The ratings for this years Masters golf tournament were down 20 percent over last year. I suppose it could have easily been up 20 percent if Tiger Woods would have been the hunt on late Saturday or Sunday. Instead, Woods expended all his energy on Friday to make the cut. The Friday round from Woods was a short game clinic. He hit eight of eighteenth greens and shot even par. It was a masterpiece . He let his putter be the star on that day, but he also gave all his physical energy on Friday and had little energy for the weekend. He finished last in the field, but still beat a lot of very good players on one leg. Sounds a little like Bobby Orr near the end of his career.
Most say Scottie Scheffller won the the Masters, but from where I was sitting I say others lost it. Scheffler had a very good game plan to play Augusta National. He was well prepared for what lay ahead of him and showed a great ability to adjust especially on Friday when the the weather was extremely challenging. His ability to adjust on the Friday probably won him the tournament on Sunday. He was just that dialled in.
The most important thing he has going for him is that he knows who he is, which is more important than what he does. He has character and character is the sum of your thoughts, habits, and the priorities in your life. Choices determine who we are. I do not know where I heard it but this quote was important enough to me to write it down ” Choices create circumstances, which create decisions, which determines our destiny”.
The Ottawa Senators had their exit meetings yesterday and one of the words that I heard repeatedly was expectations. We expected to be better, I expected to play better. Expectations are really just entitlements. The team finished off the previous year on a high note and they thought IMO it would create a better outcome this year. Nothing could be further from the truth. As expectations rise and they are not met, struggle happens. As the struggle continues so do the expectations and when performance does not meet expectations reality happens and crushes you. The pressure that they felt was a direct result of lack of preparation and strategy. It took Coach Martin at least 20 games to clean up the previous Coaching staff’s mess both hockey wise and psychologically. He tried to build some behavioural momentum , which is a fancy word for ” buy in” and some did, but others continued to do their own thing. I do not expect those players to be around next year, if the contracts can be moved.
Fans of the Senators are looking for change and they want it now. Perhaps it is because we live in an on demand society. The hockey operations department are taking a much different approach by taking their time, working the structure that has been given to them. They need to find out who is willing to commit to there plan. Plans take time and a decision must be distinguished from an outcome. This year the management team is taking a step back and not getting rattled when a good decision goes south on them. In the past a lot of decisions made have been quick ones resulting in less than acceptable outcomes. We are watching a transformation of this organisation . Stay tuned it will be interesting.
Until next time.
Follow on X @Betweentheears2
Opinions are my own.
Between The Ears 