Greetings Golfers,

Last Sunday while walking my dog, a neighbor asked me why I wasn’t watching the Viking’s game: “Don’t you like football?” … I answered with: “ Yeah, I love football – that’s why I’m not watching.”

I know, I know … it was too easy … but I had to do it.

But, I did watch some of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. How good is Henrik Stenson? He’s pretty scary. And how about Jordan Spieth? He just turned 20 years old. Are you kidding me?

There are so many really good Tour Players that it’s ridiculous.

Back to Minnesota sports. The Twins … wow … I’m a pretty hardcore baseball fan … but that’s tough to watch. I’m not a fair-weather fan – but I do have to like their style of baseball. I never liked the Tom Kelly style of ball … yeah, I know they won two World Series under TK, but that’s because they had teams that were perfect for end-of-the-year short series. Their regular season day-in-day-out performances were life-less and lacking. He managed by the numbers and computer models … this was “scientific” baseball. Ugh. Do you remember Brad Childress coaching the Vikings? The same robotic, unimaginative philosophy.
Golf went through a pretty robotic phase – looks like that’s going into the trash can. Other sports are valuing innovation and creativity – like the Tampa Bay Rays in baseball. And look at Payton Manning and the emphasis on intelligent quarterbacks in the NFL. I love the no huddle offenses.

Let’s hope these Minnesota teams can break out of conventional style of play. It wasn’t always like this. I loved Bud Grant football and Billy Martin baseball. Guts and moxie are what make sports fun to watch – win or lose.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com