The Tribune

With Charlie Harper

Among golf tournaments, the British Open and the Masters are generally regarded as the most prestigious and the most steeped in the many traditions with which golf drapes itself. In the US, CBS has televised the Masters from the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia since 1956, the longstanding commercial relationship between the network and the tournament organizers becoming a tradition in itself. Among CBS’ many broadcasters, two stand out - former New York Giants star Pat Summerall provided commentary from 1968-94 and current velvet-toned mainstay Jim Nance has been at the mike in Augusta since 1986.

It has long been rumoured that in order to keep its relationship with the tournament, CBS must adhere to the sometimes maddening, treacly reverence with which Nance and others unctuously describe the course’s 18 holes, each of which has its own name.

None of that was a problem this year. Tiger Woods, 43 years of age, saw to that by methodically and inexorably winning his fifth Masters green jacket and 15th over all major golf championship. The major title was his first in 11 years and first Masters win since 2005. Now best known locally for his involvement in Albany in western New Providence and his season-ending PGA golf tournament on its course, Woods has revived speculation about whether he can catch Jack Nicklaus (six Masters and 18 majors). Nicklaus, after ceremonially inaugurating this year’s Masters with Gary Player, was reportedly bone fishing in The Bahamas while Woods mesmerised a huge early Sunday television audience with his steady, determined play. No one moves the needle in golf like Tiger.

Two images from this year’s Masters seem likely to remain most indelibly etched in viewers’ minds. The first came at the short 12th hole, where then-leader Francesco Molinari of Italy shot first and promptly dumped his tee shot in the water.

Molinari’s ashen expression immediately after his mis-hit told the whole story. After wise veteran Woods put his tee shot safely on the green, it felt like Tiger would win. After he did, the emotion-drenched hugs with his children and his mother were aptly and meaningfully compared with his embrace of his father when he won his first Masters in 1997. Nance and CBS rose to the occasion, and it all made for great TV.

NBA brings Magic moments

As the six-month NBA season transitions into its two-plus month post-season, with TV screens saturated with play-off series between often unevenly matched opponents seeking fitfully for suspense, there have been some truly significant developments.

Perhaps the biggest of these concerns the league’s glamour franchise, the Los Angeles Lakers. The team missed the play-offs again, for the sixth straight year. This slump comes after a run of 60 play-off appearances and 16 championships which is only historically rivalled by the success of the Boston Celtics. Right after the 2018-19 season ended, Magic Johnson resigned as president of the Lakers. While this once-transcendent star had little more front-office success with the Lakers than did Michael Jordan with the Washington Wizards after he retired as a player, Magic’s sudden departure still felt jarring. In the end, Magic may have concluded that he is happier as a free-wheeling, diversified – and quite successful – businessman than as a team employee.

Dwayne Wade has retired after a brilliant Hall of Fame career with the Miami Heat. Wade, now 37, went out in style with a triple double against Brooklyn in a road game attended by his “Banana Boat” buddies LeBron James, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony. The always gracious Wade seemed genuinely touched by the outpouring of admiration and love he received on his farewell tour this season. He led the Heat to three NBA titles and was the scoring leader for the 2008 US Olympic champion “Dream Team”, the best collection of pure basketball talent ever assembled. Still quite productive and arguably still the best player on a team that just missed qualifying for the playoffs this year, Wade goes out on his own terms, publicly launching a search for “the next chapter” in a life so far defined by grace and accomplishment.

Dirk Nowitski also announced his retirement. An NBA champion and Finals MVP in 2011, Nowitski set a record by playing 21 seasons for the Dallas Mavericks. Initially dismissed as a seven-foot jump shooter, Nowitski determinedly built a career as a 14-time NBA All Star. Entering the NBA from Germany where he was a prep sensation, Nowitski is credited with paving the way for more than one generation of European and other foreign stars to the NBA, enhancing its reputation as the world’s premier basketball league and advancing the sport’s appeal far beyond the United States. It is fitting that as he departs, Nowitski hands off his baton with the Mavs to another brilliant young European star, Luka Doncic, a Slovenian guard who many expect to be chosen as the NBA Rookie of the Year.

The real story

Foreign Direct Investment can be defined as a controlling interest in a business in one country by an entity based in another country.

An example attracting persistent local interest is control of Baha Mar by a Hong Kong-based Chinese firm. FDI is often a part of a broader discussion of international trade and economic and commercial relations.

Foreign trade has been elevated by current US President Trump to a headline issue to a much greater extent than under other recent American chief executives, and the resulting furore has likely pushed the issue into public discourse to an unprecedented degree, especially in the US.

At a recent private academic gathering in Washington, Catherine Novelli exposed several popular myths of international trade. A veteran of the office of the US.

Trade Representative at the State Department as well as a former Vice President at Apple, Novelli identified as Myth One China’s position on a list of largest US trade partners. While most people she has encountered on a recent listening tour across America thought China was America’s biggest trading partner, Novelli says the European Union, Mexico and Canada all rank well ahead.

The EU, she noted, is “by far the largest partner in the import and export of services (as distinguished from manufactured goods or agricultural products).”

On FDI in the US, the EU is “massively in the lead, far ahead of any other entity, specifically including China”. The UK is the leader, with almost 15 percent of FDI in the US Japan, Canada and the Netherlands were next.

Another myth is that international trade is mostly in manufactured goods. Services and agriculture account for larger and growing percentages for the US, Novelli said, especially in the export sector. Also, many believe only large multinational firms benefit from international trade.

By volume, Novelli said 98 percent of US international trade is now conducted by small businesses, though she admitted that two-thirds of the overall revenue is generated by large corporations.

Foreign trade and FDI remain nuanced issues subject to easy misrepresentation. In the current environment, this is especially true in the US, but also elsewhere.

When men were men

The 107th anniversary of the catastrophic sinking of the Titanic just passed on Monday.

It turns out that a little-known memorial in Washington DC commemorates the sacrifice on that fateful night of many of the male passengers. As so famously recalled in the Oscar-winning film Titanic, men aboard the doomed ship stood aside so women and children passengers could board lifeboats and save themselves.

According to the Washington Post, Swedish researchers in 2012 discovered that 70 percent of the female passengers on board survived the vessel’s tragic collision with a North Atlantic iceberg. Only 20 percent of the men survived.

But the Swedish researchers also found that the principle of “women and children first” seems to have been applied uniquely in the Titanic calamity. They found no evidence that this gallant-sounding tenet has ever been applied in other maritime disasters. Hmm. Next, we’re going to hear that the Easter Bunny is all a big commercial hoax.