Canzano: Monday Mailbag deals with regret, Pac-12 After Dark, Big Ten, Blazers, Ducks, Beavers, Cougars and more
Your questions. My answers.
I get the best questions in the Monday Mailbag. This week a reader asked me about my greatest regret as a sportswriter.
Q: Through your coverage and storytelling, you give us experiences we otherwise couldn’t attain on our own. Is there a game or event that you had an opportunity to attend, but did not, and in hindsight wish you did? — @turner_319
I was sent to Augusta National Golf Club in 2004 to cover The Masters. Peter Bhatia, the executive editor of the newspaper I was working for, is a terrific journalist and a golf guy. He summoned me to his office before I left and instructed me to immerse myself in the experience. I nodded and left.
Phil Mickelson drained an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole that year to beat Ernie Els by a stroke. There was a lot of emotion. I filed my column. It was a surreal experience. But I regret that I didn’t fully listen to Bhatia’s advice.
The Masters holds a media-day lottery, which credentialed journalists are eligible for once every seven years. If you get picked, you get to play a round with 36 other sportswriters at Augusta National on the Monday after the tournament.
I had no idea this was even a thing. I figured it out after several veteran golf writers saw me in the press tent on the first day of the tournament, realized that I was a newcomer, did the math, and determined that if I entered the lottery, I was guaranteed a spot.
Some of the golf writers are intense. A few of them are so into the sport that they wear golf shoes when they cover tournaments. I’m not a good golfer. I’m a hack. I packed Nike sneakers. And in the spring of 2004, I had an 18-month-old baby at home, which meant I hadn’t played a round of golf in approximately two years. The idea of teeing off from the member tee box at No. 1 at 7 a.m. on Monday after The Masters was daunting.
My thought: I’ll embarrass myself.
Art Spander, a veteran golf writer, tried to talk me into playing anyway. All week, he told me: “You gotta play, John. It’s Augusta.” But I reasoned that I could probably come back in 2005 more prepared, enter the media lottery, and play the course, and have more fun.
I’m decisive. I’m a ‘seize-the-moment’ thinker. But in this case, I did the equivalent of laying up. I didn’t enter the media lottery, thinking I’d be back the following year.
That was two decades ago.
I have not been back to Augusta.
Thanks to all who submitted questions this week for the mailbag. It deals with the Pac-12, Oregon’s Big Ten success, the Trail Blazers offseason, Damian Lillard, Oregon State, Washington State, Boise State, San Diego State, and more.
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On to the Monday Mailbag…