You are da man!

The way you played on the first day of the Masters, was a wonder to behold. Your calm, your nerve, your skill! The way you put it all together to be five under, and one off Jordan Spieth with four holes to play on the day.

And then, even more impressive?

The way you held it all together even when it went to hell in a handcart for you, and you dropped five shots.

You didn't:

Swear at your caddy.

Throw down your clubs.

Throw your toys out of the cot.

Instead, you kept smiling, including at the press conference and said you were still pretty happy with the way things went.

An inspiration!

All the best, from all off us.

Oh, and one last thing. If you run into Nick Kyrgios in your travels, can you talk to him? He needs to hear from you. He needs to spend time with you. He needs to understand how it can be done. With class, and with calm.

Gotta love this city

Last Thursday evening a reader, Lauren, was on the 5.10pm from Wynyard to Cronulla. At Central, three seriously old blokes got on, and as the train was so crowded stood up the back. As two of them had walking sticks, a couple of kind souls offered up their own seats, which were gratefully accepted.

"One of them," Lauren recounts, "was a funny old bloke."

Very chatty!

"See that old bloke over there," says he to the kind lady who had offered him the seat, pointing to his mate opposite, "I went to school with him, 73 years ago, and he was my left prop in 1947. In fact, me and him and Tommy here all played rugby together."

Ah, but he's still warming up!

"In fact," he says, pointing to the other big fellow standing nearby, and lifting a gear in pride, "he played with us too. That's Tommy Ryan, the oldest Rugby League NSW Blues player, St George and Australian Kangaroos rep!"

In the chat that ensued, it turned out that the trio were from a group of Joeys old boys, who went to school together in the 1940s. They call themselves the "Naughty Forties", and get together every three months or so for lunch. Back in their day, he said, whenever their First XV had been battling during a game, the whole school would sing You'll Never Walk Alone.

This had kind of got into their bones, he said.

"So whenever in life you are down as a Joeys boy, you never walk alone. We stick like glue, as you can see."

The people on the train could see.

"I got off the train a bit teary," Lauren says, "it was such a heart-warming story. These old blokes still together and looking after one another 70 years later. All I can say is the school must have had something special that kept them together all these years."

I know it. You know it.

Gotta love this city!

Terrific Tommy ... Tommy Ryan in action during his playing days for St George.

Oh my god

After my oh so careful treatment of the Will Hopoate episode - labouring the point that whatever else, he seems like such a nice young man - your humble correspondent was bemused to see a very earnest column written by the noted Anglican rector, Dr Michael Jensen, accusing me of "belittling," Hopoate, and not showing sufficient respect for religion, etc, etc. Not at all my, good doctor. As I specifically noted from the beginning with Hopoate, you can't belittle the man himself because he is clearly so sincere, and such a good man. But what I'd love you to make clear is this, because I still don't get it? All the major religious beliefs, led by Christianity and Islam - and for the purposes of this we can throw in the Mormons - have become major because they espouse the view that unless you believe exactly what we do, you will burn in hell for all eternity. Little kids are taught that from the day dot, and actually go on to believe it as adults! The nutters go further, and say not only will you so burn, but you deserve to for not believing like we do. So, how is it that you get to put that belief system in the public domain, but when I return with a long raspberry at such absurdity, and the view that I and most won't believe transparent nonsense without evidence, I am the one being disrespectful? Riddle me that, please?

And I note that, in the same article, you are happy to express "contempt" for the religious beliefs of the Aztecs, people who worshiped their gods in the time before serious science could give them alternative explanations of how the world works. But you live in a time of serious science, and still believe there is an inherent evil in humans all because, to steal a line, "a woman made out of one rib bone and a mound of dirt was tricked into eating fruit from a magical tree by a talking snake".

I leave with you the words of Stephen Roberts: "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

Thank you. Fire at will.

Doing it tough

Ummmm, what's going on with NSW sport?

The Waratahs are struggling. The best performing NRL teams seem to be north of the Tweed, south of the Murray or in the ACT. Wanderers will be the only NSW team out of four starters, in the A-League finals. All up, only the Swans and Giants are doing well!

Getting plucked

"Knock, knock."

"Who's there?"

"Owen."

"Owen who?"

"O and five, the Sydney Roosters, so far this season!"

What they said

Sam Newman on critics: "They are insignificant people, they're armchair critics, they are like eunuchs in a harem. They are there every night, they see it done every night, they see how it should be done but they can't do it themselves."

Shane Warne just can't help but make headlines after Marlon Samuels' words following the World T20 final: "I played a Test series in Australia [recently] and every day, Shane Warne has a problem with me. I've never disrespected him. I don't know. Maybe because my face is real and his face is not?"

Bernie Ecclestone says Formula One is "cheating" its fans because the quality of the show is poor: "We are not putting on a very good show. Imagine if people turned up to watch the Rolling Stones and Mick [Jagger] couldn't sing and the others couldn't play their instruments."

Aussie long jumper Fabrice Lapierre on his new outlook as Rio approaches: "I feel like a whole different person. I wake up every morning with a purpose, I tick all the boxes and I can't wait to go training."

Cowboys coach Paul Green is not a fan of the bunker: "There is no consistency in their decision making and they are getting some big decisions wrong. And one thing I want to know is why they call it the bunker ... Who are they are at war with? The coaches?"

AFL CEO Gil McLachlan on the AFL's relationship with betting companies: "We are better off having relationships with wagering companies than not because we get access to information."

Nick Kyrgios: "I feel like nobody knows the real me. But to be honest, I would prefer to keep it that way. At the end of the day it's just tennis. Things are happening every day that are more important."

Honey badger Nick Cummins on in a relationship who would be "honey": "I'm a pretty sweet sort of a rooster. She could call me honey and I'd cop it sweet. I'd probably call her mate."

Sam Newman on Rebecca Maddern joining the Footy Show: "It wouldn't matter what she did, she's [going to] get criticised and so will we for being patronising or too tough on, or her having too much to say or not enough."

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique on the eternal Messi/Ronaldo debate: "Messi is not human, but Ronaldo is the best of the humans!"

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons doesn't like baseball's new sliding rule: "Maybe we'll come out wearing dresses tomorrow. Maybe that's what everybody's looking for."

After dropping five shots on the last four holes on the first day of the Masters, to finish with an even-par 72, Jason Day still remained upbeat: "To be honest, I played great golf. If I went 41 on the front side and 31 on the back side I'd be just celebrating ... I've just got to slowly try to inch my way back into this tournament if I can, and be patient with myself and hopefully I'm there by Sunday." Day has to be THE most likeable character currently doing business in the highest echelons of Australian sport. Discuss.

Team of the week 

Windies cricket. Both their men and women's teams crowned the champions of T20 cricket.

Lydia Ko - 18-year-old golfer became the youngest player to win two LPGA major championships.

Winx. Racehorse who keeps on winning. Not sure if it's a boy-horsie, or a girl-horsie, or a neutered-horsie, or even if it matters. Will tell you next week, after the apoplectic emails come in. (You wouldn't believe how much I now know about the Clipsal 500!)

Melbourne Rebels. Made the Waratahs look rather miserable.

Andrew Gaze. Dyed-in-the-wool Victorian loves Australian basketball so much he's prepared to coach the Sydney Kings.

Tiger Woods.  Speculation grew this week that he might be on the point of announcing his retirement. A report in Sports Illustrated had it that he spends much of his time in isolation, at home, playing Playstation.

Sydney AFL Derby. The Swans take on the Giants the sarvo at the SCG, with both teams coming off great wins. I say, Swans to win by the hairs of their chinny-chin-chins.

Broke. It's a home-grown movie about to be released, about an ex-league star caught in the grips of gambling addiction. Gambling Solutions Central Coast is having a movie night in May at Avoca Beach to raise money for Men of League.

Twitter: @Peter_Fitz