Greatest Ever!?!

Tiger comes in second, thereby making him the greatest golfer ever. This is not a real argument, but everytime someone compare Jack N. to Tiger the argument for Tiger not being better is that he did not lose as many Majors as closely as Jack. The argument seems to go, sure Tiger has won more than Jack at this point in their careers (by alot), but Jack finished second so many times. Tommorrow what you will read in the papers is that Tiger had a chance to win, and failed on Sunday. The field came back, one guy sacked up, and Tiger lost a major he never really had any buisness winning. That's the real story, and it should be, and it also should not effect where he ranks all time. Every Jack N. 2nd felt just like this one, he had a shot and didn't win. It doesn't matter who the other golfers were, because if you are the best that ever played, by definition you are better than all of them. My point is simple, compare wins, not losses, and that is exactly the lesson we should have learned today.

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.

2-0 and recovery

It is now Wednesday, and Man Weekend has now been finished for almost 12 hours. In the future man weekend will be celebrated away from home, with out the extra pressures of work life, and with other family men. I am now in full recovery mode for today, but our Holy Week services begin tommorrow night at 7pm, so there is much to be done. A few random observations:
1. The Brewers are 2-0 again this year. The first game they looked dominant, and their second game they looked dominant in a different way. This is what I love about baseball, the Brewers are going to have at most 15-20 games like their first win, where they score runs at will and the other team can't get hits. But, if their bullpen holds they could 60-70 wins the way they did this game. Last night they got a lead in the sixth, gave the ball to Matt Wise for the 7th, Derrick Turnbow for the 8th and Francisco Cordero for the 9th. Expect to see a variation on this pattern, over and over again.
2. I am geeked about this coming weekend. I confessed to a college group last night that my two "Holy Weeks" conbined this year to demonstrate my idolatries. This confession is true. How often does it happen that the Final Four, Opening Day, the Masters and the Church's Holy Week all fall in the same seven or eight days? Even given that, I am genuinely excited about the Easter services because Josh (my oldest son) is going to go through them with me. We have been praying, reading and talking about baptism for a few weeks now, and so this week he is going to attend the services with me. It is a joy and an amazement to hear how God is working in him.
3. I am also excited about all the other things this weekend. I also pick Tiger at Augusta, and I win about half the time. This Saturday we get to go chill at some of Abby's cousins, which if the weather holds, is certain to include some Pickle Ball, and we get to see Colette celebrate Easter for real the first time- last year she was to young to really participate with other kids.