This evening, Bubba Watson added an Augusta National green jacket to his personal collection, which already includes the General Lee, pictured above.
Watson also owns one of the best shots ever hit, thanks to his effort on the second and final playoff hole, where he spun the ball out of the woods and onto the green, setting himself up for the win:
What’s that you want? Some new music in this spot with a sports connection and a socially conscious tilt? Fine. Here’s a brand-new video from a current act named after a NASCAR driver that’s hip to sports and modern rock.
Bdoyk turned me onto these guys, and I’m becoming a fan of their personality as much as their music. Their new video, which features scenes from the city they call home, actually is a reworking of a 1977 Gil Scott-Heron bit described as follows:
The most popular cut on the album, “We Almost Lost Detroit,” which shares its title with the John G. Fuller book published in 1975, recounts the story of the nuclear meltdown at the Fermi Atomic Power Plant near Monroe, MI, in 1966. This song was also contributed to the No Nukes concert and album in 1980.
The Tigers almost lost their season opener against Bdoyk’s Bosox yesterday when the perfect-in-2011 Jose Valverde blew his first save opportunity of the 2012 season and ensured that reigning MVP-Cy-Young-winner Justin Verlander didn’t get his first opening-day win in his fifth consecutive attempt, but the home team pulled out the victory in a Gamecast-hindered bottom of the ninth by scoring on the much-touted (be real: what in Boston sports isn’t “much-touted”?) Alfredo Aceves.
Paragraph-long sentences. Hyphens. The Jam:
They say that the first Super Bowl preview show begins shortly after the prior Super Bowl finishes, and with the crowning of Kentucky as the 2012 national champs late last night, today is the perfect time to post the first preview of the 2013 Final Four. There’s already much to discuss, and we can be sure that the 2013 Final Four will look much different from the one we saw over the last few days.
For one thing, most of the top players from the 2012 tournament– including Kentucky’s Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kansas’ Thomas Robinson, Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger, Michigan State’s Draymond Green, and Vanderbilt’s Jeffrey Taylor– will be gone to the NBA.
Another reason the 2013 Final Four will look different is that it will be played in Eastern Europe.
In one of the great moments of stealth marketing, the NCAA subtly announced during last night’s championship game that next year’s Final Four would take place in Alanta, Lithuania, a town of 464.
This is a sensible choice for basketball and non-basketball reasons, and it’s a great way to expand the NCAA’s brand abroad.
Lithuania has a strong, proud, and hip basketball tradition most notably marked by its 1992 Olympic team, known as “The Other Dream Team.” Led by Arvydas Sabonis, the Lithuanian squad represented their burgeoning democracy and their sponsors– Grateful Dead Productions– well, taking home the Bronze Medal by defeating Russia, their former overlords, in the Barcelona games.
After surviving a Napoleonic invasion and two World Wars, Alanta has displayed a ruggedness that deservedly caught the eye of the NCAA and shows that it is more than capable of hosting next year’s Final Four.
Last night’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament championship game gave us two champions. Most publicly, Kentucky’s 67-59 win over Kansas handed the 2012 national championship to the Wildcats.
Most importantly to readers of this site, John Calipari’s first national championship sealed Bingo_Bango’s victory in the inaugural ALDLAND Mad as a March Hare March Madness Challenge, a result even casual observers knew for weeks was a lock. A 99% accuracy rate is impressive. Bingo_Bango should email us at aldland[dot]com[at]gmail[dot]com to negotiate a worthy prize.
Here’s the rest of the top ten:
Honorable mentions go to mjpascha 1, who turned in a consistently solid second-place performance, and Goulbourne Supremacy, the winner of the best-entry-name division for the combination of nomenclature and performance.
Finally, dishonorable mentions to your two writer-participants, Brendan and I, who finished outside of the top ten.
Thanks to all of you for playing.
ALDLAND 