NOVI, MICHIGAN – After an incredibly disappointing performance in the season Kick-Off tournament, Nick Winkler has been home working on his mental game since April 29. Rumors have swirled about Nick resembling Tiger Woods since that poor tournament performance…the broken Tiger Woods strung out on Xanax and Vicodin, not the cool guy banging Vegas cocktail waitresses and winning major tournaments.
Sadly, after week 3 we cannot put those rumors to bed. Nick made his first LEG appearance in 6 weeks and went 1-2 with a minus-2.3 scoring margin. On the surface, it looks like a harmless “off” week with a small sample size. But you had to be there to witness what seemed like the ghost of a once great player. Small sample size or not, this marks the first time in league history Nick has had a losing record in any given week. Let’s hope for the sake of this league that Nick can get some cocktail waitresses back in his routine because it isn’t the same without him.
Joe Viviano came out gangbusters, posting a 2-1 record and +5 scoring margin for the night. Joe started 2-0, but dropped the final match of the night when he teamed with Tiger…errr, Nick, in a rematch against KP and Mario. KP and Mario avenged a Game 1 loss by closing the night with a 21-16 redemption. Despite the loss, Joe had a good night statistically and climbed out of the basement of the standings, leaving Mario behind.
Speaking of Mario, while he is 1-7 on the season and in last place, a few very positive developments are underway. First, Mario did get his first win of the season (see the redemption win above). But more importantly, Mario embraced the presence of Coach Mike’s voice chewing his ass all the way from Clawson and finally quit throwing bags like a pussy. He harnessed Coach Mike’s energy and technique, confidently creating a throwing motion that was far more accurate. He could be on the verge of a major breakthrough. At first glance, the motion resembles Coach Mike’s back-handed taint tickler. But there are enough subtleties to the trained eye to differentiate the two styles. I like to call Mario’s form the “3 fingered bean flicker”. I’m open for league-wide votes for naming rights, but I think this is appropriate.