Zephyr Melton from Golf.com states that the significance of The Masters itself is that “The Masters is important because, as stated above, it is one of four majors in men’s professional golf. Beyond being a major, The Masters holds additional prestige as the winner each year has a standing invitation to come back and compete in the event for the rest of their life.”

The Masters reveals itself to be an example of a professional sports tournament that focuses only on the sport, without any corporate intervention. The Masters golf tournament does not capture the same amount of viewership compared to the NFL, NBA, or even the MLB.

According to Sportico, the ratings for The Masters have grown in the last six years, with this year drawing 10.2 million viewers, which is 7% up on last year’s tournament. The 2022 Masters also recorded the highest viewership for the second round since 2016. The return of Tiger Woods after his car crash, as well as the influx of talented young stars, amplified the ratings for the historic event.

However, Corey Berning from scratchgolfshop.com asserts its unique traits, such as a locked location in Augusta, Ga., as well as the “rich set of traditions that have been developed around it, including the famed green jacket. Originally just for members of the club, it is now awarded to the winner each year in a time-honored ritual.”

This year’s Masters yielded Scottie Scheffler, ranked number one going into the tournament, as the one who shall be granted the illustrious green jacket. Being just 25, he is one of the youngest players ever to win the tournament with a score of 72. Rory McIlroy, another young talent, was just three strokes behind him to claim second place. 

Tiger Woods, who was recently involved in a debilitating car crash, claimed 47th place. Max Giles from TheCatalyst.com claims that “despite the low finish, he [Woods] put out a good showing considering what his past year has been like. The GOAT of golf is still going strong despite everything that’s been thrown his way throughout his career.”

All major golf tournaments have rules that protect the traditions of the game. One of these is that there is a limit for sponsors set at five, with no branding promoted to any degree on behalf of the players. According to Berning, This is designed to limit distractions and bring focus to the beauty of the game that’s drawn in so much of its audience.

While breaking down the results of the tournament, there is one commonality in the discourse: a focus on the performance of the players. Compared to other sports organizations, there are no sponsored or represented brands shown on the broadcast or on the equipment of players. No halftime shows or hyped commercials, just the best professionals the game of golf has to offer.

Basketball as a whole experienced an almost unthinkable loss when a five-time NBA champion for the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, and eight others tragically passed away in a helicopter crash. The event occurred as Bryant was on his way to a basketball game with his daughter, Gianna Bryant, who also lost her life in the accident. As the news about this tragedy spread across the internet, the initial reaction was understandably disbelief. 

It’s hard to think about walking the Earth when Bryant is not. More specifically, it’s odd to think about Bryant in relation to having lost him. Bryant was never a loser of any measure. He made 18 all-star appearances, won a multitude of championships, and his will to succeed landed him in the professional basketball world at the mere age of 17 years old – right out of high school. 

Bryant was emblematic of a drive, a particular work ethic which many refer to as mamba mentality. Kobe was known for being exceedingly intense when he was engaged in battles on the court – not because he was bad-spirited, but because he held so much passion for a game he’d loved as a child. We have the incredible privilege of having been able to witness the greatness that Bryant now symbolizes, which gives birth to the unique weight his namesake now evokes. 

Balancing growing up and an NBA career created meaning for Bryant beyond just being a successful basketball player. As the news of his death broke, NBA games were being played or were soon to begin. Many players broke into tears at the knowledge of his passing, and Kyrie Irving, a player for the Brooklyn Nets, walked off the court and left the game upon learning of Bryant’s passing. Bryant was known to be an extremely close mentor for Irving throughout his career. 

The loss of Bryant is not just a loss for those who knew him but also the basketball community as a whole. There have been many talks of tributes being erected to honor Bryant, something that will naturally occur in time, but even more creative tributes have already been done. Teams have voluntarily taken penalties during games, holding the ball longer than the 24-second possession clock and staying in the backcourt area for eight seconds, to show respect to the two jersey numbers Bryant donned throughout his career. 

The biggest or most involved argument for a tribute for Kobe has seen fans calling for the NBA to change the silhouette included in the logo for the league from former Lakers player Jerry West to Bryant. At this point, it is nothing more than hopes and dreams from fans of Bryant arguing for this change, and the NBA has announced no plans to actually change the logo. But it is worth mentioning how synonymous the game of basketball has become with Bryant’s namesake – so much so that there are already 2 million signatures on a petition to change the logo.

This event will mark the NBA for years to come, as the absence of Bryant is not something that will be easily overlooked. Moving forward, we can expect more full accounts of remembrance for the basketball legend. May he rest in peace.

Photo by David J Phillip/AP/REX/Shutterstock (9947127gq)

The historic 2018 Fall Classic concluded Oct. 28 with the Boston Red Sox winning the series in five games. The Sox won a franchise record of 108 games this season and were dominant throughout the postseason. Beating two 100 win teams – the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees – in the postseason and dominating the World Series with only one loss in their marathon 18-inning third game, the Red Sox were easy to root for and utterly crushed the Los Angeles Dodgers in the end.

The story of the 2018 Red Sox is both a story of redemption and of coronation. David Price, historically pitiful in the postseason, won two games and helped clinch the series. In his previous postseason appearances, he has lost eight times and had an earned run average over five – his failure to perform aided the Kansas City Royals in beating the Toronto Blue Jays on their way to victory in 2015. He entered the postseason with the knowledge of his need to dominate for the sake of his reputation.

“I need to win in October,” Price said. “That’s that. Regular season means nothing for me.”

As one of the highest-paid pitchers in the MLB, his legacy had been one of, for lack of a better word, choking when it really mattered. He had been hated by the Boston media and his 2015 $217 million contract was criticized nationwide for Price’s inability to help a team win in the postseason. By helping lead his team to victory, Price has redeemed himself and established his reputation as one of the best in the game, both in the regular and postseasons.

More so than a story of redemption, however, the 2018 postseason was a story of domination. With 119 total wins, Boston had a thoroughly impressive season. In the American League Division Series, they beat the Yankees in four games with a point differential of 28 runs – a certifiably crazy amount. The Red Sox’s season is one of the best in MLB history – their total record was third only to the 1998 Yankees and 2001 Mariners.

Throughout the regular and postseason, the team showed skill, confidence and pure desert of the championship. Despite this being the second consecutive year in which the Dodgers lost in the World Series, Boston was clearly deserving of the crown and was easy to cheer for.

The only blip in the Sox’s domination was the record-length 18-inning Game three. The Dodgers won the seven and a half hour long game for their only victory in the series – setting the record for longest postseason or World Series game in history.

Sometimes it’s fun to watch an underdog completely upset expectations and take the championship against all odd. But other times it’s just fun to appreciate complete and utter domination. You don’t always get to see the kind of talent that Boston exhibited throughout 2018, especially in the World Series. They are certain to go down as one of the great teams.

The Kansas City Chiefs are no longer the most favored team in Kansas City. We are well on our way to becoming a multi-sport city. When the Chiefs won the Super Bowl in 1969, Kansas City (KC) found its first competitive sports team to follow. Through the next decade, Kansas City was a football town until 1985 when the Kansas City Royals won the World Series. Baseball gained the support of KC sports fans, transforming the “Land of the Free, Home of the Chiefs” into a baseball town. However, eventuallythe past achievements of both the Royals and the Chiefs muddled the Kansas City sports identity. Then, because both teams failed to win another title for decades, KC lost its sports identity altogether. Fans were confused. Was it a football town or a baseball town?

This question was answered some decades later in 2013 by neither a baseball nor football team but a newly rebranded soccer team: Sporting Kansas City (Sporting KC). Following the change from the Kansas City Wizards to Sporting KC, and, shortly after hiring ex-player Peter Vermes as the head coach, Sporting KC started a sports revolution in the city and throughout the nation. SKC won a Major League Soccer (MLS) Championship title in 2013, increasing the team’s preliminary support. This win meant more for KC than just another title; it signaled a change in the sports dynamic of the city. A sense of lost identity regarding whether KC was city for football or a baseball now seemed to have an answer: KC became a multi-sport city.

All three major teams in KC found success in 2013-2014 seasons: Sporting KC finished 17-10-7, the Royals narrowly finished third in their division at 86-76 and the Chiefs finished with a record of 11-5.

While the idea of KC having a lost sports identity was prevalent event after Sporting’s MLS championship, KC’s identity as a big sports city was ultimately cemented in 2014 with the Royals narrowly losing the World Series after seven games. With attendance increasing each year for the last few years for Sporting and the Royals, and with the Chiefs climbing the average attendance ranks each year in the National Football League, all of the major sports in the City of Fountains are now bigger than ever. Kansas City is now a sports city: for football, baseball and soccer.