Welcome to the Torg Stories Podcast. In this edition we’ll learn why Anne hates the Masters golf tournament so much, go over the NBA Playoffs set up including the play in tournament, talk about #1 draft prospect Victor Wembanyama, TV shows from our HS days, and dream vacations. This edition of the podcast was recorded Sun, April 9, 2023.

Anne, it’s Easter, it’s the Masters, and it’s the last day of the NBA regular season.

Notes for the Conversation:

Masters:

• Tiger made the cut and tied Gary Player and Fred Couples making 23 cuts in a row. Fred Couples was the oldest player to make the cut at age 63.
• Cold weather, wind and rain came. A couple trees blew down. Tiger withdrew with aggravated plantar fasciitis.

• No signs of LIV / PGA Tour conflict. There was a lot of talk before the tournament that the LIV don’t play real golf because there’s no cut. That didn’t seem to hold out.
• Brooks Koepka blew a big lead.
• Phil Mickelson shot 65 today and tied for 2nd. Oldest top 5 finish in Masters’ history. YOU CAN BE OLDER AND KEEP COMPETING: LeBron, Tom Brady, Phil and Fred Couples today.
• Jordan Spieth shot 66, bogeyed the last hole, and dropped to 4th.
• Brooks Koepka…
• Jon Rahm is the winner by 4 shots. Up 4 heading into the last hole. Previously won the US Open in 2021.

NBA Playoffs:

• We read the NBA’s guide to the Play-In Tournament.
• The Mavs didn’t want to make it.
• Let’s go over the play in games first. Click here.
• Looking forward to any of these games?
• The regular season final standings. Click here.
• What do you notice?
• Let’s go over the match ups. Click here.

Victor Wembanyama:

• What’s the likelihood he’ll be better than some of these all time #1 picks in my lifetime, starting in the 1970s? 74 Bill Walton, Magic Johnson 79, 83 Ralph Sampson, 84 Hakeem Olajuwon, 85 Patrick Ewing, 92 Shaq, 97 Tim Duncan, 2002 Yao Ming, 2003 Lebron, 2007 Greg Oden, 2012 Anthony Davis, Zion 2019.
• 7-2 229. I’m inclined not to believe that weight.
• Plays for Metropolitans 92, a French professional basketball club. Click here for Wikipedia article.
• 27 games for the Metropolitans: 21 ppg, 32 mins, 43-140 from 3 for 30%, 129-154 83% from line, 3.2 blocks.
• What makes him better than Chet Holmgren? Who also immediately got hurt. 7-0, 195. 32 college games 14 pts, 39% from 3, 71% from line, 3.7 blocks.
• I remember Kevin Durant was thought by some to be too skinny. He shot the ball much better. Kevin Durant 6-10 240 now. In college, 35 games, 25.8 ppg, 40% from 3, 81.6 from the line. 40% from 3, 91.9% from line. 1.9 blocks.
• Kristaps Porzingis. 7-3 240. I just don’t see how KP is only 11 pounds more than Wemby. KP is 85% from the line, 38.5 from 3.
• Could he be skinny Giannis Antetokounmpo who is better from the line? 7-0 240. 27.5% from 3, 64.5 from FT.
• To sum up, he’s Chet, with more athleticism and playmaking ability? He’s KD but not as good of a shooter, with maybe some more Pete Maravich kind of handles and out of the box creativity? He’s a not as good as shooting KP but with better playmaking ability? He’s skinny Giannnis, who is a much better FT shooter. This doesn’t seem like LeBron worthy kind of hype.
• We read Wemby’s Wikipedia entry.
• We read Jeremy Wood’s SI article “Inside Victor Wembanyama’s Plan to Dominate the NBA Like Never Before.”

TV From High School:

• Family Ties
• Married with Children
• Coach
• The A Team
• Quantum Leap
• Night Court

Dream Vacation Spot/s:

• Hawaii, more than any other place, exceeded my expectations for the trip.
• Probably antithetical to the idea of vacation, I would gravitate towards goals or challenges. Like, we have a week off, let’s raft the river or try and hike 150 miles. But my family doesn’t want to do that, so road trips kind of fit that bill. Road trip of Pacific Coast Highway or driving tour of national parks in the West.
• Uninformed Norway idea. I take on big research projects for my vacations.
• What about some good/memorable ones? Maine delivered for us and we’d be interested in going back. Megan and spontaneously drove through the night to Miami and on to Key West.