Over the weekend, Tiger Woods played in the Hero World Challenge golf tournament in the Bahamas. There was plenty of good news that came from that tournament and because much of it involved Tiger Woods, the media were all over it. Let me highlight some of the many pieces of good news:
- Tiger Woods finished all four rounds of the tournament without having to withdraw and without limping from hole to hole. He has not done that for a while now; his physical condition seems much improved.
- If you are a TV exec and your network carries golf, you have to be thrilled at what happened last weekend and by Woods’ statement that he plans to play again next year.
- If you are a PGA Tour exec, you have to be thrilled because your TV revenues are tied to ratings and TV ratings for golf have plummeted since Tiger Woods has been on the shelf.
- If you are a golf writer or broadcaster, you have a meal ticket again – someone who can assure that there is never a “slow news day” on your beat.
With all that good news and a sense of euphoria, one wonders why anyone has to take it over the top. Kyle Porter writes about golf on CBSSports.com; naturally, what he was writing about over the weekend and into Monday all centered around Tiger Woods. Let me be clear; I do not know Kyle Porter from Cole Porter from Cole Hamels from Dorothy Hamill from Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. I have no reason to like or dislike him or his work. So why did he have to lead one of his reports with this:
“Tiger Woods’ first tournament back at the Hero World Challenge was a raving success by any feasible metric. Woods led the field in birdies, looked genuinely interested in the event and did not grimace after hitting a single shot.”
Let me address the phrase “…a raving success by any feasible metric.” I will start by saying “Bulls*it!” Now let me provide a couple of “feasible metrics”:
- There were 17 golfers in the tournament field. Tiger Woods finished 15th.
- In addition to leading the field in birdies, he led the field in double bogeys too.
- Woods’ 76 on the final round was the worst round shot by anyone in the field.
- The two guys Tiger Woods beat out were Russell Knox and Emiliano Grillo. I am not sure that even the PGA Tour Commish could pick those two guys out of a lineup with the Smurfs.
There was plenty of good news from the Hero World Challenge. However, this sort of phony praise and looking at the world through rose colored glasses does not add to the good news; what it does is to diminish it. Moreover, it diminishes any sense one might have regarding the objectivity of the journalism that under-girds the reporting.
Moving on … The 2018 Winter Olympics will take place in PyeongChang, South Korea; and as is customary with the way NBC televises Olympic competitions here in the US, there will be saturation. I do not just mean there will be saturation in the winter of 2018; the saturation starts now.
Last month, NBC began televising some of the test-events leading up to the games on various outlets under the NBC umbrella. In case you did not know, they have already covered the “big air event” associated with the FIS Snowboard World Cup. I used quotation marks there because I am not a snowboarding aficionado and could not tell you what the rules are regarding the “big air event”. To be candid, the phrase “big air event” conjures up in my mind the aftermath of a chow-down at Taco Bell…
But do not worry if you missed the first telecast of these events. There are eleven more to follow between now and March 2017. As a public service, let me alert you to the ways you might avail yourselves of this coverage:
“NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app – NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, tablets, and connected TVs – will stream coverage. The NBC Sports app will stream coverage via ‘TV Everywhere,’ giving consumers additional value to their subscription service, and making high-quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms.”
Consider yourselves alerted and forewarned; I seriously doubt that I will have much more to say about any of the dozen or so events that will air here – – unless of course a serious confrontation between competing teams involving live ammunition comes to a head in the IBU Biathlon World Cup…
Finally, I began today with commentary on the Hero World Challenge golf tournament so let me close with an item from Brad Dickson in the Omaha World-Herald about another non-major golf tournament:
“There is a golf tournament in northern Oregon exclusively for marijuana smokers and growers. It’s the second athletic competition of its type. The other, of course, is called the NBA season.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………