensive steroid use by none other than Barry Bonds.
The same Barry Bonds who is poised to surpass Babe Ruth's home-run total this spring and then, later on this season, dispatch Henry Aaron as the all-time home-run king.
The media and the powers that be have come to the conclusion that his becoming the all-time homer king might reflect poorly on the American pastime. They?ve decided that just now. Just before he?s about to do it.
So they are letting us know, finally, that something may be amiss.
All of this pre-supposes that baseball fans haven?t known about this for years, weren?t angry about it for years, and were furious as baseball for not doing anything about it for years. Like we didn?t notice when Mark ?Andro? McGwire went from looking like Paul Bunyan to more like his Ox, Blue in just a few season. Like we couldn?t put ambition + drugs = 73 home runs together by ourselves even when they refused to.
Baseball?s 2006 opening day wasn?t overshadowed.
It?s the game that has been in the dark.
Then there is the Masters. Played each year on the same course since before WWII, this year it has been dramatically lengthened to accommodate the technology that is changing the game.
To hear the players talk, this is nothing less than an abomination. How dare the codgers who run Augusta change the course to make it actually difficult?
Instead of the standard tour?s two shots, the par fives may actually take three shots ? sometimes even four ? to get the ball on the green. Who wants to play that way? A 240-yard par four? Where?s the fun in that?
The standard whine-line this week listening to the press conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday was, ?Augusta National today bears no resemblance to the course where Jack Nicklaus won his six green jackets."
True ? but Jack?s course wasn?t close to the one Horton Smith won on in 1934. How different? How about having Amen corner starting at the first hole? The tweaking has been going on since the first shovel went in the ground of that old orchard, and, apparently, so has the complaining.
From the fans point of view, seeing pros grumble about playing at Augusta would be like a normal folk moaning about the quality of the paper used for a lottery check.
The bottom line is, spring is back. The grass is green and great things are set to happen ? and some that are not so great.
But at least it ain?t winter
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
Remember to drop us a line at rants@betED.com to voice your opinion on one of McDougald's articles or on anything else you read at betED.com !
