Phil Mickelson with an all time ‘Sports are Back’ moment at the PGA Championship yesterday.

What a SCENE at Kiawah yesterday! I know some people aren’t going to love this, Brooks Koepka is probably #1 on that list, but this scene is a probably going to be the one we look back on and identify as THE seminal moment where sports were back. Really the weekend as a whole felt like the first ‘normal’ sports weekend since early 2020. You had Lefty getting swallowed up by patrons in South Carolina, close to full NBA arenas for the playoffs, Tennessee Titan offensive linemen slugging beers at Predators playoff games in Nashville, it was just a delight all the way through.

But Mickelson stole the show. 50 years old, now the oldest golfer to win a Major in the history of the sport. And Mickelson even being in the running allowed for CBS to put up one of my all time favorite golf graphics. A graphic that features Old Tom Morris:

Old Tom Morris is supposedly 46 years old in that photo and doesn’t look a day past 114 years old. Now take a gander at what 50 looks like in 2021:

Anyway, any day/tournament where you get an Old Tom Morris reference is a good day.

Now Mickelson wasn’t the only thing that happened this past weekend, how about Khris ‘Khash’ Middleton coming up clutch (khlutch?) in Game 1 on Saturday:

This series has a strong chance of killing me. Game 1, GAME 1, and we’re sitting on the edge of our seat for a back-and-forth overtime game. The Bucks dominated in the paint, the Heat dominated from beyond the arc, but the Bucks were able to dig out a game they likely would not have won last year, 109-107 in OT.

If you’re a Heat fan, your spin zone is that Jimmy Butler went 4 for 22, Bam went 4 for 15, and you still only lost by 2 in overtime, on the road.

If you’re a Bucks fan, your spin zone is that Giannis went 10 for 27, the team went 5 for 31 from deep, and you missed 12 free throws, and STILL won the game.

And that last part, the free throws, was the most infuriating part of Saturday’s game if you’re a Bucks fan. Can’t miss 12 free throws in a tight game at home. If you make even 4 or 5 of the 12 misses, you win fairly comfortably in regulation.

^Related: The 10 second call on Giannis was one of the more ridiculous calls I’ve every seen in an NBA playoff game. And I honestly think is a good illustration of why casual fans have a tough time watching the NBA. To make that call, in a 2 point playoff game, with 1 minute left, on a TWO TIME REIGNING MVP, is an egregious example of a ‘ref show.’ ‘You see all of these people in the arena, and the thousands watching at home? I bet they’d LOVE to see me blow a whistle on a technicality right now. That’s what they paid their money for!’- That official.

Now, to be fair, Giannis regularly goes 10+ seconds on his free throws. So I suppose he leaves himself open to that call potentially being made on any trip to the line. But if you’re going to make that call, make it early. Make it on any of the other trips Giannis made to the line all game long. Let him know that it’s something you’re going to be watching. But in that moment of a good game? Kick rocks.

And to cap it off on Sunday, Christian Yelich might be fully back:

It’s been a WHILE since we’ve seen that swing. 2 hits, 2 RBI, and that home run yesterday. Brewers bounceback a bit and take a series in Cincinnati to get back to .500.

And don’t forget the trade that started off the sports weekend: Brewers acquire Willy Adames and Trevor Richards for Drew Rasmussen and JP Feyereisen. Rasmussen and Feyereisen are two good, young arms, and both have been key parts of the early season bullpen, so the Brewers gave up a decent amount here. But they get back a 25 year old shortstop with high upside who is a plus defender. The last part of that sentence being the biggest. I think you can deal with your shortstop hitting .220 if he’s playing stellar defense. But Luis Urias clearly had the yips or something over the past two weeks. You can’t have a batting average that low and make multiple errors regularly.

I know people aren’t going to be blown away by Adames batting .197 on the day of the trade, but he’s a guy who has proven he can be a .245-.260 hitter with some pop at the major league level. Also: Adames has been on record as saying he couldn’t pick up the ball at the Trop in Tampa. And his numbers bear that out. He’s a .220 hitter in Tampa, and a .294 hitter on the road in his career. And he’s headed to a hitter’s ballpark.

Now you can certainly have a debate about pulling the plug on Urias already. Regardless of what happens with this most recent trade, the trade to acquire Urias and Eric Lauer from San Diego does NOT look great at the moment. Trent Grisham won a Gold Glove last year and is a rising star by any measure. And the Padres used Zach Davies to get Yu Darvish in the offseason. Woof.

But one thing I like about David Stearns is that he isn’t afraid to cut-bait if things aren’t working. Don’t get into that ‘sunk cost’ way of thinking, and try to ride something out that isn’t working just to prove a point.

PS: A few more pictures of Old Tom Morris. Here are some of Tom’s senior pictures: