The British Open and, yes, Norman did choke again

Shooting from the Lip
Looking back at a weekend of televised sports ...

Best event
Did anyone else out there find themselves not really rooting for Greg Norman during the British Open?  Sure, it was compelling that a 53-year-old who barely plays anymore was in contention for a major title. And he seems like a nice enough guy, although former close friend Andy Mill, whose ex-wife Chris Evert reportedly had an extramarital affair with Norman and married him this month, might disagree.

But back to golf: Just because Norman is 53 and was not expected to be in contention does not mean he still didn't choke away the tournament. ABC's Mike Tirico said during the broadcast, "It doesn't feel like Greg Norman blew this one.''

Really? Norman had a two-stroke lead going into Sunday and started the final round by going bogey, bogey, bogey,  par, par, bogey. It took him all of three holes to turn the lead over to eventual champ Padraig Harrington. Hey, just because he’s an "old'' guy doesn’t mean he's immune from us pointing out that he wilted under the pressure. Again.

So-so coverage
ABC's coverage of the British Open was mediocre mostly because of the mediocre broadcasters. Host Mike Tirico is a solid golf guy and always does a professional job, but I'm not much of a Paul Azinger fan. Azinger just hasn't seemed to have found his voice as a broadcaster. His monotone delivery makes it impossible for him to sound clever or funny, and, quite frankly, it's hard for him to sound authoritative at majors when he only won one — the 1993 PGA Championship.

Thank goodness Tom Watson didn't make the cut because he was the best thing ABC had going. Hmm, imagine that, the vanilla Watson being the highlight of a broadcast. Still, except for Tirico, ABC's broadcast team is now way behind NBC with Johnny Miller and Dottie Pepper.

Most underused reporter
ABC and ESPN are still trying to figure out a way to best use newly-acquired Rick Reilly, the former Sports Illustrated columnist. Reilly always seems two seconds away from saying something inappropriate, but that actually makes him compelling to watch. And the guy is fall-on-the-ground funny. Golf is Reilly's strongest subject and ABC, which sorely lacked personality at the British Open, should have used him more.

Best moments
Tom Watson had the two best lines of ABC's weekend coverage of the British Open. When KJ Choi hit a bunker shot into the wind Saturday, Watson said, "That's a shampoo shot. After you hit that shot, you have to go shampoo your hair.''
He also broke out something golf viewers might have never heard when he said, "Ben Hogan said, 'I know I'm going to hit seven bad shots, on average, in a round of golf.' You’re going to fail some. It's how you react to your failure and how you recover from your failure that makes you a champion.''
That's good stuff.

Most overblown praise
Reader Gerry Kaszer of St. Petersburg picked up on something Fox's Joe Buck said during last week's All-Star Game. Buck talked about how Yankees owner George Steinbrenner has done so much for baseball and should be in the Hall of Fame. Kaszer wrote, "My take is that Steinbrenner has been good for George and for the Yankees, but not real good for baseball. In general, Buck showed himself to be an aimless prattler who really didn't need a baseball game behind him in order to yammer relentlessly.''

I think Buck is outstanding, but on this particular subject, I have to go with Mr. Kaszer.

Best feature
I made a vow over the weekend to not write about ESPN's Outside the Lines. I write about that show every week, it seems, and I didn't want anyone thinking I was on OTL's payroll.

Then -- dang it -- it produced another outstanding piece. Disturbing, but outstanding and important. Reporter T.J. Quinn looked at children getting involved in mixed martial arts. Not as viewers, but as participants. Watching images of kindergartners punching other kids, flipping them through the air and putting them in submission holds was nauseating. Watching adults, including the parents of crying kids, defend it was even more shocking and sickening.

Frank Shamrock, an MMA legend and commentator, handled himself pathetically, choosing to defend it by doing little more than laughing, shaking his head and essentially saying:  "What's the problem?''

This was all bound to happen, by the way. We flood TV with MMA fights, make it seem cool, and soon enough, kids are going to get involved. What's troubling is the parents seem to be the ones pushing kids into it. If the parents and instructors aren't going to protect these kids, lawmakers need to. MMA is barbaric and panders to our lowest instincts. Banning this sport entirely would be perfect, but making it illegal for anyone under the age of 18 seems imperative.

Best Brett Favre take
As we continue to follow the Brett Favre soap opera, ESPN's Sports Reporters boiled it all down Sunday. Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free-Press said if you have veteran Favre or kid Aaron Rogers, who would you want as your quarterback? "With all due respect to Aaron Rogers,'' Albom said perfectly, "he isn't due any respect.''
Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News added, "(The Packers) are a 'now' team about to hand the keys over to a 'tomorrow' quarterback.''

Three things I learned via TV
1. The Angels' Casey Kotchman, who grew up in Pinellas County, is the toughest  American Leaguer to strike out -- it happens only once in every 17 at-bats.
2. Speaking of the Angels, closer Francisco Rodriguez likely will hit the free-agent market and might be looking for a five-year deal worth $75-million. Maybe Rays owner Stu Sternberg should start digging in his couches for loose change.
3. Oklahoma City is going to call its new NBA team the Thunder, and here's the word that comes to mind: ugh! And further more, bleh! Don’t we all hate singular noun nicknames? This is the NBA, not the Arena Football League.

Comments

[Boe]

Your continued rants against MMA are getting old. I do not see how you can approve of sports such as boxing, football and hockey and yet be so horrified by MMA. Did you ever play any of these sports? Is that why you have a cheerleader's megaphone at the top of your blog?

Have you ever been hit so hard playing football that you were looking out the earhole of your helmet? Have you ever seen a 12 year old come up from the bottom of a pile of football players with a compound fracture? I have. And he and I both survived. Barbaric. Maybe. Yet ok with Tom Jones.

What about boxing where a guy gets hit in the head so many times over his career that he is permanently brain damaged. And hockey where guys beat each other bloody for no good reason. If you actually knew anything about MMA you would know that as it is practiced in the UFC it is actually likely to cause less long term injuries than boxing. But you just keep writing about tennis and women's basketball and soon your paper won't have ANY readers under 45.

I certainly don't approve of parents allowing their children to watch or practice MMA. But I also wouldn't allow my children to watch WWE or boxing. That's why there is a remote control. You can find something horrible in any sport if you look hard enough. If your paper isn't going to give fans any coverage of MMA then please just shut up about it already.

[john riggins]

tom:

i never thought you were on the dime for outside the lines but i am all but convinced you are on the take for that midget lupica.

please do your readers a favor and quit quoting him. i mean, you are trying to attract more readers, not chase them away, are you not?

(mma = human cockfighting.)

[Chuck]

As usual, your column is a total joke.

I'll start with the one good point you make: MMA is nothing more than white trash population control. If you're interested in MMA and have chinese letter decals on your 89 Civic, you suck as a human being.

Now for the rest:

Norman's "choke" is irrelevant. You can't tell me you expected him to shoot par or better on a Sunday in those conditions. Harrington dominated. No one else had a chance to win that tournament. My favorite part of the weekend was watching that hack Poulter fist pump after making a 10 foot par putt on 18 to give him the clubhouse lead a +7. Then shots of him warming up on the range in preparation for a playoff coupled with the moment he realized he was going to finish four shots back. Beautiful.

2. I would have accepted your criticism of Paul Azinger until I realized that it was nothing more than a manifestation of your Gator Honkness.

3. Rick Reilly is terrible. For a real column perhaps you should check out Bill Simmons.

[john hillman]

>>Rick Reilly is terrible. For a real column perhaps you should check out Bill Simmons.<<<

i agree rick reilly is terrible (sappy columns, usually about golf. UGH!) but if simmons is what is the standard for "a real column" i'll quit reading. period. he is the absolute worst. always reaching for a lame analogy of some obscure pop culture reference, never writes anything outside of boston sports, nba and gambling. whipee!

and someone tell simmons less is more. no need to write 12,000-word "columns."

i'd rather read ted simmons!

[Alex]

Yeah, sure, no one likes singular noun team nicknames...

If only there we're a lot of fans of one particular team that fits that description (can you say, "Tampa Bay Lightning?")