Category Archives: Sports

Football…

Today, Sunday the 7th, marks the 18th and last week of the regular season of Football and the final game (I don’t believe there is a Monday night game, no?) of the season which will be aired features my Miami Dolphins against the Buffalo Bills, starting at 8:20pm Eastern time.

The Dolphins are already in the post-season but the Buffalo Bills need to win this game to get into the post-season and I expect they’re come in and play as hard as they can.

My Dolphins have been such a roller coaster of a team to watch. When they’re good they’re so damn good but when they’re bad…

Part of it has to do with the amount of injuries the team has sustained. It has been, frankly, ridiculous. There was also at least one game, the one they played against the Philadelphia Eagles, where the referees and the penalties they laid out (all against the Dolphins, none against the Eagles) that was IMHO very questionable.

Understand: I’ve been watching Football since the early 1980’s. There are going to be games where calls go against you and there are going to be games where you get the calls. I get that.

But that was the first game where I have to say I think the Refs were blind to the actions of one team.

Either way, it happened and its done and now we’ve got this one game to either show we’re tough against the “hard” teams (that’s been the story it seems all year: We take care of the “weak” teams but have trouble against the “good” ones).

Let’s see what happens…

Superbowl LVII

Personally, I found it an entertaining game.

There was plenty of drama and, you have to give it to the Kansas City Chiefs, they looked at halftime and after QB Patrick Mahomes reinjured his leg… that they might be done.

But Mahomes wasn’t about to let that happen and further credit where its due, their coach, Andy Reid, made some adjustments and eventually the Chiefs prevailed, 38-35.

There was controversy toward the very end on a holding call that might have been a little weak but that seems to be par for the course nowadays.

The commercials were mostly …ok… I guess, nothing that I found terribly memorable. What was intriguing, at least to me, was that almost all the car commercials (unless I’m misremembering) were focused on electric vehicles. I believe there was one commercial for a SUV (Hyndai?!) that was an ICE vehicle but otherwise the focus seemed to be on electric.

There were movie trailers as well and I must say of all of them, this is the one that most impressed me…

For a film that I wondered if it would ever get made to one whose main actor, Ezra Miller, has had some incredible troubles (to his credit he’s been out of the news for a while now, but I’m sure they will be dealt with either in court or through other means and may well preclude any future Flash projects), I didn’t think I’d have such a positive reaction to the movie’s trailer.

Frankly, it looks like the movie’s makers really went at it. The trailer gives off some seriously fun vibes and visuals to die for.

And Michael Keaton back as Batman?!

Yeah, I’m there.

Of course, it is a trailer and there have been trailers which made a film look far better than what it turned out to be…

I remain, however, cautiously optimistic!

SuperBowl LVII – 2023

Yesterday came the semifinal games between the San Francisco 49ers versus the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cincinatti Bengals versus the Kansas City Chiefs.

The end result was that the Eagles beat the 49ers pretty impressively and the Chiefs outlasted the Bengals. For those counting, I predicted the Eagles win but felt the Bengals might have the edge over the Chiefs (you can read my .500 prediction here!).

However, the results of the Eagles/49ers game shows why predictions about sporting events are often the proverbial roll of the dice.

In the 49ers first series, quarterback Brock Purdy, who to that point has shown flashes of brilliance, sustained an injury to his throwing arm. Note that Mr. Purdy, who was the very last pick in the previous year’s draft (Mr. Irrelevant, as the joke goes) and who only got to be quarterback because of injuries to the other quarterbacks before him, had not lost a single game since he became QB of the 49ers.

His injury meant fourth string quarterback Josh Johnson was inserted into the game and, shortly thereafter, he fell back and apparently sustained a head injury/concussion and suddenly the 49ers had to bring Purdy back in for the bulk of the game… even though he could no longer throw the ball.

So what we had was a game where the Eagles knew each and every play would be a run and, let’s face it, the 31-7 loss they sustained could have been a lot worse given these circumstances.

Essentially any prediction about this game was null and void because of Purdy’s injury, and that, my friends, is why sports is a tough beast to predict. Had Purdy not sustained the injury, I suspect the game would have been closer but… I dunno.

Regarding the Chiefs and the Bengals, as I wrote in my prediction, I worried starting Chief QB Patrick Mahomes -easily one of the very best QBs playing the game right now- came into the game with a “high ankle sprain” and, frankly, I wondered if he would be able to win against the Bengals, who were healthier and dismantled the Buffalo Bills the week before.

Welp… it was a tight game and Mahomes gutted it out and obviously played with a lot of pain and, in the end, they managed to kick the winning field goal with only seconds left to play.

Which brings us to the SuperBowl in two weeks.

Who do I think can win?

You know… I’m at a loss. My head says the Eagles. They appear to be a very complete team although their QB, Jalen Hurts, is nursing a sprained sternoclavicular joint. This is where the clavicle or collarbone meets the sternum/breastbone. Sounds painful.

Still, we are talking about a team that is a very fearsome unit.

My heart, on the other hand, feels like the Chiefs -and especially QB Mahomes- really, really, really wants this, as was demonstrated in the way he played yesterday.

Does Mahomes have another -quite literally the last- gutsy game to play? Or will the Eagles continue their march?

We’ll see in two weeks, won’t we?

Getting to the end…

…at least the NFL is for this season!

Over the past weekend, the NFL had their divisional round, where we whittle down eight teams into four. Next Sunday we’ll have the semi-finals where those four teams will be whittled down to the two that will play in the SuperBowl.

Before getting to that, the teams that played this past weekend were the Kansas City Chiefs who beat the Jacksonville Jaguars (27-20), the Eagles beat the New York Giants (a pretty big beatdown, 38-7), the 49ers beat the Cowboys (19-12), and, finally, the Bengals beat the Buffalo Bills (27-10).

While it seems there’s a lot of talk about the Cowboys once again losing out on advancing, I find the results of the Bengals/Buffalo Bills game a little more fascinating… in the sense that I don’t quite understand why so many seemed to think the Bills would take out the Bengals.

A few weeks ago we had the very horrifying aborted game between the Bengals/Bills wherein Damar Hamlin collapses and, we found, suffered heart failure (you can read my thoughts about that here).

Mr. Hamlin would eventually be released from the hospital and he was actually present -though obviously not playing- at the game, which much have been an incredibly encouraging thing for both the Bills players and audience to see.

The game itself took place at the Bills’ stadium. Coming into this year, the Bills were viewed as a heavy possibility to make it to the Superbowl this year. Given the torrid way they came out at the start, it seemed they were indeed unstoppable.

So, yeah, I guess I can understand to some degree why many favored the Bills over the Bengals.

Yet they lost. Not only did they lose, they were dominated, IMHO, through most of the game. The final score, thought not quite as dramatic as the Giants/Eagles final score, points to a game where Buffalo lost and lost quite big. Their offense clearly was stopped. Their defense, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have answers to the Bengals offense.

So… a big surprise, no?

I dunno.

Look, I’m the last person in the world one should look for any deep insight into any sport or games. I’m a casual fan, though loyal, to the ones that are local here. Having said that, I just don’t have the time to do much more than catch a game here and there and, often, not the entire game.

Football works the best for me because there are only a limited amount of games to watch and they occur only once a week.

So, yeah, I watched most of the Miami Dolphin games.

I like the team, though they have wallowed in mediocrity for very, very long.

This year, however, they had flashes of brilliance especially in several games where quarterback Tua Tagovailoa got to shine. However, he also suffered concussions and, in their final game of the season, the first round/wildcard of the playoffs, they lost to these same Buffalo Bills, two weeks ago and at the Bills’ stadium, 34-31.

Think about that: The Dolphins, a team that suffered tremendous personnel loss to injury and who were fielding a third string quarterback, held their own against these Buffalo Bills and, if memory serves, lost the game in the last minutes by a field goal.

Yet many thought that one week later these Bills would be favorites over a much stronger, far less injured team in the Bengals?

Again: I’m not a brainiac regarding sports. I don’t pretend to be one.

Yet I felt the Bills, for whatever reason, were looking very beatable going into the playoffs if only because of the very hard time they had dealing with a Dolphin team that was coming into the game against them looking very ravaged by injury.

So… who makes it to the Superbowl?

I have to say the Eagles, what I saw of them against the Giants, looked like a pretty damn fearsome machine. They go up against the 49ers next week and while they likely will have a tougher game on their hands, I suspect they’ll emerge to be the NFC team to go to the Superbowl.

On the AFC side, we have the Bengals going up against the Kansas City Chiefs. Normally, I would give the nod to the Chiefs. However, their quarterback -and one of the very best quarterbacks playing today- Patrick Mahomes, sustained a high ankle sprain in the game against the Jaguars and it is my understanding this can hobble his mobility quite a bit, should he be able to play (he stated he will).

Given this, I have to say the Bengals may have the advantage.

For the Superbowl, if it’s Eagles versus the Bengals I would give the edge to the Eagles. If it’s Eagles versus Chiefs, Eagles again.

If it’s 49ers versus Bengals? Bengals. 49ers versus Chiefs… I would go Chiefs.

Let’s see how it goes!

Damar Hamlin and Football…

Yesterday’s Monday Night Football game involved the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals in a match that had big implications for the playoffs, at least in terms of who might have a higher place.

But the game was cut short. Very short.

Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin, on a play, tackled a Bengal player. The hit didn’t appear particularly vicious yet after Hamlin got up, he collapsed to the ground. Medics came over and it was revealed he went into cardiac arrest.

To say the least, the situation was extremely tense as those medics attended to Mr. Hamlin and administered CPR. Ultimately, he was transported off the field in an ambulance. As of today, the day after, it is reported Mr. Hamlin is sedated and in critical condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

After some delay, the coaches and the NFL decided to suspend the game. Whether it will eventually be made up is to be determined, but given the grim circumstances involved in this situation, that seems like the thing people should be the very least worried about.

I love football. I find the sport exciting as hell. Paradoxically, I also feel the sport needs to be either changed considerably to make it safer or, if that’s not possible, done away with completely.

Why?

Because with each passing year, the athletes who play the game get stronger and faster and because of this the hits may get more and more vicious. At the rate things have been going, I have noted to friends that its only a matter of time before someone dies on the field.

This very nearly happened yesterday.

As I noted above and though the hit wasn’t particularly vicious, it caused Mr. Hamlin’s heart to effectively stop. Perhaps he has some kind of genetic predisposition or perhaps it was a one in a million hit, but the reality is that he very nearly died out there last night.

Yes, there have been vicious injuries which have occurred in football games over the years. There have been moments where medics have had to deal with players on the field. Earlier this year, Miami Dolphins Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a very scary concussion. It is at least the third concussion he’s suffered as he was out for this past Sunday’s game.

Again: I like football. I genuinely do.

But I wonder if it may be time to either look more intently at what can be done to improve player safety and reduce the possibility of such horrible injuries.

But… can this be done without changing what makes football such an exciting sport?

Therein lies the rub.

The alternative, though, is terrifying, especially if something like what happened yesterday happens again.

…and again.

The Dolphins and the NFL

I’ve been around now and again and less than I’d like, so forgive me if I go over some older stuff.

After the latest season in the National Football League, the Miami Dolphins, the team I root for (though, given their record for the past twenty some years I wonder why) fired head coach Brian Flores despite having a pretty good run during his three years run.

To be clear: It wasn’t a spectacular run, but given the fact that the first year the Dolphins essentially unloaded every player of any worth they had, he has managed to overachieve with regard to the teams he’s had to work with.

This last year began pretty badly. While they won their first game against New England, they then went on to lose 7 games in a row, including losses to such “lesser” teams as Jacksonville.

But then, starting on November 7th and against the Houston Texans, they had a stunning turn around and wound up winning 7 games in a row, a tough feat to begin with, and achieved a record no team had to date: To lose 7 games in a row and win 7 games in a row in a single season!

Alas, those early loses would figure into their playoff chances and truthfully they had no margin for error in their last two games. They had a chance, certainly, but they needed to beat the Buffalo Bills in week 17 and simply could not. The Bills, much as I don’t like to admit it, are a powerhouse and they look to have a very bright future, even if they didn’t make it to the Superbowl this year.

Anyway, by the time the next, and last game of the season rolled around, it didn’t matter if they won or lost. They beat The New England Patriots once again and finished the season with a decent 9 and 8 record, slightly above average but clearly not enough.

What was surprising was that Brian Flores, whose ultimate record after three years as Head Coach was 24-25, was subsequently fired.

Then, things got ugly.

Brian Flores, after a few interviews with other teams, came out and stated the owner of the Dolphins, Stephen M. Ross, offered him $100,000 each game lost. He also presented some damning tweets between he and New England Patriots head coach Brian Belichick.

In those tweets, Mr. Belichick mistook Mr. Brian Flores for Brian Daboll and congratulated him on getting the New York Giants head coaching job… when Mr. Flores was scheduled to -but had not yet had- an interview with them!

In other words, Mr. Flores claimed this proved that the Daboll hiring was a done deal and the interview to come with him was a sham, a way of getting around the Rooney Rule (which forces NFL teams to interview minority coaches) when they had absolutely no intention of hiring Flores for the job.

Anyway, Jomills H. Braddock II and Alex R. Piquero have a good article regarding this whole affair here:

What the case of fired Dolphins coach Brian Flores says about the NFL today

Now, some of the accused, including Stephen Ross, have denied any wrongdoing and deny Mr. Flores’ accusations.

Other than being a fan of the team, I have no knowledge of the ins and outs of the organization other than watching them play their games during the season.

Yet I will say this: The Dolphins have, unfortunately, been a team that has all too consistently in the past few years been a disappointment, a huge turnaround considering that during the 1970’s they were a powerhouse, winning two SuperBowls and having their “Perfect” season, and during the 1980’s they were a consistently upper tier team under Dan Marino and Don Shula.

It seems like things went downhill pretty quickly when Don Shula was replaced with Jimmy Johnson -who came off a terrific run with the Dallas Cowboys but who seemed overwhelmed and uninterested in running another team- and when Dan Marino retired.

Watching Marino during his golden years was like watching magic. I loved those years, even if in the end they only reached the SuperBowl once… and lost to the San Francisco 49ers.

That match up, way back in 1985, was the last time my beloved team went to the SuperBowl. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s 37 years ago.

Yikes.

Anyway, now we have Mike McDaniel being hired to coach the team. He previously worked with the San Francisco 49ers and there may be something, I don’t know, weirdly interesting in that particular hiring, given the 49ers were the team that defeated us the last time we were in the SuperBowl.

Will he do well? Will controversy continue to follow the team and/or will Brian Flores’ lawsuit gain traction?

I don’t know.

Regardless, its a tough situation for me, a fan of the team.

I do wonder if, within what’s left of my lifetime, I’ll ever see my beloved team once again in the SuperBowl.

This N’ That

Must say, I’m glad the SuperBowl is over.

It’s an economic boon for businesses around here, but the congestion and some of the… characters… you have to deal with can be a bit much.

Understand, though: Some 90% of the people who came down to enjoy this event, whether football or 49ers or Chiefs fans, are damn good people. They came, they enjoyed, and they left. It’s that 10% -maybe even less!- that unfortunately stick in your mind. I had to deal with some of that percentage and, to say the least, Monday and Tuesday (moreso Monday, though) were rather stressful.

But its over now and the game was good and most of the people were indeed nice so I shouldn’t bitch so much, no?

As for the game itself, I’m really intrigued with the winners, the Kansas City Chiefs. Throughout the playoffs and into the SuperBowl, they have this weird habit of playing really badly and getting behind before seeming to suddenly “wake up” and destroy their opponents.

It’s a weird thing they do and I can’t imagine it will continue working out favorably for them, but if they can get some of that sloppiness resolved beforehand and play more consistently, they will be a very fearsome team for many, many years to come.

Meanwhile, it strikes me that the New England Patriots may have finally, finally reached the end of their magical run. With sports, its a matter of time and New England, though they started with an incredible record, did so by playing mediocre or worse teams through that time period. When they started to play stronger teams, they were exposed as not as good as they first appeared.

Today there’s intrigue regarding what will happen to quarterback Tom Brady. Much as it pains me to say so, he is probably the best quarterback to date to have ever played the position. He is focused, he is relentless, and he is very accurate in his throws.

However, he’s getting quite old now and while this year he played well, those around him did not. He was clearly very frustrated with many of his receivers and, following the end of this season, he’s a free agent.

Will he return to New England?

If so, are they willing to pay an aging quarterback the money he wants? Brady’s agreed to be paid less than he was worth for most of his career but this allowed New England to hire good players around him from the savings they made through his lesser salary.

Word is he wants to get paid what he deserves and, given the cast around him wasn’t all that good this past year, will giving Brady what he wants allow them any wiggle room to pick up a good roster?

At least one other team, the Raiders, have indicated they want Brady if he’s willing to give them a shot.

So I repeat: Is this the end of the New England Patriots/Tom Brady era?

Only time will tell.

*********

Politics… how can you escape it the last week or so?

You had “President” Trump’s impeachment and when the matter went over to the Senate, it was clear almost from the very beginning the courageous (he says very sarcastically) Republican majority was intent on making sure the matter ended effectively there. They didn’t want any more witnesses, twisting themselves into pretzels to justify that action, and now twisting themselves even more (as if you thought that possible!) to acquit the man.

Not even a censure vote is coming.

Here’s the thing: These people are not only short-sighted, they’ve just tied whatever legacies they have to him.

It’s incredibly difficult to predict the future, but I can’t help but wonder if this is the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back and the Republican party might have finally gone too far.

There is some 35-40 percent of the country that loves Trump and, I imagine, “Republicans” but that means that some 60-70% do not or are, at best, indifferent to them.

Will we see this reflected in elections later this year?

I certainly hope so.

*********

So last night we had the State of the Union speech and it was another chapter in the “how low can we go” politics. First, “President” Trump comes out and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi offers him her hand… which he pointedly refuses to shake.

The speech itself… I didn’t have the heart to listen. I’ve read the recaps and it sounded like a rather typical piece of self-aggrandisement. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose, politicians have done this since forever.

What gets me is when the Medal of Honor was given to Rush Limbaugh right then and there.

Ugh.

Limbaugh noted he has advanced lung cancer. This is the man who many times argued against the reality of second hand smoke and who made it a point of smoking cigars near constantly on his radio show (and I’m sure in his free time as well).

There are many, many people who noted the irony and many, many others who were quite glad over his predicament.

I’ll try to be nice and not say something rude… even though if there’s anyone who deserves it. And I certainly wouldn’t be so cruel as to suggest, when Limbaugh does eventually pass -whether from the lung cancer or something else- that we should all cue up Bette Davis’ quote regarding the death of Joan Crawford.

No, I wouldn’t suggest that at all.

The State of the Union started with Trump snubbing Pelosi’s handshake but it ended most emphatically with Pelosi once again getting the last word, though it was through actions:

Image result for pelosi ripping trump speech gif"

Yeah, she ripped up Trump’s speech when he was done, right in front of him. By the way, the reason Trump’s putting himself where he is is because he realized what she’s doing and was trying in vain to block her actions out.

It was ineffective and made it clear that one hurt.

Trump keeps trying to one up Pelosi and she seems to always find a way of slapping him down.

It must irritate the hell out of Trump.

Which is fine by me.

Wow…

2020 has certainly started off with a fury.

Yesterday, the very shocking news that basketball superstar Kobe Bryant died, along with his young daughter and seven other people, in a helicopter crash.

You can read the full story here in an article by Christina Maxouris and Artemis Moshtaghian and presented on CNN.com:

Young athletes, a baseball coach and mothers. What we know about the others on board the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant

For a while several years ago I became something of a HUGE sports fan. It built up slowly, first being mesmerized by the quarterback talents of Dan Marino, then moving into hockey, basketball, and baseball.

During those years, I had the extreme luck of seeing the Dolphins threaten to get to the SuperBowl year after year after year. I saw the Panthers reach the finals but ultimately get defeated by the Avalanche. I watched the Heat play with LeBron James and win quite a big. I had the extreme luck of seeing almost every game in the season the Marlins won their second World Series.

As can be seen from the above, all these teams are South Florida locals.

Yeah, I tend to be a “homer” when it comes to watching sports. Local teams are what engage me, not so much others.

Having said that, I lost interest in watching even those teams.

Nowadays, I watch Football -the Dolphins- but not religiously.

I didn’t see many of Kobe Bryant’s games, not all the way through, but did catch highlights and… he was pretty spectacular.

What is shocking more than anything else is the fact that he was so young, 41 years old, and it wasn’t so very long ago he retired. It is also shocking to see images/video of his daughter, who also perished in the crash, laughing and talking with him.

As a parent, that tears my heart out.

Thus, I never was a huge fan of Kobe Bryant, basketball player, but I knew who he was and knew about his incredible skills.

And now, he’s passed in a most shocking way.

So many things have happened so far in January, and we’re still a few days away from the end of January.

I hope the rest of the year calms down… if only a little.

Rest in Peace.

Well, that was painful…

This feels like something someone says at one of those meetings devoted to making you sober. The first step is usually admitting your problem:

My name is E.R. Torre, and I’m a Dolphin fan.

The rest of the people in the meeting room react with extreme horror. There are limits to helping people, and clearly I’m in need of a lot of help.

Today, of course, was the first Sunday of the 2019 Football season and for those that don’t know, my Dolphins played the Baltimore Ravens and got their asses totally pounded. The final score was 59-10 and it was every bit as bad as that score implies.

There was no offense. There was precious little defense. The team is a mess… and it was pretty much designed to be that way.

See, the Dolphins, since the departure of Don Shula and, a little later, quarterback Dan Marino, have been in this unrelenting funk. When Shula was coach and Marino quarterback, the Dolphins were a year after year SuperBowl contender. They were always in the playoffs and always seemed to be a legit candidate to make it to the big game.

But that was a very long time ago. The Dolphins, since Marino’s departure, seem to always be 7-9 to 9-7. There are a few exceptions, including a season where they went a ghastly 1-15, but they seem to always be stubbornly mediocre. Just being cut out of the playoffs and being just good enough so that their draft picks usually amount to not all that much.

Its been a sad state of affairs and, it seems, the owner and new Coach decided it was time to stop being mediocre and start the team from the ground up. To purge it of everyone and built it up again, younger and through the draft.

Which means this year, for all intents and purposes, is a season where they’re not expecting to win all that much.

Thing is, there’s a point where you’re not very good and where you’re purposely become horrible.

Maybe this first game is an aberration and they wind up winning a few games, say 3-4, in the season. Still wind up at the bottom and get good draft picks which they use to build themselves up.

At this point, though, and based on this first game, it sounds like they’re be lucky to do even that.

As I mentioned above, the Dolphins once went 1-15.

This year, there’s a very real chance they go 0-16.

How many fans remain after that?

Greed is good…?

So said the oily Gordon Gecko as played by Michael Douglas in the 1987 Oliver Stone directed film Wall Street.

Apropos of that, I present the following article written by Jason Owens and presented on Yahoo sports (though the link I’m providing is on AOL.com:

Matt Kuchar defends paying caddie $5000 on $1.3 million win: I “don’t lose sleep over this”

I’m completely bewildered and, I must say, enraged by this article.

As is stated (and at the risk of giving away everything in the above article), Matt Kuchar played in a tournament, the Mayakoba Golf Classic, and didn’t have his usual caddy with him. According to Mr. Kuchar, the two verbally agreed to a payment of $5000 for the caddie job.

Mr. Kuchar went on to win that tournament and received a prize of $1.298 million dollars.

He paid his caddie $5000.

The caddie, obviously not happy with the very small fee given to him, asked for more and, truth be told, caddies usually receive bonuses when the person they are “serving” win and win big.

After the story reached the news Kuchar offered the caddie $15,000 (or a little more than 1% of the winnings) but the caddie felt even that was an insult. He asked for $50,000, or a little less than 4% of Kuchar’s winnings.

Kuchar refused and, according to the article, he feels the matter is now closed. From the article:

“It’s done. Listen, I feel like I was fair and good,” he said. “You can’t make everybody happy. You’re not going to buy people’s ability to be OK with you, and this seems to be a social media issue more than anything. I think it shouldn’t be, knowing that there was a complete, agreed-upon deal that not only did I meet but exceeded.

“So I certainly don’t lose sleep over this. This is something that I’m quite happy with, and I was really happy for him to have a great week and make a good sum of money. Making $5,000 is a great week.”

I know there will be those who say: Well, if they had an agreement, the caddy should just shut up and accept what he got. However…

Golf.com notes that $3,000 for a week on a bag for a club caddie like Ortiz would normally be considered a generous offer. But that figure wouldn’t include a payout bonus and win bonus that generally comes with handshake deals.

So, dear friends, while Mr. Kuchar’s offer was indeed generous, it is common for golfers who win to then sweeten the caddie’s pot and give them payout bonuses or win bonuses, something Kuchar didn’t do until this story received airplay. (POSTSCRIPT: I have since learned that it is not uncommon for caddies to receive up to 10% of the winning pot from golfers, though granted this is often offered to “regular” caddies who are long term with their golf pro. That being the case, the “regular” caddie could have been in line for a bonus of up to $130,000)

The story ends with this whopper:

According to Golf.com, Kuchar is 10th on the PGA career earnings list with more than $46 million.

Holy crap.

A man who has made $46 million in his career (even assuming this past win of $1.3 million was “all” he made up to that point in the year) feels it is appropriate to give a caddie $5000, an admittedly decent amount for a week’s worth with pro golfers, but then feels the man deserves nothing more… even when he wins a very big prize at the end?

As I said before, if he were to accede to the caddie’s demands (which he clearly has no intention of doing) and give the man $50,000 for that week’s worth -a fabulous amount!- that still amounts to less than 4% of Kuchar’s earnings for that week.

And if he felt that was too much, couldn’t he have gotten together with the caddie before this story blew up and worked out some kind of arrangement? If he was willing to go to $15,000, why not come somewhere between that amount and $50,000? Why not take the nicer path before you come off looking like a greedy fool?

Bear in mind, while it was certainly Kuchar’s skills that won him the tournament and he is undoubtedly entitled the winnings, the caddie was right beside him the whole way and it is my understanding caddies do more than just carry around the golfer’s bag. They are known to offer advice, keep track of information regarding the individual holes, and are often a sounding board regarding how to take on a hole.

Whether this was the case here is unknown to me, but I doubt the extent of the caddie’s involvement was limited only to carrying those bags and giving Kuchar club X or Y whenever he said he needed it.

Further, Kuchar’s final quote in the article, of “not losing sleep” over this situation doesn’t do him any favors as well.

If it was his intention to come off as a greedy fool, he certainly accomplished his mission, IMHO.

POSTSCRIPT PART DEUX: Written by Ralph Ellis and presented on CNN:

Matt Kuchar says he’ll apologize to caddie and pay remainder of the $50,000 he requested

So, after a few days of generally very bad news, the headline says it all: Matt Kuchar will do the right thing and give the caddie what he requested.

Mr. Kuchar, to his great credit, issued a press release that seemed very sincere in acknowledging he re-read his comments on this subject and felt it made him look very bad (which it did) and that he isn’t like that guy. So, he’s giving the man what he requested, which I’m assuming is $45,000 which will supplement the $5000 he already gave him.

The picky part in me notes that, as I stated above, it is “usual” for golfers to offer 10% of their winnings to caddies and this would mean the man may have been owed up to $130,000.

However, and as I also stated above, in all fairness this individual was not Kuchar’s usual caddie. He likely did less for Kuchar than the usual caddie would have done, ie offering advice on holes, clubs to use, etc. and likely was more of a club holder/mover.

So while the amount still feels a little light, the reality is that the man was asking for $50,000 for his work and he’s getting what he asked for AND an apology from Mr. Kutchar.

Case is closed.