Golf??? You’re damn right I’m talking about Golf. (Actually, I just can’t bury that Stephen A. Smith post fast enough….that’s why you’re getting golf.)
Let me start by saying that I watched about an hour’s worth of the Masters over the four days last week. I’m not an expert by any means, but it seems like Nick Faldo is pissing some people off. As a player many considered Faldo surly, and unwilling to talk with the media. Now he’s a member of it, and he’s not holding back.
I listened to a bit of Sports Talk Radio yesterday (I know…shame on me), but it was local DC stuff so I get a pass. Sports Talk 980 was talking about how Nick Faldo was so loud in the booth on 18 that some of the players were taking issue with him. I’ll save you the whole “If a Baseball player can hit a moving pitch at 100 MPH with fans screaming at him…a golfer doesn’t need to bitch about hitting a ball sitting still” argument, but seriously who cares?
I don’t really like watching golf because it comes off as pretentious and elitist, but it’s my impression that it could use someone like Faldo. Faldo is not a Tiger apologist…meaning that most Golf Analysts will try NOT to piss Tiger off as he’s shut some folks out of interviews and exclusives. My favorite part of Sunday’s coverage was Faldo stating that Tiger probably won’t win….
It would have been easy for Faldo, who incurred Woods’ wrath last year with his on-air comments for ABC, to play it safe and lie to viewers about his real take on the action. He put himself out on a limb Sunday and didn’t ask Woods, or anybody else, for his forgiveness. Says CBS executive producer Tony Petitti: “We encourage those opinions. And on this one, he was dead on.”
Wow…an honest opinion. In all fairness CBS does have a quandary. So many people tune in and tune out based on Tiger’s performance, so they hype up his chances. This way of thinking may help them in smaller tournaments, but this is The Masters….come on, people will tune in anyway(s). (And I very well might tune-in for Faldo…..but I’m weird like that.)
In the end Faldo doesn’t come off looking like an ass……kind of how Peter Kostis looks after asking Phil Mickelson if his US Open collapse hurt him in this year’s Masters, and then completely backing off the statement.
A Faldo Quote: “I enjoy the entertainment factor,” he said. “Somebody says, ‘Have a good show.’ That’s when it hit that this is essentially entertaining. That’s the vein I’m trying to go down. I believe I can talk well when it needs to be serious golf or serious strategy, and hopefully we can bounce around with fellow presenters, and people find it interesting in whatever way. That’s the whole point, is for people to move closer to the screen.”
That IS the whole point Nick…..glad you’re one of the few that gets it.
Faldo Sinks A Winning Shot (USA Today)
This Was A Masters To Remember For Nantz (Chron.com)
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