But for some reason it was Henderson’s neon green Mizuno batting gloves that I thought were the coolest thing—trumping my extensive micro machine collection. I searched high and low for a pair of those batting gloves, well, as hard as a kid with just a bike could search. I remember scoping out sports stores and Walmart-esque department stores but to no avail.

I never did find that neon green pair, I had to settle for a red pair. I guess in the end it all worked out because our team colors were white and red. I don’t really play baseball anymore and have no use for a pair of brightly colored batting gloves. But, consider me still searching.

Here are a few of Gonzales’ tweets to Tiger of late:

“@TigerWoods you have a roommate yet for the Frys?”

“Person that is in charge of @TigerWoods twitter, please let him know i am interested a practixe eound at thw frys!!!!”

“@TigerWoods eating in player dining at reno-tahoe. Watching you on the TV…wow, you look nice. Like…REAL NICE!!!”

“When I get there [Augusta] on Tuesday, people will see me, and they get this shocked look on their faces. ‘Weren’t you just on TV last night? How did you get here?’ But the Masters lives with me throughout the year. In the fall, months after the Masters, the first place people ask me about is Augusta…”

‘One Shining Moment’ and ‘A Tradition Unlike Any Other’ all within a span of a week — it just blows my mind. So excuse me while I live vicariously through Jim this week, minus the cheesy banter and blazer of course.

Phil Mickelson looked shaky with the driver early, but managed to pull off some miraculous rescue shots to secure his third green jacket and 4th major championship of his illustrious career. Lefty the overwhelming sentimental favorite with his wife and mother both battling breast cancer, rolled in a clutch 15-foot birdie putt on the 12th hole, then followed it up on the 13th hole with what will probably go down as one of the most famous golf shots in Masters history. Mickelson’s drive ended up in the pine straw and came to rest near a tree, most golfers would have laid up, but not Phil. He decided to go for the green, the risk was worth the rewared setting up an eventual birdie propelling him to a three shot win over Lee Westwood.

With Westwood coming up short yet again, the label of best player never to have won a major will now be attached to his name until he closes the deal. With two third place finishes at last years British Open and PGA Championship and his strong second place finish today that win may come sooner rather than later.

Tiger Woods’ rollercoaster day ended in a 3-under (69) good for a tie for 4th. His inconsistent play resulted in a final round that never really had him in contention for what would have been a chance at his 5th green jacket. When we see him next is a huge question mark. He commented after the round that he’ll be taking some time off to ‘reevaluate’?

Anthony Kim and Nick Watney both shot a final found (65) with Kim firing a back nine (31) which included and electrifying eagle on 15. These are two rising stars that could definitely win multiple green jackets before their careers are over. Keep an eye on them in the upcoming majors this year.

With his 3rd Masters win Mickelson joins the likes of (Snead, Demaret, Player and Faldo) with three green jackets.

“We’ve been through a lot this year. It means a lot to share some joy together,” Mickelson said, his voice cracking as he spoke, “It’s been such an incredible week, an emotional week. And to cap it off with a victory is something I can’t put into words. “It’s something we’ll share for the rest of our lives.”

Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

There has been no other athlete during my lifetime that has captivated my interest more then Tiger Woods. To this day, I can recite any stat and record that he has achieved over his PGA Tour career and can name all 14 major championships he has won, as well as the venue he was victorious on. I’ve also probably read hundreds of articles as well as numerous books ranging from his approach to the game, visualization techniques, and his psychological methods of focus.

There are many attributes and characteristics that I respected and emulated in watching Tiger. I started lifting weights because Tiger did. My mannerisms on the golf course are eerily similar to Tiger. I’ve tried to model my golf swing and putting style to look exactly the same, although at times with much different results. I even buttoned that third button when wearing a golf shirt because Tiger did. The last couple of years he hasn’t buttoned that third button, so you guessed it, I didn’t either.

After some reflection over the past couple of months since Tiger’s life and whereabouts have attracted so much tabloid attention, I have wondered when he returns, will it feel the same? That is, when he eventually returns to competitive golf, will I have that same admiration and interest in Tiger? Difficult to say, but I think the attraction for me over the past decade has been his image of perfection in an imperfect world — being able to witness someone so dedicated to his craft and their ability to execute with such dominance under pressure.

That image will forever be tarnished based on his off course problems. We’ve learned that his persona was not what we thought. His private life and public life were two entirely different things and what we once thought was perfect is far from perfection.

So I’m left asking myself, what is left of this bromance? In short, it will never be what it once was (single tear), I’ll still root for Tiger, but I think the truth has set me free. Bromance over.

“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” – Anna Quindlen

Woods “had always been the bionic man in terms of personality, controlling to a fault,” Bissinger writes. He calls the pre-scandal Woods “the perfect man and pitchman for our imperfect times, a charming non-person,” noting that “with Woods, everything was crafted to produce a man of nothing, with no interior—non-threatening and non-controversial.” But “in the end it was the age-old clash of image versus reality…. He deluded himself into thinking he could be something that he wasn’t: untouchable. The greatest feat of his career is that he managed to get away with it for so long in public, the bionic man instead of the human one who hit a fire hydrant.”

We tend to think Tiger’s greatness as an athlete will be measured pre and post-scandal. To say the greatest feat of his career will be the scandal itself seems a wee-bit dramatic. TIGERRRR!

• Have a minimum of three TV’s setup. The main TV should be in HD. If it’s not hand out 3D glasses and tell everyone the you have the game in “3D”.
• As for food, one word “buffet”. There should be chili, nachos, chips, dips and chili.
• Okay back to your TV situation. There should be at least one TV in the main party bathroom. This is a none negotiable.
• As for drinks, make it a BYOB event. Don’t be stupid. Have the odd soda around so the DD’s don’t dry up.
• If you think decorating is a good idea (we highly recommend not decorating), try team colours. Can’t believe we just said that…
• Remove any carpet from your house, apartment, condo etc. There’s not enough paper towels and Swiffer Wet Jets at your local Wal-Mart to clean up all the crap people slop all over the place. The less absorbent your floor is the easier clean up will be.
• If your one of the those people who wears a jersey, go ahead and wear it. It’s the one day of the year you won’t look lame sporting all your team paraphernalia (you still will, just people won’t notice as much).
• If you’re going to have guests who are rooting for different teams, encourage them to sit beside each other. This will increase the probability of a full blown fist fight. No one forgets a party with a fist fight.
• Order a “Super Bowl Party in a Box”. Cut a hole in the box. Put your junk in that box…
• Pick up a veggie and a fruit platter. Serve it sealed, with the rest of the buffet. Place a note on top of the platters that says “Real football fans don’t eat fruits and vegetables”, return the platters the next day.
• Avoid a sausage fest. You may think it’s a good idea to make your party a “dudes only” affair, but it’s not. Trust us. Come second half you’ll be thanking us for this tip and for the one about the TV in the bathroom.

He’s made us rethink our views on faith, religion and the quarterback position — not necessarily in that order. But forgotten amidst all of this is that John Fox, the Broncos head coach, has done a magnificent job under the circumstances.

This week in an interview with Jeff Darlington, the Broncos coach proclaimed: “If we were trying to run a regular offense, he’d be screwed.”

It’s not a slight against Tebow, but spoken like a coach who is willing to accept his quarterback’s shortcomings and embrace the challenge of winning with him.

Fox could have easily run out the same game plan before Tebow was promoted, set him up to fail and get back to running the team with the quarterback he wanted.

Instead he’s hell-bent on finding any way possible to make Tebow succeed. Football is a game of survival, especially for coaches. For Fox, Tebow is a means to his own goals.

And so the option offense has returned, and the Broncos somehow won a road game last week with their quarterback completing just two passes.

Ask anyone about Tebow, and most will tell you that this story will likely have a very short shelf life. But you have to appreciate how hard John Fox is working to extend it just a bit longer.

He might not like it. But in this arranged marriage, he’s a willing partner and that’s something to be respected.

Of course, most of this ties back to last January, when he came under fair for not playing through injury in the NFC Championship game. In this day in age of immediate reaction, I was quick to rush to judgment. Before the game was even over and the severity of his injury was revealed, the court of public opinion has delivered its verdict, Jay Cutler lacked the leadership skills and a desire to ever amount to anything in this league.

But we weren’t suppose to feel guilty. The Bears afterall, had overachieved and many expected them to regress this season. When the Packers picked up where they left off, and the Lions became the surprise story of the season, the Bears were stuck at 2-3, third place in the division and mired in mediocrity. The same frustrating issues with their offensive line, the same polarizing quarterback behind center.

But things took a turn this past month. The Bears went on a run, culminating in a fourth quarter comeback at Philadelphia that made me think for the first time: are we watching Cutler transform into the top tier quarterback that we all expected?

But things started to change. Two weeks ago, when Cutler led the Bears to a come from behind win against the Eagles. The thought crossed my mind: are we actually watching a quarterback take the leap into the next tier?

Now, these discussions on Cutler’s abilities are temporarily put on hold. Let’s call it even now. For all the time we spent burying him last year, we should spend the same appreciating what he’s done so far this season.

And really, a bigger deal should be made of this injury. Take any other elite quarterback out from a team in playoff contention, and it would be a bigger story, a greater concern. In a cruel twist of fate, perhaps we will only start to embrace Cutler when we realize in the coming weeks just how important he was to the Bears’ revival.

As the situation intensifies in Orlando, I keep coming back to a quote from season 5 of The Sopranos, when Tony struggled with the decision to kill his cousin Tony Blundetto for the sake of his business. In the end, he realized that “more is lost by inaction than wrong action” and committed the kill.

This is precisely the position the Magic organization have been pulled into by Dwight Howard’s season long passive aggressive attempt at holding the franchise hostage while still maintaining his reputation as the fun loving center who just wants to win.

We’ve been here before, whether it was Lebron with the Cavaliers, Carmelo with the Nuggets or Bosh with the Raptors.

In Cleveland’s case, they went all-in with the team, which was considered a serious championship contender, fell short and watched their franchise player leave them behind. Whether a championship would’ve forced Lebron’s return is a great what-if, but it would’ve definitely softened the bitterness of his departure.

Interesting because after last night’s win over Miami, Howard declared his intentions to stay in Orlando for the remainder of the season, and vowed that the Magic should roll the dice for a playoff run.

As if his limited wish list didn’t already destroy any leverage the organization had in trade talks, now he’s come out and let it be known that he can be had in free agency this summer. Let me stay for a few months, and I’ll decide whether to change my mind after the playoffs

The hostage situation worsens.

There’s been reports of internal conflict among members of Magic management on whether it’s actually realistic that Howard will have a change of heart, and that’s the core reason for the inaction thus far on what should be an obvious decision: trade your disgruntled superstar before you’re left with nothing.

Of all the previous examples listed above, the Howard situation mirrors Bosh’s free agency in Toronto the most. The Raptors weren’t satisfied with the trade offers at the deadline and at the time was playing great basketball which created the belief that a deep playoff run would secure Bosh’s long-term future with the team.

Instead, the team fell apart down the stretch and missed the playoffs entirely. The Raptors were always a longshot, convinced themselves otherwise, and wound up empty handed. The wrong action may have been to trade Bosh while sitting in a playoff spot at the deadline and gotten below fair value for their asset. But their inaction set them back even further.

The same result is bound to happen in Orlando unless they recognize the best decision for the franchise long-term is to deal Howard now for the best available package.

Granted, no one will be entirely satisfied if the return is Brook Lopez, or some lesser front court player. But to stand pat and let Howard further dictate the terms of his departure this summer and leave the organization with any return on their asset? That’s a much worse conclusion. And even if he does stay, the entire episode has revealed so much about Howard’s mindset that I’m not entirely sure you don’t want to start over anyways.

Of course, should the Magic come to their senses and Howard moves to a new team at the deadline, some Magic fans will always wonder if they could’ve kept him, made a deep playoff run and convinced him to stay. But believe me, that what if will beat whatever pain and bitterness that’s forthcoming when he leaves for nothing in a few months.

It’s only a lesser of two evils, but parting ways and starting over is the most logical move for the Magic. But in a league that’s allowed its marquee players to hold entire organizations’ hostage, logic has gone out the window a long time ago.