The relationship between dog and human family is like nothing else.
And this week, ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt captured it in the best but most moving way.
Van Pelt took nearly six minutes of his edition of SportsCenter to talk about the passing of his dog Otis, who sat behind him whenever the host wrote anything or was on Zoom interviews. He eulogized Otis beautifully but also captured the love between dog and family, particularly for his.
“Simply by his presence,” Van Pelt said, “he has been a joyous and loving constant every single day of our lives.”
Watch the whole thing, although I will warn you that if you have lost a dog recently or ever, it may be tough to watch:
The golf world is abuzz with anticipation that Tiger Woods could play at the Masters next week for the first time since being involved in a single-car crash.
ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt was texting with a PGA Tour pro on Tuesday and joked that if Tiger Woods plays in the Masters next week the rest of the field could play in the nude and no one would know that they were even there.
“I’m kidding, obviously,” said Van Pelt, who will host ESPN’s coverage of the first two rounds of the Masters from Augusta National, April.
The golf world – nay, the sports world – is abuzz with anticipation that Woods could play for the first time since being involved in a single-car crash last February that could have ended his life and nearly required his right leg to be amputated. Woods flew in his private plane to Augusta, Ga., on Tuesday along with son Charlie, and reportedly played 18 holes.
“It changes everything,” Van Pelt conceded, of the coverage of the first men’s major of the year. “He’s the singular player in the sport. There’s people tracking his plane yesterday like it’s an SEC (conference) coaching search, and just the idea of him going up there and what’s going on and is he going to try, and if he plays, then that becomes its own lane of coverage. It’s Tiger. We all know what he is and what he represents, and if he’s going to try to play after what happened and the car accident – by the way, fellas, it’s not just him playing a tournament, it’s him playing the Masters Tournament. It would be quite something from a coverage standpoint.”
Tiger Woods plays a shot on the first hole during the second round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on November 13, 2020, in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo: Rob Carr/Getty Images)
Speculation is running rampant that Woods will play for the first time since competing in the PNC Championship in December, a two-man scramble with his son. That was contested on a flat Florida course in which he was allowed to ride in a cart. Augusta National, in contrast, is considered the toughest walk on Tour. In multiple interviews during the Genesis Invitational in February, Woods dismissed any talk that he could return as early as April for the Masters and conceded that his recovery was proceeding slower than he expected. But there he was in Augusta, spending the day testing his surgically-repaired leg that had a rod inserted into his right tibia to determine if he can walk the hilly terrain.
“I’m so excited that he looks like he’s putting forth an effort to think about it and test his body. Is he going to play? We have no idea. But it looks like he’s testing himself, and that is a good thing, and how else would you test yourself other than to go walk and play and get up there and play some practice rounds and see if you can walk the golf course, see how the leg holds up, see how the game is,” Strange said. “When you practice and walk and work out at home, it’s a different animal than when you get to the site and walk the golf course, which is the hardest walk in golf, Augusta National, and walk the golf course and put yourself in that element and that atmosphere, and I applaud him for trying because he’s got to start somewhere if he’s going to play again.”
When Van Pelt noted that how Tiger felt when he woke up after playing Augusta National likely is more relevant in the decision-making process for Woods than how he felt during the round on Tuesday, ESPN analyst Andy North weighed in.
“Can he even get out of bed this morning?” North wondered. “Because it’s one thing to do it that one day, but to do it four days in a row, on this golf course – I struggled on this golf course all the time walking around, and what he’s gone through, I think it’s marvelous that he’s giving it his best effort.”
Woods is a five-time winner at the Masters, and claimed his 15th Masters title when he came from behind on the back nine to don the Green Jacket once more in 2019. Woods last played in the Masters in November 2020, when he made a 10 on the 12thhole in the final round, his highest score on any hole during his career. He rebounded to birdie five of the last six holes.
“Having known him as long as we have, the thought that he went down to his place in Florida and grinded his butt off to give himself a chance doesn’t surprise me, and it shouldn’t,” Van Pelt said. “I long ago stopped trying to define what a successful week would look like for this dude.
“Now, you can roll your eyes at ‘I only compete if I think I can win’ and should a 46-year-old man play on a compromised leg, and let’s not forget a fused back, should he think he should win? Well, no, not reasonably, but it isn’t reasonable that a guy with a fused back in 2019 beat all those guys that he beat. I’m not putting any limits on him if he’s able to play. But I’m very surprised based on what I thought I knew that the possibility not a week out exists that he could play.”
“To be in this position where people are actually talking about this guy might actually play in the Masters, I think that’s amazing,” North added.
“He likes challenges, doesn’t he?” Strange said rhetorically. “This is certainly going to be a challenge. I look forward to it. I hope he plays. It’ll certainly be an exciting week.”
One ESPN host questions how real the injury to Derek Stingley Jr is.
Derek Stingly Jr was brought up as a topic of conversation on Tuesday, and not in a positive light, according to The Daily Advertiser.
In a discussion surrounding the name, image, and likeness of college athletes, two big names were brought up. Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Spencer Rattler and Stingley Jr. On the “SVPod”, ESPN host Scott Van Pelt questioned the legitimacy of Stingley’s injury that has sidelined him for an indefinite amount of time.
“I start to wonder: How long are these deals worth?” Coughlin said. “Because it can’t be good pub if you’re pushing a company, and you went from Heisman frontrunner to getting benched. And the other one with Stingley, I don’t see him playing another game for LSU. And you talk about the hype he had.”
“Because he got injured,” Van Pelt interjected. “Because he got injured, allegedly.”
“That’s what they said,” Coughlin said. “That’s what they said.”
“People listening, you see Steve’s reaction, it’s like, ‘Eh,'” Van Pelt said. “Well, I mean look that LSU thing’s gone off the rails. Which in a fascinating way, you look at LSU’s schedule, and it’s like: Wow, is Ed Orgeron really going to go from — we won a title to they run him. Look at their schedule. It could happen.”
Based on what is going on down in Baton Rouge, why stop there with that level of accusation. Why not question Eli Ricks or Kayshon Boutte? I think the injury situation for the Tigers is absolutely awful. To think there is any lack of validity to it is just another piece of evidence that you could look at in a negative light for head coach Ed Orgeron.
For a player to use an injury as an excuse not to play with how things have looked is pretty damning. However, when Stingley went down with that nagging camp injury, the team was 2-1 and would improve to 3-1 after the Mississippi State game.
Personally, I don’t question the injuries of either Eli Ricks or Derek Stingley Jr. Both players missed time during fall camp for injuries, and quite frankly, they just haven’t looked the same this year. I would just chalk it up to a bad season and some unfortunate bad luck when it comes to your best players on the team.
LSU will host the Florida Gators on Saturday, kickoff is set for 11:00 a.m. CDT.
ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, Curtis Strange and Andy North on Tiger Woods’ absence, Dustin Johnson’s defense and stories from the Masters shop.
Curtis Strange remembers a quiet atmosphere while walking the grounds of Augusta National Golf Club last fall.
“It was completely different from start to finish,” said the two-time major champion and ESPN golf analyst about the November Masters, won by Dustin Johnson. “When we went on air and the red light came on, we tried to act as normal as possible, and I think we did a good job because it was the start of the Masters, but it was different.”
It’s difficult to remember what “normal” life was before the COVID-19 pandemic. From a golf perspective, fans are getting a bit of a refresher with the build up to next week’s Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.
“Without patrons, it lost a lot of its soul, there’s no question about that,” said ESPN’s golf and SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt. “I do think it will feel far more familiar and ‘normal’ this next week, even as so many things we typically do won’t.”
As the first men’s major championship of the season returns to its spring position on the schedule, Strange, Van Pelt and Andy North joined a group of reporters on a conference call to preview the event and discuss what changes they expect to see in this year’s tournament compared to the fall.
Tiger and DJ
You can’t talk about, or even think about, Augusta National or the Masters for long without the 2019 champion, Tiger Woods, coming up.
The five-time Masters champ is still recovering — now at home — from a February car crash near Los Angeles after hosting the Genesis Invitational. Woods’ fractures from the crash are on the upper and lower parts of both the fibula and tibia, where a rod was inserted to stabilize the area. Screws and pins were used to treat other injuries in the ankle and foot, while doctors sliced muscle in the area to relieve pressure and swelling in the area (a safeguard against infection).
“I think (at Augusta), more than any other place they play, you think of Tiger. So much of his career sprang through that lens. From that bookend in ’97 hugging his father to ’19 hugging his children in essentially the same spot. You can’t help but think about him,” said Van Pelt. “I think because he’s won there and Tuesday with the Champions Dinner, you get together with that very small group and trade the stories and what have you, that his presence will be sorely missed.”
The conversation moved from the 2019 to the 2020 champion, Dustin Johnson, and his chances of defending his title just five months later.
“There’s not much that bothers him,” said Strange. “As I was talking to Butch Harmon yesterday, he said, ‘You know, he hasn’t played great the last three times out, no worry. No worries at all.’”
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The Masters shop
Entering the Masters shop and leaving with a loaded bag is a rite of passage for anyone who’s been lucky enough to take a trip down Magnolia Lane.
North, a two-time major winner who’s best finish at Augusta was a T-12 in 1979, said he doesn’t go in the shop, “but my wife sure does.”
“Every year she comes back with more stuff than I can even imagine,” said North with a laugh. “But it is pretty cool. That logo is a pretty darn famous logo. From a gift standpoint, if you’re giving that to somebody, they usually appreciate it.”
Strange’s oldest son and daughter-in-law are in town this week, and he’s refusing to even look at his credit card statement. Van Pelt once left an entire bag of gear in an overheard compartment of an airplane. Everybody’s got a story from the shop.
“You just think you’ve got to be done. Who else could I need something for? Then every year, you’re like, ‘that’s a handsome quarter zip. Mom kind of likes that visor,’” explained Van Pelt, who spent $200-plus on ball markers to give away to friends and family.
“It’s every year. It’s a tradition unlike any other.”
Professional golfer Justin Thomas went to Alabama.
So when Thomas appeared on “SportsCenter” with Van Pelt the night that the NCAA Tournament bracket was chosen, Van Pelt noted that Maryland and Alabama could play in the second round. The two joked about a wager on the potential game that involved Thomas’ $2.7 million purse for winning The Players Championship.
Alabama and Maryland ended up meeting Monday night in the round of 32. Alabama won comfortably, 96-77.
Van Pelt tweeted Monday night during the game, “I’m going to owe @JustinThomas34 2.7”
They settled on something more reasonable — lunch at The Masters.
Thomas replied to Van Pelt on Tuesday, “:) it’s ok. The win was enough for me. Buy me lunch at @TheMasters we’ll call it even.”
The Masters is scheduled to take place April 8-11.
Van Pelt discussed the wager on his podcast “SVPod” on Tuesday.
“I appreciate him allowing me to wiggle off the hook there,” Van Pelt said. “I sent him a text that said, ‘Hey man, do you take checks?’ And he said, ‘I just hope we can keep it going.'”
Van Pelt then compared Alabama’s dominating win against Maryland to professional golf and the tough task of following up a great performance with another one.
“You see somebody shoot 64 in a round on Thursday, one of the hardest things on the PGA Tour to do is shoot another great score the next day,” Van Pelt said. “Same person, same course. Why don’t you, why can’t you go shoot a great score the next day. Nobody has a really great explanation for it.
“Now in basketball, clearly, playing Maryland and playing UCLA, it’s a different team,” Van Pelt added. “But you’re the same team, and so, why would you maybe not shoot it as well the next game. Well, because sports are odd. This tournament is a one-off. You get 40 minutes on the clock. What can you do with those 40 minutes?”
Alabama is scheduled to face UCLA in the Sweet 16 on Sunday, March 28 at 7:15 p.m. ET.
SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt has tested positive for COVID-19
Scott Van Pelt is one of the best on ESPN. That’s why it is particularly startling when he revealed on social media Thursday he will be off his SportCenter duties for a while.
Reason: A positive test for COVID-19. Van Pelt says he lost the ability smell and can’t taste anything.
Won’t be doing shows for a bit after a positive Covid-19 test. Thankfully, no fever & I feel fine. Just can’t smell or taste anything which was my clue to go get a test.
So, I will hunker down and hopefully can be back at it before too long.
If you’re a bettor who had the Cleveland Browns at +3 or +3.5 on Monday night and watched as the team ended up with a jaw-dropping safety with no time on the clock in the loss to the Baltimore Ravens … oof, I’m so sorry.
That was one of the worst bad beats people have ever seen. The Ravens covered thanks to a 10 million lateral play that would normally end with a Browns player getting tackled or the ball going out of bounds or something.
But a safety? ARGH!!!
ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt — who has done a bad beats segment for a long, long time — had the best reaction to it:
An ACC team won a non-conference game this week in blowout fashion but it’s how the last 90 seconds went that has the sports world talking.
One of the best things going on in sports-television these days is Scott Van Pelt’s weekly “Bad Beats” segment on SportsCenter each Monday night.
In the segment, he and Stanford Steve go over the worst beats from a gambling perspective over the weekend.
Sometimes it’s a freakish lateral play that gets fumbled and returned for a back-door cover, other times you’ll see a ridiculous catch or bizarre call by an official change who ultimately covered the game.
On a weekend that saw plenty of them, the ACC’s Virginia Cavaliers pulled off perhaps the greatest backdoor cover one will ever against Abilene Christian.
No, not just because of the last play, but because of the last 90 seconds of the unimaginable that led to an even crazier final outcome. Take a look for yourself:
I know we’ll focus on the pick six to end it and give Virginia the ultimate cover but what in the name of Mary and Joseph is with the Cavaliers play-call on 2nd and 12 with 41 seconds remaining, while up 36?
The pick-six to end it is the icing on the cake but the ride to set that play up only blows my mind more each time I go back and rewatch it.
He who gambles lives in shambles.
Thoughts and prayers if you lost money because of that, but more thoughts and prayers your way seeing as you actually bet on Virginia/Abilene Christian.
Scott Van Pelt is fluent in just about every sport, but golf holds a special place in his heart.
As the host of the midnight edition of SportsCenter, Scott Van Pelt is fluent in just about every sport, but golf holds a special place in his heart.
Van Pelt came to ESPN from Golf Channel, where he was an anchor and reporter from 1994-2000. He still feeds his thirst for the game by serving as the main host of ESPN’s golf coverage, including the Masters and the PGA Championship, and he hosts SportsCenter reports and specials from the events.
Van Pelt joined ESPN in early 2001 as the network’s lead professional golf reporter and with the Masters nearly upon us, he made time to speak to Golfweek for a riveting conversation heavy on the Masters with a side of Tiger, DeChambeau and even one heckuva Scott Hoch story.
Q: Let’s get right to it. Who’s your Masters pick and why?
A: I’m going to keep picking Xander Schauffele until he wins because he keeps being close and eventually he’s going to win, and if I don’t pick him and he does win I’ll be livid. Before the PGA I said that this odd calendar year would be a year for breakthroughs, not necessarily people who came from off the grid but who had been lurking around the fringes and when they won you’d say OK. Morikawa was a bit earlier than we would have thought but he and DeChambeau were both first timers, won on Tour, young stars and Schauffele fits that mold and would keep with the trend.
Q: If you were a patron at the Masters, how would you spend the bulk of your day?
A: Get there early and walk the course. The course is the star. Walk directly to Amen Corner just to see it and walk your way back in. I’d go walk the par-3 course which is as beautiful as the “big course.” What’s so cool is that if you’re a golf fan you can go. You can find a ticket. It might cost you big money but if you’re a golf fan you’ve got to go.
Wednesday to me, in a normal year, is the most fun because you do what I just said and then you park yourself somewhere at the par-3 contest. It’s the day before one of the biggest events of the year and everyone’s mind is in a totally calm, happy place. This might be sacrilege to say, but I think any major is a superior televised experience to an in-person one because no matter where you are the overriding majority of what happens is not in front of you. But Augusta is the place to go for all the reasons I said. You can’t believe the place. It’s better than you think it’s going to be. It’s more beautiful than you think it’s going to be. It’s hillier than you can ever understand. You leave the place shaking your head because by like a factor of a million, it exceeds your expectations like nothing else in sports.
Q: What’s the most underrated Masters you’ve worked?
A: Adam Scott over Cabrera. The Masters are moments. As Phil says, history is going to be written here every year. Think about the shots that were made. That Masters doesn’t get brought up enough. It was birdie for Scott – yelling, ‘C’mon, Aussie!’ and he’s finally going to cash in on all that promise, then birdie for Cabrera who stiffs it at the 72nd hole and says, no you’re not, and then Scott rolls in another birdie in the playoff and that tremendous golf sort of Jesus pose and he’s backlit and it’s raining. Any chance I get I bring 2013 up. People always say, it was pretty good and I always say it was better than that.
Q: What historical moment in golf do you wish you could have witnessed?
A: Jack in ’86, just that moment where he puts his arm around Jackie and looks back down the 18th. Now that I’m a dad, I can understand what that moment must have been like. To share that moment with Jackie as his caddie, it doesn’t get any better than that. I did get to watch that moment with my dad, so that was pretty memorable.
Q: How many times have you played Augusta National and what is your most lasting memory of doing so?
A: I played it once. I won the media lottery and I played with the late great Jim Huber. My lasting memory is there’s never been a bigger tourist than I was. I walked around with an Instamatic camera and took pictures the entire time. I played poorly, but I’ll give you a couple.
When you walk across the bridge at 12, I stood there and thought everybody who’s ever been anyone in this game has stood here right where I’m standing. I’m not going to overstate it – it wasn’t religious, it was the 12th green at a golf course – but it’s a parcel that every foot that has mattered has stood here. That moment was great.
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As I said, I played poorly and I fanned one on 16 and I’m far right and the caddie went and stood on the top of the hill and he said you need to hit a ball that bounces once or twice and stops here and that’s it. I said, what have I done today to lead you to believe I’m capable of doing that? And damned if I didn’t hit a perfect chip and I walked up with my hands in the air. It didn’t go in but I hit the shot you have to hit at Augusta. I didn’t hit many of them. What I remember is I was a total tourist and I was intent on preserving the memory. But the funny thing is all I have to do is close my eyes and I remember everything.
Tiger Woods crosses the Hogan Bridge during the second round of the 2019 Masters in Augusta, Georgia. (Chris Carlson/Associated Press)
Q: If you were to take a buddies golf trip, where are you going?
A: I do take a buddy trip. We play every summer at the beach in Delaware at the Midway Par 3. Every year, me and my idiot friends mark time with this. We’re all older than we used to be. We started it when we were young. As cool as playing in Scotland and Ireland in the elements and all that, I don’t have time for that right now but I always make time for a few days at the beach to play this par-3 event. We all look forward to it the entire year.
Q: When did you start believing Tiger might win the Masters last year?
A: Not until Sunday. The Masters almost always does the same thing. So many good players play well there and they all end up in a funnel and they are all packed together and then it’s a question of who can survive the second nine. Remember who was there and remember how well they were playing. Molinari hadn’t made a mistake. Not one. He hadn’t wobbled and then he rinsed one. It took not just him but all three of them – Finau and Koepka included – to rinse it on 12. Often times history isn’t just what you do but what the others don’t. It was all happening and it was all happening in real time. It allowed Tiger to step forward and once he did it was like oh, my God, it’s going to happen. And, of course, it did.
Q: Will Tiger win another major?
A: I don’t think so, just because of the depth of the fields. It will require not just him to play great, but somebody else from that group not playing great. Cosmically, if the first was with his dad and the last was him with his kids, I can’t speak for him but I think I could in saying if that’s how it started and ended, well, that’s not a bad way to start and finish the book. Think about what that took out of him and what that sapped from his reserves. It seemed to be most everything last year. If there really are golf gods and Tiger was sitting around a table with them and they said this is what the cost is but this is what you get, he would’ve pushed all his chips in and said give me that, I’ll take that.
Q: Who’s the best interview in golf?
A: I’m pausing because I really want to give you the right answer. Really what a good interview is, is someone who will honestly tell you something. Among the very best players, I really enjoy talking to Justin Thomas because he’ll tell you what he thinks, he’ll be self-deprecating to a point and he’ll be honest with you. He got caught with a hot mic and dropped an F-bomb at the PGA at Harding Park. I refuse to apologize for the language because anyone who plays golf knows that’s what you say. There was this brief pause and I said, ‘Well…Everyone loved it, including JT.’ His emotion is palpable, he’s fiery as hell and he wants to win so badly, but he’ll be honest when he doesn’t with why he didn’t. That’s all I want from people.
Q: What current golfer would you pay good money to watch?
A: It’s a long list, man. I guess DeChambeau just to see how fast he can swing and how long he can do it. I was at Harding Park and a highly-ranked player who has won a major, I won’t identify him, said, have you seen him hit the driver yet? I said, no. He said, stick around it’s worth watching. You know this, Tour players don’t watch other players hit shots because they’re Tour players. There’s a bit of a ‘step right up and come into our big top and watch the strong man put on a ridiculous show’ to what he’s doing.
Bryson DeChambeau hands his broken driver to caddie Tim Tucker on the seventh hole during the first round of the 2020 PGA Championship. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Q: If you weren’t doing what you do, how would you be making a living?
A: I was in the process of hooking on with an insurance company when I got an interview with Golf Channel. I’d never been on TV before. None of this was supposed to happen. I just try to project gratitude into the universe because I’m sincerely grateful – whether that’s God or the universe – I want somebody to know that I’m appreciative of all this. I truly don’t know the answer. I hadn’t found my path yet when this one presented itself to me. I’m sure something would have revealed itself but I don’t have a clue what it would’ve been.
Q: How do you feel about the Golf Channel digging up its Orlando roots and moving to Connecticut?
A: It’s crushing to me. I understand the business. It’s happened to everybody given the challenges of the landscape and how things are constantly evolving and changing. It was really painful because I was an original. I could get to the Golf Channel offices from the Orlando airport blindfolded. People lost jobs that mattered to me, talented, good people, and lives left in a state of flux. I’m proud of what I got to do there in my time and for lack of a better word, it sucks.
Q: What’s the most valuable lesson you learned working at Golf Channel?
A: To respect the game. I learned an appreciation and respect for the people in it and golf as a metaphor for life that I don’t think that’s corny or hokey. No one sat us down and told us this is how you’ll treat the game. It’s just the way the game revealed itself to me.
Q: What’s the all-time bad beat in golf?
A: I think for me, at the Masters, it’s Scott Hoch. He had a helluva career, but he missed a putt that he could’ve made in his sleep. A couple of years ago I was standing under the Oak tree and a guy said hello and I realized quickly that it was Scott Hoch. He’d driven up that day with Andy Bean and he’s wearing one of those elastic white ties around his belt for his day badge. We chit-chatted for a bit and I walked away and sometime later I sat and thought about it for a bit and it shook me. If he makes that putt, every year since then he’s on this side of the rope with his family and friends to remember the greatest moment you have in golf. You get to do some corporate appearances where you get paid to eat a steak and tell about how you beat Faldo in a playoff and instead he drove up with Andy Bean to walk around the golf course. He wasn’t sad but just think about how different life would have been had he made that little putt, how different the trajectory of his life would have been.
Scott Van Pelt tore Skip Bayless to pieces without uttering his name even once.
Crass and completely out of line are the only two ways to describe what Skip Bayless said about Dak Prescott opening up on his brother, Jace’s, death.
He tried to paint Prescott out as weak in Thursday’s episode of Undisputed for falling into depression after losing his brother. He made the point that Prescott showing any sort of vulnerability in that moment was a sign of a lack of leadership.
He rightfully got roasted on the internet for his awful, and frankly dangerous, take. That includes his former ESPN colleague, Scott Van Pelt.
During last night’s midnight edition of SportsCenter, Van Pelt really dug in to what Bayless said and absolutely tore it apart without once mentioning his name.
Scott Van Pelt puts @RealSkipBayless in his place…. without ever saying his name.
“And that’s what’s so different about the modern athlete. Not Instagram or brand management — it’s the understanding that there will be understanding. That you don’t have to pretend to be tough when you aren’t. That you can ask for help and know it’s going to be met with compassion for the most part. And also to know that those who can’t muster any, aren’t worth your time or you concern.”
