Monday, April 11, 2011

04/11 (Charl) Quickie

So there's presumably an optimal way for a sports event to end, but more often than not, we just want it to end distinctively -- "good enough," I guess you could say, where that qualifier is left up to each individual fan (great recent example: did you find last week's UConn-Butler game fascinatingly ugly or just ugly?)

At the Masters, we didn't get the breakthrough of 21-year-old Rory McIlroy -- but if he wasn't going to win, at least he imploded spectacularly (and then seemed to handle it as well as could be expected after the tournament ended).

We didn't get Tiger winning -- I will continue to contend that Tiger losing (Tiger coming close to winning, ideally) is the far more dramatic outcome.

We had an anyone-can-win scenario heading into the Masters' final hour -- as many as a half-dozen golfers with a shot.

That 99% of fans had never heard of Charl Schwartzel doesn't matter -- he distinguished himself with his metronomic birdie-birdie-birdie-birdie finish to the course, pulling away from the rest, who simply couldn't keep up.

And in the end, we got an epic collapse from the "how-can-he-possibly-lose?" leader, a surge (but ultimately failure) by Tiger, a finish that lots of golfers could have claimed and a champ who earned it.

That's more than "good enough."

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NBA: Yesterday, I said that even if the Heat beat the Celtics and end up claiming the East 2-seed -- and home-court advantage over the Celtics in the Eastern Conf. semifinals -- it wouldn't matter, because the playoffs are so different from the regular season. I still expect most people to pick the Celtics over the Heat in their playoff predictions.

Lakers lose 5th straight: Anyone NOT picking them to win the West? Didn't think so.

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NFL Lockout: The judge can insist the league and union go back to mediation, but that hardly ensures that either side will budge. There's no urgency. I suppose the judge can indicate to one side or the other that if they don't emerge from mediation with a deal, then you never know what the judge will do (in other words: threats)

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WNBA Draft: Not much drama. Arguably the greatest player in the history of women's college basketball -- UConn's Maya Moore -- will go to the Minnesota Lynx.

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Pop by Quickish today to catch up on Masters reactions, NBA analysis, some really good recommendations and more.

Go back and scroll down through the awesome coverage this weekend -- it'll only take you two minutes or so. That's the work of the super-talented Michael Katz, the latest addition to the Quickish team.

-- D.S.

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