Good luck and welcome Lost
Did you find us through one of our mutual friends at MadJacks, or by accident?
I joined there but to be honest there weren't many people that replied to my posts and I just kinda lost interest. I remember you though and IMO you stood out - enjoyable and interesting reasoning for your bets. This despite the majority there not giving any reasoning or entering into much discussion and generally I only go there now to read what Dogs has to say.
36, if you read this, lostinamerica has almost reached 2000 posts on MadJacks and, although I can't remember how this works, would be a great addition to the "Gold Member" ranks.
Lost, hope you don't mind but for those interested here is an excerpt from your US Masters write-up on MJ:
OUTRIGHTS:
Ernie Els(10/1) e.w. (ante-post) @ Bet365
- - Augusta is the right place for Ernie's "return" to the majors. Back in January, every scenario I could spin for Ernie's season had him present and accounted for on the leaderboard this week - a place where the same faces thrive year after year. Almost three months later, the storyline that seems to have taken shape - which was one of the specific scenarios contemplated in January - has featured game killing pressing of late, on top of other arguable discombobulations; now on the grounds of the place and tournament he genuinely loves seems the right moment when Els plays golf and more or less instinctively stops focusing on his swing and mechanics . . . The fire beneath an uncharacteristic display of frustration on the 9th hole of the Players Championship was OK to see from The Big Quitter (i.e., Tom Meeks of the U.S.G.A.), but what had my eyes rolling was his decision to unveil a center shafted putter - that was not the right answer in my book . . . But if memory serves, there is some helpful precedent: Maybe it was an earlier year, but wasn't it 2004 when Phil Mickelson unveiled a potato masher contraption, instead of his classic blade putter, for the greens at Doral and elsewhere in Florida, but common sense prevailed, the right choice was made at Augusta, and the rest is history . ? .? .
Phil Mickelson(+650) e.w. @ GolfingGods
- - Lefty's wedge play around the greens has definitely been a little off this season, and now the plan is to add a second driver; regardless, if his genius around the greens is on display again this week, the winner of 2 of the last 8 majors will not be finishing outside the Top 5.
Stephen Ames(80/1)(1/4 for 1-2-3-4-5-6) e.w. @ GolfingGods
- - "9 and 8" and the circumstances that earn you that moniker among your peers is not likely to be just another incident in the course of an otherwise long and cyclical season - it seems much more likely to be tied up in defining a season by setting you back for a while or making you significantly stronger . . . During decades of watching LOTS of meaningful golf, the run by Stephen Ames that was on display in 2004 constituted perhaps the finest zone of precise ball striking through the late spring and summer months that I've ever witnessed by any player without a list of championships as long as their sleeve, and is a level of form I'll always associate with his name. With that salient fact safely tucked away from 2004, it requires noting that Ames' putting can now look second to none, which is something I don't recall about his game when he first emerged in 2004 (although his chipping and pitching from close to the green still remain the weakest links in his game), and IMO his comportment and maturity in Sunday style situations have also progressed noticeably, so when Mr. "9 and 8" dropped hints of nothing but rounding into form in recent weeks, there was absoluetley zero chance I would hesitate and let a spot that maybe owed Ames something (Craig Perks????) slip by . . . I'm not about to pick up the marker from the biggest winning wager of my life and still feel like I'm deserving of ever winning another wager, but the fact of the matter is that I don't foresee Stephen and his brother Robert having their act turn immediately stale.