Today was one of those sports days where past, present and future melded together in perfect harmony in the sports world. The Past with Tiger Woods roaring through the beautiful grounds at The Masters. In Chicago, for the Cubs, the present is all the players can think of. They think of the current pitch, fielding opportunity, and at bat. The future took center stage in the early evening when Skyy Clark 5 star guard out of Nashville, Tennessee committed to the University of Illinois.

The day began, and on Twitter you saw the “bat signal” for lack of a better term that Tiger Woods is doing Tiger Woods things. Tiger who is coming off a horrific car crash in February of 2021 that put his ability to even walk at risk was courageous in even making the effort to come back and play competitive golf. Tiger finished round 1 at one under par and a tie for 10th overall. He had more birdies than bogeys and was good enough to be “on the prowl” to make a run at the green jacket. This was a blast from the past, this was vintage Woods. Tiger makes other golfers squirm, he intimidates them to this day just like he did when he was the #1 golfer in the world. Tiger beat 8 of the top 12 golfers in the world today. The dude had a bad back before the car accident! Woods draws attention from everywhere. this morning he became a must follow and , like Brady in the final 2 minutes of a game, or Steph Curry on a heater type of follow even as he approaches 47 years old. Golf’s future is in a good spot for the future, but the past ruled on Thursday.

In Chicago the setting of Wrigley Field was perfect for the present to rule. With roster instability for the Cubs, a vast majority of players a living in the moment. They dont have the foresight currently, to think about the future and they dont have the past contributions to the game of baseball to go through slumps and survive them. With the constant threat of trades, and 1 year deals. It was fun to see this group of Cubs have fun and compete in their 5-4 victory over last years Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes and the Milwaukee Brewers. They say Opening Day is all about hope and what a team can be. I think for Cubs fans after an awful trade deadline last year, and weird COVID baseball the past couple of seasons, it was nice to sit by another fan, drink a beer, and watch some baseball from the friendly confines. I know I have been hard on the Cubs this offseason about roster construction, money, and more. Today was a great reminder of how much I can enjoy baseball on a game to game basis even if it doesn’t really matter about the long term. It truly was awesome seeing Seiya, Nico, and Ian have such good days at the plate. Even Jason got in on the fun.

When you want to think of the future, just look at the Skyy! When Illinois secured the commitment of 5 star guard Skyy Clark, it solidified what I knew about Illinois basketball. The future with Brad Underwood at the helm is secure. He has built his culture, won his games, and made Illinois an attractive place for recruits. There are no more saviors for Illini basketball anymore. There are now just roster re-loads. Im excited to see how Underwood fills the rest of the roster Kofi or no Kofi.

I am in euphoria with how this sports day went. Tomorrow may stink, there has been pain in the past. But today, we will always have today.