THIS COLUMN WAS WRITTEN IN FRONT OF A LIVE STUDIO AUDIENCE
QUICK QUIZ
The Senior PGA Tour debuted in 1980 and was eventually renamed the Champions Tour in 2003. Who won the first-ever Senior PGA Tour event at the Atlantic City Senior International on June 22, 1980?
QUOTABLE QUOTES
“It puzzles me how they know what corners are good for filling stations. Just how did these fellows know there was gas and oil under there?” – Baseball Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean.
“We’re the only family I know of that plays catch without facing each other.” - National Football League center Jay Hilgenberg, whose brother Joel was a center and their father and uncle were both centers.
“Winning is the name of the game. The more you win, the less you get fired.” – Bep Guidolin, former Boston Bruins coach.
IDLE THOUGHTS
Lake Olmstead Stadium hosted minor league games in Augusta, Georgia, from 1995-2017. The section of outfield fence that was 366 feet from home plate displayed “.366 COBB,” recognizing the career batting average of former Augusta resident Ty Cobb.
Per NFL Media, the new contract signed by Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets drops his two-year haul from $108.7 million to $75 million. That’s a drop of $33.7 million, a 31-percent cut in pay for the next two years.
The recently-traded Max Scherzer is getting paid $15 million or more from three different teams for the 2023 baseball season: Washington Nationals - $15 million; Texas Rangers - $15 million; New York Mets - $28 million. The New York Mets are paying over $100 million to players not even on their roster.
Saginaw Valley State University Head Men's Basketball Coach Randy Baruth decided to add a new member to his coaching staff, he did not have to complete an extensive search to find someone who fits the job description. Baruth, who in 2023-24 enters his 12th season at the helm of the Cardinal men's basketball program, named Tim Inman as a special assistant to the head coach. In December 2022, Inman retired from SVSU after more than 38 years in the Office of University Communications. His role in that position included photography, graphic design, copy editing, and project management. Inman, who had a stint coaching Hemlock High School’s boys’ varsity basketball team, also was a key member of Norwaine Reed’s staff during Buena Vista High School’s outstanding rein of prep basketball in the 1980s.
Nick Esasky came up with the Cincinnati Reds and was mostly a platoon player. He was a good hitter but not an everyday player in the Reds’ minds. Esasky was traded to the Boston Red Sox, was given the chance to be an everyday player, and just blows up, hitting 30 home runs and 117 RBI. And, of course, his contract is up. He signs a huge deal with the Atlanta Braves, three years, $5.6 million, and that’s in 1990! Esasky gets vertigo from an ear infection and plays only nine games and has to retire. His career is over because of an ear infection.
Prediction: The Detroit Lions will start the 2023 season 0-2 but will still wind up as Division champs.
I love the camouflage uniforms that the San Diego Padres wear every Sunday out of respect for the U.S. Military. The uniforms sport an American flag on one of the sleeves. San Diego has long been a city for the military. It is a crucial port for the U.S. Navy, a center for training of new recruits for the Navy and U.S. Marines, and is also home to the “Arlington of the West,” Fort Rosecrans Cemetery, atop Point Loma. It is because of this special relationship that the Padres decided to begin a Military Appreciation night in 1996 with an annual event. Then, in 2000, they came up with the great idea of wearing the camo unis to further demonstrate their appreciation. Ultimately, in 2008, the Padres began wearing those unis and honoring the military every Sunday home game, Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day.
When you think of your typical Saturday Night Live host, you probably imagine movie stars, television actors or music personalities. But did you know more than 30 athletes have hosted NBC’s late night sketch comedy series over the past five decades? Indeed, all of the biggest names in sports have graced Studio 8H for a night of laughs and gags. Below is a list of 35 athletes who have hosted SNL:
Fran Tarkenton (1/29/77) • O.J. Simpson (2/25/78) • Bill Russell (11/3/79) • John Madden (1/30/82) • Bob Uecker (10/13/84) • Alex Karras (2/2/85) • Hulk Hogan and Mr. T (3/20/85) • Howard Cosell (4/13/85) • Billy Martin (5/24/86) • Joe Montana and Walter Payton (1/24/87) • Wayne Gretzky (5/13/89) • Chris Evert (11/11/89) • George Steinbrenner (10/20/90) • Michael Jordan (9/28/91) • Charles Barkley (9/25/93, 1/9/2010, 1/7/2012, 3/3/2018) • Nancy Kerrigan (3/12/94) • George Foreman (12/17/94) • Deion Sanders (2/18/95) • Dwayne Johnson (3/18/2000, 4/13/2002, 3/7/2009, 3/28/2015, 5/20/2017 • Derek Jeter (12/1/2001) • Jonny Moseley (3/2/2002) • Jeff Gordon (1/11/2003) • Andy Roddick (11/8/2003) • Tom Brady (4/16/2005) • Lance Armstrong (10/29/2005) • Peyton Manning (3/24/2007) • LeBron James (9/29/2007) • Michael Phelps (9/13/2008) • Eli Manning (5/5/2012) • Ronda Rousey (1/23/2016) • John Cena (12/10/2016) • J.J. Watt (2/1/2020) • Travis Kelce (3/4/2023)
In case you missed it last week, there was a cheating scandal that came to light on the PGA Tour Canada. The incident involved a journeyman pro named Justin Doeden, who missed cuts in his first two events of the Canadian season, and was recently close to missing a third cut in his second round in a tournament in Ottawa. When Doeden double-bogeyed the par-5 18th, a hole he had birdied the day before, he was clearly doomed to miss another cut, but instead of reporting the seven he erased the number and wrote a five, putting him safely above the cut line. Two players were having lunch and noticed the 3-under on the leaderboard for Doeden. One had played with Doeden and knew he took a seven at the last and finished 1-under. He thought it was a scoring glitch and reported it to the rules official as exactly that—a glitch— but the official pulled the card and saw the erasure of a five written on the card. As an investigation was on-going between officials, the scorer, and players, Doeden withdrew from the event. The PGA Tour Canada issued a statement: “A violation of the Rules of Golf is handled in accordance with the PGA Tour Canada Player Handbook and Tournament Regulations. Per Tour policy, the matter – and any related disciplinary action – will be handled internally.” Doeden confessed his actions Monday on Twitter. “I am here to confess of the biggest mistake I have made in my life to date. I cheated in golf. This is not who I am. I let my sponsors down. I let my competitors down. I let my family down. I let myself down. I pray for your forgiveness. John 1:9."
Miami, Florida, is a hot spot for celebrities and athletes, and was once a place that former Michigan Wolverine and NBA star Tim Hardaway Jr. called home. With a private boat dock and lift, an awesome terrace, a marble hot tub, and beautiful Florida views through large glass window walls, this modern mansion makes great use of its 5,400 square feet. Hardaway Jr. bought the beachfront Miami home in April 2019, for $4.75 million, later selling the property in 2021 for $6.75 million. Recently, the mansion was put up for sale again by its new owners for a whopping $9.1 million, which has since decreased by $300K. For more information on this $8.8 million property, contact Dina Goldentayer of Douglas Elliman Property Management at (305) 695-6075. If sold, I want a bird-dog fee.
Don January was responsible for a change to the rules of golf. During the 1963 Phoenix Open January had a putt roll up to the lip of the hole and stop. January claimed that the ball was still moving, and waited for seven minutes for the ball to drop (it never did). Rule 16-2 was revised in 1964 to state that players had to tap the ball in within ten seconds or be penalized.
The grueling 14-hour Consumers Energy AuSable River Canoe Marathon is the biggest professional canoe race in the world. And, for some odd reason, it is one of the least publicized events. Over 100 teams from all over the world arrived in Grayling for the 75th anniversary of the canoe race. Bay City’s Brett Stockton, a winner of nine of the marathons, prepares for the event by putting in hours of training running, cross country skiing, and weight lifting. The unique marathon begins in Grayling and ends in Oscoda – a total of 120 miles. The paddlers will have to run the challenging course facing six portages, darkness, fatigue and Consumers Energy hydroelectric dams.
The NCAA is ready to hand Jim Harbaugh a four-game suspension for Burgergate. This suspension is so bad that even Ohio State head coach Ryan Day calls it laughable. That better have been a Wonder Burger!
The Mexico City Reds hired three managers for the 1971 season. One worked home games and the other two split duties on the road.
Whatever happened to Casper Wells?
QUICK QUIZ ANSWER
D. Don January. January is well known for his success on the Senior PGA Tour (now the Champions Tour) winning 22 events including two PGA Senior Championships. The idea for a senior tour grew out of a highly-successful event in 1978, the Legends of Golf at Onion Creek Club in Austin, Texas, which featured competition between two-member teams of some of the greatest older golfers of that day. The tour was formally established in 1980 and was originally known as the Senior PGA Tour until October 2002.
Current PGA Tour Champions competitor and TV golf analyst Bobby Clampett has called the process for determining the field in tour events "the most complicated system known to man," and added that not a single player even understands it fully.” Clampett attempted to explain the process in a 2011 post on his blog. Standard tour events—apart from invitationals and majors, which have their own entry criteria—have a field of 78 (currently 81). The first 60 places in the field are filled as follows:
Clear as mud.
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Aug 01, 2023
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