It Ain't Easy Being Green

A day late...and maybe a dollar short, but we are going to give you some of our thoughts on The Masters, and even relate it a bit to the NCAA tournament. We'll also throw in some other green related thoughts.

-We'll start with the golfer that found out the hard way that indeed it ain't easy being the green jacket winner. Rory McIlroy pretty much did everything perfect at the Masters, starting on Thursday and going all the way through Sunday evening. Oh, besides those 4 hours that he spent actually playing golf on Sunday. The 21-year old was the second youngest golfer ever to hold the 54-hole lead at The Masters. Besides doing all the right things on the course, he was saying all the right things off it. When asked about Tiger Woods lurking on the leaderboard, Rory didn't worry about others, just kept talking about the way he was playing, how he felt comfortable, and how he would just have to continue that throughout his final round. Then he pulled a Butler. On the day things mattered the most, he just didn't have it. Actually, wasn't even close. The worst collapse at The Masters ever. Kind of sounds like the worst shooting performance ever in a National Championship game. But just as Butler did, Rory handled things better than ever in defeat. He talked about learning from this collapse, how this will help build his character, and how this will make him a better golfer in the end. He's right. He's 21 years old, and he'll be back.

-Speaking of being back, it was good to have Tiger back on Sunday. Whether you are a fan of him or not, the bottom line is that golf is better when Tiger is around. For the first 14 years of his career we were mesmerized by what he could do on the golf course. If you've ever heard a "Tiger Roar" from the gallery in person, you know it gave you the chills. Well on Sunday, he looked like old Tiger. He was walking putts in, he pulled out the swinging fist pump and was firing up the crowds. He shot an impressive 31 on the front nine, making him a co-leader at the turn. Two missed putts from five feet on the back proved that it wouldn't completely be his day (insert your "First time Tiger couldn't close in the last two years joke" here). He was also back to being himself with a brief (and what some might say...rude) post-round interview. We'll be honest with you, we are fans of some of the young guns on tour and want to see them succeed, but having Tiger around will only make things better for the upcoming golf season. Keep it up, Eldrick. Just lose the cursing and other poor behavior on the course.

-Here is what the final leaderboard at The Masters looked like: Charl Schwartzel, Jason Day, Adam Scott, Tiger Woods, Luke Donald, Geoff Ogilvy. We can only imagine what was going through Jim Nantz's mind as we came down the stretch, and he was prepping for a final call. After wearing us out with plenty of cheese during the National Championship, the possibilities were endless for many of the potential winners. "It's a beautiful Day in Augusta for Jason!", "Great Scott!", "Tiger, back on the prowl at The Masters!" (ok, maybe not totally appropriate), "Luke, I am your father, and you are the Masters Champion!". You get it. If Nantz pulled out "Walker Texas Ranger" and "Best in Show" for Kemba and UConn on Monday, you'd think we could have gotten a "Charl's in Charge!" or a "May the Schwartzel be with you!". Oh well, maybe next year.

-Staying with the green theme, but switching to the NBA, the way the Celtics have been playing of late has to make their fans a bit green in the face (BBM puke face to be exact). Things haven't looked right since the Kendrick Perkins trade, and the Celts have lost 2 in a row, are 5-5 over their last 10 games, and are 9-11 over their last 20. Last year Boston stumbled into the playoffs as well, but were able to flip the switch and eventually ended up losing in Game 7 of the Finals. For some reason, things don't feel like that this year. They locked up the 3 seed and will draw the Knicks in Round 1. Daily Onions isn't quite sure what our prediction for that series is at this point, but it should be one of the more exciting match ups in the opening round. We aren't going to bet against the Celtics, but Carmelo, Amare and Chauncey (and Lance!) should make things interesting and can win 2-3 games. Just as it is good to have Tiger back, equally good to have NBA relevant at Madison Square Garden in April......and May?