Augusta on Thursday

For some reason I absolutely love the Masters. I have struggled to make sense of this and honestly am grasping at straws. The Masters is not the most historic of tournaments, that would be the British Open, and it is hardly the most fair tournament, enter the US Open, and its not even the underdog of the Majors, that would be the PGA. I hope its not the syruppy sentamentality that surrounds the Masters, as my anti-sentimentality position is well established. It may simply be that the Masters is played on the same course every year, which is a huge draw for me, not so much because I love Augusta National, but because it allows for better comparisons. In some ways, playing on the same course every year allows the course to haunt players in a way that other courses in majors just can't. While other courses our on a cycle of historic courses, Augusta gets its chance every year. If you are pro golfer who falls apart around Amen Corner and kicks away you chance to win a major, there is no hiding from it for six years until Augusta comes back up in the cycle. This is like having a car accident on your way to work, and every day you have to drive by the same place. That's definitely part of what I love. I think at the end of the day though, I love the Masters because it is the anti-NASCAR. When NASCAR markets itself to lowest common denominator of humanity, cars, booze and women it gains more and more viewers. The Masters have taken an altogether different approach, by remaining outdated, and imposing their odd value system on the world around them, they witness to a different reality. While I will happily grant that I do not endorse all of this alternative reality, it is for me (and for millions) oddly compelling. The Masters is the high church liturgy of the sports year while the Daytona 500 is your classic seeker service, complete with Freebird and the National Anthem. The Masters have a strange language, strange diet, strange dress code, strange rules and strange prize for winning. Strangely, I can't seem to look away.