I’ve never been a huge Sergio guy, and I like Justin Rose, but it was almost impossible to not start pulling for the 37-year-old who’s never won a major after he shrugged off near disaster coming around Amen Corner. Great Masters. It’s one of the best sporting events of the year, without question.

Let’s hit it!

But first, a word from our sponsors:

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Tank. How can something so hot be so cool? Shop now.

Amazon. Shop Amazon and support your favorite website by clicking this link.

 

The roundup:

SO MANY GREAT TITANTIC MOMENTS:

https://twitter.com/TitanicHoops/status/851255973553598464

https://twitter.com/TitanicHoops/status/851262207467732992

https://twitter.com/TitanicBaseball/status/851280231625236480

 

One reason why I like Justin Rose– he seems like a good dude:

 

Hey, the Phillies won two out of three against the Nationals, including a 17-3 drubbing and a walk-off bloop. They’re 3-3 and an uninspiring .500. Want to watch them online? GOOD FUCKING LUCK:

Email from reader Mike:

Just wanted to let you all know that I live in San Diego and have yet to be able to stream a Phillies game on the NBC sports app much to me and my sons disappointment.

I also have my moms log in (who lives in West Chester) for xfinity and wasn’t able to watch the game on NBC yesterday but that’s a little more expected.

Every game has been “blacked out”!! Thank God for the masters!!

They say out-of-market streaming will be available with Philly cable credentials mid-season. But that is to imply that local streaming works reliably. Through the NBC Sports app…

… or YouTube TV:

For what it’s worth, I’ve had no problems with YouTube TV thus far (full review this week!), but Jim isn’t the first person to mention that they were having issues.

 

An Eagles Nascar car:

Give me some of that Euro circuit racing and an Audi R8 at Le Mans all day, everyday, over the barbarous junk that is Nascar. There’s only so much lipstick you can put on a Chevy pig. I prefer the more refined experience of four rings:

Now that’s branding, baby.

 

I am going to have so many more thoughts on this later:

 

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Otis Nixon is gone. From WSBTV in Atlanta:

Former Atlanta Braves outfielder Otis Nixon is missing.

The Woodstock Police Department sent out a tweet Sunday evening saying Nixon, 58, was last seen leaving his home about 10 a.m. Saturday.

He was last seen in a gray 2011 Range Rover with Georgia tag CFP9010.

Police said Nixon left for a tee time at a local golf course, but never arrived.

He left wearing a black long sleeve-shirt, black sweatpants and a black baseball cap, with black Adidas shoes with white stripes.

Fun Otis Nixon story: Sometime in the mid-90s, when Nixon was with the Red Sox during the Mo Vaughn years, I went to Fenway with a group of fathers and sons. We got to sit in the first row down the right field line. We spent the entire nine innings riding Nixon for being on drugs, citing his failed urine test. “Why don’t you pee in a cup, Otis!” our dads somehow let us yell in public. Nixon never responded. But, late in the game, Wes Chamberlain, who was in right field and I think had warmed to us because we kept reminding him we were Phillies fans, threw over his warmup ball. There were nine of us – one would go on to play in the Major Leagues – and it went through all of our hands, landing in the lap of the lady behind us. Chamberlain shook his head and headed back to his position. Nixon… well, some years later he would disappear.

 

A good article about Stephen Colbert rising to the top of the late-night ratings. I like Fallon, but Colbert’s brand of humor is needed right now and he’s essentially serving both the Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert™ role of old. Score one for intelligent humor.

 

Honey Beau Beau is having some breast work done.

 

Peter King writes about Tony Romo taking a seat next to Jim Nantz:

Romo says he knows what he doesn’t know. I hope so. The NFL hasn’t announced the TV slate for the year, though a complicating factor for Romo will be that CBS is likely to have about nine weeks when the network will either have the Thursday night games simulcast on CBS and NFL Network, or the crew will do the games and they’ll be on NFL Network. One game’s hard enough. Two? In 70 hours? In different cities? The one sane factor here: There will be some of those weeks, if CBS isn’t doing the national doubleheader game in the 4:25 ET late window, when Romo and Nantz could have Sunday off, seeing that there won’t be a true national game on CBS on Sunday.

Then there’s this, from former CBS sideline reporter (on the Simms/Nantz crew) Bonnie Bernstein, encapsulating Romo’s task on Friday to The MMQB’s Kalyn Kahler: “As an analyst in a two-man booth, you have to take every single play you see, be able to process the All-22 [full-field video replays], decide what to dissect on-air for the audience, and then, without stepping on your play-by-play guy, you have to provide perspective. Is that personnel package working? What was wrong with that defensive back’s technique covering the back shoulder fade? And be able to provide perspective on a player’s history. Whatever the context of the moment requires. You have one shot to get it right and 15 seconds to do it—and if the offense is running hurry-up, you have even less time. You have all of this information at your fingertips, what you’re seeing, all of the insights gathered from players and coaches during our production meeting. So, on Fridays when we get there, we meet with the home team head coach and coordinators and star players. You have all of this insight that you gather from the production meeting; essentially you are trying to flawlessly and cohesively stuff 50 pounds of information into a two-pound bag. Ask anybody who has tried it, and easy is the last adjective they will use.”

I was at a Villanova Law School symposium on Friday put on by Padres CEO Jeff Moorad, who bought the naming rights to the sports law program at Villanova, and former NFL exec and agent Andrew Brandt. Guests included King, Chuck Todd, Oliver Luck from the NCAA (Andrew Luck’s father), Jack Ford (60 Minutes), Erica Nardini (CEO of Barstool), Jon Wertheim (Sports Illustrated editor who had a great piece on 60 Minutes last night), e-sports execs, Mark Jackson (Villanova AD), and my doppelganger, Mike Nardi. King was shockingly charismatic, and much funnier and self-aware than I anticipated. He joked about the Roger Goodell chili photo that’s often used against him, and explained why he has no problem calling Odell Beckham a turd on Twitter. I’ve re-evalutated my stance on King. Jack Ford, on the other hand, though a smart and intersting guy, had a bit of get off my lawn-itis with regard to new media.

 

The Sixers’ lottery odds improved.

 

Now that was a good move, bringing your glove to the game.” – Mike Schmidt.

 

Brandon Gowton on all those one-year Eagles signings.

 

Steph Curry’s new shoe is getting roasted again.

 

I would love to see someone have sex with a missile strike. You of course won’t want to pull out too early. There’s an Iraq joke in here somewhere.

 

United always puts the customer first:

They took one look at the guy in the orange and we’re like, “Yeah, we’ll grab the Asian guy.”