It's Finally Here...

...the Greatest Week In All Of Sports! 

While that's debatable, there's no question The Masters has been celebrated through the years as a top shelf event.

It was established in 1934 by champion golfer Bobby Jones and investment banker Clifford Roberts, in an era when the vaunted exemplar of the "Amateur Athlete" still held sway.

And who represented that lofty ideal better than the incomparable Bobby Jones?

To this day Jones remains the only golfer who has ever completed the "Grand Slam" of golf - winning all four major tournaments in the same calendar year - and he did so as an Amateur.

Played on the Augusta National - the golf course Jones and renowned designer Alister MacKenzie conceived -

- The Masters has grown in stature to rival the granddaddy of them all, <The Open>.

Known for its exclusivity - it's by invitation only - and exquisite beauty, The Masters is the official kickoff to the Majors.

If you don't win this one in April you can toss your dreams of winning Golf's Grand Slam (The Masters, PGA Championship in May, U.S. Open in June, and The Open Championship in July) in the circular file for another year.

There's a language and lore surrounding this tournament - Amen Corner, Hogan's Bridge, the Golden Bell, Nelson's Bridge -

- that adds to its aura and elevates it to a singular sphere in the hearts and minds of golf fans everywhere.

I know this was "the big one" as far as my father was concerned.

Now Dad wasn't a sports guy per se, but he did enjoy bowling, yelling at the TV when Tom Landry...

...and the Dallas Cowboys were playing, and of course golf.

His guy was Arnold Palmer - the first 4 time winner at The Masters.

Palmer's aggressive, attacking, go for broke style spoke to my dad and he was glued to the TV whenever "Arnie" was playing -

- especially at Augusta National.

We're 60 years past those halcyon days of yore, and unlike dear ol' Dad, I shan't be riveted to the TV, agonizing over each drive, chip and putt...

...of today's heroes.

To be honest, I'd rather watch Harry Vardon win his 6th Open Championship in 1914 at Prestwick.

Alas, I'm still waiting for them to perfect time travel, so I'll have to content myself with checking on the Masters now and then this weekend.

Thrilled to report our Vernal Equinox Death March...

...aka our Spring diet, has mercifully ground to an ignominious end.

Final tally for yours truly: 40 days ago I started at 206.4; finished this week at 195.2.

At one point I was 194.2, but in a shocking turn of events - and contrary to my initial findings - it turns out that Easter Peeps and Aldi Chocolate Bars...

...are not actually good for your diet.

Who knew?

Now the goal is to remain sub-200, and I'm feeling pretty good about my chances.

As the weather improves there are more and more outdoor projects to accomplish and I've become a big fan of "functional fitness" - getting exercise while doing something useful -

way below target weight

- like mowing the lawn or whatever Karen decides is appropriate.

Can't wait.

After an exhilarating adventure in blexcellence*, we're mercifully pulling into the station...

where the heck is everyone?

...signifying it's high time you disembark and get on with whatever it is you do when you're not here.

As an extra incentive for you to beat feet, I guarantee** there will be nothing golf related in this week's edition of 23 Skidoo:

looking through my old LP albums, I came across this 1980's pic of my favorite female singer from the country music group "Stampede"...

...along with this one.  she has a fabulous voice and the face of an angel.

attack of the silhouette creatures.  I'll bet (Aldi) you'll never guess (Aldi) where Karen found them (Aldi).

what in the world...how did this happen?  management will definitely hear about this.  also, my first tee time of 2026 is less than a week away.

beautiful forsythia taking a running jump at blooming

this doesn't really qualify as golf; more of a tennis thing

sun is definitely rising more in the east rather than the southeast now

*   blexcellence - blogging excellence

** not a guarantee

We're a couple of days into the tenuous <cease fire with Iran>, and it looks like this weekend will tell the tale.

J.D. Vance is spearheading the negotiation team and he's made it clear the U.S. won't tolerate the Iranian's usual lies and stalling tactics.

They will either open the Strait of Hormuz or else it's "bridge and power plant" day, aka the end of Iran as a functioning country.

Personally I'm fine with either outcome - they've been waging war against us for almost 5 decades and are responsible for the death of thousands of Americans and many more thousands of their own citizens and Israelis.

Interestingly, the obliteration of Iran (called "Elam" in the Old Testament), and specifically their military might, was prophesied in God's Word:

<Jeremiah 49:34-39>

The LORD decreed total defeat ("I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might" -and- "I will send the sword after them till I have consumed them") .

This was achieved in the 7th century BC when both the Assyrians and Babylonians conquered / occupied them.

But in Scripture there is often both a "near" and "far" fulfillment of prophecy (e.g., <Isaiah 7:14>, the virgin birth).

So are we seeing at least part of the "far / future" fulfillment of God's prophecy against Iran?

In other words, is Trump God's Hammer of Justice, or will that task fall to someone else at a later date?

Time - and not very much of it - will soon tell.

later, mcm fans...

He Is Not Here...

 

...for He is risen, as He said.  Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

    - Matthew 28:6

"The Greatest Man in history had no servants, yet they called him Master;

"No degree, yet they called him Teacher;

"No medicines, yet they called him Healer.

"He had no army, won no military battles and committed no crime...

"...yet kings feared Him, He conquered the world and they crucified Him between two thieves.

"He was buried in a tomb, but death could not hold Him;

"He rose again and lives today.

"His name is Jesus;

"Do you know Him?"

Happy Resurrection Day, y'all...hope you celebrated the most important event in human history with those you love.

It's been slow coming, but Spring is gradually showing signs of creeping across the countryside.

We now have some lovely purple flowers covering parts of our front lawn...

...and bright yellow daffodils sprouting in our back yard...

...along with gorgeous red bulbs proliferating in...

...uh...no, wait a minute; I'm wrong.

Those are just some old cherry tomatoes Karen asked me to throw in the woods, but I didn't quite get there.

Well, anyway; the point is Spring has sprung 'round these parts and that's a good thing.

In casual conversation I recently remarked to Karen,

"One of my favorite calendrical expeditions is the exhilarating, annual journey to which all of us acquiesce as we venture across that immutable boundary between the meteorologically barren wilds of March to the lushly vernal expanse of April!"

She replied, Say what??

Translation:

I'm happy when April finally arrives.

To which simplified sentiment everyone should lend a hearty "Amen".

Here in the northland we do have improving weather prospects; it's normally mid to late April when I'm finally able to get back on the links...

...often with <less than spectacular results>.

But there's another aspect to that boundary crossing that used to be a much bigger deal back in the day than it seems to be nowadays:

April 1st, aka April Fools Day, and especially the "mass market" variety.

One of my favorite April Fools pranks came courtesy of the traditionally stuffy BBC on April 1st, 1957:

the annual spaghetti harvest in Ticino, Switzerland

<Watch It Here>

No doubt their reputation for stiff upper lips contributed to the widespread acceptance of this farcical two and a half minute mockumentary on harvesting spaghetti.

However, for my money the all-time best April Fools Day prank was perpetrated in 1985 by the once great/now worthless woke trash sports mag, Sports Illustrated:

that's 6'4" jr. high art teacher Joe Berton in 1985, friend of SI photog Lane Stewart, posing as Finch.  Berton wears a size 14 shoe. 

You can <read about it here> but the gist was the NY Mets had discovered a reclusive, free spirited rookie prospect named Hayden Siddhartha Finch who practiced yoga, played the french horn, had a pitching style that bore an alarming resemblance to <Goofy>, but could throw a 168 mph fastball.

George Plimpton was the author, which should have been a dead giveaway (check out <Paper Lion>), along with the brief paragraph on the very 1st page:

He's A Pitcher, Part Yogi And Part Recluse.  Impressively Liberated From Our Opulent Lifestyle, Sidd's Deciding About Yoga - And his Future In Baseball.

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY A(h) FIB

Widely believed - photographs in the article included actual Mets players and coaches (who were in on the gag) hanging out with "Sidd" - the issue created a firestorm of interest and activity, as both jubilant Mets fans and dispirited opponents scrambled to learn more about this freak of nature.

To SI's credit, they played it close to the vest, admitting nothing publicly, and let the furor ensue.

Then a week later in their next edition, they published a brief statement that Sidd Finch had retired from baseball; a week after that they admitted in print the whole thing was a hoax.

Ah, the good ol' days, before humor succumbed to the suffocating ideology of woke.

There hasn't been anything that comes close to either the BBC's or the former SI's pranks in years, for good reason.

With hordes of AWFL*s on high alert...

...searching high and low for new and exciting ways to be offended, most folks have simply opted to seek cover and stay out of the line of fire.

* AWFL - Affluent White Female Liberal

Speaking of retirement, let's put this edition of the AMC to bed with a big fat helping of 23 Skidoo:

like most problems...

...if you don't tend to them post haste...

...they tend to spread

#4 son and his wife (not to be confused with Ward and June Cleaver) gave us a very cool Christmas gift - a "Frameo" - which I finally got around to setting up.  it auto-downloads pics they specify so we get a constant slide show of them and their kids...super cool idea.

a few Easter and Spring motif decorations have cropped up lately...

...lightening the mood a bit...

...as we finally exit winter...

...and happily embrace the new season.

not mine, though I'm told there's a striking resemblance...just something our little eyes spied at the eye doctor's recently

dinnertime at the ok corral

and finally, the long awaited return of enjoying a Parodi Kings cigar from my vantage point in the command center

Judging by this Easter morning's cold and windy weather, April is stealing a page from March's playbook and has "come in like a lion".

No doubt 4 weeks from now we'll have warmed up nicely and April will "go out like a lamb".

It's interesting that Jesus is called both the "Lion" and the "Lamb".

You can trace this seemingly contradictory imagery from the beginning of the Bible to the end.

In Geneses 49:9,10 Jacob blesses his son Judah (from whom Jesus descended) as a lion that will retain the scepter.

In Revelation 5:5-9 the Lion of Judah opens the scroll of God's judgment and is worshipped as the Lamb of God who was slain to redeem us by His blood.

Today - Easter - we celebrate Jesus as the Lamb of God, our Redeemer and Perfect Sacrifice, who died on Calvary's cross for our sins and then rose to life again on that very first Easter Sunday.

But He's also the Lion of Judah who will one day return in glory and administer God's judgment on an unbelieving and unrepentant world.

By the grace of God, we all get to choose where we'll spend eternity; it's part of God's plan for "free will".

My advice?

Trust the Lamb of God at the foot of the cross in faith and enjoy the glories of heaven.

Otherwise you'll face the Lion of Judah in judgment, and you do not want to end up in the smoking section.

later, mcm fans...