Tomorrow Is A Promissory Note

If you're a baseball fan, this is the time of year when rumors run rampant speculation is at a fever pitch, and a team's future fortunes may live or die based on a good or bad trade. It's called the "trading deadline."  With basically two-thirds of the season already completed it's time for franchises to decide whether they're Contenders or Pretenders, whether there are buyers or sellers. Talk shows and newspapers are full of game plans, formulas, and wish list's that if successful may get their teams to the promised land. For all of us baseball diehards it's serious business, but at the same time has to be taken with a grain of salt. Should they or shouldn't they, Yes, No, Maybe.

   Trading highly rated prospects and future potential superstars is as unpredictable as trying to predict what the weather will be for the next 6 weeks. It's as unpredictable as trading commodity Futures on the exchange. There's no guarantee but there is plenty of risk. I've always said prospects are always prospects until they're not. From the time a young player is drafted out of college or even high school and during all his time in the Minor Leagues there is always a risk. Injuries, under performance, lack of development, and just plain wear and tear can make the best prospect at 19 or 20 look like the worst investment at 23 or 24. But as Hyman Roth said in The Godfather "this is the business we've chosen". But if you are a baseball fan much of this is understood, the question is what do you do, when do you do it, and how much do you give to get. The trading deadline makes every general manager deal with that question. There is no right and wrong no guarantees or promises that can be depended upon to help a GM make these decisions when the great unknown lays ahead. If you make the right decision it's easy to justify what you've done and everybody loves you. If not your resume takes a big hit. I've always felt that taking a long-term view is a relevant issue to consider as well. But more importantly, I believe that it's not just what you can do at the moment to make your team better. It's what happens to your franchise if the deal doesn't work out. How does that affect your depth of talent, the holes you have in your current lineup, your future ability to keep your team competitive, team chemistry, your Minor league pipeline etc.

    You can sell your farm for a pot of gold but then you have nothing to eat and no place to live. GM's get paid for making decisions that hopefully make sense and give them the edge and leverage that they need to have their teams be successful. It's the same in other aspects of life. No matter what you do there is always a risk reward, a price to pay and a final result. Hopefully in all of our lives we can all hit home runs when we have to make those kinds of decisions.

A Lifetime Achievement

It's springtime on the east coast. The time of the year when things get a little bluer, a little warmer, and things turn from brown to green. In sports it's time to turn the clock forward and embrace our new season of " bread and circuses". Baseball has its opening day, the NHL has its playoffs, and Tennis starts to hit its stride. Hope springs eternal for all of us die hard fans, and we pledge our allegiance for the next 6 months. But there's one thing that comes every spring and over the course of one weekend provides us all with the most special drama and excitement that we could hope for. Every spring it arrives and whether you're a golfer, a golf fan, or just someone who appreciates drama, excitement and beauty you can look forward to it. It's The Masters. For many it's the official beginning of the golf season. There truly is nothing like it. There is history pageantry and drama all rolled into one weekend's worth of viewing. The other major golf championships are exciting and important but there is nothing like the Masters. When Bobby Jones designed Augusta National his intent was to make something special, memorable and challenging beyond expectation, and the history of the championship has proved to be nothing short of that. Every year the statement that the Masters begins on the back nine proves to be true. The powers to be make sure of that. Charges, Miracles, Heroics and Disasters are all part of Masters lore. It's part of the drama that we've come to expect. The setting itself is like a beautiful painting, and is it just me or does the grass seem greener and the flowers more colorful. Nothing looks like the Masters because there isn't another golf course like it in the world. People become experts on the course because the Masters is played on the same venue every year. We know the holes, we know the turns and we know the spots where Miracles can happen and invariably do. The greatest players in the world come to play here but they are not the Stars. The true Star of the Masters is Augusta National itself, the course. You don't win The Masters you wind up being the last survivor. She's a beautiful lady that requires perfect shots, perfect putts, and perfect course management. Shakespeare once said all the world's a stage and everyone is just players on that stage. That's what the Masters provides for us. A great play with twists and turns, drama, heroics, disappointment and eventually success. Masters champions are known forever. The other major championships are great but if you're a Masters champion you are a golfing G-d a member of the greatest club in Golf. The champion has run the gauntlet and survived and that stays with you forever. I remember many Masters finishes Ben Crenshaw crying on the 18th green remembering his mentor Harvey Penick, Adam Scott being the first Australian to win, Seve Ballesteros making people appreciate his heritage and golfing genius when he won. Arnold Palmer winning four times, Jack Nicklaus winning six times. Unfortunately I don't remember the British Open and US Open Champions as well. Maybe that should tell us all something about what the Masters means to golf and its history. Many of the greats have won the Masters, but even if that's the only great day you have as a player it makes you immortal. Here's to the Masters champions, the survivors, the history makers, the hero's. This year's champion is as great an example of that as there is. He conquered his demons and managed his fears and never gave up. A true Masters legacy. So here's to the champions, and on a personal note here's to one of the greatest champions of all time. A man who always made the rest of the world feel connected to golf more than any other person. Who always had a smile, a handshake and a personal connection with the public that made him not only a great golfer, but maybe even a better man. Thanks for the Memories Arnold, we will never forget..