It’s a tradition unlike any other.

Steve Politi’s crazy columns from The Masters. And this year’s is a gem — Steve ate nothing but pimento cheese sandwiches for 24 hours.

It’s inline with his past gems about visiting all of the Waffle Houses near Augusta, finding out how the Green Jackets get dry-cleaned, and how Arnold Palmer ordered an Arnold Palmer.

Why are these columns so awesome? Of course, the writing is spot-on. It’s evocative, it’s fun, the tone is perfect. You get a phrase like “Eating even one of them is like a colonoscopy for the tongue.” and you know you’ve got something special. As with all great columns, they capture the spirit of the thing.

Of course, it starts with the ideas. Steve and I talked about that a few years ago on The Other 51.

But look, everyone has ideas. Almost every reporter has been at a game - big or small - and said “Huh, you know what would make a great story idea?” or “Someone should do a column on …” It takes a certain confidence and mindset to actually do something with those ideas. Steve talked about this:

In the industry, there is a reluctance to sometimes break out of that box. You get in a groove where you’re at the Super Bowl and they give you the availability schedule and you know who you’re gonna talk to on a certain day, you know what the big topics are, it’s hard to say ‘Wait a minute, why am I going to write the 47th best Tom Brady column this week?

Also, the columns are impeccably reported.

That’s the secret to these columns. Anyone can come up with the idea to eat nothing but pimento cheese sandwiches for 24 hours. And there are some people who would do so and write it up.

But Steve backs these irreverent and fun ideas with real reporting. The sandwich column quotes 12 different people. The best columns always spring from the best reporting, and Steve’s are no different.