Sunday sports watching: From cool to amazing to shocking

Last Sunday I took in several sporting events. Those events involved different sports including auto racing, baseball, basketball and golf. Many emotions converged in my mind including the ones mentioned in this title. Let's take a look at what caused these feelings.The Cleveland Guardians beat the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, finishing the unofficial first half of the season winning six of seven. Yes, I am aware that they lost 10 straight games just before that, but the last week gave us fans a glimmer of hope.No, I don't think we will catch Detroit. The 2025 script is just the opposite of last year but the Tigers made the playoffs in 2024. Can the Guardians do the same this year? Well, we will see, but winning 6 of 7 is pretty cool if nothing else.Then there was the Scottish Open Golf Championship, a prelude to the Open being contested this weekend. On the back nine of the final round Rory McIlroy the local favorite went head to head with relatively unknown American Chris Gotterup.I was interested to see how the American would stand up to the pressure of going up against such a talented opponent. It was cool to see him trade shot for shot with McIlroy and eventually win the tournament. Who won was not that important to me, but it was fascinating to see the young man stand tall. No amazing moments took place, but it was good golf – something you would not likely see if you followed me around a course!The next event also came from golf. It was the LPGA Evian Championship, a major for the ladies. I actually came off my couch at one point and I would like to describe the last three holes of the event, just in case you missed it.Jeeno Thitikul had a two-stroke lead heading to the 18th hole on Sunday over playing partner Grace Kim. The final hole was a reachable par 5, so no one was suggesting the tournament was already over. The key to playing the hole was finding the fairway off the tee.Kim did while Thitikul did not. Jeeno decided to lay up from the rough. She would still have a shot at birdie, while a par might be enough to win. Grace hit from the fairway and reached the green with a near tap in eagle try.Thitikul hit her third some 10 feet from the pin meaning she probably had to make it to win. She did not. Kim tapped in and a playoff ensued.Going back to the 18th tee, the drives were reversed. Jeeno hit the fairway and Kim did not. Kim's second shot went into a penalty area to the right of the green while Thitikul's approach missed the green to the left of the green some 30 feet from the hole. Advantage Jeeno.After dropping her ball, Kim faced a tough chip shot. She would need to get up and down for a par and hope that Thitikul would not be able to get up and down for a birdie.Well her next shot found me arising from the couch: "OMG she made it" I shouted, causing my wife to wonder what was going on. The incredible birdie would force Thitkul to get up and down for a birdie to keep the playoff going. She did just that.Back to the 18th tee and both golfers found the fairway. Kim hit the green leaving a 15 foot eagle putt. Thitikul pulled her shot left near where she had been just before. Her chip became a little more difficult as the cameras showed ants crawling all over her ball.After getting no relief from the little varmints her chip nestled another ten feet from the hole where she would face a birdie try. She never got to putt it. Grace Kim holed her eagle putt for the victory. An eagle, birdie, eagle finish on the same hole was amazing. The fact that the birdie may have been better than either eagle was also amazing. For sure it was some great golf to watch.Later in the afternoon I tuned in to the Nascar race from Sonoma. One of several tracks that I have been to, the road course was going to give Shane Van Gisbergen a chance to win three road course races in a row. I did not know the guy when he first came to Nascar, but my son did.Brian follows other forms of auto racing and told me back then that SVG was a good road racer. That apparently was an understatement. Was I shocked at his performance at Sonoma, where he led nearly the entire race? No, but I was impressed. It is also cool that he is on my Nascar Fantasy team!So where did the shock come in? Actually, it came from an article I read online about NBA salaries. I used to shake my head when I saw the amount of money professional athletes were making. When I saw Randy Johnson's salary broken down into how much money he made per pitch thrown, I was taken aback. By the way it was a little over $4,000 – PER PITCH!But as salaries increased I became immune to the numbers. Until Sunday. The article mentioned the salary of NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He recently signed a multi-year deal that would pay him $79,000,000 in the final year. The author wanted to know if the first million dollar a game player could be far away. With an 82 game schedule it would only take another three mil to reach that reality.I was shocked. A million dollars a game! I'm not saying that he is not worth it (my wife suggested just that), but wow. I guess if there is some one willing to pay a person that much money for playing a game, then so be it.It does give a new meaning to the game where you list the things you would be willing to do for a million dollars. Would I be willing to let NBA players school me for one night for that much moolah?Duh! Wouldn't you?