It was great to actually have some options to choose from for sports last week.
I enjoyed watching the golf exhibition where Roy McIlroy and Dustin Johnson won in a playoff over Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff by hitting the ball closest to the pin on the 17th hole. They raised millions of dollars for two very deserving charities. The playoff hole was worth $1 million all by itself! Overall, they raised over $5 million with the fans' additional help in a telethon during the competition. I'm sure the money will be used wisely.
The Seminole Golf Club was cool to see for the first time on TV in its 90 years of existence! It looks like a Florida version of Whistling Straits golf course in Wisconsin. I say this because of the number of bunkers on the course and the fact that it was close to a lot of water. It was a great venue for the event.
A second fundraiser match, this time featuring Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning vs. Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady will be on TNT at 3 o’clock this Sunday. That should be a blast to watch with the skills and characters involved. I am very much looking forward to it, especially with how lousy the weather has been here.
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I also watched some of the German Soccer league games. That was interesting, with no fans in the stands. The fans are usually SOO loud, so with this format, when the game is close, you could hear the players calling out to each other like it was an indoor game. When the scoring was one-sided, it got so quiet that it became boring because there was no noise at all. That is just something we will have to get used to for now, and it's certainly better than no soccer at all.
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I finished watching the Chicago Bulls documentary this week. The Last Dance was quite good. 90 percent of it was about Michael Jordan‘s career. He is definitely one of the best professional basketball players of all time. For me, the best part was seeing him as a young player, because he retired from the Bulls in 1998 after their 6th championship. I was 14 years old at the time.
Jordan was brutal on all of his teammates because of his incredible work ethic and skill level and his over-the-top competitive drive to win. What an intense character! I felt this documentary gave a really good look into his career and professional basketball overall. Maybe there will be other documentaries to follow.
I heard the NBA is going to come out with a plan to try to restart the season by the end of July. They will start a training camp by the middle of June. This is great news and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
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Because of the encouraging news about basketball, I decided that my book selection this week will be The Lost Season by Pat Conroy. I haven’t read many basketball books, but this is a good story about college basketball in the 1960s and also how difficult military life can be. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Last, but not least, I also heard that major league baseball is still aiming for a July 4th return date. They'd better get their act together fast if they want to achieve that goal. It just shows you how much of a role sports really plays in the world. And it's something to help us all feel there's a light at the end of this tunnel.
Everyone stay safe and healthy and have a good Memorial Day weekend even if it is a LOT different than past ones. See you on the sidelines!
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A 2002 Cape grad and 2007 UD grad, Lewes resident Sumner Spence is one of the Cape area's biggest sports fans. Although he’s used a wheelchair his entire life, he has lived vicariously through his sports-playing father, brother, and friends, who gave him his love of sports. He hopes to provide new and interesting perspectives on the sports stories and issues of the day. Email Sumner at sumspence@gmail.com.
