Which of these lines from his column from last week about how to spend a day at the Masters most loudly and embarrassingly screams "I WANT YOU TO KNOW HOW IMPORTANT I AM!!!"? Your call. I want to apologize in advance for alienating any of our seven readers who love the Masters. I actually enjoy golf quite a bit (despite the shit I give morons like Reilly for loving it) and I'll always watch Sunday at the Masters. As usual, some of this is just hating for hating's sake. I'm sure any of you who are huge golf fans would agree that Reilly is out of fucking control here.
Luck just French-kissed you. You've been handed a one-day ticket to Thursday at this year's Masters. But now you're freaking. You'll never get this chance again. What should you do? Where should you go?
Well, this will be my 25th Masters.
What an asshole.
6:05 a.m. -- Wait! Leave your cell phone! Get caught with one on the course and you're banished for life. I know. I was standing on No. 1 once, watching Tiger Woods putt, when my phone rang in my pocket. Ring tone: "Fly Me to the Moon." Utter horror. Two Pinkerton guards took me roughly by the arms and escorted me toward the front gate. I was staring at a lifetime of standing outside the gate next to Gary McCord when I happened to see Augusta National chairman Billy Payne, whom I knew from his running of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. "Billy! Save me!" And he did. But he's not going to save you.
Do you not know Billy Payne? Oh, pity. I certainly do. Like I was saying, Rick Reilly is a fucking asshole.
6:15 a.m. -- Park for free, like everybody else, in one of the 8,500 no-charge spaces that are really close.
What a breath of fresh air! Free parking! In a midsized city on the Georgia-South Carolina border, no less!
Once [your chair] is down, leave. Nobody will take it and nobody will sit in it. The whole deal runs on the honor system, and the Masters is nothing if not honorable.
Totally. Once you get past the rampant racism and sexism, the place is oozing honor and class. It was especially honorable when, in 1984, the tournament decided to start letting pros actually bring their own caddies, rather than forcing them to use the club's caddies who were, you guessed it, all black. And when I said 1984, I mean the 1984 that was 29 years ago.
9 a.m. -- Observe, for a moment, the most well-run sporting event in the world.
Holy hell. It's a fucking golf tournament. Let's see the geniuses that manage to somehow coordinate a slow-moving event with like 80 participants and a few thousand fans successfully put on an Olympics. And geez, much as I despise the NFL, those fuckers have "well-run" down to a science. Any sold out regular season game is a fuck of a lot harder to coordinate than a golf tournament.
And observe all of the stuff you don't see. No ads.
6:05 a.m. -- Wait! Leave your cell phone! Get caught with one on the course and you're banished for life. I know. I was standing on No. 1 once, watching Tiger Woods putt, when my phone rang in my pocket. Ring tone: "Fly Me to the Moon." Utter horror. Two Pinkerton guards took me roughly by the arms and escorted me toward the front gate. I was staring at a lifetime of standing outside the gate next to Gary McCord when I happened to see Augusta National chairman Billy Payne, whom I knew from his running of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. "Billy! Save me!" And he did. But he's not going to save you.
Do you not know Billy Payne? Oh, pity. I certainly do. Like I was saying, Rick Reilly is a fucking asshole.
6:15 a.m. -- Park for free, like everybody else, in one of the 8,500 no-charge spaces that are really close.
What a breath of fresh air! Free parking! In a midsized city on the Georgia-South Carolina border, no less!
Once [your chair] is down, leave. Nobody will take it and nobody will sit in it. The whole deal runs on the honor system, and the Masters is nothing if not honorable.
Totally. Once you get past the rampant racism and sexism, the place is oozing honor and class. It was especially honorable when, in 1984, the tournament decided to start letting pros actually bring their own caddies, rather than forcing them to use the club's caddies who were, you guessed it, all black. And when I said 1984, I mean the 1984 that was 29 years ago.
9 a.m. -- Observe, for a moment, the most well-run sporting event in the world.
Holy hell. It's a fucking golf tournament. Let's see the geniuses that manage to somehow coordinate a slow-moving event with like 80 participants and a few thousand fans successfully put on an Olympics. And geez, much as I despise the NFL, those fuckers have "well-run" down to a science. Any sold out regular season game is a fuck of a lot harder to coordinate than a golf tournament.
And observe all of the stuff you don't see. No ads.
The game of golf should be pure! No ads! No vaginas! No people whose skin color would make you lock your car door if you were waiting at a red light and they were standing on the median holding a sign that says "Hungry please help!"
Nobody holding any signs.
Especially not "Hungry please help!" signs!
No port-a-potties. No cars suspended on lakes. No electronic scoreboards.
Yeah, I agree, sports are just SO much better to watch when you have to wait twenty fucking minutes for the scoreboard to change.
Just golf played on giant fairways and M.C. Escher greens in front of a lot of Southern women in big hats. Fabulous.
This is the guy who thinks baseball is slow and boring.
10:20 a.m. -- Now, as Jim Nantz would say,
Makes sense that one smarmy buttwipe would enjoy referencing another.
over to 16,
Yeah, I agree, sports are just SO much better to watch when you have to wait twenty fucking minutes for the scoreboard to change.
Just golf played on giant fairways and M.C. Escher greens in front of a lot of Southern women in big hats. Fabulous.
This is the guy who thinks baseball is slow and boring.
10:20 a.m. -- Now, as Jim Nantz would say,
Makes sense that one smarmy buttwipe would enjoy referencing another.
over to 16,
The only golf commentator to ever use that line! Just like how John Madden was famous for saying "That's a first down."
where you can sit and watch players try to par the Lindsay Lohan of golf holes -- short, gorgeous and shady.
That would have been a non-horrible reference a mere five or six years ago.
For one thing, they're separated from the fans by 150 yards, so they can swear all they want. Certain players (cough, Tiger, cough) really like that.
Golf fans who perceive Tiger to be some kind of "bad boy" are just a bunch of tards. They really are.
d) the Eisenhower cabin, built in the 1950s to the exact standards of the Secret Service. I slept there once. It's not much.
No big deal.
A sitting room and six bedrooms with twin beds. There was a rather pedestrian painting on the wall above my bed. I had a hunch. I checked the signature in the corner. Yep. Painted by Eisenhower.
NO BIG DEAL.
The room on the corner is where the club's patron saint, Clifford Roberts, always stayed during the "toonamint."
That would have been a non-horrible reference a mere five or six years ago.
For one thing, they're separated from the fans by 150 yards, so they can swear all they want. Certain players (cough, Tiger, cough) really like that.
Golf fans who perceive Tiger to be some kind of "bad boy" are just a bunch of tards. They really are.
d) the Eisenhower cabin, built in the 1950s to the exact standards of the Secret Service. I slept there once. It's not much.
No big deal.
A sitting room and six bedrooms with twin beds. There was a rather pedestrian painting on the wall above my bed. I had a hunch. I checked the signature in the corner. Yep. Painted by Eisenhower.
NO BIG DEAL.
The room on the corner is where the club's patron saint, Clifford Roberts, always stayed during the "toonamint."
BIG
DEAL
In the desk drawer, there was a little white pamphlet that listed the entire membership. My eyes bulged, but my host asked me not to publish it, so I didn't. The Masters is nothing if not honorable.
Augusta National is nothing if not interested in not pissing off its members, who enable it to do things like offer free parking.
The first time I met Jack Nicklaus was outside this door on Wednesday in 1986 and I had to ask him if he was broke.
Oh, have you not met Jack Nicklaus? I have. I even asked him a "hard-hitting" question that was actually quite a softball. Then I slept in the Eisenhower cabin for.... I believe it was... yes, it was the seventh time I slept there.
12:50 p.m. -- If you're really daring, try to sneak a peek at: a) one of America's finest wine cellars (I've seen it;
NOT THAT I'M BRAGGING
In the desk drawer, there was a little white pamphlet that listed the entire membership. My eyes bulged, but my host asked me not to publish it, so I didn't. The Masters is nothing if not honorable.
Augusta National is nothing if not interested in not pissing off its members, who enable it to do things like offer free parking.
The first time I met Jack Nicklaus was outside this door on Wednesday in 1986 and I had to ask him if he was broke.
Oh, have you not met Jack Nicklaus? I have. I even asked him a "hard-hitting" question that was actually quite a softball. Then I slept in the Eisenhower cabin for.... I believe it was... yes, it was the seventh time I slept there.
12:50 p.m. -- If you're really daring, try to sneak a peek at: a) one of America's finest wine cellars (I've seen it;
NOT THAT I'M BRAGGING
1:05 p.m. -- The waiter writes out the bill on a simple little check pad you could buy at Walgreen's for $1.99.
Isn't that uninteresting factoid proof of the greatness of the Masters?
Leap to get it, but the waiter is going to give you the stink eye if you give him anything but cash. Imagine: Augusta National hosts captains of finance and industry and yet if you're not staying on the property, they're not taking any chances with your Visa card.
Imagine: a place that wants to pretend like it's still 1935! It'll shock you to find out that it's located in the South.
2:40 p.m. -- See if you can find Bubba Watson on the course. You want to see what his caddie is wearing on the front of his white overalls: The number 1. It goes to the winner's caddie each year. Who says golf doesn't have jersey numbers?
No one?
3:45 p.m. -- Tired yet? Then go sit in your chair on 18. Savor the quaint tradition of a Masters member announcing the names of the players who are about to approach the green, without a microphone. Shake your head at a tournament with no hospitality tents and yet with hospitality coming out of its ears.
What the fuck are you talking about? Rick Reilly is the worst.
As a golf fan, I can't stand that Reilly is held up as some sort of golf "expert" by ESPN. He is simply the worst. One of my greatest life accomplishments was getting to tell Rick Reilly I hated him to his face at this past year's Ryder Cup. It still warms my heart just thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds awesome. Details?
ReplyDeleteIt isn't the greatest story ever. We had just gotten on the grounds at Medinah on Saturday morning and my friend sees Reilly walking towards and says "Hey, Rick Reilly." Reilly kind of nods to us and looks right at me and I say "I hate you." He just kind of has this dumb look on his face, sort of chuckles, and then walks away. Those are the only 3 words I said to him, I HATE YOU.
ReplyDeleteNot the greatest story, but the satisfaction of him seeing me say those words right to his face makes it one of my favorite memories I've ever had at any sporting event.
This is some stunningly bad writing. He brags about his access and about Augusta National. Reilly must have his hand out at all times ready to trade puffery for freebies and perks.
ReplyDeleteGood enough for me, jacktotherack. Good enough for me.
ReplyDeleteYou guys ever see the Brian Regan "I walked on the moon" bit? I think he wrote it specifically for Rick.
ReplyDeletewhere you can sit and watch players try to par the Lindsay Lohan of golf holes -- short, gorgeous and shady.
ReplyDeleteAnd showing off her hole to millions of viewers on the internet.
Am I the only one to think this?
My only complaint on this post: reilly is the worst. I can't believe he gets paid to write that tripe, but at least I didn't give him a page view.
ReplyDeleteTim N, great reference.
LB, from the last post, I guess we won't reconcile our different opinions of the Spurs. For the rest, we're pretty much in agreement except for the argument to bring in Iverson. I wouldn't bet the rockies to finish 30 games under, I only said that since I was "attacking" you so much already. The hot start can't last though, right?
I've never been to a major golf tournament, but the concept of being the first one in the door, running to the best seats, putting down your chair to "call dibs", and then not coming back until the very end of the day is the highest order of douche-baggery. I'm pretty sure the whole idea of "nobody will take your chair or sit in it" is designed for people running off to go take a leak or grab a sandwich. What he describes is the opposite of honorable. It's calling dibs on your 2nd slice of pizza before all of your buddies have had their first.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point by CHart. Reilly likes to brag about Rick Reilly's special world. Jacktotherack should have ended Reilly when he had the chance.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if that literally is Jeff Francis. If so, I'm a big fan.
ReplyDeleteYou're too kind Chris especially after yesterday's gaspipe effort. I did fan four though.
ReplyDeleteSame guy who just was complaining how big of a travesty it was the Cubs don't have more advertising and a video board at Wrigley.
ReplyDelete