Vince Grippi

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Every decade or so a golfer comes along, ascends to the top of the golfing universe, wins a lot, gathers in a few major titles and excites absolutely … no one? OK, a few folks. But not the masses. Is Scottie Scheffler filling that role in the 2020s?

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s excruciating to be a sports fan sometimes. Life interrupts and you miss the event everyone is talking about. Or you do get to watch and, after the few invested hours are over, you wish you hadn’t. But we soldier on, hoping the next time will be better.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Where were we? Oh, yes. Contemplating a Thomas Wolfe novel and college hoops. Where else would we be?

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We expected to have the Masters’ first round streaming on our computer this morning as we wrote. It’s become something of an early April tradition, watching pros try to hit the green at the par-5 second with their second shot, all the while misspelling some poor Big Sky basketball player’s name. Alas, this year the weather in Augusta did not cooperate.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Let’s take a quick spin around the dial, shall we?

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Funny. The men’s and the women’s NCAA championship games were basically mirror images of each other. The best team won. Handily. The best player was, well, the best player. But not by enough to lift the trophy.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • If college basketball isn’t on your radar right now, then we’re not sure we can be friends. After all, what else is there to focus upon? Taxes? The M’s? The sun disappearing and never returning? Ha. All pale in comparison to tonight’s big desert battle. Or Sunday’s outcome in Cleveland.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We’re not sure there is anything we want to write about this morning. Nothing pressing, that’s for sure. Oh, there is a little matter of a NCAA title on the line, and maybe history, for Caitlin Clark, Iowa and finals opponent South Carolina. And then there are the post mortems concerning Purdue’s and Connecticut’s decisive semifinal wins in yesterday’s men’s tournament. But, really, we all knew today – and tomorrow – was coming.