11/23/24
April 15, 2010
SportsFilter: The Thursday 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.
Jim Nantz tees off on Tiger for cursing during the Masters. "If I said what he said on the air, I would be fired," he said in a radio interview. "People can say, 'Oh, but that's Tiger, that's his competitive fire.' Everybody on the leaderboard, you don't think they want a victory as much as he does?"
posted by rcade at 08:49 AM on April 15, 2010
Beware Kurt Suzuki's pitch-out style.
posted by yerfatma at 08:53 AM on April 15, 2010
yerfatma, that was incredible.
posted by apoch at 09:06 AM on April 15, 2010
Satch Sanders and the birth of cool.
posted by yerfatma at 09:09 AM on April 15, 2010
Beware Kurt Suzuki's pitch-out style.
What th'?! That throw was absolutely perfect. Good stuff.
posted by NoMich at 09:13 AM on April 15, 2010
I've got to say, watching the CBS feed from Amen Corner on Thursday and Friday, I heard a lot more choice language from some other players than I heard from Tiger all week (I clocked two muttered "god damnit"s and a "Jesus Christ" from him).
Steve Flesch in particular sticks in my mind. After his tee shot on 12 (which didn't even miss the green by the way) he said "Jesus Christ, I fucking suck at this game". I heard at least half a dozen other F-bombs getting lobbed out there, but not by Tiger so it wasn't a story.
I for one quite like swearing and do so on the golf course (and off it) more than most and more than I'd want my kids to (if I had any), so I'm not in the least bit offended by Tiger or anyone else swearing, but I do think it's wrong to single him out. The club throwing is different, and it's a hard habit to break (even after 30 years of playing golf and these days never being under any kind of real pressure, I still do it every so often), but in fairness to Tiger it really looks like he's trying to cut that out. I only saw him drop it from the top of his follow through a couple of times, but I saw him back off slamming it lots of times.
I'd rather watch him grumpily shoot the lights out than play mediocre crap with a smile. I'd love to see him shoot the lights out AND smile but, to mangle Dorothy Parker, if that's too adorable, I'd rather have the great golf.
Besides, pointing out that Tiger swears too much is like pointing out that Hitler had bad taste in shoes; there are plenty of other things to discuss about the guy's bad behaviour. Also, who are we kidding? America loves to see people crush their opponents; since when did it matter if the crusher was polite in the process?
posted by JJ at 09:14 AM on April 15, 2010
I don't see why Jim Nantz's cursing on air and Tiger Woods cursing would be related. Jim Nantz's job is to say stuff on air and be careful what he says. Tiger Woods has a different job -- he plays golf. I don't even quite understand why people care whether someone curses or not. You know what happens to kids who hear cursing? Nothing.
posted by bperk at 09:27 AM on April 15, 2010
Where did you see the CBS feed?
Tiger Woods has a different job -- he plays golf.
He plays golf for an audience of millions. The presence of the audience is why it's ridiculous for him to show such poor self-control. But I do agree with the earlier comment that the visible signs of his lost composure ought to comfort the golfers competing with him. It shows how vulnerable his game has become.
That Suzuki spin and throw was completely ninja. The look on Chone Figgins' face is priceless.
posted by rcade at 09:37 AM on April 15, 2010
Kids who hear swearing grow up and turn into Raider Milt.
Very strong warning!!! Not safe for work (audio) or kids or anyone who fears the downfall of western civilization!!!
and admins-I won't be a little bit hurt if this gets deleted. It's some messed up people.
posted by tahoemoj at 10:00 AM on April 15, 2010
He plays golf for an audience of millions. The presence of the audience is why it's ridiculous for him to show such poor self-control.
Golf on television doesn't require mikes to be where we can hear expletives from players.
posted by bperk at 10:29 AM on April 15, 2010
I hope Raider Milt doesn't think he's the first person who ever talked tough on the hardtop in Oakland.
Milt is strictly junior varsity. The real Oakland talking game begins and ends with Dolemite.
(Small clip there. Plenty more where that came from.)
posted by beaverboard at 10:29 AM on April 15, 2010
Golf on television doesn't require mikes to be where we can hear expletives from players.
Golf mikes pick up the sound of the shot, discussions between player and caddy and fan reactions. Are you suggesting we lose all that because the top player in the game can't make a bad shot without throwing the occasional fit?
posted by rcade at 10:56 AM on April 15, 2010
I too, saw the live feed that JJ discussed, it was available through masters.com, a really great thing. As an aside, I also got the app for my phone and was able to watch what I would have missed when I was traveling to dinner (by train). Steve Flesh was quite foul-mouthed, seemed he wants to be the the new Steve Pate, aka Volcano. As far as the cursing on the course goes I don't mind it. Tiger gets picked up cursing more because he is on TV more than any of the other pros. Case in point, while K.J. Choi was working his way to the penultimate group on Sunday, how many shots of his did we see on Saturday? I'm around golf daily, and most golfers would make a sailor blush, so I don't find it offensive when these guys get picked up cussing at a bad shot. To any of you that play, I bet you have spilled a few cusses in the course of a round. It's a hard f@#$%&g game.
posted by soocher at 11:19 AM on April 15, 2010
Are you suggesting we lose all that because the top player in the game can't make a bad shot without throwing the occasional fit?
Yes, if one has such delicate ears that expletives by players will cause harm.
posted by bperk at 11:29 AM on April 15, 2010
I'm around golf daily, and most golfers would make a sailor blush ...
When I golfed, I hated getting stuck with some club-throwing, cursing hothead as a playing partner. It's bush league. Act like you belong. Tiger dropping his club in disgust at The Masters made him look like a putz.
posted by rcade at 12:01 PM on April 15, 2010
Beware Kurt Suzuki's pitch-out style.
What an incredible play.
I don't see why Jim Nantz's cursing on air and Tiger Woods cursing would be related.
Agreed. Incidents such as this one and the conversation between Shaun White and his coach at the Olympics leave me more and more convinced that if networks want to avoid athletes uttering expletives over the air they should refrain from having a mic nearby in a non-interview situation.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 12:08 PM on April 15, 2010
Swearing is to televised golf as pornography is to free speech.
Except it isn't. The BBC did Amen Corner Live on its interactive coverage each day (the same feed that was on the masters website, which I assumed was CBS, but I could well be wrong about that). They should put microphones on all the players (not to mention heart monitors and tiny cameras in their hats) then ramp up the fines for foul language and/or broadcast with a delay. That way, we'd probably get the best of both worlds.
In rugby, they have the referee miked-up and you can sometimes hear him telling players to watch their language, but for the most part, it's a very useful insight into a game. They tried the same thing in a football match once, but the results were never broadcast in full as no one remembered to tell the Arsenal players that the ref was "live". There's a clip of it here.
posted by JJ at 12:22 PM on April 15, 2010
The presence of the audience is why it's ridiculous for him to show such poor self-control.
My sister and I used to watch a lot of hockey growing up. Our second-fondest memory* is of the '94 Rangers/ Canucks Finals when one of the Vancouver players felt a certain Mr. Gregson missed a call in the corner (quite close to a parabolic mike) and relayed this to him via the following:
"TERRY! WHAT THE FUCK!"
His job is to play hockey. Not teach me decorum. And if you're going to complain about golfers swearing, they should all be called out, not just Tiger.
Fondest will always be the first year of the Florida Panthers, when Roger Neilson threw a shit-fit during a Bruins game and sprayed two water bottles onto the ice. The Bruins announcer, Hall of Famer (and rightly so) Fred Pierson betrayed his age and regionality by declaring, "Two bottles of tonic! Roger Neilson has sprayed two bottles of tonic on the ice!"
posted by yerfatma at 12:24 PM on April 15, 2010
Act like you belong. Tiger dropping his club in disgust at The Masters made him look like a putz.
But it was perfectly okay for players (like Tiger) to jump/round around and celebrate when they make a (miraculous) putt? I'm thinking of Tiger's miracle chip in 2005, or Watson running across the green after he sunk the putt to win a major (I don't remember which one, but they showed it enough last weekend).
If we condone spontaneous physical scenes of joy, why do we condemn spontaneous physical scenes of anguish?
posted by grum@work at 01:44 PM on April 15, 2010
Again it comes back to how well or badly someone is playing. When Tiger's on it, you get very little celebration or dejection from him. When he won the Open at Hoylake in 2006, he hit some stunning shots, but his exprssion hardly changed.
From the very few times in my own playing life when I've zoned in properly, I'm as aware of the detrimental impact of joy as I am of the detrimental impact of anger. When I'm rooting for Phil, it scares me more on his behalf when he does something stunning and gets that look with those crazy eyes going. I said it before in that other thread and rcade mentioned it above, but if I was in the field I'd take great encouragement from seeing Tiger losing his rag. He might be offending the viewers, but he's also detracting from his own competitive edge.
posted by JJ at 01:57 PM on April 15, 2010
I love that crazy eyes picture. It is truly frightening.
posted by bperk at 03:24 PM on April 15, 2010
I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head on the 15th on Saturday. I think if that wedge shot had dropped they just might have done.
posted by JJ at 03:52 PM on April 15, 2010
He even had crazy eyes when he was a little boy.
posted by JJ at 03:55 PM on April 15, 2010
The rule changes for the upcoming CFL season. An opinion column on rule changes for the upcoming CFL season. Gotta say, it's tough to argue with improvement. The return of the option after opposition scores a field goal still allows for the strong return teams to field their best, but the forced kickoff of last year wasn't too bad. Otherwise ... definitely evidence of wanting to keep the game as exciting as can be ... and as fair.
posted by Spitztengle at 08:02 PM on April 15, 2010
I do find the whole Tiger issue amusing.
Before a certain event last Thanksgiving weekend, Tiger got pretty wide clearance for a lot of bad behavior. Almost on the lines of "Divert your eyes, the Golf God is angry". And divert our eyes we did. Sure, his behavior was discussed on sites like this, but for the most part his temper tantrums were overlooked.
Now that he's been found to be human, and a disgraced one at that, his boorish behavior is getting scrutinized, and people don't like what they see. Same guy, same behavior.
posted by dviking at 11:40 PM on April 15, 2010
A nice and crazy start to the NHL playoffs last night what with three out of the four road teams winning their games. Wheeee! Here we go!