April 6, 2020 • 51 mins
SportsCenter anchor, Scott Van Pelt, steps into The Clubhouse with Shane Bacon to share his thoughts about the Masters being postponed and Tiger not given the opportunity to defend his title this week. The guys also give their top five favorite Masters of all time.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Clubhouse with Shane Bacon, a production of
I Heart Radio Welcome to the Cubhouse with Shane Bacon.
I am your host, Shane Bacon, and usually we might
play the Master's theme music right about now. It's Monday morning,
(00:23):
you're waking up. If typically you would be heady to work,
your mind would be elsewhere, it would be in Augusta,
preparing for golf fans top two or three favorite week
of the year. I understand that I am the exact
same way. I was supposed to be flying to Augusta
on Monday and had some things to do, when was
gonna go out to the tournament, and really just it's
(00:46):
a part of my year that is extremely special. While
I'm not broadcasting it and it's not the US Open,
I feel like you get to see a lot of friends,
and you see a lot of faces, and you chat
with some people that you really only get a chance
to chat with during that week. And of course, with
everything going on, that's not gonna happen. And while our
thoughts are with everyone dealing with everything that we are
(01:07):
facing currently, of course, as a golf podcast and as
a golf fan, you know we're bummed out that there's
no Masters, and that is what today's podcast is about.
I had my friend Scott Van Pelt of ESPN, who
is they're covering it every single year, jump on normally
we do this podcast and we're talking about conditions and
the way the Greens are playing and who's informed and
(01:29):
can Tiger win another one? And all of those questions
roll out, and of course none of that did, but
it was a good conversation. It was a fun conversation.
Scott is one of my favorite people in all of
sports media, and we went along. We we broke down
our five favorite Masters ever at the end of the podcast,
so stick around for that. And just simply a couple
of guys talking about something that they're going to miss
(01:52):
that's a big part of their lives, and that is
the Master's Tournament of Augustina, Nashville, and that is what
today is. So just hoping everybod he's out there staying
safe and smart and healthy and following guidelines and protocol.
I am doing that. We're hunkered down at the house
and man, my hands, I'm washing my hands so much
that they're cracking. I've got the knuckle crack going so
(02:15):
I've been I've been overlotioning the hands now because I'm
over washing the hands to stay safe. This is what
happens in two thousand twenty, apparently, this is what we
deal with. But just a reminder that I've got another
podcast with Maxima called Get a Grip with Max Homa
and Shane Bacon, and that that will roll out on
(02:35):
Monday as well, and of course we will chat about
Max and what he thought would be his first trip
to Augustin Nahal and his first Masters, and plenty of
other shenanigans that we will figure out when we figure
it out. Big thanks for following and for listening and subscribing.
You can follow at the Clubhouse Pod on Twitter and
on Instagram, and we continually give out stuff over there,
so make sure you do that. Let's get to our guests. Well,
(02:58):
we welcome back into the Clubhouse, Scott van Pelt and Scott.
Normally this calls on a Monday. You may or may
not be breaking augusta national cell phone protocol and policy
talking to me about the week. That is an excitement
happening around the Gulf world and uh and yet we
sit here at our respective homes across the country, and
(03:19):
it's a bomber man. I mean, there's so many things
that are a bummer about what's happening right now. But
you know, the Masters is this thing that we have
circled every single year, and of course now it's Master's
Week with no golf to be had, it's really really
difficult to not be there this week. And I mean,
I'll say this at the very beginning, and I'm not
(03:41):
gonna say it again. Obviously this is framed by what's
going on and what is you know, clearly more serious
and as the health of people across the country and
people that are losing jobs, and we understand all those
because two things could be true at once. We can
be concerned about that and at the same time be
really bummed out about what we would be doing in
(04:01):
the absence of this pandemic, which is being at Augusta
and enjoying this week. And it is change. It's my
favorite week of the year, and I've been I mean,
this is my twenty year ESPN. I've been there every
single year since I've been with the ESPN, and so
to not be there is I mean odd doesn't begin
to do it justice. It's just it's really really impossible
(04:25):
to process. Rankly, Yeah, I was gonna ask how many
you've been to in a row? I mean dating back
to Golf Channel. Did you get to go back in
the Golf Channel days or did all that start ESPN? No,
My first one was ninety seven, which was a good
one to make your debut at UM. We showed up
and like, oh, this is a this is this is
how they do it here. Uh, that was the first
(04:46):
one and I missed what isn't that omare is a
ninety eight? But I want to say, I think I
think it's been everyone but one since ninety seven. I
honestly don't remember. Um, I just know that ever since,
you know, ever since yes, I started with ESPN, I know,
I know for a fact, it's been all of those.
So I mean, and it's been you know, I've been
really fortunate, I think in terms of the job descriptions there,
(05:10):
I've kind of done every bit of it, whether it's
being on the ground reporter who's doing the interviews post round,
whether it's being an you know, Uh, it used to
be over at to Gustic Country Club where we initially
had our setup where we were doing sports and our stuff.
And then and then obviously in Mike Tiko took the
job with NBC and I split into the Butler cabin
and do some stuff there. So I mean, it's it's
(05:32):
I've had kind of uh, I've had a great opportunity
to have some of the variety of of of covering
the event. But I mean, let's be honest, whatever your
job is, if you're on the grounds, just to be
there for the week is just such a treat and
it's one that, as I say, it's what we look
forward to all year, all year long. Yeah, I mean
(05:53):
it's it's really across the board. I mean, you said it,
it is. If you're in the broadcasting space this week,
it's an unbelievable experience and you cannot wait to get there.
If you're a writer, it's a big week to to
really kind of propel your stories on the front page,
not just at the sports page, but potentially on the
front page of news if Tiger or somebody got in
(06:14):
the hunt and had a chance to win. And I
always feel like for the golfers, I mean, for the
guys that are playing, all of the weeks matter sure,
but you know this one matters a lot more for
the players, especially the events they have played leading up
to Augusta Nationals. So universally, it's just one of those
where I went to my my iPhone app on Wednesday
(06:36):
of last week and deleted Masters scheduling for the week.
It was it was one of those as I'm hitting
delete event, I just wanted to take a moment, go
for a walk, or just go sit outside in the
backyard because I couldn't believe that this was actually happening.
You've talked a lot about the Masters with me over
(06:57):
the years and how important of a week it is
for you personally. When you got the call the first
time to go work the Master's tournament, you know this
thing circled on every golf and every sports fans calendar.
What was it like for you personally and professionally, knowing
now this was always going to be something you've done well,
it's it's it represents something on as you say correctly
(07:21):
on the calendar that you know is it's a legend maker, right.
I mean, if you're Larry Mies and you're gonna have
one moment in your career, and he had more than one,
but if you're gonna have one, one moment, make it,
make it on the eleventh hole against Greg Norman in
your hometown, and make it and make it an all
time moment. And so going to a place like that
where you know that history has made every year, as
(07:43):
Phelt Nicholson says correctly, um, and to think that you're
going to get a chance to be part of covering it.
It was obviously going to be a big deal, and
then it turned into something far more than that. It
became truly historic as a as a newsmaking event because
Tiger wanted and then getting a chance to sit down
and talk to him about it after the fact, and
that that interview really helped propel You're right when you said,
(08:07):
I mean you get it propelled my career Without him
winning at ninety seven and having a chance to sit
down with him after the fact and him giving me
the time he gave me and being as great as
he was in that interview, I don't think my my
career um rises in the way that it did. So
I mean I was he was the tide that lifted
all boats, and I was just one of those boats.
(08:28):
So I didn't know when I got to go there,
you know that it would be that. But that's that's
every bit of what it was. I remember my first
Masters covering that I was writing, I believe for CBS
Sports at the time, and just arriving and while you're
on eggshells because you don't want to do anything wrong
to possibly lose your credential or your badge. At the
(08:49):
same time, you know, every single year I've gone since
it is what are the is is gonna look at
when I get there? What's the golf course gonna play like?
What's the new merch? I mean, they're all of these
little checklist that I think are a little forgot, and
that's just for people to get a chance to go.
What are you and your team planning this week in
terms of quote unquote coverage of the Masters, look backs
(09:12):
on on past tournaments and events. What are you guys
gonna do to kind of keep this theme going despite
not having an actual live tournament. Well, we're gonna talk
to Jack always. Any any Masters list begins with Jack
because he's Jack Um. We're gonna have a conversation, I know,
with Bubba because we're doing primetime broadcasts of events that
(09:34):
that are of past Masters, and we're gonna talk to
Bubba as well. Um, and it's funny you think about
that shot when the Pines tryn ten and you know,
like again a legend maker. Um, we're gonna talk to
Jim nance I believe Monday that's the goal anyway, but
it's it's really dependent upon his his schedule. And I
(09:55):
mean talked about a guy who has the greatest week
every year. I mean, he called the national title game
on a day night. You're calling the Master's champion the
following something, and that would have been an easy drive
from Atlanta. And my heart breaks for Jim this for
for his week. Um, we've got some other feelers out.
I mean I threw it out the Tiger. It's always
a matter that you know, if he's got the time
or if he's even Um interested isn't even right word,
(10:17):
because I mean it's just it's just a matter of
do you want to sit down and and and and
talk about this, because I'm sure he's pumped out, you know.
I mean, I think it means different things to different people,
but it's all some version of the same thing, which
is how much do you miss it? But it'll be
you know, prime time coverage of the event, you know,
and I think I found myself watching the Women's Amateur
over the weekend. I just I just enjoyed and by
(10:39):
the way, they played great, But I just you just
want to see people hit shots on the holes that
you know what I mean, You just want to see it.
You wanna, you wanna more than any other golf course
in the world, just seeing that it's the only course
where the course is the only event, rather where the
course is the star. Truly, truly, the course is the star.
And so I mean, I guess throughout the week we'll
(11:02):
have the course on TV if you want to watch it.
If it's too painful, I get that too. And you're
you're out here deleting apps. I get it. Man, You're
just going to see that phone number pop up on
your phone and see that see that x's name. I
guess you just wanted to be a number and like,
I don't know who that is. I'm not answering that goal.
You you brought up Tiger, and this was something that
I was discussing with a buddy just yesterday and you
(11:25):
say bummer and again you already said it, and I'm
gonna say it to start this podcast. This is very,
very small potatoes in terms of what's going on. But
for Tiger Woods, you know, he's forty four years old.
He turns forty five at the end of this year.
Of course, he wins this thing last year and it
was an unreal moment. I'm gonna ask you for your
five favorite Masters a little bit later, and I'm assuming
(11:46):
probably gonna sneak in there somewhere. But for Tiger Woods,
all of the things he's accomplished, all the stuff he's
done in his lifetime to miss a Master's potentially now
we don't really know what the schedule is going to
be like for the rest of this year year, and
maybe October, maybe November, obviously the rumors have swirled around.
But for Tiger to miss a Master's, a regular masters
(12:09):
is a huge letdown for the guy because he doesn't
have a whole bunch of years left to go out
there and possibly get another green jacket. Now, you're right,
and I felt the same way for Federer and for
Serena with Wimbledon, and that's more definitive because that's canceled.
You know, that's not postponed, that's canceled. And it's a
little different obviously in golf you can go, you can
go longer. Um. And for Federal and Serena, it's at
(12:32):
that time is really getting short for them. But if
if you didn't have the Masters, then been clearly for
for Tiger, like, how many more are there where you
really truly can serve that he's got a legitimate shot? Um,
not many, I mean, not not ten, not maybe five.
I mean you tell me that's a lot. That's a
(12:53):
lot too for being honest. So, um, who knows given
the fact that his back had been acting up and
if it turned into a fall deal, maybe that actually
benefits him in some way. Um, you know, of course
it could be cooler than Yeah. But but just in
the grand scheme, just the idea for anybody that whose
age starts with the four, um, whose bank is fused. Uh,
(13:15):
you want as many clean cracks at it as you
can get. And this one is uh for the moment,
it's it's a question mark. We don't know. Yeah, what's
been the event. I'm assuming we're gonna both throw the
Masters out because you've already said it's your favorite week
of the year, and I'm a little bit of a
golf nerd. I don't know if you knew this or not.
And the Masters is one of my favorite couch couch
weeks of the year, or if I'm somewhere in and
(13:37):
around August, is just one of my favorite events to
be around. What's been the one that has bummed you
out the most? And you're a guy that gets to
cover everything when you talk about every single sport, high school, college, pro, everything,
what's been the event that you've either already missed or
is coming up that's going to be missed or possibly
canceled that's really bummed you out as a sports fan.
(13:59):
It's not close. I mean, like the Masters is different
because it's so personal um and and so that's that's brutal.
But as much as that week being put on pause
for now, I'm still hopeful that it's a fall deal.
The incident played tournament not being played is you can
never reconcile that. I mean, I root for Maryland. I
(14:21):
don't think that's any great closely held secret. And they
were they were pretty good. I mean they want to
share the Big ten. I don't know, they'd probably been
a I don't know, three seed, maybe four seed, to
be a two if they won the big team whatever,
it is they were. They were one of those teams
that had a shot to me to Atlanta, and um,
you know, their senior point guard is Oh is gone.
(14:41):
Their junior I mean, their soft or big man a
Jayleen Smith, I presume is going to go pro. So
that means that you'll never get a chance to see
that team. And and you know, Kansas fans are going,
you know, hey, we were really good. Of course they
were number one in Michigan State fans and Gonzaga fans
and you know, Duke fans. I can keep going. There's
any college team out there that that that had a
(15:02):
shot is thinking we could have made it to Atlanta.
UM and by the way, any of these teams could
have lost in the first round too. Gate My god,
they had the best year they've ever had. So you
know that that tournament not being played is just crushing
to me because it's it's my favorite three week event
of the year. And um, I mean it's just never
(15:24):
going to be I just don't know how you ever
make that makes sense. Yeah, I went to Arizona Scott
and I think this might be the first year since
maybe the year after I graduated where I was actually
okay with the tournament not happening because this team was
I was going so nuts with this basketball team and
program and coaching and last five minutes and of course
(15:47):
the tournament being canceled was It was a massive bummer.
As as a sports fan and somebody that likes to
a bracket and keep up with it for a couple
of weeks, but as a personal Arizona fan, I didn't
think we were going to have much of a run.
I didn't think our chances were that great to do
stuff that maybe some of the other teams have been
talked into from experts and others are like, you guys
(16:08):
are actually fastening in case study because analytically they really
liked you a lot, Like there are a number of
different sort of models that really would really favorite Arizona.
And then there the fact that they've lost a bunch
of games put them on you know, the pracketologists seed
lines that were lower, which would have made for a
very interesting situation because you guys might have been seated
(16:30):
lower than the kind of predictive models would have suggested,
which might have indicated chain and maybe you guys would
have been ready for a run. You never know, But
see that's the thing you just you don't know and
you'll never know. And that's the part that just is
crushing to me, is like you'll you me and none
of us will ever know, and that just sucks. Yeah. Well,
(16:50):
something you did that I love and and something you
really do with your show that I've always been impressed by,
and something I tried to you know, if this is
a compliment I try to man make a bit is
you have always tried to spend stuff positively. I although
I feel like with Bad Beats, Bad Beats is a
fun segment. It highlights a negative, but I feel like
(17:11):
you turned into a positive because you have so much
fun with it. I mean, you're laughing about it. It's
a it's a bad gambling moment, but of course you can.
And that's what I'm saying. And that's something you've done
so well. One thing you did and you asked right
away about we're stories of young players that weren't going
to be able to fulfill high school, college, whatever, and
you wanted to highlight those players. How was that in
(17:33):
terms of getting a chance to dive into stories that
you wouldn't have followed otherwise. It's been amazing, man, it's
been it's I've been really, really, really really lucky in
my career. I think that's something I've shared with each
in the years, just just being grateful for all of it,
and UM, August just part of it. There's a lot
of things are part of it, you know, as thing
as I get to do, and I'm thankful for all
(17:54):
of it. The the Senior Nights segments that we've done
has been some I'll always remember as um the one
positive out of this giant negative, because what it happened
is we asked for people to share with us the
stories of the high school kids and teams and college
(18:16):
kids and and teams that had their seasons just abruptly end.
And I've learned about these places and these teams in
small towns and Wisconsin and Indiana and Arkansas. Just thinking
out loud, there's a girl named McKenna and I can't
think of her last name in Arkansas who was in
(18:38):
the I See You as a sophomore, had this rare
kidney issue and like she's touch and go, and then
she got out of got out of the hospital, she
got better, and by the time she's a senior, she's
an All state player and they're going to play for
state title. And it's like, well, all right, I never
would have known that that this Gal McKenna out in
(18:58):
Arkansas is this great player is getting ready to go
to Central Missouri. I want to say it is on
a basketball scholarship. Well why I found out about a
story because I asked people share them with it. And
so it's it's lacrosse players and soccer players and baseball
players and swimmers and the equestrian team at tc U
and all these different people I mean coast to coast
man and and and I've we've tried our best to
(19:20):
try to represent you know, men and women small and
big like, just because the mosaic of their stories tells
the story of our country and how much sports matter,
and how proud people are of the teams in their communities.
And I've been I've just been moved by it. And
I've been moved by how much it meant to them.
(19:41):
We've heard from so many of their coaches, uh and
communities that they're appreciative that they just um like, somebody
forward to me an article from the the Goshen something
in Indian of the paper there and just the kids
were saying like how cool it was to hear their
names sent on sports and you're like, you mean, you
know what the says that what we do. I mean,
(20:01):
we don't take it particularly seriously, but like these mics
are on and people listen and and and it matters
in those communities to feel like they're getting they're getting
some love and they're being seen, right, and so being
able to be the guy sitting there saying, hey, man,
I see you out there in Indiana doing your thing,
and in Kentucky and Georgia and South Calina. I could
just every state in the Union. We've done something from
(20:23):
as many as we could. We're gonna do it this week.
And then I think we're gonna stop because at some point,
you know, I'm not going to get to everybody. And
then it becomes like when Phil stops and signs autographs
and it's like, you signed for for as many as
you can, and then the five people you don't sign
for it think you suck because you didn't You didn't
sign for it, right, right, Yeah, you're you're the bad
(20:45):
All of a sudden, you're a bad guy. We can
never get to all of them, and and I think
that we will have done by that I don't even
know how many. But my hope is that what we
can do is when we're done, we can kind of
almost put together a list of the teams and the
schools that have been mentioned and and just I don't know,
(21:06):
put it all in one place or or something. I
don't know. I just uh, just to remember it by
because when when the bigger schools start playing again and
the pro start playing again, these stories that we that
are so worthy, well will drift back to, you know,
a place that I won't see. And um, I've just
(21:28):
I've been I've been moved by the fact that that
what we've done has mattered. And I've been I've been
grateful to be the one who got to share the
stories that people shared with us. I remember when I
was in when I was younger in high school, you know,
I got sports illustrated. I would read faces in the crowd.
It's it's like you brawlways faces to TV, and I
(21:49):
think that's been something cool. I gotta, I gotta, I've
got a segment idea. I was gonna bring this up
to you, not on the podcast, but I figure at
least if I bring it up to you on the podcast,
you have to like a somewhat interested you know what
I mean, You've got at least not and acknowledge my
I'll just blow it up, just just skip right past.
(22:10):
So here's my idea, going back to what we were
talking about. Being positive is something something loosely titled nice
gestures in sports or we can be nice sometimes, And
it's basically you every night dive in for three to
five minutes on a story about an athlete doing something
unbelievably nice within their sport. This isn't, you know, philanthropy.
(22:34):
This isn't going out and starting the foundation. This is
on the court. Let me give you an example, Scott.
I'm gonna give you an example of what I'm thinking here. Okay,
are you ready for this? Because I think you're gonna
all right. Andy Roddick, remember Andy Roddick, he was great
back at the two thousand five Rome Masters Round A sixteen.
He was just taking it to Verdasco. He was just
(22:55):
beating the swoosh is off the guy. He's up a set,
he's up a break. Andy Roddick's gonna win. Linesman calls
a serve and to win the match, and Roddick says, no,
it was out. It was a rotic serve. He calls
it out on himself, goes on to lose the match.
He wouldn't go shake hands. He said, no, no, no, no no, no,
that's not that was that was that was not good.
(23:16):
It was out. I'm gonna be the good human being
that I am. And he ends up losing that match,
but that was him being a good a good fellow,
a good person within his sport. In between the lines,
I'll give you another one. I got one more. It's
golf related. You ready for it? Alright? So you're so
I can tell you're you're you're mildly interested. Mildly is
you're you're probably what's the second Taco bell sauce? Is
(23:40):
it mild? Is it medium? Mild or mild medium? Um?
I'm gonna I don't go sauce there. I didn't eat
stuff row, I don't know. You don't get you don't
go to Taco bell sauce. I don't goss the fire
an odd eater man. This is this is gonna take
us to a strange place here. I don't need a
(24:01):
Chick fil A, No sauce for the nuggets? Just wow,
what do you do with fries. I just actually I'll
catch up, like, but I need like like if it's
if it's like a drive through order, I don't catch up.
What the hell do you put it? Well, the Chick
fil A has those professional dipping catchup packets. Now that
those things are the next level, but they do. But
(24:23):
I just but Chick fil a nugget is a perfectly
engineered food already. There needs to be nothing to put
on it because all it does is interfere with the
slaver of the Chick fil A nugget and anti condiments.
I I didn't picture he was a guy no dipping
at all. Get out of my face with that's probably
actually probably a smart thing to do right now during
our current state. Is not dipping sauces I got that
(24:45):
is germ and Festt all right. The other this is
a golf relater one cup of course craziness, you know,
pan ammonium. On the seventeenth hole, people forget Payne Stewart
was playing call in Montgomery. Last hole. Payin Stewart walks over,
picks up Monty's mark, and pain actually lost that match
one down. That was for the half basically, and he
picked the mark up and said it was good and
(25:05):
shook his hand and said Monty had been getting you know,
crap all week long from the from the American fans,
but that was again in between the ropes. Does something
nice for somebody and it cost him, you know, a
point for his Ryder Cup, a cost erotic a match.
But that is my pitch to you. Nice gestures for
athletes actually within their sport, not the stuff they do
(25:25):
outside of it. It's like it's along the lines of
that ad that sportsmanship bad where the kids says the
ball went out of pounds off the other guy and
he's a snow coach, he went off me, and then
they get the ball to the other team. So it's
like that, I get it. Listen, I'm all, I'm all
anything that's positive. I definitely that. Like, here's my question,
(25:45):
who is curating this? Who the who's who's helping me
finding because going through this this text, the tweet chain
of these people sending in the Senior United things has
become like an all encompassing job. So I'm gonna have
to go through the three of sports to find these molds.
We'll take you that long. It's just a couple of dolls.
You can just get like a twelve piece and you'll
(26:06):
be good to go, just rammering through it and here
you go, no sauces, not get not not to get
your fingers sticky on the laptop. We move on from
seeing your night. We'll move on to these duties. We
can be nurised sometimes and then a Brent disease by
Shane Bake. You can know, you can say, I have
this idiot friend that I know, and he suggested this
terrible idea, and now I've had to scour the world
(26:27):
of all sport and the history of sports being around
how often are you checking your phone a day still
and then realize that there's no scores to look at. No,
that that's that's for a while, it happened, but now
you realize, you know, it's just every day is the same.
Like somebody my boss just saying, hey, we're probably gonna
(26:47):
do some Sundays now with this with this uh you know,
bulls documentary of Coming Out the Last Dance, and like
who cares? Like the weekends on weekends and no days,
days don't matter. Every day is the same version that before.
We're just trying to get from trying to get from
lunch to nap, and nap to dinner, dinner to bath
and bath to bed. Just repeat. That's it. It is.
(27:09):
It is wild how so my my. I have one son.
He's ten months old, and I just look at him
at times and I think, God, he must think I
am so boring because I don't do any of the
stuff we used to do. You know, I don't take
him out to the golf course. You know, we don't go.
I I got this hiking backpack for him. We went
hiking a couple of times. Didn't last very long. He
(27:29):
lost his mind after a few hundred yards. But it
was the thought that counts. Now, it's what times the
first walk, What times a second walk? And maybe we'll
be on a bike ride and there are moments where
his beautiful baby eyes will look at me and I think, God,
he must think that this is just that we are
the lamest parents in the world. And I wish I
could explain to him what's actually going on. It'll be
(27:50):
a hell of a story to tell when he's older.
And hopefully this is, you know, something that's in our
rear view, although I really do wonder, you know what,
what from our past is going to stay in our
passed in terms of things that no longer happened, things
we don't do anymore. I really it's din't it odd?
Like if you see some game where there's just people
packed inside by sidea like, what's that going to happen? Right?
(28:13):
Where are people going like elbow to elbow and you
know some back stadium Like, I don't know what that's happening?
And when are you gonna feel I I keep saying,
when are you gonna feel comfortable to be in that situation?
That's the thing that I find, you know, as someone
that now you know, your mindset, at least mine week
to week is changing. So the stuff I did two
(28:34):
weeks ago now I look back on and I go, well,
that was stupid. I can't believe I did that. And
of course at the time, that was protocol. That was
what we were supposed to do, or that was what
we were allowed to do. I will say about golf
that you know, in Arizona you can still play golf
and you social distance and you keep yourself away. And
I'm not playing much, but I've played a couple of rounds.
I like the leave the flag in and you don't
(28:58):
have to help anyone else out because golf's pretty you know,
you're pretty selfish when you play golf to begin with.
And now it's when you put out you can go
to your bag, to your push cart, to the cart
that you're in alone and do your business, clean your club,
do whatever you want. There's no being the nice guy
on the on the putting green to help the guy
out with his towel or to put the flag stick
(29:19):
back in. It's it's it's a little bit more. I
feel like, yeah, I mean, I I think, I mean,
you know, I seriousness, like I think you as a woman,
I feel comfortable. I'm gonna feel comfortable when I think
our medical community, who's grinding their butts off and get
it to them always, But ank were more acutely aware
of it right now when when they are able to
(29:41):
figure out whether it's through testing um or I mean
a vaccine obviously is the end all wish, but I
mean if if if they, if they are able to
come up with some sort of a test where we
everyone could get tested, and then we realize, actually there's
a massive percentage of people that have had had it
or do have it, And then we realize that the
test is much much less than we we thought it was.
(30:04):
While this is still this hideous, horrible thing, then maybe
we then realize, Okay, it isn't. It isn't as as
drastically impacting us as it seemed. And if that's the case,
then people kind of shrug and go, Okay, well maybe
there is sort of this herd immunity whatever. Art just
looking out loud here, And I'm not saying that's the case.
I'm saying when somebody is able to tell me that
that is the case or isn't, and we have some
(30:26):
vaccine or some medicine that's treating this, you know, then
I think, ideally, hopefully we go back to something that
that approximates what the world was in you know, whatever
whatever month was when when things felt like they weren't this.
But um, I don't know, man, if it feels a
long way off, which is not uh, you know, I
(30:47):
do look for the positive, It's just difficult to sell
it at the moment. We're gonna take a quick break
and be right back. Hyeah. All right. Last thing I'm
gonna do with you I mentioned earlier. I'm gonna ask
(31:07):
you for your five favorite masters ever. Do you want
to do you want to go back and forth with
this or do you want to just roll your five out? Well? Yeah,
are we are? We ping ponging? A you're gonna give
me yours? Yeah? I got my five written down? Okay,
Um all right, well I'll start. I mean, how do
we uh, it's you're the you're you're the show host.
(31:30):
We want to do? We can ping par five and
you ripped your let's let's ping pong. I'll let you start.
I'll let you throw one out there if you have,
If I have it on my list, I'll mention it
as well. For me, is is my favorite because it's
it's the first one and it and it changed the
course of the golf and my life because I hitched
my wagon and the guy so to speak. Um, so,
(31:52):
I mean you know what it represented. It wasn't just golf.
It was you know, societal, it was historical, it was
the oldest thing. It was hugger your flood and you
know that. To me, is, I can't top it. And
I mean I could come up for reasons why there's others,
but to me, there's no need to be cute is
my favorite one and this is your this is your list.
(32:14):
I feel like right now there's a lot of lists
being made because there's nothing else to talk about, and
people come at you. You know, Max Holm and I
started a separate podcast in this one that we do
once a week, and people are so mad at our
lists and they always yell at us about how do
you not have the thirty two n C Double A
(32:34):
tournament in there, and like, well, I'm thirty six years old, man.
I mean, unfortunately wasn't around watching those highlights. You know
this is they didn't have one, which would have made
it hard. It would have been it would have been
even harder, that's right. So my my number, my number one.
You know, we haven't said a six yet, and I'm
not going to say it for my number one because
I'm being truthful to the process. My favorite Masters ever
(32:54):
was oh four. I was a left handed golfer for
East Texas. Phil was my guy. I looked up to him.
I wanted to be like Phil Nicholson. I even I
even sent a resume to the a s U golf
coach when I was a junior in high school. Phil
was my dude. Oh four number one for me, Okay,
well that's on my list. But it's lower on my list,
and um up two for me, uh is nineteen and two.
(33:18):
And the reason nineteen is two for me is because
one for me ninety seven. And if you told me
that the twenty one year old guy who laid waste
to humanity would be at forty three with a bald
spot refused back and on the other side of a
scandal of his own creation, would have been this remarkable
(33:38):
underdog story that would create the loudest cheers I've ever
heard at a golf course. If you'd told me that
that would have been possible, I would have told you
you're out of your mind, and whatever it was that
you were smoking, I would like a gross of it
from my own personal recreation. So you know the sALS
I heard that day, Shane, like tie your tiger, Tiger.
(34:00):
I watched that Nance call, which, by the way, he
didn't do anything other than stop talking. But he was
smart enough because he's Jim Nance to not talk for
like four minutes, like that's goosebumps, man, that's absolute goose bumps.
And him and him with Sam and him with Charlie
the best. That's why he did it. That's what he
wanted to do. He wanted his kids to see him
(34:21):
be the guy that they had heard about, and they
got to And so nineteen and nineteen is very close
to seven, but it's number two for me. So number
two for me is eighty six. Now, I was three
years old of the time, so obviously I wasn't watching
it live. But I think it's probably the most rewatched
old sporting event I've ever had in my life of
(34:42):
any sport. I mean I've I've watched it on TV.
I have a DVR at the bottom of my DVR.
My wife always yells me to delete it. Now it's
on YouTube, you guys. The final round it is eighty
six Jack Wild. Every shot was awesome. It was yeah.
I mean, how do you how? How can how can
he get better than that? Especially if you grew up
(35:03):
a Jack person at all, I mean if you were
a fan of of the Bear. I mean, that was
as good as it can get. And I feel like
the finish is as good as it can get in
golf with the way he did it. This is a
little sidebar. I watched the two thousand seventeen Open a
couple of days ago. I feel like the Jordan's speed
finish doesn't get enough credit. I don't think that people
(35:24):
talk about the way he played after everything that happened
on thirteen went Birdie Eagle, Birdie, Birdie part to finish
and he was losing. He was he was sis right,
it was I think he was. I think he was.
Was he five? He was five or five or six,
whatever the hell he was? He was a jew is
a joke when he did and everybody gets mad about
like how long it took to find the ball, blah
(35:45):
blah blah, Like you like what he did. It was funny.
We talked about that the other day at work because
somebody mentioned speech and hid in the water on twelve,
and I'm like, yeah, I get it. And I'm like,
you know, when people want to talk about like, oh,
he won't be the same after that, I'm like, look
what open was great? Couch didn't do Coucher didn't do
one thing wrong, and he didn't win. Like it was
(36:06):
nuts um. But all right, So eight six is two
for you, eighty six is three for me for all
the reasons you said. For me, it was watching all
my pop. My dad was a jack guy. You know,
back in the day, you were either a jack guy
and ony guy. My dad was a Jack guy. Uh,
and I watched the final round of the Masters my
dad and uh, you know, I've talked a lot about
(36:27):
my daddy. I hadn't been here in a long time,
and he passed away when I was young. So, uh,
I've gotten a chance through the years to to to
know Jack a bit and talk to Jack and and
explain to him what that meant. And that's an incredible thing.
Very few people will get that that that gift that
I got to tell them how cool that was. Um
(36:48):
sidebar um. The day Nicholas made the hole in one
of the Part three, he he came to interview Um
on Sports Center with me and I joked with him
on the way out. I'm like, hey, you got a
magic left the bad old boy, And he's like, hey,
how about a hole in one? And he went out
and he did it. And then I found out after
the fact he had never had a hole in order
to gusta in anything, not in the competition on a
(37:09):
practice round, not the Part three, but that day I'm
kind of needling Jack about you anything left in the bag?
Anyone out and made a hole and one in the
Part three that day. Yeah, I I feel like, you know,
Tiger is I think you and I are both in
the same camp. The Tiger is the greatest golf for ever.
I just feel like what he did for the run
he had will never be matched again. And this sport,
(37:30):
it's just golf is not supposed to be dominated this way.
It's too hard to be dominated this way, and everybody
is too good to beat all the time. But Jack's
ability to do things like that, you know, you forget about.
He had a chance to win the Man Birdie. I
had had a birdie put up sixteen to tie for
the lead. He didn't make it, but he had to
(37:50):
put put He was fifty eight or fifty nine years old,
and he isn't the trivia that's Jack and Tiger finished
in the top tenancy. It's in the same event. It's
just it's wild. But I just feel like those things
Jack saying, oh, why don't I go make a hole
in water? Why don't not show you how to hit
the pot? When he did that exhibition and he makes
the eight foot or I feel like he's just always
(38:11):
been able to do that. And I'm not sure I
believe in magic, but when those things happen I'm more
convinced that magic is a real thing, and there's just
certain people that have that gift, you know, that that
that that there's an ability that they know they possess.
And I mean we none of us will tell what
that feels like because we obviously don't, and that's what
(38:32):
makes it, that's what makes it rare. So that's three
from me, three for you. I'm gonna goleven. I just uh,
I just remember it a lot. It's uh, it's you know,
short so wins that Bertie's last four holes. Talk about
a finish, but there was all these guys that had
a chance to win. Jason Day was there, Adam Scott
was there. Of course, Adam Scott gets his Masters a
couple of years later, but I feel like in terms
of excitement and nobody knowing what the hell was gonna
(38:55):
happen or who the hell was gonna win it, that
one was so much fun to watch from start finished.
You know, every Master's when you rewatch it a couple
of years later, five years later, ten years later, there
are great moments that you forgot about it. Well. Adam
Scott had to lead on the sixteenth pole. I want
to say I believe he birdied the sixteen call and
(39:18):
pardon did nothing wrong and still lost. That that's if
you have to lead on sixteen and you Bertie, you're
gonna win, and he didn't because of what Schwartzel did.
So that's that's a great one. It didn't make my list,
but that's a great great point of things you forget
um for for me is already on your list, And
that's still the great call from Jim nance is it
(39:41):
his time? Yes, the moment with bones, the Patriots all
fists in the air and people and speaking of what
you forget like he hadn't want a major and you
know certainly that that that had gotten plenty of play
at that point, but there was like this suggestion he
was incapable of it, which was ridiculous. And of course
since then he's got a pla I love them, um,
(40:01):
but you know that as a singular moment to to
to grab it, that put for me that two thousand
four is four on my list. That's a good one.
I've got to I've got a just a hat hip
to people that yell at us about stuff, just because
it would have been a lot of fun to be there.
Fifty four Hogan and Sneat in a playoff would have
been pretty awesome. I would have been you know, when
you're talking about history, that's uh, oh my god. I
(40:24):
mean I would have I would have I would have
parked my chair on sixteen early. I wouldn't have run.
I wouldn't have run, but I would have done something
risk walking. Uh uh. It's like I always I always
called the world's largest pool deck. There is no running,
so I'm gonna go. I'm just gonna go fifty four
because again, when you look at the names, and I
(40:44):
always say the names, you know they're all caps because
there you know, everybody's legacy grows as they get older
and and move on to another life. That is one
that just in terms of entertainment and the top two
guys and all that fifty four had been a lot.
It would have been very, very cool to have been
a part of that master's Well. I limited it to
(41:05):
the ones that I had. I'm lucky. You have to
have some kind of recollection of and I wanted to
close with the one that I felt like probably wouldn't
make a lot of people's lists, but it remains as
good a finish as we have seen and that is
you alluded to it earlier actually two thirteen. Go back
and look at the people that were involved. Tiger finished
(41:26):
top five. Jason Day was in the mix on how Cabrera.
Uh well, first of all, Adam Scott Bertie's eighteen, come on,
come on you Ausie looking for his first major he
Bertie's eighteen. Cabrera just misses a birdie on seventeen. All right,
I'm talking, just misses. Go back and look at the video.
It goes over the lip. Now he needs Bertie on eighteen.
(41:46):
It's raining. He pipes the drive and absolutely stops his approach.
He starts walking after the second, after the ball leaves
the club face. He's walking and talking the whole way.
It's picked. It in so awesome. His son was on
the back too, right, that's exactly right, exactly right, and
and hey, and he's just like walking after it because
(42:08):
he just stated that makes Bertie. We're running out of light.
Doesn't matter because Adam Scott's getting ready to bust one
down ten and he makes a gorgeous birdie on ten
in the playoffs win and it's like that iconic shot
in the darkness with the rain where he's kind of
golf Jesus, and he's stay here, he's chopping. Uh. If
you remember the shot from behind a good light. And
(42:29):
here's the reason, here's the way you think about about
all I help to prayer. He's a fascinating case study
because he didn't play tons and tons of great golf, right,
I mean, I mean he's you know, he's a really
good player, obviously, but he's got a combination. All right,
you're gonna if you're gonna win two majors and you're
gonna win the US Open, you're gonna win the Masters,
and you're gonna win it at Oakmont, and you're gonna
(42:51):
win Augusta obviously, then that means you are in the
company of two men, Jack Nicholas and Dead Holding, who
won the US Opens at Oakmon and the Masters. And
he wanted he wanted at Oakmont. Go back and look
what he did. Tiger is chasing him furik which chased him.
He had to lead. On seventeen, he had a cigarette.
He chucks it down on the ground old school style.
(43:12):
It's an absolute palm off the tea, hits his approach
on the green, makes his prot makes his par gets
at a Dodge and like everybody was crumbling because Oakmont
makes you crumble, and he didn't blink man, and that dude, like,
I don't know what I'm allowed to say that you
can say. There's a line in the movie Snatch about
there's two types of balls in this world, big brave balls. Okay,
(43:33):
Cabrera's got big brave balls, and he showed him to
you at Oakmont and the Masters. So he's on the
list of Hogan, Hogan, Um, Nicholas and Cabrera. And that's
who Scott beat that day with a putt on the
a tent pole in a playoff. That's why two is
my fifth on the list. And and it might be
(43:55):
the most photogenic final hour ever. I mean you talked
to out the picture with the green jacket and his
arms are raised out. Well, we'll tweet that out when
the podcast comes out for people to see if you
you've forgot about it. But the fist pump Adam Scott's
bicep looked like he just does curls like two and
a half hours a day every day. Arms were huge.
He's obviously this really strapping, good looking Australian And you
(44:17):
said it a guy not a great putter over his career,
made two unreal putts and the Cabrera iron in there
that was like, I got it, No big deal, I'm fine.
Cabrera Also on eighteen remember the one he one where
he was a hundred and fifty yards in the trees
and he punched out hit a tree, kicked in the fairway.
That is one of the worst rewatchful Masters. If you
have any fondness for Kenny Perry, because my goodness, that's
(44:41):
pretty gross. Man, that's pretty gross. And that's that's you know,
that's what his tree will forget. If you don't have
the kind of his six Encyclopedia Greek call, you're like,
you just remember Cabrera one, will you don't? Kenny Perry
was supposed to win that and he didn't supposed to
win in my last one cringe Shop second Masters wins
it nnech the week after all that hadn't one in
(45:02):
a year. The reaction on eighteen hands in his head.
I I'm I'm a romantic at heart. It was one
of those moments that aren't supposed to happen in sports.
You're not supposed to have things written that way. And
the fact that it was pinned for Ben Crenshaw and
he wins the Masters, you know, after you know, one
of his best friends passes away the week before. I
(45:22):
just again, I I I was moved even though I
was a young kid, and I love going back and
kind of following that one again. Plus, anytime you get
a chance to watch Ben Crenshaw putt for four and
a half hours, you should probably do it because it's
it's pretty silky. It is that and that's the great
I mean, it's a great one. But the beauty, the
beauty of any Master's list is that is that each
(45:42):
each person's list would reflect his or her own, you know,
personal recollections. So that's that's what makes you know, I
think that's what makes remembering this event more than any
other so uh so worthwhile because it's, you know, it's
it takes you back to that place and and I
think if you the game, if you love the game,
and you know it's a place you love going back
(46:03):
in your mind, that's for sure. Well I appreciate it.
I held you a little longer, and I told you
I would, So thanks for breaking all that down. The
last thing I just wanted to ask, how long was
the brainstorming session before you came up with s V
pod as your new podcast name, like a lot of
things with us, somebody said what should we call I'm like, well,
my initials are s VP, right, Like, yeah, I might
just put O D after that, Like, it can't be
(46:24):
s V P O D. That doesn't have a very
good connotation, so let me just call it sp pod.
And then after the fact somebody suggested it should have
been called s VP has a pod. Um whatever. I liked.
I like the simplicity of the way you went with it. Well,
I mean it's uh and it's as as we're you know,
I hope illustrating here. It's it's a very it's a
(46:47):
fun format for people that are you know, get on
the like like we had justin Thomas last week, just
get on the phone and chip or whatever and just
catch up, you know, filling the blanks on things, particularly
now because God knows where we're all in search of
something to to fill the moments until we can get
back to it. I'm just I'm bummed that I'll get
to see in person. Um. I always enjoy pros and paths,
(47:09):
and I'm hopeful that I get to see you guys
do your thing. Um, I don't know if it's gonna
be I don't think it's gonna be uh certainly June
and Uh at wingfoot, I don't see it as possible.
But I hope that they can sort it out somewhere.
I've heard rumors of West Coast stuff that, I mean, whatever,
everybody will figure it out. I hope. I just hope
we get some some major championship off somewhere down the road. Yeah,
(47:32):
sports or sports when they return. I feel like we're
gonna be big fans of maybe even bigger than we
were before. I get a sense that we're gonna be uh,
We're gonna be pouncing. That is the thing I keep
telling my buddies. I just miss knowing that at eight pm,
when I'm on the couch, I can watch a rafts game,
or I can watch, you know, a tennis match happening
(47:54):
somewhere else in the world. Or I can wake up
early on Friday and know the European Tour is going
to be played for the for the forty five minutes
that I'm up feeding my son. You know, those are
the things, right, Give me some, Give me some smurfect
European open man, give me anything. Right, they are they
are the greatest connector. I mean, look, you're in it.
I'm in it. So I mean we're support whatever I
(48:17):
started to say, apologist, there's nothing to apologize, but but
this is how we make our living. But I don't
think there's any doubt and if there, if there had
been any doubt, that this time is proving it that
what people turn to when things are sideways, A sports
always have They're the greatest unifier. We have an absent
sports right now. I feel like that's what makes people
so I feel so kind of lost, you know, like
(48:39):
you're right, like at eight o'clock, there's not no, there's
not a whatever a Knicks game, there's not a Lakers
game late night or if you're out in the West
Coast on your time, whatever prime time. I mean, everybody
knows what I'm talking about here. Just absolute those things,
those those those mile markers. Right, I'm supposed to be Augustus,
so are you and we're not. Um. It just kind
of leaves us all trying to figure it out. And
(49:00):
I mean in the meantime, I guess we're just those
we just all need to try to do do what
we're supposed to do stay away from each other. It's
try to, you know, try to knock this thing down
so that we've got something. It feels like what we
used to know on the other side of it, you
know what I mean. I just that's what I keep
coming back there. Yeah, I'm with you, and you know what,
I haven't felt I haven't felt scared or nervous throughout
(49:22):
this more than I did when you begged for a
Knicks game. That's not when it's when we get to
that point. You know, things are dire. Hey, I just
want to watch the Knicks play basketball. You're like, man,
things are this is not a good situation, Scott. I
appreciate the time. Thanks as always. I know it's a
bummer that we don't get match this week, but thanks
for just chatting about it a little bit. I think
people enjoy it. I look forward to these conversations with you,
(49:44):
and uh, let's hope next time it's face to face
somewhere somewhere on our or close to the grounds of
August and National Stay well until we see each other.
I thought we're gonna take a quick break and be
right back. A big thanks to Scott Van Pell for joining.
Big thanks to you for listening. Just a final reminder,
(50:07):
wash your hands, stay safe, follow all of the rules
that you're being told to follow. I know following rules
isn't something we love to do as Americans, but just
do it. Do it for somebody else. Do it for
a parent or an uncle or an aunt, or yourself
or your kids. Whatever. Just be smart, be selfless, and
(50:27):
send a text to somebody you haven't talked to. And
while well, that's my new thing. I've been doing that
now is every day I'll text a friend of mine
that I haven't talked to in a few months. Hey,
how you doing? Thinking of you? How you guys holding up?
What's new? And I'm just trying to reach out to
people because I talked to the same people all the time.
It's my wife and my kid and my dog. One
of those isn't even a person, it's just a dog.
(50:48):
But I will say, Harlow, great conversation. Was love chatting
with Harlow about stuff. Send a text, call your parents,
call your loved ones. Stay safe. We'll be back later
this week with another Clubhouse podcast. M The Clubhouse was
Shane Bacon as a production of I Heart Radio for
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart
(51:09):
Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Welcome to the Clubhouse with Shane Bacon, a production of
I Heart Radio Welcome to the Cubhouse with Shane Bacon.
I am your host, Shane Bacon, and usually we might
play the Master's theme music right about now. It's Monday morning,
(00:23):
you're waking up. If typically you would be heady to work,
your mind would be elsewhere, it would be in Augusta,
preparing for golf fans top two or three favorite week
of the year. I understand that I am the exact
same way. I was supposed to be flying to Augusta
on Monday and had some things to do, when was
gonna go out to the tournament, and really just it's
(00:46):
a part of my year that is extremely special. While
I'm not broadcasting it and it's not the US Open,
I feel like you get to see a lot of friends,
and you see a lot of faces, and you chat
with some people that you really only get a chance
to chat with during that week. And of course, with
everything going on, that's not gonna happen. And while our
thoughts are with everyone dealing with everything that we are
(01:07):
facing currently, of course, as a golf podcast and as
a golf fan, you know we're bummed out that there's
no Masters, and that is what today's podcast is about.
I had my friend Scott Van Pelt of ESPN, who
is they're covering it every single year, jump on normally
we do this podcast and we're talking about conditions and
the way the Greens are playing and who's informed and
(01:29):
can Tiger win another one? And all of those questions
roll out, and of course none of that did, but
it was a good conversation. It was a fun conversation.
Scott is one of my favorite people in all of
sports media, and we went along. We we broke down
our five favorite Masters ever at the end of the podcast,
so stick around for that. And just simply a couple
of guys talking about something that they're going to miss
(01:52):
that's a big part of their lives, and that is
the Master's Tournament of Augustina, Nashville, and that is what
today is. So just hoping everybod he's out there staying
safe and smart and healthy and following guidelines and protocol.
I am doing that. We're hunkered down at the house
and man, my hands, I'm washing my hands so much
that they're cracking. I've got the knuckle crack going so
(02:15):
I've been I've been overlotioning the hands now because I'm
over washing the hands to stay safe. This is what
happens in two thousand twenty, apparently, this is what we
deal with. But just a reminder that I've got another
podcast with Maxima called Get a Grip with Max Homa
and Shane Bacon, and that that will roll out on
(02:35):
Monday as well, and of course we will chat about
Max and what he thought would be his first trip
to Augustin Nahal and his first Masters, and plenty of
other shenanigans that we will figure out when we figure
it out. Big thanks for following and for listening and subscribing.
You can follow at the Clubhouse Pod on Twitter and
on Instagram, and we continually give out stuff over there,
so make sure you do that. Let's get to our guests. Well,
(02:58):
we welcome back into the Clubhouse, Scott van Pelt and Scott.
Normally this calls on a Monday. You may or may
not be breaking augusta national cell phone protocol and policy
talking to me about the week. That is an excitement
happening around the Gulf world and uh and yet we
sit here at our respective homes across the country, and
(03:19):
it's a bomber man. I mean, there's so many things
that are a bummer about what's happening right now. But
you know, the Masters is this thing that we have
circled every single year, and of course now it's Master's
Week with no golf to be had, it's really really
difficult to not be there this week. And I mean,
I'll say this at the very beginning, and I'm not
(03:41):
gonna say it again. Obviously this is framed by what's
going on and what is you know, clearly more serious
and as the health of people across the country and
people that are losing jobs, and we understand all those
because two things could be true at once. We can
be concerned about that and at the same time be
really bummed out about what we would be doing in
(04:01):
the absence of this pandemic, which is being at Augusta
and enjoying this week. And it is change. It's my
favorite week of the year, and I've been I mean,
this is my twenty year ESPN. I've been there every
single year since I've been with the ESPN, and so
to not be there is I mean odd doesn't begin
to do it justice. It's just it's really really impossible
(04:25):
to process. Rankly, Yeah, I was gonna ask how many
you've been to in a row? I mean dating back
to Golf Channel. Did you get to go back in
the Golf Channel days or did all that start ESPN? No,
My first one was ninety seven, which was a good
one to make your debut at UM. We showed up
and like, oh, this is a this is this is
how they do it here. Uh, that was the first
(04:46):
one and I missed what isn't that omare is a
ninety eight? But I want to say, I think I
think it's been everyone but one since ninety seven. I
honestly don't remember. Um, I just know that ever since,
you know, ever since yes, I started with ESPN, I know,
I know for a fact, it's been all of those.
So I mean, and it's been you know, I've been
really fortunate, I think in terms of the job descriptions there,
(05:10):
I've kind of done every bit of it, whether it's
being on the ground reporter who's doing the interviews post round,
whether it's being an you know, Uh, it used to
be over at to Gustic Country Club where we initially
had our setup where we were doing sports and our stuff.
And then and then obviously in Mike Tiko took the
job with NBC and I split into the Butler cabin
and do some stuff there. So I mean, it's it's
(05:32):
I've had kind of uh, I've had a great opportunity
to have some of the variety of of of covering
the event. But I mean, let's be honest, whatever your
job is, if you're on the grounds, just to be
there for the week is just such a treat and
it's one that, as I say, it's what we look
forward to all year, all year long. Yeah, I mean
(05:53):
it's it's really across the board. I mean, you said it,
it is. If you're in the broadcasting space this week,
it's an unbelievable experience and you cannot wait to get there.
If you're a writer, it's a big week to to
really kind of propel your stories on the front page,
not just at the sports page, but potentially on the
front page of news if Tiger or somebody got in
(06:14):
the hunt and had a chance to win. And I
always feel like for the golfers, I mean, for the
guys that are playing, all of the weeks matter sure,
but you know this one matters a lot more for
the players, especially the events they have played leading up
to Augusta Nationals. So universally, it's just one of those
where I went to my my iPhone app on Wednesday
(06:36):
of last week and deleted Masters scheduling for the week.
It was it was one of those as I'm hitting
delete event, I just wanted to take a moment, go
for a walk, or just go sit outside in the
backyard because I couldn't believe that this was actually happening.
You've talked a lot about the Masters with me over
(06:57):
the years and how important of a week it is
for you personally. When you got the call the first
time to go work the Master's tournament, you know this
thing circled on every golf and every sports fans calendar.
What was it like for you personally and professionally, knowing
now this was always going to be something you've done well,
it's it's it represents something on as you say correctly
(07:21):
on the calendar that you know is it's a legend maker, right.
I mean, if you're Larry Mies and you're gonna have
one moment in your career, and he had more than one,
but if you're gonna have one, one moment, make it,
make it on the eleventh hole against Greg Norman in
your hometown, and make it and make it an all
time moment. And so going to a place like that
where you know that history has made every year, as
(07:43):
Phelt Nicholson says correctly, um, and to think that you're
going to get a chance to be part of covering it.
It was obviously going to be a big deal, and
then it turned into something far more than that. It
became truly historic as a as a newsmaking event because
Tiger wanted and then getting a chance to sit down
and talk to him about it after the fact, and
that that interview really helped propel You're right when you said,
(08:07):
I mean you get it propelled my career Without him
winning at ninety seven and having a chance to sit
down with him after the fact and him giving me
the time he gave me and being as great as
he was in that interview, I don't think my my
career um rises in the way that it did. So
I mean I was he was the tide that lifted
all boats, and I was just one of those boats.
(08:28):
So I didn't know when I got to go there,
you know that it would be that. But that's that's
every bit of what it was. I remember my first
Masters covering that I was writing, I believe for CBS
Sports at the time, and just arriving and while you're
on eggshells because you don't want to do anything wrong
to possibly lose your credential or your badge. At the
(08:49):
same time, you know, every single year I've gone since
it is what are the is is gonna look at
when I get there? What's the golf course gonna play like?
What's the new merch? I mean, they're all of these
little checklist that I think are a little forgot, and
that's just for people to get a chance to go.
What are you and your team planning this week in
terms of quote unquote coverage of the Masters, look backs
(09:12):
on on past tournaments and events. What are you guys
gonna do to kind of keep this theme going despite
not having an actual live tournament. Well, we're gonna talk
to Jack always. Any any Masters list begins with Jack
because he's Jack Um. We're gonna have a conversation, I know,
with Bubba because we're doing primetime broadcasts of events that
(09:34):
that are of past Masters, and we're gonna talk to
Bubba as well. Um, and it's funny you think about
that shot when the Pines tryn ten and you know,
like again a legend maker. Um, we're gonna talk to
Jim nance I believe Monday that's the goal anyway, but
it's it's really dependent upon his his schedule. And I
(09:55):
mean talked about a guy who has the greatest week
every year. I mean, he called the national title game
on a day night. You're calling the Master's champion the
following something, and that would have been an easy drive
from Atlanta. And my heart breaks for Jim this for
for his week. Um, we've got some other feelers out.
I mean I threw it out the Tiger. It's always
a matter that you know, if he's got the time
or if he's even Um interested isn't even right word,
(10:17):
because I mean it's just it's just a matter of
do you want to sit down and and and and
talk about this, because I'm sure he's pumped out, you know.
I mean, I think it means different things to different people,
but it's all some version of the same thing, which
is how much do you miss it? But it'll be
you know, prime time coverage of the event, you know,
and I think I found myself watching the Women's Amateur
over the weekend. I just I just enjoyed and by
(10:39):
the way, they played great, But I just you just
want to see people hit shots on the holes that
you know what I mean, You just want to see it.
You wanna, you wanna more than any other golf course
in the world, just seeing that it's the only course
where the course is the only event, rather where the
course is the star. Truly, truly, the course is the star.
And so I mean, I guess throughout the week we'll
(11:02):
have the course on TV if you want to watch it.
If it's too painful, I get that too. And you're
you're out here deleting apps. I get it. Man, You're
just going to see that phone number pop up on
your phone and see that see that x's name. I
guess you just wanted to be a number and like,
I don't know who that is. I'm not answering that goal.
You you brought up Tiger, and this was something that
I was discussing with a buddy just yesterday and you
(11:25):
say bummer and again you already said it, and I'm
gonna say it to start this podcast. This is very,
very small potatoes in terms of what's going on. But
for Tiger Woods, you know, he's forty four years old.
He turns forty five at the end of this year.
Of course, he wins this thing last year and it
was an unreal moment. I'm gonna ask you for your
five favorite Masters a little bit later, and I'm assuming
(11:46):
probably gonna sneak in there somewhere. But for Tiger Woods,
all of the things he's accomplished, all the stuff he's
done in his lifetime to miss a Master's potentially now
we don't really know what the schedule is going to
be like for the rest of this year year, and
maybe October, maybe November, obviously the rumors have swirled around.
But for Tiger to miss a Master's, a regular masters
(12:09):
is a huge letdown for the guy because he doesn't
have a whole bunch of years left to go out
there and possibly get another green jacket. Now, you're right,
and I felt the same way for Federer and for
Serena with Wimbledon, and that's more definitive because that's canceled.
You know, that's not postponed, that's canceled. And it's a
little different obviously in golf you can go, you can
go longer. Um. And for Federal and Serena, it's at
(12:32):
that time is really getting short for them. But if
if you didn't have the Masters, then been clearly for
for Tiger, like, how many more are there where you
really truly can serve that he's got a legitimate shot? Um,
not many, I mean, not not ten, not maybe five.
I mean you tell me that's a lot. That's a
(12:53):
lot too for being honest. So, um, who knows given
the fact that his back had been acting up and
if it turned into a fall deal, maybe that actually
benefits him in some way. Um, you know, of course
it could be cooler than Yeah. But but just in
the grand scheme, just the idea for anybody that whose
age starts with the four, um, whose bank is fused. Uh,
(13:15):
you want as many clean cracks at it as you
can get. And this one is uh for the moment,
it's it's a question mark. We don't know. Yeah, what's
been the event. I'm assuming we're gonna both throw the
Masters out because you've already said it's your favorite week
of the year, and I'm a little bit of a
golf nerd. I don't know if you knew this or not.
And the Masters is one of my favorite couch couch
weeks of the year, or if I'm somewhere in and
(13:37):
around August, is just one of my favorite events to
be around. What's been the one that has bummed you
out the most? And you're a guy that gets to
cover everything when you talk about every single sport, high school, college, pro, everything,
what's been the event that you've either already missed or
is coming up that's going to be missed or possibly
canceled that's really bummed you out as a sports fan.
(13:59):
It's not close. I mean, like the Masters is different
because it's so personal um and and so that's that's brutal.
But as much as that week being put on pause
for now, I'm still hopeful that it's a fall deal.
The incident played tournament not being played is you can
never reconcile that. I mean, I root for Maryland. I
(14:21):
don't think that's any great closely held secret. And they
were they were pretty good. I mean they want to
share the Big ten. I don't know, they'd probably been
a I don't know, three seed, maybe four seed, to
be a two if they won the big team whatever,
it is they were. They were one of those teams
that had a shot to me to Atlanta, and um,
you know, their senior point guard is Oh is gone.
(14:41):
Their junior I mean, their soft or big man a
Jayleen Smith, I presume is going to go pro. So
that means that you'll never get a chance to see
that team. And and you know, Kansas fans are going,
you know, hey, we were really good. Of course they
were number one in Michigan State fans and Gonzaga fans
and you know, Duke fans. I can keep going. There's
any college team out there that that that had a
(15:02):
shot is thinking we could have made it to Atlanta.
UM and by the way, any of these teams could
have lost in the first round too. Gate My god,
they had the best year they've ever had. So you
know that that tournament not being played is just crushing
to me because it's it's my favorite three week event
of the year. And um, I mean it's just never
(15:24):
going to be I just don't know how you ever
make that makes sense. Yeah, I went to Arizona Scott
and I think this might be the first year since
maybe the year after I graduated where I was actually
okay with the tournament not happening because this team was
I was going so nuts with this basketball team and
program and coaching and last five minutes and of course
(15:47):
the tournament being canceled was It was a massive bummer.
As as a sports fan and somebody that likes to
a bracket and keep up with it for a couple
of weeks, but as a personal Arizona fan, I didn't
think we were going to have much of a run.
I didn't think our chances were that great to do
stuff that maybe some of the other teams have been
talked into from experts and others are like, you guys
(16:08):
are actually fastening in case study because analytically they really
liked you a lot, Like there are a number of
different sort of models that really would really favorite Arizona.
And then there the fact that they've lost a bunch
of games put them on you know, the pracketologists seed
lines that were lower, which would have made for a
very interesting situation because you guys might have been seated
(16:30):
lower than the kind of predictive models would have suggested,
which might have indicated chain and maybe you guys would
have been ready for a run. You never know, But
see that's the thing you just you don't know and
you'll never know. And that's the part that just is
crushing to me, is like you'll you me and none
of us will ever know, and that just sucks. Yeah. Well,
(16:50):
something you did that I love and and something you
really do with your show that I've always been impressed by,
and something I tried to you know, if this is
a compliment I try to man make a bit is
you have always tried to spend stuff positively. I although
I feel like with Bad Beats, Bad Beats is a
fun segment. It highlights a negative, but I feel like
(17:11):
you turned into a positive because you have so much
fun with it. I mean, you're laughing about it. It's
a it's a bad gambling moment, but of course you can.
And that's what I'm saying. And that's something you've done
so well. One thing you did and you asked right
away about we're stories of young players that weren't going
to be able to fulfill high school, college, whatever, and
you wanted to highlight those players. How was that in
(17:33):
terms of getting a chance to dive into stories that
you wouldn't have followed otherwise. It's been amazing, man, it's
been it's I've been really, really, really really lucky in
my career. I think that's something I've shared with each
in the years, just just being grateful for all of it,
and UM, August just part of it. There's a lot
of things are part of it, you know, as thing
as I get to do, and I'm thankful for all
(17:54):
of it. The the Senior Nights segments that we've done
has been some I'll always remember as um the one
positive out of this giant negative, because what it happened
is we asked for people to share with us the
stories of the high school kids and teams and college
(18:16):
kids and and teams that had their seasons just abruptly end.
And I've learned about these places and these teams in
small towns and Wisconsin and Indiana and Arkansas. Just thinking
out loud, there's a girl named McKenna and I can't
think of her last name in Arkansas who was in
(18:38):
the I See You as a sophomore, had this rare
kidney issue and like she's touch and go, and then
she got out of got out of the hospital, she
got better, and by the time she's a senior, she's
an All state player and they're going to play for
state title. And it's like, well, all right, I never
would have known that that this Gal McKenna out in
(18:58):
Arkansas is this great player is getting ready to go
to Central Missouri. I want to say it is on
a basketball scholarship. Well why I found out about a
story because I asked people share them with it. And
so it's it's lacrosse players and soccer players and baseball
players and swimmers and the equestrian team at tc U
and all these different people I mean coast to coast
man and and and I've we've tried our best to
(19:20):
try to represent you know, men and women small and
big like, just because the mosaic of their stories tells
the story of our country and how much sports matter,
and how proud people are of the teams in their communities.
And I've been I've just been moved by it. And
I've been moved by how much it meant to them.
(19:41):
We've heard from so many of their coaches, uh and
communities that they're appreciative that they just um like, somebody
forward to me an article from the the Goshen something
in Indian of the paper there and just the kids
were saying like how cool it was to hear their
names sent on sports and you're like, you mean, you
know what the says that what we do. I mean,
(20:01):
we don't take it particularly seriously, but like these mics
are on and people listen and and and it matters
in those communities to feel like they're getting they're getting
some love and they're being seen, right, and so being
able to be the guy sitting there saying, hey, man,
I see you out there in Indiana doing your thing,
and in Kentucky and Georgia and South Calina. I could
just every state in the Union. We've done something from
(20:23):
as many as we could. We're gonna do it this week.
And then I think we're gonna stop because at some point,
you know, I'm not going to get to everybody. And
then it becomes like when Phil stops and signs autographs
and it's like, you signed for for as many as
you can, and then the five people you don't sign
for it think you suck because you didn't You didn't
sign for it, right, right, Yeah, you're you're the bad
(20:45):
All of a sudden, you're a bad guy. We can
never get to all of them, and and I think
that we will have done by that I don't even
know how many. But my hope is that what we
can do is when we're done, we can kind of
almost put together a list of the teams and the
schools that have been mentioned and and just I don't know,
(21:06):
put it all in one place or or something. I
don't know. I just uh, just to remember it by
because when when the bigger schools start playing again and
the pro start playing again, these stories that we that
are so worthy, well will drift back to, you know,
a place that I won't see. And um, I've just
(21:28):
I've been I've been moved by the fact that that
what we've done has mattered. And I've been I've been
grateful to be the one who got to share the
stories that people shared with us. I remember when I
was in when I was younger in high school, you know,
I got sports illustrated. I would read faces in the crowd.
It's it's like you brawlways faces to TV, and I
(21:49):
think that's been something cool. I gotta, I gotta, I've
got a segment idea. I was gonna bring this up
to you, not on the podcast, but I figure at
least if I bring it up to you on the podcast,
you have to like a somewhat interested you know what
I mean, You've got at least not and acknowledge my
I'll just blow it up, just just skip right past.
(22:10):
So here's my idea, going back to what we were
talking about. Being positive is something something loosely titled nice
gestures in sports or we can be nice sometimes, And
it's basically you every night dive in for three to
five minutes on a story about an athlete doing something
unbelievably nice within their sport. This isn't, you know, philanthropy.
(22:34):
This isn't going out and starting the foundation. This is
on the court. Let me give you an example, Scott.
I'm gonna give you an example of what I'm thinking here. Okay,
are you ready for this? Because I think you're gonna
all right. Andy Roddick, remember Andy Roddick, he was great
back at the two thousand five Rome Masters Round A sixteen.
He was just taking it to Verdasco. He was just
(22:55):
beating the swoosh is off the guy. He's up a set,
he's up a break. Andy Roddick's gonna win. Linesman calls
a serve and to win the match, and Roddick says, no,
it was out. It was a rotic serve. He calls
it out on himself, goes on to lose the match.
He wouldn't go shake hands. He said, no, no, no, no no, no,
that's not that was that was that was not good.
(23:16):
It was out. I'm gonna be the good human being
that I am. And he ends up losing that match,
but that was him being a good a good fellow,
a good person within his sport. In between the lines,
I'll give you another one. I got one more. It's
golf related. You ready for it? Alright? So you're so
I can tell you're you're you're mildly interested. Mildly is
you're you're probably what's the second Taco bell sauce? Is
(23:40):
it mild? Is it medium? Mild or mild medium? Um?
I'm gonna I don't go sauce there. I didn't eat
stuff row, I don't know. You don't get you don't
go to Taco bell sauce. I don't goss the fire
an odd eater man. This is this is gonna take
us to a strange place here. I don't need a
(24:01):
Chick fil A, No sauce for the nuggets? Just wow,
what do you do with fries. I just actually I'll
catch up, like, but I need like like if it's
if it's like a drive through order, I don't catch up.
What the hell do you put it? Well, the Chick
fil A has those professional dipping catchup packets. Now that
those things are the next level, but they do. But
(24:23):
I just but Chick fil a nugget is a perfectly
engineered food already. There needs to be nothing to put
on it because all it does is interfere with the
slaver of the Chick fil A nugget and anti condiments.
I I didn't picture he was a guy no dipping
at all. Get out of my face with that's probably
actually probably a smart thing to do right now during
our current state. Is not dipping sauces I got that
(24:45):
is germ and Festt all right. The other this is
a golf relater one cup of course craziness, you know,
pan ammonium. On the seventeenth hole, people forget Payne Stewart
was playing call in Montgomery. Last hole. Payin Stewart walks over,
picks up Monty's mark, and pain actually lost that match
one down. That was for the half basically, and he
picked the mark up and said it was good and
(25:05):
shook his hand and said Monty had been getting you know,
crap all week long from the from the American fans,
but that was again in between the ropes. Does something
nice for somebody and it cost him, you know, a
point for his Ryder Cup, a cost erotic a match.
But that is my pitch to you. Nice gestures for
athletes actually within their sport, not the stuff they do
(25:25):
outside of it. It's like it's along the lines of
that ad that sportsmanship bad where the kids says the
ball went out of pounds off the other guy and
he's a snow coach, he went off me, and then
they get the ball to the other team. So it's
like that, I get it. Listen, I'm all, I'm all
anything that's positive. I definitely that. Like, here's my question,
(25:45):
who is curating this? Who the who's who's helping me
finding because going through this this text, the tweet chain
of these people sending in the Senior United things has
become like an all encompassing job. So I'm gonna have
to go through the three of sports to find these molds.
We'll take you that long. It's just a couple of dolls.
You can just get like a twelve piece and you'll
(26:06):
be good to go, just rammering through it and here
you go, no sauces, not get not not to get
your fingers sticky on the laptop. We move on from
seeing your night. We'll move on to these duties. We
can be nurised sometimes and then a Brent disease by
Shane Bake. You can know, you can say, I have
this idiot friend that I know, and he suggested this
terrible idea, and now I've had to scour the world
(26:27):
of all sport and the history of sports being around
how often are you checking your phone a day still
and then realize that there's no scores to look at. No,
that that's that's for a while, it happened, but now
you realize, you know, it's just every day is the same.
Like somebody my boss just saying, hey, we're probably gonna
(26:47):
do some Sundays now with this with this uh you know,
bulls documentary of Coming Out the Last Dance, and like
who cares? Like the weekends on weekends and no days,
days don't matter. Every day is the same version that before.
We're just trying to get from trying to get from
lunch to nap, and nap to dinner, dinner to bath
and bath to bed. Just repeat. That's it. It is.
(27:09):
It is wild how so my my. I have one son.
He's ten months old, and I just look at him
at times and I think, God, he must think I
am so boring because I don't do any of the
stuff we used to do. You know, I don't take
him out to the golf course. You know, we don't go.
I I got this hiking backpack for him. We went
hiking a couple of times. Didn't last very long. He
(27:29):
lost his mind after a few hundred yards. But it
was the thought that counts. Now, it's what times the
first walk, What times a second walk? And maybe we'll
be on a bike ride and there are moments where
his beautiful baby eyes will look at me and I think, God,
he must think that this is just that we are
the lamest parents in the world. And I wish I
could explain to him what's actually going on. It'll be
(27:50):
a hell of a story to tell when he's older.
And hopefully this is, you know, something that's in our
rear view, although I really do wonder, you know what,
what from our past is going to stay in our
passed in terms of things that no longer happened, things
we don't do anymore. I really it's din't it odd?
Like if you see some game where there's just people
packed inside by sidea like, what's that going to happen? Right?
(28:13):
Where are people going like elbow to elbow and you
know some back stadium Like, I don't know what that's happening?
And when are you gonna feel I I keep saying,
when are you gonna feel comfortable to be in that situation?
That's the thing that I find, you know, as someone
that now you know, your mindset, at least mine week
to week is changing. So the stuff I did two
(28:34):
weeks ago now I look back on and I go, well,
that was stupid. I can't believe I did that. And
of course at the time, that was protocol. That was
what we were supposed to do, or that was what
we were allowed to do. I will say about golf
that you know, in Arizona you can still play golf
and you social distance and you keep yourself away. And
I'm not playing much, but I've played a couple of rounds.
I like the leave the flag in and you don't
(28:58):
have to help anyone else out because golf's pretty you know,
you're pretty selfish when you play golf to begin with.
And now it's when you put out you can go
to your bag, to your push cart, to the cart
that you're in alone and do your business, clean your club,
do whatever you want. There's no being the nice guy
on the on the putting green to help the guy
out with his towel or to put the flag stick
(29:19):
back in. It's it's it's a little bit more. I
feel like, yeah, I mean, I I think, I mean,
you know, I seriousness, like I think you as a woman,
I feel comfortable. I'm gonna feel comfortable when I think
our medical community, who's grinding their butts off and get
it to them always, But ank were more acutely aware
of it right now when when they are able to
(29:41):
figure out whether it's through testing um or I mean
a vaccine obviously is the end all wish, but I
mean if if if they, if they are able to
come up with some sort of a test where we
everyone could get tested, and then we realize, actually there's
a massive percentage of people that have had had it
or do have it, And then we realize that the
test is much much less than we we thought it was.
(30:04):
While this is still this hideous, horrible thing, then maybe
we then realize, Okay, it isn't. It isn't as as
drastically impacting us as it seemed. And if that's the case,
then people kind of shrug and go, Okay, well maybe
there is sort of this herd immunity whatever. Art just
looking out loud here, And I'm not saying that's the case.
I'm saying when somebody is able to tell me that
that is the case or isn't, and we have some
(30:26):
vaccine or some medicine that's treating this, you know, then
I think, ideally, hopefully we go back to something that
that approximates what the world was in you know, whatever
whatever month was when when things felt like they weren't this.
But um, I don't know, man, if it feels a
long way off, which is not uh, you know, I
(30:47):
do look for the positive, It's just difficult to sell
it at the moment. We're gonna take a quick break
and be right back. Hyeah. All right. Last thing I'm
gonna do with you I mentioned earlier. I'm gonna ask
(31:07):
you for your five favorite masters ever. Do you want
to do you want to go back and forth with
this or do you want to just roll your five out? Well? Yeah,
are we are? We ping ponging? A you're gonna give
me yours? Yeah? I got my five written down? Okay,
Um all right, well I'll start. I mean, how do
we uh, it's you're the you're you're the show host.
(31:30):
We want to do? We can ping par five and
you ripped your let's let's ping pong. I'll let you start.
I'll let you throw one out there if you have,
If I have it on my list, I'll mention it
as well. For me, is is my favorite because it's
it's the first one and it and it changed the
course of the golf and my life because I hitched
my wagon and the guy so to speak. Um, so,
(31:52):
I mean you know what it represented. It wasn't just golf.
It was you know, societal, it was historical, it was
the oldest thing. It was hugger your flood and you
know that. To me, is, I can't top it. And
I mean I could come up for reasons why there's others,
but to me, there's no need to be cute is
my favorite one and this is your this is your list.
(32:14):
I feel like right now there's a lot of lists
being made because there's nothing else to talk about, and
people come at you. You know, Max Holm and I
started a separate podcast in this one that we do
once a week, and people are so mad at our
lists and they always yell at us about how do
you not have the thirty two n C Double A
(32:34):
tournament in there, and like, well, I'm thirty six years old, man.
I mean, unfortunately wasn't around watching those highlights. You know
this is they didn't have one, which would have made
it hard. It would have been it would have been
even harder, that's right. So my my number, my number one.
You know, we haven't said a six yet, and I'm
not going to say it for my number one because
I'm being truthful to the process. My favorite Masters ever
(32:54):
was oh four. I was a left handed golfer for
East Texas. Phil was my guy. I looked up to him.
I wanted to be like Phil Nicholson. I even I
even sent a resume to the a s U golf
coach when I was a junior in high school. Phil
was my dude. Oh four number one for me, Okay,
well that's on my list. But it's lower on my list,
and um up two for me, uh is nineteen and two.
(33:18):
And the reason nineteen is two for me is because
one for me ninety seven. And if you told me
that the twenty one year old guy who laid waste
to humanity would be at forty three with a bald
spot refused back and on the other side of a
scandal of his own creation, would have been this remarkable
(33:38):
underdog story that would create the loudest cheers I've ever
heard at a golf course. If you'd told me that
that would have been possible, I would have told you
you're out of your mind, and whatever it was that
you were smoking, I would like a gross of it
from my own personal recreation. So you know the sALS
I heard that day, Shane, like tie your tiger, Tiger.
(34:00):
I watched that Nance call, which, by the way, he
didn't do anything other than stop talking. But he was
smart enough because he's Jim Nance to not talk for
like four minutes, like that's goosebumps, man, that's absolute goose bumps.
And him and him with Sam and him with Charlie
the best. That's why he did it. That's what he
wanted to do. He wanted his kids to see him
(34:21):
be the guy that they had heard about, and they
got to And so nineteen and nineteen is very close
to seven, but it's number two for me. So number
two for me is eighty six. Now, I was three
years old of the time, so obviously I wasn't watching
it live. But I think it's probably the most rewatched
old sporting event I've ever had in my life of
(34:42):
any sport. I mean I've I've watched it on TV.
I have a DVR at the bottom of my DVR.
My wife always yells me to delete it. Now it's
on YouTube, you guys. The final round it is eighty
six Jack Wild. Every shot was awesome. It was yeah.
I mean, how do you how? How can how can
he get better than that? Especially if you grew up
(35:03):
a Jack person at all, I mean if you were
a fan of of the Bear. I mean, that was
as good as it can get. And I feel like
the finish is as good as it can get in
golf with the way he did it. This is a
little sidebar. I watched the two thousand seventeen Open a
couple of days ago. I feel like the Jordan's speed
finish doesn't get enough credit. I don't think that people
(35:24):
talk about the way he played after everything that happened
on thirteen went Birdie Eagle, Birdie, Birdie part to finish
and he was losing. He was he was sis right,
it was I think he was. I think he was.
Was he five? He was five or five or six,
whatever the hell he was? He was a jew is
a joke when he did and everybody gets mad about
like how long it took to find the ball, blah
(35:45):
blah blah, Like you like what he did. It was funny.
We talked about that the other day at work because
somebody mentioned speech and hid in the water on twelve,
and I'm like, yeah, I get it. And I'm like,
you know, when people want to talk about like, oh,
he won't be the same after that, I'm like, look
what open was great? Couch didn't do Coucher didn't do
one thing wrong, and he didn't win. Like it was
(36:06):
nuts um. But all right, So eight six is two
for you, eighty six is three for me for all
the reasons you said. For me, it was watching all
my pop. My dad was a jack guy. You know,
back in the day, you were either a jack guy
and ony guy. My dad was a Jack guy. Uh,
and I watched the final round of the Masters my
dad and uh, you know, I've talked a lot about
(36:27):
my daddy. I hadn't been here in a long time,
and he passed away when I was young. So, uh,
I've gotten a chance through the years to to to
know Jack a bit and talk to Jack and and
explain to him what that meant. And that's an incredible thing.
Very few people will get that that that gift that
I got to tell them how cool that was. Um
(36:48):
sidebar um. The day Nicholas made the hole in one
of the Part three, he he came to interview Um
on Sports Center with me and I joked with him
on the way out. I'm like, hey, you got a
magic left the bad old boy, And he's like, hey,
how about a hole in one? And he went out
and he did it. And then I found out after
the fact he had never had a hole in order
to gusta in anything, not in the competition on a
(37:09):
practice round, not the Part three, but that day I'm
kind of needling Jack about you anything left in the bag?
Anyone out and made a hole and one in the
Part three that day. Yeah, I I feel like, you know,
Tiger is I think you and I are both in
the same camp. The Tiger is the greatest golf for ever.
I just feel like what he did for the run
he had will never be matched again. And this sport,
(37:30):
it's just golf is not supposed to be dominated this way.
It's too hard to be dominated this way, and everybody
is too good to beat all the time. But Jack's
ability to do things like that, you know, you forget about.
He had a chance to win the Man Birdie. I
had had a birdie put up sixteen to tie for
the lead. He didn't make it, but he had to
(37:50):
put put He was fifty eight or fifty nine years old,
and he isn't the trivia that's Jack and Tiger finished
in the top tenancy. It's in the same event. It's
just it's wild. But I just feel like those things
Jack saying, oh, why don't I go make a hole
in water? Why don't not show you how to hit
the pot? When he did that exhibition and he makes
the eight foot or I feel like he's just always
(38:11):
been able to do that. And I'm not sure I
believe in magic, but when those things happen I'm more
convinced that magic is a real thing, and there's just
certain people that have that gift, you know, that that
that that there's an ability that they know they possess.
And I mean we none of us will tell what
that feels like because we obviously don't, and that's what
(38:32):
makes it, that's what makes it rare. So that's three
from me, three for you. I'm gonna goleven. I just uh,
I just remember it a lot. It's uh, it's you know,
short so wins that Bertie's last four holes. Talk about
a finish, but there was all these guys that had
a chance to win. Jason Day was there, Adam Scott
was there. Of course, Adam Scott gets his Masters a
couple of years later, but I feel like in terms
of excitement and nobody knowing what the hell was gonna
(38:55):
happen or who the hell was gonna win it, that
one was so much fun to watch from start finished.
You know, every Master's when you rewatch it a couple
of years later, five years later, ten years later, there
are great moments that you forgot about it. Well. Adam
Scott had to lead on the sixteenth pole. I want
to say I believe he birdied the sixteen call and
(39:18):
pardon did nothing wrong and still lost. That that's if
you have to lead on sixteen and you Bertie, you're
gonna win, and he didn't because of what Schwartzel did.
So that's that's a great one. It didn't make my list,
but that's a great great point of things you forget
um for for me is already on your list, And
that's still the great call from Jim nance is it
(39:41):
his time? Yes, the moment with bones, the Patriots all
fists in the air and people and speaking of what
you forget like he hadn't want a major and you
know certainly that that that had gotten plenty of play
at that point, but there was like this suggestion he
was incapable of it, which was ridiculous. And of course
since then he's got a pla I love them, um,
(40:01):
but you know that as a singular moment to to
to grab it, that put for me that two thousand
four is four on my list. That's a good one.
I've got to I've got a just a hat hip
to people that yell at us about stuff, just because
it would have been a lot of fun to be there.
Fifty four Hogan and Sneat in a playoff would have
been pretty awesome. I would have been you know, when
you're talking about history, that's uh, oh my god. I
(40:24):
mean I would have I would have I would have
parked my chair on sixteen early. I wouldn't have run.
I wouldn't have run, but I would have done something
risk walking. Uh uh. It's like I always I always
called the world's largest pool deck. There is no running,
so I'm gonna go. I'm just gonna go fifty four
because again, when you look at the names, and I
(40:44):
always say the names, you know they're all caps because
there you know, everybody's legacy grows as they get older
and and move on to another life. That is one
that just in terms of entertainment and the top two
guys and all that fifty four had been a lot.
It would have been very, very cool to have been
a part of that master's Well. I limited it to
(41:05):
the ones that I had. I'm lucky. You have to
have some kind of recollection of and I wanted to
close with the one that I felt like probably wouldn't
make a lot of people's lists, but it remains as
good a finish as we have seen and that is
you alluded to it earlier actually two thirteen. Go back
and look at the people that were involved. Tiger finished
(41:26):
top five. Jason Day was in the mix on how Cabrera.
Uh well, first of all, Adam Scott Bertie's eighteen, come on,
come on you Ausie looking for his first major he
Bertie's eighteen. Cabrera just misses a birdie on seventeen. All right,
I'm talking, just misses. Go back and look at the video.
It goes over the lip. Now he needs Bertie on eighteen.
(41:46):
It's raining. He pipes the drive and absolutely stops his approach.
He starts walking after the second, after the ball leaves
the club face. He's walking and talking the whole way.
It's picked. It in so awesome. His son was on
the back too, right, that's exactly right, exactly right, and
and hey, and he's just like walking after it because
(42:08):
he just stated that makes Bertie. We're running out of light.
Doesn't matter because Adam Scott's getting ready to bust one
down ten and he makes a gorgeous birdie on ten
in the playoffs win and it's like that iconic shot
in the darkness with the rain where he's kind of
golf Jesus, and he's stay here, he's chopping. Uh. If
you remember the shot from behind a good light. And
(42:29):
here's the reason, here's the way you think about about
all I help to prayer. He's a fascinating case study
because he didn't play tons and tons of great golf, right,
I mean, I mean he's you know, he's a really
good player, obviously, but he's got a combination. All right,
you're gonna if you're gonna win two majors and you're
gonna win the US Open, you're gonna win the Masters,
and you're gonna win it at Oakmont, and you're gonna
(42:51):
win Augusta obviously, then that means you are in the
company of two men, Jack Nicholas and Dead Holding, who
won the US Opens at Oakmon and the Masters. And
he wanted he wanted at Oakmont. Go back and look
what he did. Tiger is chasing him furik which chased him.
He had to lead. On seventeen, he had a cigarette.
He chucks it down on the ground old school style.
(43:12):
It's an absolute palm off the tea, hits his approach
on the green, makes his prot makes his par gets
at a Dodge and like everybody was crumbling because Oakmont
makes you crumble, and he didn't blink man, and that dude, like,
I don't know what I'm allowed to say that you
can say. There's a line in the movie Snatch about
there's two types of balls in this world, big brave balls. Okay,
(43:33):
Cabrera's got big brave balls, and he showed him to
you at Oakmont and the Masters. So he's on the
list of Hogan, Hogan, Um, Nicholas and Cabrera. And that's
who Scott beat that day with a putt on the
a tent pole in a playoff. That's why two is
my fifth on the list. And and it might be
(43:55):
the most photogenic final hour ever. I mean you talked
to out the picture with the green jacket and his
arms are raised out. Well, we'll tweet that out when
the podcast comes out for people to see if you
you've forgot about it. But the fist pump Adam Scott's
bicep looked like he just does curls like two and
a half hours a day every day. Arms were huge.
He's obviously this really strapping, good looking Australian And you
(44:17):
said it a guy not a great putter over his career,
made two unreal putts and the Cabrera iron in there
that was like, I got it, No big deal, I'm fine.
Cabrera Also on eighteen remember the one he one where
he was a hundred and fifty yards in the trees
and he punched out hit a tree, kicked in the fairway.
That is one of the worst rewatchful Masters. If you
have any fondness for Kenny Perry, because my goodness, that's
(44:41):
pretty gross. Man, that's pretty gross. And that's that's you know,
that's what his tree will forget. If you don't have
the kind of his six Encyclopedia Greek call, you're like,
you just remember Cabrera one, will you don't? Kenny Perry
was supposed to win that and he didn't supposed to
win in my last one cringe Shop second Masters wins
it nnech the week after all that hadn't one in
(45:02):
a year. The reaction on eighteen hands in his head.
I I'm I'm a romantic at heart. It was one
of those moments that aren't supposed to happen in sports.
You're not supposed to have things written that way. And
the fact that it was pinned for Ben Crenshaw and
he wins the Masters, you know, after you know, one
of his best friends passes away the week before. I
(45:22):
just again, I I I was moved even though I
was a young kid, and I love going back and
kind of following that one again. Plus, anytime you get
a chance to watch Ben Crenshaw putt for four and
a half hours, you should probably do it because it's
it's pretty silky. It is that and that's the great
I mean, it's a great one. But the beauty, the
beauty of any Master's list is that is that each
(45:42):
each person's list would reflect his or her own, you know,
personal recollections. So that's that's what makes you know, I
think that's what makes remembering this event more than any
other so uh so worthwhile because it's, you know, it's
it takes you back to that place and and I
think if you the game, if you love the game,
and you know it's a place you love going back
(46:03):
in your mind, that's for sure. Well I appreciate it.
I held you a little longer, and I told you
I would, So thanks for breaking all that down. The
last thing I just wanted to ask, how long was
the brainstorming session before you came up with s V
pod as your new podcast name, like a lot of
things with us, somebody said what should we call I'm like, well,
my initials are s VP, right, Like, yeah, I might
just put O D after that, Like, it can't be
(46:24):
s V P O D. That doesn't have a very
good connotation, so let me just call it sp pod.
And then after the fact somebody suggested it should have
been called s VP has a pod. Um whatever. I liked.
I like the simplicity of the way you went with it. Well,
I mean it's uh and it's as as we're you know,
I hope illustrating here. It's it's a very it's a
(46:47):
fun format for people that are you know, get on
the like like we had justin Thomas last week, just
get on the phone and chip or whatever and just
catch up, you know, filling the blanks on things, particularly
now because God knows where we're all in search of
something to to fill the moments until we can get
back to it. I'm just I'm bummed that I'll get
to see in person. Um. I always enjoy pros and paths,
(47:09):
and I'm hopeful that I get to see you guys
do your thing. Um, I don't know if it's gonna
be I don't think it's gonna be uh certainly June
and Uh at wingfoot, I don't see it as possible.
But I hope that they can sort it out somewhere.
I've heard rumors of West Coast stuff that, I mean, whatever,
everybody will figure it out. I hope. I just hope
we get some some major championship off somewhere down the road. Yeah,
(47:32):
sports or sports when they return. I feel like we're
gonna be big fans of maybe even bigger than we
were before. I get a sense that we're gonna be uh,
We're gonna be pouncing. That is the thing I keep
telling my buddies. I just miss knowing that at eight pm,
when I'm on the couch, I can watch a rafts game,
or I can watch, you know, a tennis match happening
(47:54):
somewhere else in the world. Or I can wake up
early on Friday and know the European Tour is going
to be played for the for the forty five minutes
that I'm up feeding my son. You know, those are
the things, right, Give me some, Give me some smurfect
European open man, give me anything. Right, they are they
are the greatest connector. I mean, look, you're in it.
I'm in it. So I mean we're support whatever I
(48:17):
started to say, apologist, there's nothing to apologize, but but
this is how we make our living. But I don't
think there's any doubt and if there, if there had
been any doubt, that this time is proving it that
what people turn to when things are sideways, A sports
always have They're the greatest unifier. We have an absent
sports right now. I feel like that's what makes people
so I feel so kind of lost, you know, like
(48:39):
you're right, like at eight o'clock, there's not no, there's
not a whatever a Knicks game, there's not a Lakers
game late night or if you're out in the West
Coast on your time, whatever prime time. I mean, everybody
knows what I'm talking about here. Just absolute those things,
those those those mile markers. Right, I'm supposed to be Augustus,
so are you and we're not. Um. It just kind
of leaves us all trying to figure it out. And
(49:00):
I mean in the meantime, I guess we're just those
we just all need to try to do do what
we're supposed to do stay away from each other. It's
try to, you know, try to knock this thing down
so that we've got something. It feels like what we
used to know on the other side of it, you
know what I mean. I just that's what I keep
coming back there. Yeah, I'm with you, and you know what,
I haven't felt I haven't felt scared or nervous throughout
(49:22):
this more than I did when you begged for a
Knicks game. That's not when it's when we get to
that point. You know, things are dire. Hey, I just
want to watch the Knicks play basketball. You're like, man,
things are this is not a good situation, Scott. I
appreciate the time. Thanks as always. I know it's a
bummer that we don't get match this week, but thanks
for just chatting about it a little bit. I think
people enjoy it. I look forward to these conversations with you,
(49:44):
and uh, let's hope next time it's face to face
somewhere somewhere on our or close to the grounds of
August and National Stay well until we see each other.
I thought we're gonna take a quick break and be
right back. A big thanks to Scott Van Pell for joining.
Big thanks to you for listening. Just a final reminder,
(50:07):
wash your hands, stay safe, follow all of the rules
that you're being told to follow. I know following rules
isn't something we love to do as Americans, but just
do it. Do it for somebody else. Do it for
a parent or an uncle or an aunt, or yourself
or your kids. Whatever. Just be smart, be selfless, and
(50:27):
send a text to somebody you haven't talked to. And
while well, that's my new thing. I've been doing that
now is every day I'll text a friend of mine
that I haven't talked to in a few months. Hey,
how you doing? Thinking of you? How you guys holding up?
What's new? And I'm just trying to reach out to
people because I talked to the same people all the time.
It's my wife and my kid and my dog. One
of those isn't even a person, it's just a dog.
(50:48):
But I will say, Harlow, great conversation. Was love chatting
with Harlow about stuff. Send a text, call your parents,
call your loved ones. Stay safe. We'll be back later
this week with another Clubhouse podcast. M The Clubhouse was
Shane Bacon as a production of I Heart Radio for
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart
(51:09):
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