Giving the term working remotely from home a new meaning

As I finished Sunday dinner it occurred to me that it was time to go to work. Now your definition of the word work might be different from mine. At my age actually going to work on any given day would likely see me have a Maynard G. Krebs reaction. I apologize to those of you who do not remember this TV character.Last Sunday afternoon had me grabbing the zapper and heading to the office. I would be taking in the final round of the Masters and changing channels frequently to keep up with the Nascar race at Bristol. Working? Well, not exactly, though the rest of this column will consist of recaps of the two sporting events.Before I go further, perhaps I should explain the term zapper and maybe explain the title of this column. In my house we call the remote control the "zapper." When our kids were little we would point it at them and say ZAP. They would laugh and a nickname was born.I related this story to my bowling teammates many years ago. One of my fellow keglers suggested he calls his the flipper as he uses it to flip the channels. Only one of my teammates didn't seem to be overly involved in our discussion. When we asked him what he called his, he responded with a sheepish grin and said remote control. I guess you don't have to have a pet name for the instrument, but I bet a lot of you do.Knowing that I would be using the zapper to go back and forth between two different channels should explain the remotely part of my title. Being in my "office" suggests that I would be at home. As for work – well, I can't really call what I was doing being anything short of fun.Let's start with golf. After leading by the biggest margin in Masters history midway through the tournament, Rory McIlroy saw his lead evaporate on Saturday. That meant the final round would likely be fascinating. They say that the Masters doesn't really begin until the back nine on Sunday, though I feel that's a little bid misleading. All those strokes you had before the last nine counted, didn't they?As for who I was rooting for, well nobody in particular. I just wanted to see some great golf shots and, if truth be told, a few poor ones. It always makes me feel better to see a professional struggle as it is so easy to relate to. On Sunday afternoon there was plenty of both.If Rory McIlroy were to win back to back green jackets, that would be fine. If Cameron Young won, that would be OK too. I even hoped for a comeback for Scottie Scheffler. He made a charge and came up a bit short. If anything I was most likely to be rooting against a few golfers. I still have a problem with the LIV golfers though it's not so much them leaving the PGA Tour as their excuses for doing so.The main reason was financial gain for literally all of them. But only a few of them are honest enough to admit that fact. That still bugs me.So McIlroy holds on to win by one stroke. He joins Jack, Tiger and Sir Nick Faldo as the only ones to win consecutively. Could he win again next year. Of course he could, but don't hold your breath. That course is very trying. I sometimes wonder what I would shoot at Augusta, then I realize I might not want to know!As for the Nascar race, I tune in each week for a variety of reasons. First of all I like auto racing. Secondly I run a fantasy league and will start adding up scores as soon as the race is over. This week the good old boys were in Bristol and it doesn't get much better than short track banging at the Coliseum.I can tell you exactly who I was rooting for at this race. Any one of the 15 drivers on my fantasy team would have been a welcomed winner. Alas, the winner was not a member of my team, still I was happy for him.Ty Gibbs went to Victory Lane for the first time in his Cup career. It only took him 131 races to get that first checkered flag. After selecting him on my fantasy teams for the last few years, I finally got tired of waiting for him to break through. Oops… not having him might explain my position in our standings!Nascar fans can be tough. Gibbs has been criticized because some feel that he has his ride because his grandfather (former Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs) owns the team. Nepotism rears its ugly head in many different sports, but I remember a comment from former college basketball coach Al McGuire that was as honest an answer as I've ever heard about the topic.McGuire coached at Marquette and one of his point guard candidates was his son Allie. When asked if he would sit his son if another player was better, he didn't hesitate. Of course he would. But what if the other player was just as good as Allie?His response… Then I would play Allie. After all he is my son!Will Ty's win quiet some of those who complain about nepotism. Maybe a little. The criticism might go away completely if he wins more races. That could happen, but younever know. Some drivers only achieve limited success in racing. I will give you an example.The driver with the most Cup starts without a win is one J.D. McDuffie who drove from 1963-1991. He started 653 races and not only never won, but never finished on the lead lap in any race!Then again he was a low budget independent racer so he did not have to face charges of nepotism.