Masters of Ceremony

By April 9, 2018Golf, MLB, Music, NBA, NHL

A big weekend winner was Cardi B whose album will debut at number one, and who made the big reveal on Saturday Night Live that she’s got a bun in the oven.

Let’s see who’s mastering the action on the field… 

TINK Sports Big-3

Here are three things you need to know:

1) The Masters had golf fans holding their breath over the weekend and produced another first-time champ

2) Playoff time! The NHL and NBA are wrapping up their regular season and starting to play the games that really matter this week

3) The MLB season is barely a couple weeks old but a Japanese sensation is already making a name for himself

Golf

Green is your color. That’s what Patrick Reed’s friends and family were saying after the 27-year-old won the Masters, one of golf’s most prestigious tournaments, Sunday.

Reed held off a furious run by Ricky Fowler and Jordan Spieth (who shot the best round ever at the Masters) to win his first major tournament. Reed’s achievement followed a recent pattern as he became the fourth straight Masters champion to win his first major at Augusta National.

Source: Sky News

What’s with the green? The Masters winner receives a custom-fitted green jacket, and a nice check. Reed’s took home a nearly $2 million winner’s prize. It’s safe to assume that the 2018 color of the year isn’t Ultra Violet but rather Green in the Reed household. #Pantone #MastersGreen

National Basketball Association (NBA)

The NBA wraps up its regular season Wednesday and the playoffs tip off Sunday…finally.

Beyond the usual playoff suspects, two surprise teams are the Philadelphia 76ers in the East and Utah Jazz in the West. The Sixers were so bad the past few years that the team coined the phrase “Trust the Process” for losing and picking high in the annual NBA Draft.

The “process” of losing brought them 7’0” All-Star Joel Embiid (currently injured but maybe best known for being rejected by and then dissing Rihanna) and 6’10” Ben Simmons, two of the game’s rising stars.

Source: Sports Illustrated

Superman to the rescue…The Utah Jazz lost their best player, All-Star Gordon Hayward, to the Boston Celtics in free agency over the summer. Jazz fans were singing the blues but rookie Donovan Mitchell did his best Ray Donovan imitation and fixed the situation. He took a team with low expectations and led them to the playoffs in the brutally competitive Western Conference.

Maybe next year, again? You have to feel sorry for Omri Casspi. The nine-year NBA veteran and pride of Israel has the dubious distinction of playing the most regular season NBA games without making the playoffs. That was surely going to change this year when the 6’9” forward left money on the table to sign a veteran’s minimum $2.1 million deal to play with the defending champion Golden State Warriors. The Warriors clinched a playoff berth but cut Casspi Saturday. The veteran hurt his ankle recently and has fallen out of the rotation lately.

National Hockey League (NHL)

The NHL wrapped up its regular season Sunday, and the playoffs start Thursday.

It’s time to give credit to the teams that mastered the regular season. In the East the Tampa Bay Lightning edged out the Boston Bruins for the top seed, while out West the Nashville Predators held off the Winnipeg Jets for the number one position.

On a sad note, the hockey world, especially in Canada, was rocked Friday as 15 people died and 14 were injured when a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos crashed into a truck in Saskatchewan.

In a heartwarming response, a Humboldt fundraiser was set up and has totaled over $6 million and counting. The campaign turned into one of GoFundMe’s largest campaigns globally.

Major League Baseball (MLB)

Konichiwa Shohei. The mecca of baseball right now is Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Dodgers are predicted by many to make a deep playoff run (despite their slow start), and the Los Angeles Angels have baseballs newest phenom, Shohei Ohtani. The Japanese star pitches and plays in the field, which is rare.

Source: NBC News

How rare? On Sunday Ohtani brought a perfect game into the seventh inning and won the game becoming the first player since 1920 to register two wins and three homeruns in a team’s first 10 games.

“Concrete jungle where dreams are made of” or crushed…On other side of the fence is New York Yankees prized off-season acquisition, Giancarlo Stanton. The slugger, who was traded from Miami to NY by current Marlins owner and former Yankees legend Derek Jeter, is struggling. Stanton already has two games with 0 hits and five strikeouts – a feat never accomplished before in a full MLB season (162 games), let alone 10 games.

 

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