Sorting through a few final thoughts from the Travelers Championship

Some final thoughts on the Travelers Golf Championship.

The crowds were tremendous. That’s testimony to star power, which is something very important here in the Northeast. In this part of the country, folks will pay to see stars. Whether it’s Rory McIlroy and Justin Speith, or Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, or Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, people around here turn out for stars.

It’s not so in the rest of the country. The St. Louis Cardinals fill the joint every night no matter who is playing. The attraction is the laundry. Same for the San Francisco Giants. The team is awful, but the joint is full every night.

Yankee attendance really took off — and maybe the Yanks don’t want to say it — when Alex Rodriguez was signed. As Casey Stengel said, you can look it up.

The actual golf at the tourney was compelling as it was close throughout with many in contention. It was a perfect storm for the Travelers, although having Jason Day, Justin Thomas and Bubba Watson hanging around for the weekend might have been even better.

Speaking of Watson, he refused to talk with the media afterwards. Silly man. He has been a fan favorite here, yet after two not so good rounds, he blows everyone off. Ah, maybe better he went away quietly.

I also think there are fans — and no, I will not call them patrons; it’s a sport, not an art gallery — who populate the TPC who have a sense of entitlement. Oh, not many perhaps, but enough.

I get the economics of golf. It’s not a poor person’s game. It’s a country club, privileged and very — let’s say it — white game. Nothing inherently wrong with that. You could say the same thing about swimming. Lots of cultural and socio-economic factors kick in, just as they do to explain the makeup of the NBA and the NFL. Just how it is. Heck, I saw about as many people of color at the tournament as I would expect to see in

ment as I would expect to see in a Sunday morning drive around Iowa. I would bet a nickel that a lot of folks in Simsbury followed the tourney and not so many in, say, Bloomfield or New London. Culture, experience, real life. C’est la vie.

However, each year I get the sense that there are folks at the TPC who act in ways that suggest a sense of entitlement. Too many. For example. I was at the 18th Saturday. Staked out a nice location and sat on the grass, A lot of folks around me did the same. I was waiting to see McIlroy play through. Just as he addressed the ball to putt, two ladies came marching in and plopped their chairs directly in front of me and several others seated in the grass.

A man immediately told them — good for him — and they moved their chairs maybe a foot, further blocking my view. They were clearly oblivious to anything and anyone except making sure they had a view.

After the McIlroy group left, they picked up their chairs and marched on. I didn’t see the putt.

On the ninth moments later, a golfer hit a ball right in front of the crowd maybe 30 yards or so from the pin. As he addressed the ball, no fewer than nine people — I counted — whipped out their phones to record the shot.

The PGA says not to do that. Indeed, at the first tee when Spieth teed off, the announcer reminded all that taking pictures or videos of the action is prohibited. As he said that, people were recording and many in the crowd totally ignored the rule and got their little videos.

Maybe the rule is silly and outdated. Maybe it’s unenforceable. But it’s a rule. Shouldn’t adults be expected to obey? Would they allow their children to pick and choose which of their rules to obey? I wonder about stuff like that.

I guess for some, it’s all about me.

Legion Baseball heats up

For the next six weeks, Legion Baseball is the local sport of note.

Middletown Post 75 is 11-3 — that was before Sunday’s double header with Guilford — but is just 1-3 against the top teams in Zone 3, namely Meriden and Cheshire. The 75ers have been competitive, losing 4-1, 2-1 and 6-1 and winning once, 8-1. But competitive isn’t the same thing as winning.

The 75ers have two left with both teams — all at Palmer Field — and it would behoove them to win say, three of them. Winning a zone title gives a team an enormous advantage in that the team doesn’t have to play in one-and-done postseason rounds and gets to play a best-of-three series with home field advantage.

Middletown is home Tuesday for a double header with East Haddam at 5:30 p.m.

RCP — Rocky Hill, Cromwell, Portland — has picked up where it left off. The two-time state champions are 11-0 — that was prior to Sunday’s double header with Tri-County — and is home Monday with Hartford at 5:45 p.m.

Some more Legion thoughts

I hear some Legion coaches are a bit upset with high school coaches who are “directing” or “asking” their kids to play for certain summer teams. One of the stories I hear is that coaches want their kids to play together so they can hit the ground running come April.

I actually ran a couple of scenarios that I heard about past the CIAC and was told that based on the information I provided, the coaches were not in violation of CIAC rules that speak to out-of-season coaching/organizing.

I take them at their word, but here’s my two cents.

It has always been my feeling that in baseball, it’s playing the every-day sport that counts. One doesn’t have to play with one’s high school teammates to get better and, in fact, I am convinced that playing with kids from other schools in good programs is far more beneficial than playing with kids you’ve played with.

I can see in basketball that playing together with teammates helps, but not so much in baseball.

The key, it seems to me, is playing up, that is, playing against the best possible competition with the best possible players. That’s how one learns, that’s how one gets better.

Until I see otherwise, American Legion Baseball is the best option. Oh, I know there are bad Legion programs. But taken as a whole, Legion ball beats travel teams and it certainly beats local twilight leagues.

I take a look at Middletown and see some of the best players from Haddam-Killingworth, from Coginchaug, from Xavier, from Middletown and several kids of college age.

Aren’t the kids better for playing with not only each other, but also against the likes of Meriden and Cheshire, teams stocked with Class L and LL high school players?

Just askin’.

Marissa Aldieri

Middletown High alumna and UConn Ultimate Frisbee player Marissa Aldieri was named to the women’s first team in the Metro East Division I All-Region team. She was also named Metro East Player of the Year.

USA Ultimate names all-star teams from regions around the country and players are chosen by peer voting in each region. Like the high school level, all Ultimate games are decided by players on the field. There are no officials; the players decide all conflicts themselves.

Which makes it very cool.

Aldieri wins this week’s Way To Go Award.

Here and there

A friend and I took in the Yankees vs. Orioles game a couple of Sundays back ... you remember, that brutally hot day in the ancient past when the Yankees were winning every day ?

We roasted as our seats were in the sun — of course, we prepared by tailgating in the sun and drinking some adult beverages, which will dehydrate — but no one accused us of being very bright ... we saw the Yankees win 14-3 and they slugged about a million home runs, including two by Aaron Judge and one by Gary Sanchez ... since then the Yankees have won exactly three games and lost eight and played genuinely ghastly baseball ... but on that day, at least, we had fun.

Oh, we have been to two Yankee games and they were the first and second of his life ... gotta figure out how to get him to go more often.

The concession prices at the Travelers varied ... at one place it was $10 for a hot dog and chips, in another a dog was five dollars ... craft beer at one stand was nine bucks for a draft and in another, $10 ... strange.

It was fun interviewing Gov. Malloy at the opening ceremonies for the Travelers ... I asked the governor if having this great field was a needed psychological boost for Connecticut ... he dodged the question ... I smiled and said he was dodging ... he smiled, thanked me, and bid me good day.

Sheila Daniels is retiring from the Board of Education ... Daniels is one of those rarities today, one who acts in the best interests of the kids and cares not one whit about party labels ... we need more people like that in government at every level ... and we voters have to demand it instead of being blind partisans, which is going to destroy us.

MHS alumnus Jack Doherty, the best swimmer ever to come out of this city, opted to stay at William and Mary, take a course, and continue to train this summer ... he enters his sophomore year and yeah, it’s a long shot, but the Olympic Trials are his senior year.

I thought Pat Charles was a very good superintendent of schools ... she attended concerts, plays, sports banquets and games ... I’ve known Pat for a long time, since her sons were students of mine and she came to every Parent’s Night ... Pat Charles put kids first, which is what everyone in education from board members to support staff should do. Kids. Come. First.

Here’s hoping the city can find someone who will come close to being as good as Charles is.

Houston is the best team in the American League, but just about everyone else looks pretty closely matched ... a lot of teams have a chance to be in contention for a long time.

That’s called a good thing ... now if only the Yankees can straighten themselves out.