Binge Media Sports: Robin Williams, Sunday at the PGA, 20th Anniversary of the MLB Strike
Okay, so I’m sure you looked at the title of this and are wondering why in the hell I would bring up Robin Williams in a Binge Media Sports piece as opposed to Working the Weekend with Luke, which will be back this weekend after missing this past weekend due to some technical difficulties here at home. But I digress. The reason I bring him up here is that one of my favorite things that Robin Williams ever did had to do with sports. Sure, he’s done some great movies that I enjoy, and I could do an entire column on his career and my opinion on the entire situation, but instead I choose to show you one of my favorite bits from his standup career. Robin Williams on golf. Enjoy.
THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
Thank you Robin…and speaking of golf, if you’re a fan of golf, then you (and me) were given a hell of a treat on Sunday afternoon. I wrote last week that the two big stories going in would be Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Tiger missed the cut and for a while on Friday, it was a story. But then the weekend came and this past weekend was a true display that golf without Tiger would be okay. Personally, I’m a Tiger fan and would love to see him back (full pun intended) and healthy, but the other story that everyone knew would be even bigger was that of the rise of Rory McIlroy, who has firmly taken his place as the best player on the planet.
This was the scene on the 18th at Valhalla on Sunday. After a slow start by Rory and a late start overall due to weather, the end of the tournament was in doubt. Rory had relinquished his lead on the front nine. Players such as Phil Mickelson (back to him in a minute) and Rickie Fowler, who were playing in the second to last group ahead of McIlroy, had come on strong all afternoon and into the evening. Darkness had also set in, causing the last two groups to actually be playing the 18th basically together. Fowler and Mickelson teed off, but with everyone wanting to finish, McIlroy and his playing partner, Bernd Weisberger, were waved on by Fowler as they walked towards the fairway. The final group then teed off, then Mickelson and Fowler hit their seconds into the par 5 18th. When they reached the green, they marked and McIlroy and Weisberger then would hit their second shots in, saving a ton of time. Here’s where I got upset and I’m glad the announcers actually said something. Phil Mickelson looked pissed off. Finally, that goofy grin of his was gone and I couldn’t have been more happy about it. I don’t know how he’s fooled everyone for all these years, but I just can’t stand the guy. I think he’s a fake and a phony, and in actuality, he’s really not as well liked on the tour as everyone thinks. Instead of thinking about the tournament as a whole, he thought only of himself. Had he had it his way, he would have made the last group wait even longer, taken the time to finish out and then have McIlroy come back in the morning to finish. Guess what, Phil? Didn’t happen. The right decision was made and McIlroy closed him out and won his second straight and fourth overall major. As I said before, golf would be okay without Tiger and he’s already taken his name out of Ryder Cup contention and won’t play again until December. What might be nice is to see what golf would be like without Phil. He took one of the best Sundays in recent memory and nearly ruined it. Luckily, Rickie Fowler (who will eventually win the big one) took the high road as he usually does. For now it looks like Tiger v. Phil has passed. Give me Rory v. Rickie for the next decade and I’ll be a happy golf fan.
THE MLB STRIKE OF 1994: 20 YEARS LATER
Remember all the signs similar to this? Remember the empty stadiums? Remember when the World Series was taken away? Remember when steroids saved baseball four years later? Damn, one too many. This week marks the 20th anniversary of the 1994 Major League Baseball strike. I won’t go into the specifics of it, as I feel that work stoppages in sports are always quite ridiculous. Professional sports is a money grab, plain and simple. Sure, I fall for it just like billions of people around the world do, but I still tune in. Why? Because it’s an outlet. It’s a few hours away from the everyday problems like the mortgage or the car payment, so when a work stoppage occurs, I get as pissed off as the next guy. So when I was fifteen years old and couldn’t quite understand why sports was a business, I left. And yes, I really didn’t go back to baseball until the McGwire/Sosa homerun battle of 1998. I remember going to Wrigley Field just a few days before the strike and thinking that at the same time next week, baseball wouldn’t be back. And it was August. Sure, that’s a common feeling we Cubs fans feel sometimes in May, but there were some awesome things going on that year.
1998 may not have been as big of a deal had the 1994 season continued. Matt Williams was on pace to break Roger Maris’ single season record of 61 homeruns. He had 43 when the strike happened.
Tony Gwynn hit .358 in 1993 and .368 in 1995. So what was he hitting when August 12th rolled around? .394. He had a real chance to take a run at .400 in 1994 and we’ll never know if he could have done it.
Perhaps the biggest travesty of all, however, is that the Montreal Expos, yes, the MONTREAL EXPOS (Google it, kids), had the best record in baseball at 74-40. Who knows what that season could have done? Would the Washington Nationals even exist right now? Maybe a title really could have led to people going to the games and maybe gotten them a new stadium. THE MONTREAL EXPOS COULD HAVE WON THE WORLD SERIES! (To my dear departed friend Mike: that’s for you brother).
Thanks for reading Binge Media Sports. NFL previews are coming soon, so keep checking back for that. As for me, I’ll be back this weekend with Working the Weekend with Luke and as always, if you have comments on anything above, just leave them below or you can always follow me on Twitter and tweet @THElukenorris.