The full field is announced
CHOOSE YOUR TGL TEAM
Forever ago when Bill Simmons was at ESPN and still had his Page 2 column, he wrote a Choose Your Premiere League Team article and I've always admired how he was able to spiritually compare the EPL teams to American sports teams.
So with the announcement this week of the final TGL roster, I figured I'd attempt the same setup to help you choose which team to support come January when the season kicks off.
(Obviously, if you want to go with your nearest city then so be it. But seeing as there is no Chicago team and I've completely written off my Los Angeles allegiance since moving to San Diego—my fandom is 100% up for grabs and I had a clear favorite.)
"The Atlanta Drive GC logo is constructed from a driver and golf ball to form the letter A in an accelerating and energizing font that represents Georgia’s golf legacy."
Yikes.
This team has the Milwaukee Bucks written all over them. Two players of note in JT and Cantlay—aka Giannis and Dame. Surrounded by boring/aging talent. Sure Billy has his moments but my gut reaction upon seeing their roster was snooze-fest USA. Then you layer on quotes like above where they're talking about how pointy edges on an "A" in the logo somehow honors Georgia's golfing legacy—and I'm out.
Just like the Bucks, you all may have won in the past but I think the league has passed you by.
My second favorite logo of the bunch and admittedly a likable roster—despite having to jettison Tyrell Hatton due to him jumping to LIV. Fandom will all depend on who the fourth player is. Give me someone like Tony Finau and Boston Common could be my favorite squad. Give me Alex Noren? Ehhhhhh.
I'm getting some Cowboys vibes from this team. Rory has a bit of Dak to him in that he can look absolutely dominant for long stretches but when it comes down to recent major success (or playoff wins) I'm left wanting more.
Another Cowboys connection is that I typically hate Boston teams for no other reason than them being from Boston—and I typically hate Cowboys teams for no other reason than them being the Cowboys. And yet, there is something about them both that allures me.
Somehow a worse logo than Atlanta. Way too much going on. Multiple fonts. Pencil thin scripting is going to wash out easily on the gear. And while I understand that the Tiger team had to wear red... if you only have six teams in the league... you can't have two teams wearing the same base color. And Atlanta feels like so much more of a red city with the Hawks and the Falcons.
This is the TGL Lakers. No question. Tiger is your Lebron—still capable of the miraculous but on the tail end of their career. Homa is Anthony Davis—a superstar with game-winning potential. Tom Kim and Kisner are the mid-level exemption players that they had to grab to fill out the roster.
My favorite logo. The LA scripting has the tattoo meets street art style that's so Los Angeles without beating you over the head with it. The black and white approach is super confident and timeless—reminds me of the Brooklyn Nets re-brand.
The use of the bluebird in the logo is odd. I get that it's the state bird, but when your name is New York—I'm craving a skyline shot. Also, what a New York move to put EST. 2024 on there too. The completely unreasonable confidence that this league will even be around in enough years to make an established date mean anything is just so typical Big Apple energy.
I'm getting some Miami Dolphins here. Plenty of likable players and on paper this should be a very competitive squad. But given this group's recent performance on Tour, I wonder if maybe they just don't have it. Which leaves you with a bunch of great names but nothing that's going to bring home the title.
I love (almost) everything about this team. They tapped every hot name on the Tour right now with Wyndham, Ludvig, and Min Woo. And the addition of Shane Lowry is all-time veteran vibes move and rounds out the roster to be more than just a collection of the "next best things."
What I don't love is the logo. Feels very Canva to me. Colors—great. Font and illustration style I think will feel dated by, well, maybe tomorrow.
Logo aside—this is the Timberwolves. I'm absolutely in love with this T'Wolves team and the fact that I'm not immediately dry-heaving at the Ant-MJ comparisons means a lot. Is Anthony Edwards actually MJ? No. No one will be. MJ is the best ever. But the aura surrounding these teams feels very similar to me and my TGL team is 100% locked in as The Bay Golf Club until Chicago gets a squad.
LIV makin' more moves
TRUE STADIUM GOLF
Greg Norman recently gave an interview with Bloomberg where he outlined a very interesting new wrinkle that LIV is considering adding to its portfolio—home courses.
"Man United owns their stadium. Indian Premier League, they own their stadiums. NFL, they own their stadiums. Think about LIV owning all their own golf courses, each team having a home venue and they host."
This brings back up all the great feelings people have around the Ryder Cup in that each side gets the opportunity to host the event on their home turf. The crowds are friendly and raucous. The home team can strategize how to set the course up to favor its team. And as easy as it is to look down on LIV for having poor TV ratings and relatively low stakes golf... I am absolutely in love with this idea.
"It's not just a golf course. You bring in education, you bring in hospitality, you bring in real estate, you bring in merchandise, you bring in management, you bring in all these other different opportunities that the game of golf has to deliver to a community, to a region."
The LA Golf Club team from the TGL has been doing something similar to this in terms of community outreach as they're renovating some local public courses in the Los Angeles area. But what Norman is suggesting seems to go even farther as I now imagine what it would have meant to me as a kid to play basketball at a Bulls camp in the United Center. You could really create a whole culture around your team by way of designing an on-course experience and programming to match.
Do I still think the LIV will be a relatively short-lived blip in golf history? Yes. But I'll admit that I've come completely around on some of the tactical ideas they've introduced to the game and have enjoyed seeing the innovative chances they're taking.
The day when we'll all be living inside of video games is nearing...
GTA IS COMING FOR MADDEN AND 2K
A huge video game leak this week was around the new Grand Theft Auto which will reportedly feature basketball, football and tennis as part of the online gameplay.
Some further digging on a GTA6Countdown account on X revealed the following list of other sports that are rumored to be in the new GTA:
- Bowling
- Wrestling
- Racing (duh)
- Fishing/hunting
- Shooting range (duh)
- Surfing
And... GOLF.
That's right. So you could go steal a Lambo, blow up a warehouse, drag race your stolen Lambo—and then sneak in a quick 18.
I can't wait for the day Jack can play video games so then I can play video games and see how incredible all these mega-world titles actually are. Until then... I just read gamer leaks on X and dream.
Hate Tom Brady—but that was a good roast.
IS TIGER NEXT??
I was absolutely SUCKERED into the fake news cycle when the image above came across my social feeds. (Note to society—just check your source. Literally any source.)
In reality, I can't find any reputable site that can actually report Tiger Woods is close to doing a Netflix roast.
All I found was a website called Sportscasting.com that said Tiger is now the odds-on favorite at +200 to be the next roastee. The catch? THEY CREATED THE F@**^#& ODDS.
Everything is made up and nothing matters.
But it does bring up a good point in that the list of people who could even consider competing with the Tom Brady roast is crazy small. Mega-athletes and cultural icons whose personality is so clear in society that anyone, anywhere could at least attempt a joke of their own.
CBS Sports did a rundown of nine potential candidates and the only ones I agreed with were MJ, Tiger, and (maybe) Charles Barkley.
Given enough time, I think there'd be some pretty killer content around how Tiger dressed up as Batman and went to ComicCon—among (many) other things.
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