A Tradition Unlike Any Other

I really like watching the Masters. Every March during the men’s NCAA basketball tournament, Jim Nantz’s low, quite voice comes on during a commercial break to remind me that the Masters is only a few weeks away. I consider it a quasi-holiday, knowing that on a Sunday in early April I will be devoting more than a couple of hours to watching golf.

I’m not quite sure why this is so relaxing but it is. Maybe it’s because around this time of year I am (supposed to be) surrounded by the last snowfields on the planet trying to get in the last ski race of the year. So to see the absurd amount of green grass and bushes of Augusta National that dominate the television lets me know that summer activities are coming quickly, and that for other people it started a while ago. This year the amount of coverage that Tiger received leading up to the event made the Masters a different spectacle, but in the end sitting on the couch and watching the Masters was just as relaxing as I hoped it would be. By the end of the weekend I even stopped noticing the ridiculous requirements imposed by Augusta National on CBS and ESPN in order to broadcast the event: the fans are referred to not as a crowd but as “patrons”, commercials basically don’t exist (4 minutes every hour, no one is complaining about that), and announcers never utter a bad word about the place for fear of losing their job (Gary McCord was banned by Augusta from covering the event after using some colorful imagery to explain how closely groomed the greens were). It’s a tradition unlike any other, and one that for some reason I really enjoy watching.

On the work side of things I am excited to announce that beginning this week I will start working with schools from the surrounding area of Wolcott, VT where I am currently living. I don’t have all of the details ironed out as of yet but plan to be up and running shortly, working as an instructor both on the field and in the classroom with local grade school kids. After a week of meeting with school principles and volunteer coordinators it is clear that my help is appreciated, and I am fired up to start working. I’ll let you know how things shake out. Until next time, go Mariners!