A few thoughts and comments following a hectic week of business travel and just trying to get over this bout of bronchitis. It’ll be back to the quack again tomorrow to see what the next steps are.

Watching Jason Day beat the field in the WGC-Dell Match Play shows just how much of a force he could be in all the majors this year. He’s long, he’s talented around the greens, and he’s cultivated quite the ability to step on the necks of opponents (in this case, Louis Oosthuizen) whenever a mistake opens the door of opportunity.

Speaking of which, Masters Week begins tomorrow. You’ve got prior winners like Adam Scott winning the last two events on the Florida Swing, Bubba Watson, who I believe could win at Augusta any time he can keep the demons at bay, and Jordan Spieth, who says his game is thisclose. Phil Mickelson only needs to catch lightning in a bottle as Jack did in ’86. And then there are the talented ones looking to get their first green jacket: Day, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, and a host of unknown wannabes just looking to take the next step. It ought to be a great week.

Sitting at the airport bar on Friday, I’m watching every single segment on CNN just pulverizing Donald Trump. Trump wants to nuke Europe! Trump wants to jail women who have abortions! Trump is a disaster waiting to happen! And then I see endless stories about how Trump has zero popularity among women and would lose big against Hillary Clinton in the general election. As a long-time observer of the mainstream media, none of this passes the sniff test. Believe you me, if the Beltway / media folks didn’t think Trump was a threat to them you wouldn’t hear a peep.

…but there’s no doubt Trump’s campaign finally had a bad week. Frankly, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. That interview with Chris Matthews was a disaster. And I’m surprised someone of his supposed media-savvy abilities couldn’t see that coming. Trump should have known – and hopefully he’s now learned a tough lesson – that none of these guys – on CNN, MSNBC, FOX, wherever, no matter who they are, have his interests at heart. The media only wants the Republican race to dissolve into chaos, will do anything to try and further that, and as the big dog in the race Trump should have known Matthews was going to try and take him down.

Maybe it’s just me, but I have a real bad feeling about this Red Sox team. The only good thing is that manager John Farrell knows he’s on the shortest leash in the majors (I think he’ll still be gone by Memorial Day), and GM Dave Dombrowski is fully aware that prior GM Ben Cherington was a disaster. Benching the low-performing, highly-paid Pablo Sandoval and Rusney Castillo are a good start, but the problem is who replaces them? Travis Shaw and the combination of Brock Holt and Chris Young will have to prove themselves as far as I’m concerned, and if either don’t pan out, then what? And count me as not convinced about the starting rotation beyond David Price. It’ll be an interesting year, for sure.