Bambi’s Bombers Revisited

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates review the 2024 Masters Tournament in which Scottie Scheffler won another green jacket. Tiger Woods made the cut at the Augusta Nationals for a record-setting 24th consecutive time but finished with one of the worst scores of his long career. 

“Watching Tiger play was kind of painful. He finished, like, 16 over. 16 over!” says Lucas, a Cap Times sports freelance writer and former radio color analyst for the Badgers. “He looked in rough shape. He was pained. It was like he was struggling just to get up to the green. It reminded me of Willie Mays playing for the Mets or Johnny Unitas throwing passes for the Rams. It was just so out of character.” 

Oates says this year’s Masters showed a new generation emerging in professional golf. 

“There were a lot of guys, 30 and under, all over that leaderboard. Man, they really crush the ball,“ says Oates, the former Wisconsin State Journal sports columnist. “How demoralizing would it be to play golf with Scottie Scheffler? He hits it 330, straight down the middle, off every tee.” 

Also on the show, the veteran journalists are pleased with how the Milwaukee Brewers have played in the first few weeks of the season. 

“They’ve been hitting the cover off the baseball,” says Lucas. “It’s like the Bambi’s Bombers revisited.”

Lucas and Oates are loving the recent rule changes enacted by Major League Baseball, especially the pitch clock. 

“It’s outstanding…it’s restored some of the game. It restored the stolen base. Offensive baseball had become too one-dimensional,” says Oates. “The Brewers have taken advantage of that so far this year. They’re running. They’re aggressive on the bases. Nice job by [manager] Pat Murphy to recognize that and go with it.”

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Dylan Brogan. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

A weekly podcast with insights and analysis on the Wisconsin Badgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Bucks from two of Wisconsin’s most experienced sports journalists. Mike Lucas is a veteran sports columnist for the Cap Times and was a Badgers radio color commentator for over 25 years. Tom Oates was a sports reporter and columnist for the Wisconsin State Journal for 40 years.