It ain't the Masters without Nantz
WELCOME TO CBS
Welcome to the smoothest transition in sports week as March Madness fades out and The Masters comes roaring in.
I've been holding onto this Nantz clip for weeks now, since it was posted back in February. Sam Farmer of the LA Times did a feature on Nantz in the run-up to the Super Bowl and as part of that feature Nantz took them on a tour of his memorabilia room.
Pictured in the screenshot above is probably one of the coolest pieces of personal memorabilia I've ever seen.
A phone from Giants stadium.
The story is that, in 1985, Jim was covering a Boston College-BYU game to kickoff the college football season. At the time, Jim was a reporter based out of Utah. While on the field, he got a tap from someone saying that the head of CBS Ted Shaker wanted to speak with him.
Obviously, with cell phones not being a thing, he had to go find a pay phone and he ended up finding this exact phone on the ramp leading off the field. He punched in a credit card number (wild) and got Ted on the line. With the marching band blaring in the background, Ted told Jim, "Welcome to CBS."
Incredible.
And above the phone he has the game ticket as well, commemorating the day of infamy where he signed on with the network almost 40 years ago.
Now, obviously, my mind shifts to how I can make this about myself. So I was trying to think about what my own equivalent might be. If I had stayed in entertainment, I found out I got my first job as a CBS page while on the beach in Santa Monica so maybe like a jar of sand? And I found out I was going to be the writer of Breakfast Balls during quarantine so maybe a paper surgeon mask? Neither really have the same gravitas sadly... which either means I need to go to more interesting places or I'm no Jim Nantz.
Definitely the former.
Absolutely 0% chance you saw this next section coming
LET'S TALK HORTICULTURE
Wait, wait, wait, wait—let me finish!
Mid-to-late 19th century horticulture.
(Picture the above exchange in the voice of Michael Scott when he reveals that he got lithium batteries instead of full college tuition for Scott's Tots. Peak Office cringe.)
But for real, I think at least a couple hundred of you will find this super interesting and I guarantee most of you never knew this.
This week I learned that Augusta National was originally a nursery called Fruitland that operated from 1858 until 1918. Click through the image above to see the "Georgiapedia" article on it, but I'll give my favorite nuggets below.
Nugget 1) The original owner's home, Fruitland Manor, is now the Augusta clubhouse. Thus the resemblance to the picture above.
Nugget 2) Louis Mathieu Edouard Berckmans, the owner, is known as the "Father of Peach Culture." A title I could see myself trying to chase one day as peaches are probably my favorite fruit.
Louis introduced the Chinese Cling peach to the region and that variety is what eventually spawned the Elberta, Belle, and Thurber peaches, which became Georgia’s primary commercial varieties.
Probably a little too insider baseball for my peach enthusiasts but still kind of wild to introduce an entirely new crop that essentially becomes the entire state's identity.
Nugget 3) Berckmans' sons were part of the original team contracted by Bobby Jones to landscape Augusta National when it first became a golf club.
Alright so that was probably too much garden talk for the majority of you. But to think that golf's most hallowed ground got its start operating as a glorified plant section at Home Depot is fascinating.
(My dad is also SUPER into botany, so I'll also pull a "this one's for you, paps.")
This week on r/golf
ORIGINAL POST DELETED!
The August National mafia is strong.
Bad Birdie Trevor tipped me off to this one from Reddit a few months back about a user who posted an AMA after they played Augusta with their buddy who's a professional golfer.
The wrinkle here is that at some point in the last two months, they deleted the post!
You HAVE to imagine this is because they posted a picture of them teeing off and Augusta finally caught wind of it. But the thread is still live if you follow the link through the image above.
There were some really interesting questions and answers as the guy responded to most everything of note.
- He hooked this first tee shot across the fairway of nine.
- He was there during the Thanksgiving members celebration so apparently it was packed and I imagine he saw a ton of the notoriously secretive members.
- My favorite insight was that they allow the caddies to carry a digital camera to take pictures for you while on the grounds and then hand you the SIM card after.
And when this newsletter suddenly disappears and you're left wondering where I went... know it was likely Augusta related.
What's Si Woo rockin'?
IT'S MY FIRST-EVER DRIP DROP
I've been authorized by the powers that be to conduct my first-ever "Drip Drop". (Note - no one authorized me to call it a Drip Drop.)
Making our brand debut at the Masters next week, here is a first look at Si Woo's Thursday fit.
His expression tells me he was saying something like, "Who's Scott, again? And who can I invoice for this broken wedge in my hand?"
For my gambling fiends, here is a fantastic stat that could indicate some serious value on our boy making some moves next week—courtesy of Cam Rogers on TikTok.
9 of the 11 winners of the Masters were averaging 1.7 strokes gained: tee to green in the 3 months leading up to the tournament.
That list for this year?
- Scottie (3.2)
- Xander (2.3)
- Hideki and Si Woo MOTHER F&*@#& KIM (1.8)
- JT (1.7)
I'm just sayin' that about the only thing we'd be 100% okay with covering up the polo is a green jacket.
Come. Watch with me.
FULL SWING S2: EPISODE 5 THOUGHTS
This week we rode along on a relatively well paved and bump-free road with the Family Fitzpatrick.
EPISODE TITLE:
In the Shadows
TAKEAWAY 1:
England, and really all of the towns in the United Kingdom at large, seem like such a pleasant place to live. All the greenery, the masonry, the charm of the homes, and a perpetual chilly look in the air seem ideal to me.
The one drawback is that I've now seen so many of these d@#& Harlan Coben Netflix shows that about five minutes into this episode I found myself anxiously waiting for the murder to be revealed.
Even the turns of phrase they use—"crackin'" and "If you win, I'll be drunk as a bicycle." What a delight.
My favorite English moment of the episode came during The Open portion where Alex finishes his miraculous run and upon seeing his father after 18 simply says "Hello, dad." To which he replies, "Hello." An exchange that falls on the complete opposite side of the spectrum from the Ball brothers with LaVar.
TAKEAWAY 2:
Rachel Kuehn.
It's probably not the best of signs when one of the most interesting parts of the episode for me ended up being Alex's girlfriend.
And for those who don't know, for a little Augusta tie-in, reader Watson P tipped me off earlier this week that Alex is actually on Rachel's bag as we speak at the Augusta National Women's Amateur.
Rachel is a golfer on the Wake Forest team and apparently her mother was a professional golfer who competed in the US Open while she was 8 months pregnant?!
TAKEAWAY 3:
The "Rivalry."
The main thing that held this brotherly duel back was personality. I found the storyline of Matt and Alex super compelling as I imagined the almost Game of Thrones like animosity that must brew inside Alex at times as he looks up at his older brother winning the US Open, gloating as brothers do whenever possible.
And then for Netflix to hit the jackpot as Alex not only qualified for The Open but then proceeded to find himself at the top of the leaderboard heading into Sunday and best his own brother... they've really had a shiny horseshoe up their you know where this year.
I just wish that they were a more engaging duo is all. They remind me of my own kryptonite when it comes to playing competitive golf matches... nice people. Nothing takes the wind out of my sails like having to play a genuinely pleasant person in anything competitive.
If you're mouthin' off the entire time, sign me up.
If you're fixing my green marks and filling my divots, I'm toast.
And that's how I felt about this episode, completely unbuttered toast.
EPISODE GRADE:
B-
Have to give Netflix credit here for finding the angle on an otherwise paint-dryingly pleasant pair of human beings. And The Open climax was top notch drama as I completely forgot Alex was even in the mix. But I do wonder if a Brooks-Chase brother spotlight would've brought more of that brotherly fighting spirit.
Next week? The Ryder Cup three-part finale begins!
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