TAKEAWAYS FROM THE MATCH II
For sports fans, 'The Match II' was a sight for sore eyes
May 26, 2020, 9:23 am
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images for The Match.
I'm not the biggest golf fan. I'll watch the majors. I'll watch Tiger Woods play if he is in contention at a tournament but for the most part, there are plenty of other sports I would watch before I would sit down and watch golf for five hours. We are all struggling to find compelling live programming due to COVID-19, especially compelling live sports programming. The biggest storyline in sports the last 5 weeks has been watching The Last Dance on ESPN featuring Michael Jordan and 1997-1998 Bulls. As fun as that was, reacting to a story that ended 23 years ago is not what the typical sports fan was hoping to watch during the prime sports months of the spring.
However, everything changed on Sunday with The Match II: Champions for Charity. A fantastic event that Turner and Capital One put together at Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida to raise money to combat the ongoing virus. Instead of Tiger and Phil playing against each other as they did in 2018's first installment of The Match, they would go against each other with a legendary QB playing with each of them. The storylines were there for The Match. Tiger Woods playing with Peyton Manning and Phil Mickelson playing with Tom Brady. Superstar athletes that all sports fans respect regardless of sport.
The most recent charity golf outing, The TaylorMade Driving Relief skins game, featuring Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson and Matt Wolff didn't keep my attention. If you are a hard core golf fan, I'm sure that you loved watching those guys play but to the casual sports fan, the game of golf needs Tiger Woods or Phil Micklelson playing to get a big rating. While there was undoubtedly star power when you have Dustin Johnson and Rory Mcllroy playing, The Match featuring four sports legends felt like a way bigger event of a higher magnitude.
The expectation coming in was that we as fans watching at home would get to hear the players mic'd up, talking trash, and having fun. However, until you actually see a plan like that executed it felt as if many people were skeptical especially after the first Match was negatively impacted due to technical issues. TNT took a chance and made the broadcast so enjoyable. The booth of Brian Anderson, Trevor Immelman and Charles Barkley, with Amanda Balionis and Justin Thomas as on-course reporters had a great balance of golf analysis and plenty of laugh out loud moments. Brian Anderson is as smooth as any top-notch broadcaster out there and anything Charles Barkley says can go viral at any given moment. Justin Thomas has a future in broadcasting whenever he decides to stop dominating the PGA Tour. Despite horrendous weather throughout, TNT did a remarkable job keeping the broadcast on the air.
Charles Barkley's mouth even helped create the moment of the entire match. As Brady struggled mightily on the front nine, getting roasted on social media by everyone for finally not being great at something, Barkley told Brady he wanted to challenge him sometime on the course. Things changed on the 7th fairway for Brady as he found himself standing over an approach shot. With Barkley's challenge in mind, he flew a wedge just a few yards past the pin, spinning it back into the cup for a birdie. It was one of the most impressive shots any golfer can have let alone an amateur playing with two of the all-time greats with millions of sports deprived fans watching. Brady telling Barkley to, "Shut your mouth, Chuck. Take a little of that medicine" was laugh out loud funny
Both the amateurs held up well with the pros. Give Tom Brady credit for getting things together after a rough start that even featured the 6x Super Bowl winner splitting his pants as he and Mickelson really challenged Woods and Manning late and nearly pulled off a big comeback after trailing 3-0. It felt like Brady was struggling worse than Johnny Drama was when he used Brady's clubs during a season 6 episode of Entourage. Manning's tongue in cheek dry humor made him highly entertaining the entire afternoon. From ribbing Brady about Bill Belichick, Eli Manning and Nick Foles, to laughing at his own expense, it is easy to see why Peyton remains one of the most likable athletes ever.
The pros held up their end of the bargain. Tiger Woods didn't miss a fairway. His swing looked sharp and he moved around well. It's unclear when we will see the 15x major winner play next but when we do we are all going to watch. Phil Mickelson was steady throughout and kept him and Brady in the match after Woods and Manning grabbed the lead early. Mickelson provided all of us at home with a bunch of free golf lessons. It was fascinating to see him try to teach Tom Brady where to putt the ball on the greens.
The collection of epic moments, awesome golf shots, and finally a live and competitive sports competition helped The Match become a major success. TNT says it was the most watched golf event in cable TV history. From 5:45 PM - 6 PM Eastern, the broadcast peaked with 6.3 million viewers.
Sports fans are starved for content and it certainly helps when the content was as interesting as The Match II lived up to be. How about the next time they play, we get Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan against Phil Mickelson and LeBron James for The Match III? You know that Michael will be ready to gamble. I can't wait to see the hot takes about that foursome...
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.