04/19/24
March 29, 2010
SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Not arguing that them's the rules, but why does "grounding your club" matter?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:14 AM on March 29, 2010
The rule's there to stop players "testing the surface". It's a big advantage if you're in a bunker to know how deep the loose sad goes before you get to the hard packed stuff; that tells you how deep your club will go before it bounces off the hard stuff and therefore how you should try and play the shot.
Likewise, where Wie was, it would be a big advantage to know how much give was in the ground below the grass next to the water hazard. If it's hard under there, you can hit down on the ball and squeeze it out with some spin; if it's soft and you try that you risk hitting it really fat as the sole of the club won't bounce off the ground.
posted by JJ at 09:24 AM on March 29, 2010
I get it. Thanks for explaining. The only part I don't get is why she thought she could get away with it.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:38 AM on March 29, 2010
There's a sub-clause in the rule that says if you're about to fall, you can ground the club to keep your balance. She claims that's what she did, but if looking at the video, it's clearly not what she did.
She looks bad (or at least oblivious) for grounding the club; she looks a whole lot worse for saying she did it to steady herself when she didn't.
posted by JJ at 09:46 AM on March 29, 2010
The Steelers are at it again. STAY OUT OF THE CLUBS!!!!
At least he didnt have any weed on him this time.
posted by Debo270 at 09:49 AM on March 29, 2010
Jets' Woody Johnson Leaps Into the Limelight
posted by BornIcon at 10:45 AM on March 29, 2010
Bill Self did a good job as a tournament studio analyst over the weekend. If they ever make him feel unwelcome in Lawrence, he can go straight to broadcast HQ, clip on a lav and sit right down at the big desk.
posted by beaverboard at 01:17 PM on March 29, 2010
Sports broadcasting as an old boys' club:
For reasons that simply baffle, hockey analysis in North America has fallen exclusively to North Americans, and not just North Americans but almost entirely to failed general managers (Mike Milbury), failed coaches (Barry Melrose), a full team of former fourth-line players and more ex-goaltenders than the Philadelphia Flyers have gone through since expansion.
Some are simply silly (no names required, surely), a few are excellent and several others are keepers but where oh where is the European sensibility, the Russian/Swedish/Finnish/Czech eye, the voice that might explain what is never explained by the North Americans?
Hockey-centric, but definitely applicable to other sports.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 05:13 PM on March 29, 2010
DrJohn, I have to think that accent would come into play with Eastern European and Scandinavian players. Sure they could have had lessons to think them out but still a big hurdle.
OTOH, I hear a lot of British accents on soccer telecasts in the US.
posted by billsaysthis at 08:45 PM on March 29, 2010
I've heard some quite unintelligible accents on North American soccer coverage. And I'm from England!
posted by Drood at 10:43 PM on March 29, 2010
Ah, MacGregor ... your insight into the game of hockey shines through in this piece. It's bang on. How did he say it? Something about bringing the analysis up to the level the game has been at for some time. Yeah ... couldn't agree more.
Nice link, DJE.
posted by Spitztengle at 12:47 AM on March 30, 2010
Lawrence Donegan wonders when's Michelle Wie going to learn the rules?
The sad part for a Wie fan is that she spent 10 minutes arguing with officials that she only grounded her club to keep her balance, which from the video is clearly, if you'll excuse the expression, horse shit. The fact that she was arguing that point also indicates that she knows the rule just fine, but chose to lie through her teeth about it when the official questioned her.