Happy New Year

(Illustration from Yale-China)

Today is the beginning of the lunar new year, the Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese Zodiac.

Ever since I was a toddler in Territorial Hawaii, adult relatives would give me red envelopes on Chinese New Year. Finding a dime inside was pretty good, and when I got a quarter--you could buy two DC comics plus five Bazooka bubble gums--I was rolling in it like Scrooge McDuck. A rich grand-uncle on my mother's side would give out one dollar bills, but I didn't get to go to his house often.

Now I'm the one that has to pass out the red paper, so Chinese New Year isn't as much fun. Nevertheless, subscribing to both the Gregorian and lunisolar calendars has its advantages. One gets to enjoy two New Year feasts, but more importantly one gets a chance to start again on resolutions that were already broken in January.

In other words we get a mulligan. Speaking of golf and tigers, it looks like an auspicious year for Tiger Woods to be making a comeback after his excellent showing in the PNC tournament in December.

Happy New Year (again)!

Palm Sunday, 2019

From 2013:

On Palm Sunday the liturgical color is red, which represents the imminent shedding of Christ's blood on Good Friday. Despite the somber symbolism, the red of the vestments and the green of the altar palms were a welcome uplift from Lent's grim purposefulness and purpleness.

(Golf Digest image)

Tiger Woods wore red today as he won the Masters, which was his first major-tournament victory after 11 years. We won't hype the occasion with overblown Easter references (his career was resurrected...).

He did seem lost in the wilderness since 2008. Numerous surgeries and comeback attempts failed. Nearly everyone had lost hope that he'd be in the winner's circle again. But the prodigal returned, chastened by his experience.

‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ---Luke 15:21-24

Okay, just a little bit of hype.

"A League-Shaking Coup"

Kevin Durant and GSW coach Steve Kerr (Chronicle photo)
Mirroring: "mutual trust, connection and understanding"

Basketball superstar Kevin Durant announced yesterday that he is joining the Golden State Warriors. NBA observers were agog at the instant creation of a super-team:

This isn’t just a signing, this is a league-shaking coup....

The Warriors have done nothing short of constructing a superteam, and they deserve full credit for the execution of their successful recruiting pitch, which reportedly included owner Joe Lacob, the team’s star players, and even a phone call from Hall of Famer Jerry West. As a result of landing Durant, Golden State’s roster now represents 25% of USA Basketball’s Olympic team and it features two MVPs, two scoring champs, four All-Stars, and four All-NBA selections (all of whom are 28 or younger). The Warriors’ fourth-best player once scored 37 points in a single quarter and their fifth-best player was named Finals MVP. Give me a break.

With all of that in mind, the best-case scenario for this experiment is a word not often spoken in the modern NBA: Dynasty.

The Warriors are not only the 2017 favorites to win the NBA title, but their odds are an unprecedented better-than-even ("the Warriors have a better chance at winning next year's title than the other 29 teams combined").

Not even Tiger Woods, who won four consecutive Grand Slam tournaments in 2000-2001, commanded such respect from the sports books. (He was even-money to win the U.S. Open in 2001.)

"My Glutes are Shutting Off"

Tiger Woods' decline is so remarkable that your humble observer still has trouble processing his fall from golf's pinnacle. In 2009, before his infidelities and marital struggles became widely known, Tiger was the favorite to win every tournament he entered; there was no one close to challenging him as the world's best golfer.

Today at 39, an age when professional golfers' skills should still be near their peak, Tiger Woods could reasonably be expected to contend for championships. After all, in the past 50 years six golfers who were in their 40's have won major tournaments.

This week Tiger Woods missed the cut at the U.S. Open by a wide margin:

He finished 16 over par in two days at Chambers Bay....It was his highest 36-hole score above par at a major in his career. At the time he stepped off the course, he was tied for 154th place in a 156-man field.

His latest excuses are ripe for mockery [bold added]:

It's just my glutes are shutting off. Then they don't activate and then, hence, it goes into my lower back. So, I tried to activate my glutes as best I could, in between, but they never stayed activated.

Gluteal analysis by Golf Digest

What happened to Tiger isn't a tragedy in the modern meaning of the term because he retains many millions of dollars from his golf endorsements and wins, no one's died, and he's still famous in a mostly positive sense.

His persistence in the face of criticism and even pity is commendable. In fact expectations are so low that, if he can pull off a victory or two, his comeback will be lauded enthusiastically. I, for one, am hoping that he's got another run left. May his glutes activate more strongly than ever before.