‘So…This Happened’ is our quick-hitting weekly round-up of some of the biggest stories in sports. Take a read and own the water cooler sports conversations, if any of you actually have a water cooler that you hang out by to talk sports.
Spring is nearly here. We’ve got the Masters. The NBA Playoffs have kicked off. And baseball has been berry berry good to us! (Unless you’re the Red Sox or the Yankees, in which case you stink.)
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1. Over a Decade Later, Tiger Woods Wins Again at Augusta
America loves Tiger Woods. (Or at least it used to.)
American also loves a good tale of down-on-his-luck-former-hero comes back to win The Big One.
So, America REALLY loved this past Sunday, when Tiger Woods came back to win the Masters.
It had been eleven years since his last Masters. Back then, Tiger was King of the Sports World, and an automatic win – it seemed – almost every Sunday. He was that good. Then it all fell apart. Marital problems. Mental breakdown. Sex Addiction. Pain Killers. Numerous back surgeries. A fall from grace that was very public and very difficult. The comeback story didn’t seem to be taking. It seemed clear that we would never again see old Tiger again.
Then- seemingly out of nowhere – he did it.
And the vision of Tiger, in his classic red “I’m-In-The-Hunt-on-Sunday” polo shirt, putting on the Green Jacket, was like Christmas to oh so many.
The question now is when and whether Tiger-mania will EVER end?
How many consecutive days of breathless Tiger Woods coverage will we now get after his #MastersTournament win?
— Michael Kasdan (@michaelkasdan) April 14, 2019
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2. The LA Clippers (!) Beat The Golden State Warriors In One of the Most Improbable Comebacks Ever
On Monday night at around 11:30 PM Eastern Time, I got tired and went to bed. I shut the TV, after doing a quick check of the Game 1 Warriors vs. Clippers score. The Warriors were up by 30 and having their way with the Clippers about mid-way through the Third Quarter. They had lost DeMarcus Cousins to injury, but their All-NBA core four, Curry, Durant, Draymond, and Klay were having their way.
When I woke up, I saw a high scoring finish and did a double-take:
Clippers: 135
Warriors: 131
What happened while the East Coast was sleeping was one of the greatest comebacks in history. According to statistics people, if you’re into that sort of thing, when they were down 31 in the Third Quarter, the Clippers had a 0.01% of winning.
How did they do it? Well, here is the recap.
But the summary is this: Heart. (That, and the Warriors started to coast).
This is an especially incredible feat, because the Clippers aren’t even supposed to be here in the playoffs, let alone beating the big bad Warriors on their home court in the playoffs. They are rebuilding. They got rid of Tobias Harris. They got rid of Blake Griffin. They got rid of DeAndre Jordan. They got rid of Chris Paul.
What the Clippers do have is gritty gutty players like Lou Williams and Patrick Beverly. And a shocking Game One victory of the soon to be champion (?) Golden State Warriors.
CLIPPERS COMEBACK FROM DOWN 31 TO BEAT THE WARRIORS. 😳🔥😳 pic.twitter.com/idImvkcV8t
— House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) April 16, 2019
Is this a bump in the road for the Champs? Or a chink in the armor? Is this the crowning achievement of the Clippers season? (Which would be perfectly acceptable!). Or are they just getting started?
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3. Early Season MLB: Why Are The Standings Upside Down?
“Just a reminder fans about Die Hard Night coming up here in the stadium. Free admission to anyone who was actually alive the last time the Indians won the pennant.” – Major League (which just turned 20 years old last week)
A few weeks into the 2019 season, and many teams seem to be in The Upside Down. The 2018 World Series Champion Red Sox are in the cellar of the AL East. The vaunted Yankees aren’t too much better. It certainly has not been a kind April for the vaunted Yankees vs. Red Sox rivalry. At least they play each other this week in a short two-game series. Someone has got to win.
This is first time Red Sox and Yankees face off in a series with both teams at least 3 games under .500 since Oct 2-4, 1992.
— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) April 16, 2019
That’s not all that’s weird in baseball thus far.
Out in the AL West, Seattle was supposed to be rebuilding, but instead they are neck-and-neck with the Astros, with a 13-6 record. Same goes for the NL West, where the upstart Padres, led by a no-name pitching staff and a left side of the infield of Manny Machado and young Fernando Tatis, Jr. are leading the division.
It’s April. It’s early. We shall see.
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Photo Credit: Associated Press/FILE
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