Emily Elizabeth Brightens Up You Mid-April Monday, Dodgers Fans Get Into It & Phenix Finds Out
Being a ‘man’ and mowing during the final round of The Masters
– Dean writes:
There are ‘men’ mowing during the final round of The Masters. I cannot comprehend.
Kinsey:
I found this to be a rather interesting Instagram DM from Dean, who hadn't sent me a message since 2021. I mowed during the final round of The Masters. It was 81 degrees, a beautiful spring Sunday and we received around two inches of rain from Wednesday night through Friday night.
Here's how I weigh things in April and being a ‘man’ as Dean wrote:
- I can sit in the recliner on April 14 to watch Scottie Schefler cruise to a victory; or I can get off my ass, hammer out eight solid hours of work on the yard, and get things primed for summer.
- It could rain for the next three weekends
- We have three weekends until Mother's Day, which is traditionally when people in this area plant
- The weekend after Mother's Day is a travel weekend
- The weekend after that is Memorial Day weekend
- The weekend after that is my wedding anniversary weekend, which is followed by five days of golf
I guess working my ass off Sunday makes me a transgender or whatever Dean thinks it makes me. I'll have Dean know, I finished my eight-hour shift in the yard just in time to see Scottie play out of the bunker on 18 and cruise to an anti-climatic victory.
However, now the yard is DIALED IN. It looks like U.S. Open rough out there. I have the deck set at about 3 ½ inches with my sights set on 4" by the end of the month.
– Brian writes:
First time long time, but I felt compelled to write this to commend you on SC Nation, and what a great daily diversion it's been for the last few years...don't know if I'm completely OG, but pretty darn close, as I left ESPN (their homepage anyway) years ago because it became too much of a slog, and started on Outkick while Jason Whitlock was writing there, and found you and never left...
I wanted to also thank you for your Masters coverage--one word: "perfect." So happy for you that you got that bucket list experience!
I live in a suburb of Columbus (Powell), and we've lived some similar experiences--I'm quite a few years older than you, but grew up in Cincinnati in the 80's when life was just simply "better." Going to Riverfront and watching the likes of Eric Davis and Eddie Milner, Barry Larkin (and Byron who was a pretty good hooper at the time)--I watched Pete get 4,192 while babysitting on an old 19" CRT... So when you talk about your Dayton roots, and being a Bengals fan, I can relate... I'm not a huge football guy, but remember the heartbreaks with Ken Anderson and Boomer...
Also, this will be the first fall in the last 5 years where I haven't passed by your lovely burg on my way to Savage arena to watch the Rockets play volleyball... My daughter will graduate in May, so we'll be making at least one more trip and staying at Levis Commons again...we love that place...
Another reason you popped into the consciousness today was I had to lay some stripes today. I KNOW, I KNOW... MASTERS SUNDAY! SACRILEGE! But with how wet it was this week, today was my only chance (and the back 40 was still mushy)... I'm certainly not asking for special dispensation from "the Commish" for two reasons--one (and most importantly) I'm not in the league officially (I'm more of an admirer from afar) since I've played in my Thursday Night golf league for the last 26 years...not enough hours in the day unfortunately... so I try to do Wednesdays or Fridays (work from home day) weather permitting...
So here are a couple obligatory pics of the aforementioned stripes and the post game...
Finally, perhaps a topic that hasn't been covered in awhile... music, what's your go to if you do like me and have some ear buds in while I mow.... Modern music is basically horrible... and I'm aware of your affinity for Yacht Rock while crushing patio beers, etc... I just find that's not great mowing music... I go for basically Y2 Country (Zac Brown, Jason Aldene, Toby, Darius, etc.) or Zepplin on Pandora (curated over the years)-- I've got a number of curated Pandora "stations."
Interested in hearing your thoughts...
Keep up the great work on the best (blog?) on the interwebs!
Kinsey:
I don't listen to anything while mowing. It's just me and the hum of the mower and maybe one of the kids yelling for me across the lawn as if I'm going to hear what they're saying.
Remember, I'm listening to beeps, music, dings, Zoom calls, Instagram videos, TikToks, alerts, text messages, Instagram DMs, Twitter videos, people screaming at each other, etc., etc. for about 50 hours each week. My day starts at 6 a.m. and typically ends at 5 with at least two Zoom calls and alerts going off all day long.
When I fire up the mower, it's white noise.
Where's Verne's 16th hole perch?
– Anonymous Masters Employee writes with Verne intel:
Ok, I watched the last group go through 16 [Saturday] and hung around after Homa and what’s left of Dechambeau moved on to the 17th tee. Patrons were clearing out and I had eyes on the TV tower where Verne is stationed there to the right of the green across from the pond. It looks like that tower is maybe 8 feet off the ground and maybe 8 steps with handrails to negotiate. But Verne’s a trooper. A cart pulled up and a small detail of handlers and security were there to help him down but he essentially did it himself. Once down he did some obligatory pictures with the team, chuckled a few times and a handler helped him onto the cart and off he went. A true professional.
Kinsey:
I received the very same Verne intel from The Source® on Sunday.
– The Source® writes:
The booth is lower, and the ladder is more angled. You can use the one of just the booth, if you want. He had a guy behind him to help him up, but given his age and size he got in pretty easily, on his own.
Lots of turmoil with players on Friday, the wind had them frazzled. Have not really looked, but at same time, have not heard about Rahn's meltdown. He gave the camera man, a tech and the CBS tower separate " f--k you! ".
The Taste of the Masters was a success
– Mike from Florida writes:
Thanks for the recommendation (not sponsored) of the Taste of the Masters kit. We celebrated my father's 81st Birthday this weekend, and it was awesome. We did have a little panic ensue due to shipping delays due to the weather, but everything arrived good to go.
Kinsey:
OK, I'm officially jealous.
My Masters party just got destroyed by Mike's email. What are those drinks with the flags?
My Saturday consisted of playing Augusta National at an indoor golf course – I know, I know…Augusta National WON'T APPROVE A COURSE MAP…YOU DIDN'T PLAY A TRUE AUGUSTA NATIONAL COURSE LAYOUT!
Look, I don't know how the Chinese mapped that place, but it's Augusta National on indoor golf. I promise.
Anyway, four of us played and then that turned into a Masters basement party. I'm pretty sure there were 10 adults at one point. Then Millennial Chris B. in Bowling Green's family showed up with three boys under 10 to play with my boys.
Last year, we had five adults show up.
As my numbers continue to go up, I have no choice but to raise my game like Mike did here with the sandwich towers and the drinks.
I didn't even have green plates. That changes in 2025.
A TNML AI poem for the biggest week in mowing
This is what I've wanted to do for a TNML national championship
– Bryan H. in Blountville, TN writes:
Didn't know this was a thing. Hate I missed it - got caught up in watching The Masters.
Which arborvitae should I buy?
I want to build a privacy screen about 15 feet long to block the neighbors. I don't really want to go much higher than 10 feet.
I don't want something that gets super wide. I'm looking for height without these damn things getting 20 feet high and looking like a total mess.
Which arborvitae is working for you?
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com
It's over
– Phil writes:
I have enjoyed reading the column every day for the past year, but I am done. Every time I try to view the Screencaps article on my phone it reloads multiple times before I finally get the error screenshot seen below. The ads and popups have gotten to be too much and I am not going to waste my time anymore.
Kinsey:
Phil never sent me a warning email.
I just want you to know I have NOTHING to do with any errors, ads or popups.
Traveling to Sri Lanka
– Jeff D. in VA writes:
I really enjoyed hearing about your Master's trip.
I was able to save up my frequent flyer miles and take my family on a spring break trip to Sri Lanka. It was a great trip, beautiful people,. beautiful scenery and great food. We had a great time surfing, hiking and sightseeing.
One of the best experiences that we had was when we stopped to watch a high school cricket practice. While we were watching the U13 team came over and asked my kids if they wanted to play cricket. These kids were hilarious, you could tell that they really enjoyed playing cricket and each other. They had all sorts of nicknames and my favorites were "the fat kid" and "coconut head". The kids would laugh like crazy when my son would hit the ball and drop the bat and run towards where first base would be, instead of running with the bat to the wickets straight ahead.
I've attached a couple of pictures. One is a mom with her baby monkey that we saw on the side of the road. I'm assuming that the dad was trying to show off the baby to get more bananas but the mom wasn't having it. The mountain was from a small mountain that was about 6,000 ft high that we ended up ziplining down. And of course a sunset picture from the hotel.
All in all it was a great trip but we needed another week to explore the island properly.
#######################
That's it this morning. I have so many topics to get to. From my 11-12U baseball team, to Canoe Kirk's Tesla review, we have plenty to go over this week.
The sun is out, the birds are chirping, the yard is mowed and Dean starts his week knowing he's a MAN.
Go have an incredible week. TNML is just days away!
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com