The beginning of spring brings us warm weather, Easter brunches, bottomless mimosas, and plenty of empty carbs. Spring also brings us the NBA Playoffs, The Masters, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and a Rockies team that is not yet mathematically eliminated.

Unlike the Dallas Mavericks, I was interested in the final games of the NBA season this fine spring weekend. Unlike Bryson DeChambeau, I participated in all four rounds of The Masters. And unlike Jorge Masvidal, I finished the weekend on my feet, and ready for more – despite the bottomless mimosas.

• Intrigue at The Masters usually begins after Tiger Woods makes the cut after day two, and ends once he double-bogeys his first hole on day three – but this year was different. With the return of LIV Tour villains such as Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia, and Phil Mickelson, this year’s tournament was more like the Hatfields vs the McCoys – or the Oil Fields vs the McIlroys to be more precise.

• Actually, Rory McIlroy missed the cut, and Tiger Woods (+9) withdrew from the tournament after limping around for three days. But when America needed a hero to fend off the top players that the Saudi government could buy, they turned to the one they call the Spaniard.
Jon Rahm (-12) bested the LIV Tour’s best of Koepka (-8), Mickelson (-8), and Patrick Reed (-7), to capture his first green jacket. I like you Spaniard – I shall cheer for you.

• Mickelson ended up setting a record for the lowest score shot at The Masters for anyone over the age of 50, but thanks to his desertion of the PGA Tour, CBS, and all the sponsors he lost – It will remain the greatest rounds we’ve never seen.

• Brooks Koepka’s wife got more airtime than Mickelson.

Credit via Golf Monthly

• The other excitement occurred when two large trees collapsed in the wind on the 17th hole. Which brings up the age-old question – If a tree falls on Tiger Woods, and he can’t limp away in time, does he make a sound?

• I don’t blame Kyrie Irving for the demise of the Dallas Mavericks. Kyrie may have given up food and water for Ramadan, but the Mavericks gave up on winning.

• Rudy Gobert punches teammate Kyle Anderson? Jaden McDaniels breaks his hand while punching a wall? I’m not sure the short-handed Timberwolves can handle the Lakers – but you have to give them a puncher’s chance.

• I’ll say it. The Lakers barely made the play-in game, the Warriors finished 11-30 on the road, KD and Chris Paul can’t stay healthy for a week, and the Grizzlies and Clippers have injury issues. I’ll take Denver.

• It’s a little unfair that, unlike the men, Iowa’s Caitlyn Clark was ineligible for last weekend’s WNBA draft despite being a 21-year-old, three-year starter for the Hawkeyes. Fortunately for her Iowa pays better than the WNBA these days.

• The Colorado Rockies are 5-6, Kris Bryant still hasn’t homered, and the team ERA is 5.31. With 162 games in a season, the pitch clock may speed up the game, but it can’t speed up the season.

• The presumably unscripted and betting legal UFC has joined forces with the scripted and entertainment only WWE to form one giant entity. Wife-slapping Dana White teaming with ethically questionable Vince McMahon in a billion-dollar partnership sounds perfectly legit. All they are missing is a Saudi Arabian investment team and the My Pillow Guy and you have the LIV Tour on steroids – literally.

Credit via MMA News

• It’s not a good sign for the Avalanche’s Stanley Cup hopes that the Boston Bruins just set the NHL record for most wins in a season with their 63rd win over the Flyers the other night. But it is a good sign that the previous record holders, the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings, did not go on to win the championship that year. The Red Wings were upset by the eventual Stanley Cup winners – the Colorado Avalanche.

• Speaking of hockey – do you think the Quinnipiac University Poll accurately predicted that their own team would win the NCAA Hockey Championships?

• Caleb Love is transferring to Michigan, Kerr Kriisa is leaving Arizona, Ryan Nembhard wants out of Creighton, and Hunter Dickinson is moving on as well. I understand transferring to another school for more playing time, a better fit, or better opportunities, but this is getting out of control. My wife got irritated with me last week – then threatened to join the transfer portal.

Images via latimes.com, golfmonthly.com, mmanew.com, Wikipedia.org

Alan Tapley The Athletic Supporter

Alan Tapley is an educator, author, and blogger who has lived just outside of Boulder for the last twenty years.  His published work includes two novels, two children’s books, a series of cartoons in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and multiple sports related articles. His love for family and the state of Colorado is only matched by one thing, his passion for sports.  The first baseball game he ever attended was at Wrigley Field, before there were lights.  At the final Bronco game at the old Mile High, he allegedly cut out a piece of his seat in the South stands.  But regardless of being here for the Avalanche’s last Stanley Cup, the Rockies only World Series appearance, and all the Broncos’ Super Bowl Victories, his wife never fails to remind him that he wasn’t at the University of Colorado in 1990, like she was.  The year the Buffs football team won the National Championship