Sports Commentary

In 1984, Thomas Boswell, one of the most gifted baseball writers of all time, published a collection of essays titled, “Why Time Begins on Opening Day.” The book was an instant classic.

Our good tennis friend, Brian Buchholtz, came up with some tennis tips I found interesting that you should give serious consideration to. I’ve added to his special sense of getting through these unusual times.

Golf is a game and a game provides diversion of attention from our everyday life. We all need a respite from our 24/7 focus on Coronavirus and playing golf is a great way to be safe with social distancing and provide yourself with recreational relief.

The financial fallout from cancelled or postponed sporting events due to the coronavirus will be significant. Leagues, teams, athletes and NGO’s (non-government sports organizations) will lose hundreds-of-millions of dollars, perhaps into the billions, before the games resume.

Hiking and risk go together like America and apple pie. Yet, our culture is risk-wary at best and risk-averse at worst.

Welcome to a world with virtually no live sports.

I don’t mean to be crude, but I do my best thinking on the toilet and in the shower. Some of you think I should flush my ideas down the toilet! But bear with me and my ADHD as I try to put on paper an idea for the future for learning the game of golf.

The gates were padlocked and everybody except players, team personnel, employees, scouts and media, was barred from entering the stadium during the game being played in Joe Riley Stadium.

Moving up the ladder, so to speak, spring wildflowers begin at our lowest elevation, around 2,000 feet above sea level, near Black Canyon City.

It’s the story that won’t die. The Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal has been written about, analyzed and debated for months, with no end in sight.

This is a great time to focus on your aim and alignment. Most mishits result from improper aim or alignment. Let’s be clear on a few things. Aim involves the clubface and your target.

Sometimes I spend more time on the road, getting to my destination, than on the trail, at my destination. Fortunately, there are quite a few worthwhile hikes “right in our own backyard” across Yavapai County. Trail 95 comes to mind first in this category of nearby hikes.

MLB is discussing ways to shake up the playoffs and some of the proposals are right out of left field.

The USGA just came out with their Distance Insights Report. Anyone who has played this game for forty years or more, realizes that distance is so much more a factor. Face it – the further your shots travel, especially off the tee, the easier it is to score lower.

Jessica Mendoza lost two jobs in one day last week but don’t expect to see her name added to the next unemployment numbers. Mendoza is the former All-American softball player from Stanford who is best known as an ESPN baseball analyst.

Beginning on June 24 at about 4 p.m., back in 2017, the Goodwin Fire began. It eventually swept through Grapevine Canyon on its way to the west side of Mayer.

In December, the Los Angeles Times published a story which claimed the cost of attending a Major League sporting event in the area was unaffordable for the middle-class fan.

Local tennis players Fay Matsumoto and Jan Hasse started off the year not at the Australian Open cheering on the top players in the world, but competing and winning at the “Wilson World Tennis Classic” the world’s largest adult/senior amateur tournament, in Palm Desert, California recently.

Balance, rhythm, tempo and timing are crucial to any golf swing. You cannot be taught these fundamentals, but you can learn them.

Baseball’s Hall of Fame voting has come and gone for 2020 and once again, neither Roger Clemens nor Barry Bonds received sufficient votes – 75 per cent - from the Baseball Writers Association of America for induction.

Air so thick, you could cut it with a knife. As I sailed through Phoenix on I 17, a banner over head reminded me that there was an air quality alert. No kidding! It was a no burn day.

Mel Allen, the longtime play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees, also hosted a weekly television show titled “This Week in Baseball” from 1977 until his death in 1996.

Last year we saw the modernization of the Rules of Golf. This year amateur golfers will see some changes in their handicap system, with the advent of the new World Golf Handicap System.

A number of business issues will dominate MLB’s off-field headlines in 2020, with the three biggest discussed below.

Tennis comes down to two types of strategy, offense and defense. Which strategy is best for you depends on what weapons you have in your game, your personality type, your physical and mental condition, and one more thing ...the opponent you’re playing.