Thursday Cannon Fodder: another great weekend

If I had a nickel for every time I declared a weekend “the best sports weekend of the year,” I’d have about twenty cents. That’s not how that is supposed to work, is it? But there are a few times a year where the sporting calendar is so fantastic that it merits the accolade. Masters weekend is one of those weekends.

The four days at Augusta National, on their own, probably don’t rise to the peak of sports viewership (but I watch religiously all the same). But pairing those days with baseball Opening Weekend pushes it up the list. Baseball is America’s Pastime, after all. I’ve gotten back into baseball as I’ve aged, I think because it’s pleasant, slow-paced background sports to have on the T.V. That’s kind of a terrifying realization that like those actors in the insurance commercials, I’m slowly becoming my parents. Well, not my parents specifically because they’re not huge baseball fans, but the generic parent.

All the focus, at least on Thursday and Friday at the Masters, will be on Tiger Woods. He’s going to try to play the Masters 17 months after a car accident that nearly cost him his right leg and could have been the end of his golf career. I may have to take an entire CF to share my thoughts on Tiger, but in summary, I’ll say this: I can’t help but be in awe of that man as an athlete. He’s had his personal issues that make a small part of me yearn that I wasn’t as transfixed by him, but it’s irresistible.

Shifting back to baseball, my Nationals have more questions than answers heading into the season and are in a tough division with tough outs in the Braves and Mets, a frisky Phillies team, and the enigmatic Marlins. Pretty much every expert I’ve seen have picked the Nats to finish at the bottom of the division. Oh well. We got our World Series.

What’s the outlook for your baseball team? Are you excited about the season? Are you watching the Masters instead? Or do you not really care about either?