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Brooks Koepka, In Masters Contention Again, Says Quiet Part Out Loud About LIV

It's Moving Day at The Masters, and Brooks Koepka is in contention. Sure, Rory is lapping the field, but Brooks (-3) is hanging around after a strong Friday finish. And no, it is NOT 2018 again. It's 2026! And Brooks Koepka is in the thick of it at a major championship. What a throwback! Naturally, you start to wonder where this has been the past few years. Brooks was the best player in the world at these things for years, and then just fell off the map. Something changed, but I can't quite put my finger on it …Oh yeah! He left the PGA Tour and went to LIV Golf in 2022. That's right. Remember that? What a moment. Back when the golf world was burning to the ground, and players were FLEEING every other day. Fast-forward four years, and Brooks is back. He returned to the Tour this season, and has seemed … normal again. Right? Just normal Brooks. Not miserable. Not disinterested. No longer an afterthought. Happy. He seems happy. His words, not mine!"I'm just enjoying the game a whole lot more," Koepka said after his Friday 72. "I think there's a huge difference if I'm excited to come out and play every week. It is just overall, if your happiness is through the roof, off the golf course and on the golf course, it's really tough to beat it. "You're gonna enjoy every day, everything you're doing." Whooooooooooooof. It's just not a great look for LIV. There's no way to spin that. It's tough. And you couple THOSE comments with how Bryson DeChambeau looked for his brief Masters stint this week, and it's … telling. Bryson missed the cut after folding like a cheap tent on 18 yesterday, and seemed miserable all week. Just miserable. Frankly, the only time he seemed happy was when he and ESPN force-fed us Kevin Hart during Wednesday's Par 3 contest. Other than that? Just miserable. He's not the only LIV player to look awful this week. Only five of the 10 LIV players made the cut, and of those five, only Tyrrell Hatton (T7) and Koepka (T13) are in contention. Jon Rahm, who, like Koepka, was at one time on top of the golf world, is currently in 45th. And no, I haven't forgotten about Patrick Reed. He's the one who could realistically catch Rory McIlroy today, and tomorrow. He's currently six shots back, and he's another cautionary tale. Reed is in limbo right now, no longer with LIV but still suspended from the PGA Tour until this summer. He was adamant earlier this week that he loved his time with LIV, but … again, it doesn't look great. Perhaps it's simply a coincidence that Brooks Koepka is back in contention after officially leaving LIV. Seriously. Golf is a fickle game (duh). You can have your swing for years, and then lose it out of nowhere and never find it again. It happens. But those comments from Brooks weren't by accident. Nothing Koepka says is by accident. He's a lot of things, but ‘vague’ isn't one of them. They were intentional, and they told you everything you needed to know. 

Read moreBrooks Koepka, In Masters Contention Again, Says Quiet Part Out Loud About LIV

The Boston Red Sox Are A Pathetic, Disgusting, Disgraceful Baseball Team

I realize it's only April 11, and approximately 98% of the season is still in front of us, but … the writing is on the wall for the 2026 Boston Red Sox. They stink. They're a disgrace. I've seen a lot of flawed Red Sox teams over my 20 years, and this version goes straight to the top. And remember, I once sat through an entire season of Bobby Valentine. Bobby Valentine!The roster is broken. The front office is inept. Their pathetic owner stopped caring years ago. And, frankly, their manager continues to make head-scratching decisions, even though his hands are very clearly tied. The Red Sox were supposed to make a World Series run this season. They were a sexy preseason pick after last year's surprise postseason berth. They have arguably the best pitcher in the American League, and the sport's former top prospect who just had a coming out party for Team USA. And yet, here they sit on April 11, 4-9, and an absolute disgrace:I mean, it's just disgusting. Again, this team stinks. I've suffered through every game this season, and they just don't have it. You watch a team long enough, and you can tell when something ain't gonna work. This ain't gonna work. The roster stinks. Something feels off. Do you know when the Red Sox last a hit a home run? An actual ball out of the ballpark?A WEEK ago. One week! Do you know how hard that is to do in 2026? It's borderline impossible. Roman Anthony, the top prospect in baseball last season, has gotten worse this year, which is such an indictment on the coaching staff and the organization. He's gotten so bad as an outfielder, he's literally being mocked around the league for his arm. What is THAT?!Alex Cora, by the way, SAT him last night, after an off day. Think about that. He sat the face of the organization, and someone who, just last season, was their best hitter. And instead of playing Anthony, Cora then moved Caleb Durbin into the No. 2 hole. Caleb Durbin, who is supposed to be Alex Bregman's replacement, is the worst baseball player I've ever seen. This kid ain't gonna make it in Boston. No shot. And don't give me the Dustin Pedroia speech. He's not Dustin Pedroia. Have some respect. Durbin, a rookie last season, is currently 4-for-39 this season. Again, I've sat through every game. The fact that he even has four hits surprises me. I don't remember four. He's been THAT bad. Yet, Alex Cora moved him UP in the order last night! How bad is it? There are currently two players in the Red Sox lineup hitting above .300 at the moment. Two. Wilyer Abreu leads the team with three home runs. Three!Two pitchers in the starting rotation have an ERA above 8, and one of the team's best starters, Connelly Early, was pulled in the fifth inning last night for a reliever with an 8.10 ERA. He promptly gave up two runs, which ended up being the deciding factor. Meanwhile, cheap liberal John Henry sits in the stands and mocks the fans who chant "sell the team." And guess what? You guys still showed up the next night and basically sold out Fenway. It's disgusting. It's all disgusting. Sell the team, regulate the team, discontinue the team entirely … I don't care. Do something. It's pathetic. It stinks. Everything stinks with this organization, and it ain't getting any better. Anyway, Red Sox-Cards at 7 p.m. on Fox later today! Enjoy. 

Read moreThe Boston Red Sox Are A Pathetic, Disgusting, Disgraceful Baseball Team

ESPN Accused Of Butchering Rory McIlroy's Masters Moment, And Then Lying About It

We've got drama at The Masters, and it's got nothing to do with Rory McIlroy flirting with the course record. Well, scratch that, it does, but not in the way you think. Rory was on a different planet during Friday's Round 2, specifically on the second nine. Yes, the second nine, not the back nine. That's a no-no at Augusta, and I'd very much like to NOT be banished from the grounds. Not that I've ever been invited. Anyway, he was the most dialed-in golfer I've seen on the course in quite some time. Honestly, probably since someone named Tiger Woods back in the day. The defending Masters champ birdied six of his final seven holes, carded a 65, and took a tournament-record six-shot lead into Saturday. The biggest moment of the afternoon came late in Rory's round, when he scrambled out of the trees on 17 and found himself facing a tricky little chip to give himself a shot at saving par. Instead, McIlroy promptly holed out from about 30 yards, sending Augusta into an absolute frenzy. The moment was massive. It gave us our first real Masters roar of the weekend. And … ESPN appeared to miss it live:Not great! Look, this isn't super unusual for a golf broadcast. Honestly, a golf broadcast has to be one of the tougher things to produce – regardless of the network. You have a billion guys on the course at one time, shots are flying left and right, and you're bound to miss one. It's just going to happen.Now, I could certainly argue that there was absolutely no excuse not to be locked in on Rory yesterday, especially during the second nine. The guy was clearly on a heater. You don't take eyes off of him, ever. He's also Rory McIlroy at Augusta, so that should be a hard rule all the time. There were also, what, three groups left on the course at this point? Not a ton of options for ESPN, and they chose Viktor Hovland walking. That's a tough look. What really bothered folks, however, was ESPN not being transparent about the whole thing. Again, it's customary for a golf announcer to slip in a "a moment ago" before letting the shot play out. Jim Nantz has said that for decades, so much so that nobody even notices it anymore. We're numb to it. And, we don't care. That's the thing. We do not care. It may have happened "a moment ago," but to us, it's happening right now. A little disclaimer isn't going to ruin that shot, I promise. It's just not. Is this a huge deal in the grand scheme of things? No. Of course not. It didn't happen on Sunday. It happened late on Friday. It is what it is. But viewers certainly noticed, given that clip has over 1 million views and hundreds of comments. It also comes on the heels of a pretty rocky three days of coverage for ESPN, going all the way back to the Par 3 contest, which was, frankly, disgraceful. Life goes on. We're onto Saturday at The Masters. But, it was a tough look.

Read moreESPN Accused Of Butchering Rory McIlroy's Masters Moment, And Then Lying About It

Masters TV Coverage A Mixed Bag Of Streaming Frustration, But Appreciation

Welcome to Friday at The Masters. Tune into the Masters app, Masters.com, Prime TV, Paramount+ and ESPN for your wall-to-wall coverage!Yes, it seems like a heavy lift. In some ways, it has been for golf fans. Gone are the days of CBS firing up the cameras at 3 p.m., and showing us four straight hours of golf. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Predictably, Augusta National has had to evolve, along with its partners, to this new age of streaming. It's tricky, because Augusta is famous for shaping the coverage of this event. Sometimes, you wonder if they want you to see it at all. I get it. I will say, though, that the introduction of Prime to this year's tournament has been more of a success than I would've thought. But first, a quick rundown of how to watch golf today, tomorrow, and, most importantly, Sunday:So, that's basically it in a nutshell. Sure, that nutshell may be huge, but it's still a nutshell. Or something like that. To watch The Masters all day – from sun-up to sundown – you need a combination of Paramount+, Amazon Prime, and ESPN. That's for today. To watch over the weekend, you can go ahead and drop the Amazon subscription if you so choose, but pick up CBS. Again, it sounds daunting. "All you need is a laptop, a TV and a few subscriptions." OK. Sounds great! Thanks, Augusta, for letting us in!Some folks, understandably so, are annoyed:I get it. Too many cooks in the kitchen. That certainly applies here. But, that's the age we live in. The streaming era is ruthless. It all seemed great on paper years ago, but now it's just become exhausting. But, it's not all bad. For starters, the simplest answer to all of this is "Just use The Masters app." Yes, it's a great app. It has everything. You can watch it all, in one spot. Same with Masters.com. You can go there right now and watch the featured groups, Amen corner, and holes 4, 5 and 6. Obviously, that's not going to be for everyone, though. It can also be clunky, as most streaming apps are. That's just the nature of the business. A lot of folks also don't realize you can put the Masters app on your smart TVs, so they end up holding a phone or watching their laptops all day. Not great. And yes, I'm talking about the older folks. I don't think that's any big secret. I'll will, however, give Prime credit. Again, usually when a new streaming service gets involved in a sport, it can be dicey. Netflix was crucified for a pretty subpar MLB debut a few weeks ago. By all accounts, Prime has been solid so far this week:Again, not bad. I've seen these things spiral pretty quickly. Prime seemed ready to roll, which makes sense given they've had the Thursday Night Football package for years now. Anyway, like anything in 2026, Masters coverage has been met with mixed reviews all week. Does it feel like we're getting yanked around? Sure. Has Prime been a nice addition to fill the gap between the morning and the main broadcast? Absolutely. Some folks will tell you to quit complaining, because there was a time, not too long ago, where you didn't get any Masters TV coverage until 3 p.m. Obviously, that's no longer the case. You can watch golf all day long now. You just have to work to find it. 

Read moreMasters TV Coverage A Mixed Bag Of Streaming Frustration, But Appreciation