Cover Me Boys, I'm Going In

“Dear Sir or Madam Will You Read My Book?”

PAUL MCCARTNEY

Have you ever looked at, been a fan of, or heard about a famous person and thought, “I wonder what they are like in real life?” If you’ve ever asked that question about golfer, commentator, TV star, and funny man David Feherty then buy John Feinstein’s book, FEHERTY The Remarkably Funny and Tragic Journey of Golf’s David Feherty.

According to Bing, John Feinstein has written 44 books. I have read many of them and, without having to give it more than ten seconds thought, can say I think he is the best in the business when it comes to writing about sports in general and golf in particular. A Season on the Brink, Hard Courts, A March to Madness, A Civil War, and The Last Amateurs are must reads. If you play, follow, watch, love golf then A Good Walk Spoiled, Q-School Confidential, Open, Caddy for Life, The Majors, and now FEHERTY belong in your library.

The first chapter of FEHERTY The Remarkably Funny and Tragic Journey of Golf’s David Feherty details golf’s most iconic announcer’s upbringing in a divided Northern Ireland. You get to meet his family, friends, and learn about how world events ended up shaping a young man’s life. Feinstein’s book are special because you are not only entertained but you are also informed. I haven’t read one yet where afterward I didn’t say, “I learned something”. In FEHERTY you learn a lot. If you’re a fan of the man (Feherty I mean) you’ll become a bigger one. If you’re not a fan (what the heck is wrong with you?) or know little about him beyond his work in golf television, you’ll become one.

The book is funny, interesting, emotional, and thoughtful. That’s because David Feherty is funny, interesting, emotional, and thoughtful. It’s well written because John Feinstein wrote it. But it’s not perfect. I went directly to page 197, Chapter Eleven, titled Welcome to LIV. It’s 27 pages and many of the details are mildly inaccurate. Some are just flat out wrong. I don’t blame Feinstein for this. I believe his source, or sources, for the information were more interested in protecting either someone or someone’s narrative than the truth. Another thing that I found odd was that David Feherety worked for CBS Sports for 18 years (1997-2015) and then for NBC Sports for seven (2015-2022). While both networks have folks who worked with Feherty commenting in the book it felt like the NBC people were quoted more than twice as much as the CBS people. That struck me as odd. And one final, minor, complaint is that there were a few times when the writing, the stories, and the message was repetitive. That’s the bad but the good so far outweighs any of it.

I have been lucky enough to work in broadcast television for five decades and in that time have met and worked with some of the medium’s most famous on-air personalities. Some of them are kind, lack ego, generous, talented, and friendly. Some of them are NONE of those things. David Feherty falls into and belongs at the very top of the first group. I first worked with the man around 2005 when The Golf Channel televised a little crosstown, country club rivalry match called The Tavistock Cup. In the beginning it was a match pitting players from one tony Orlando club (Isleworth) against players from another tony Orlando club (Lake Nona). Tiger, Ernie Els, John Cook, Ian Poulter, Trevor Immelman, Henrik Stenson, Mark O’Meara, Nick Faldo among others all played. It was a blast to produce and it was made even more fun because David Feherty and Gary McCord were part of the announce team.

I admit I was nervous. Despite having worked with legends including Vin Scully, I had never worked with Feherty but as a fan of golf I knew who he was and was in awe of his work. He couldn’t have been nicer, more respectful, or a bigger team player. It was a joy to watch and a pleasure to be “in his ear”. Although I must admit he may have never heard nor paid attention to anything I said while we were on the air. The easiest thing to do when producing a live golf tournament with David Feherty on the team is open his mic. Now, nearly twenty years later, I have the honor of working with the man again and that, my friends, is not hyperbole. It IS an honor.

I now consider myself one of the fortunate ones who knows David Feherty. I consider him a friend and the book that John Feinstein wrote, with Feherty’s blessing, is, like the man, a gem. Do yourself a favor and buy this book.

Thanks for reading this. If you don’t know me I am a more than 40 year veteran of sports television working mostly in golf. I have also written 6 books and you can find them at http://www.keithhirshland.com Every opinion written since I started this blog is mine. You are free to like it, hate it, agree with it, disagree with it or ignore it.

“It’s just like riding a bike”

Moms Everywhere

I am 66 years old and spent more than two thirds of those years working in television. Mostly sports and of those sports, mainly golf. I “sat in the chair” and produced hundreds of golf tournaments for television. First and the local level, then nationally at ESPN, and finally for 18 years at The Golf Channel. The last time I was responsible for what golf shots people at home watched was September of 2013. The event was United States Women’s Amateur Championship at The Country Club of Charleston.

Then I retired. I wrote books (5 of them now and the sixth is what they call a WIP). Books you can buy here www.keithhirshland.com thanks. Between and around the works of fiction I was lucky enough during the past 8 years to be asked back to work on several projects but never to produce. That was until October of last year. A former colleague, and still friend, Scott Kazakewich sent me an email (or was it a message on Facebook) asking if I would be interested in producing a live golf tournament again. Scott is in charge of all of the tournament production for the Asian Tour, has been for a decade, but he was part of our live tournament production team at The Golf Channel for years. The tournament turned out to be an Asian Tour event in Saudi Arabia.

After some deliberation I said yes. Several factors went into that decision including:

I was happy to help a friend.

I’ve never been to Saudi Arabia and I probably wouldn’t ever go on my own.

My wife was going to be out of the country at the same time.

So, off I went.

As I mentioned, the tournament was The Saudi International. Recently a part of the Asian Tour schedule it would be the biggest event that tour ever staged and the most controversial. Early on word spread that the PGA TOUR and the European Tour (I know it’s the DP WORLD Tour now but come on) would prohibit its member players from competing. Everybody with half a brain knew that wasn’t going to stick so defending champion Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Tommy Fleetwood, Bubba Watson, Ian Poulter, and dozens more were in the final field. It was going to be one of the most, if not the most, star-studded full field event I had ever produced.

To say things have changed in the world of golf production in the eight years since I did it last would be a gross understatement. Mainly due to technology and a pandemic the machinations behind the production were markedly different. That said my approach to producing the event stayed stubbornly the same. Show as many players and shots as possible on Thursday and Friday, avoid tap ins, and tell the story on the weekend. I admit I used to watch a lot of golf on tv but doing that has become less and less interesting to me over the past handful of years. I still tune in to watch if I know friends, and former teammates, including Jerry Foltz, Curt Byrum, or Kay Cockerill are on the show but that’s one of the only reasons why I watch now. But to prepare for the Saudi show I watched (thanks to a recording because I’m not staying up until 2 AM for ANYTHING any more) a couple of Scott’s Asian Tour productions. My first reaction was that they were well done and my second was there is no way I was going to be able to pronounce many of those names. I mean, say Suradit Yongcharoenchai three times fast. But I digress. It was Denver to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Riyadh, Riyadh to Jeddah, then an hour car ride to the hotel.

I mentioned the controversy swirling around the tournament and allow me to address that now. Much and I mean MUCH was made in the golf press as a whole, and #golftwitter specifically, about the moral aspects of professional golfers accepting money and invites to play in a golf tournament sponsored by and played in Saudi Arabia. Adding fuel to the fire was the accelerant that was Greg Norman. He’s in the midst of starting a rival golf league that has the major tours, and golf media, up in arms. That league has very little to do with the Asian Tour. The little it does have to do with it is $$$. Norman was the face behind a previous $2 Million investment in the Asian Tour and he was on site this particular week alongside Asian Tour Commissioner/CEO Cho Minn Thant and that tour’s best player Joohyung Kim to announce an additional$1 Million in support. Question Mr. Norman’s motives all you want but it doesn’t change the fact that the investment is life changing money for that tour and its players and a real boon to golf around the world.

But let’s get back to the real reason I decided to write this. It’s a letter of appreciation to Scott, his higherups at the Asian Tour, and the incredible crew that worked the event. I have subscribed to an important philosophy my entire career… You are only as good as the people with whom you surround yourself. And those people, that week in Saudi Arabia, were top shelf. It was great to be reunited with Mel Hundley and Rob Gunter (two of the best in the business) but it was also a treat to work with Mark and Simon and Szu Wei and Steve and Paul and Sharon and Aditha and another Simon and Nick and Toby and Ryan and Steve and Tox (who graciously played Pat Green for me before every show) and Qui Lim and Ranish and Raz and the dozens of others who are worthy of mention. They were professional, remarkable, passionate, and most of all they made the week fun.

No one more than Scott. When I first met Scott Kazakewich he was a young, energetic, curious, talented, but somewhat goofy, kid. Now he is an energetic, curious, talented, young man. Sure, he’s still somewhat goofy but that is part of his charm. What he has accomplished in his career and what he has done for the Asian Tour is inspiring. When he wasn’t afforded a well-deserved opportunity in tv golf stateside he took a chance and moved to Singapore. Boy did that pay off. He was my director and hand holder at The Saudi International and he did an outstanding job at both.

The other group that deserves my unending appreciation is the announce team of Dougie Donnelly, Dom Boulet, Kate Burton, Anthony Kang, and Tim Low. I have had the great privilege to work with some of the world’s best announcers (Scully, Musberger, Anderson, Lerner, and more) and Mr. Donnelly goes right on that list. He is legendary in Scotland and now I know why. He led a superb team. Maybe it’s because I grew used to the mostly American voices that populate tv golf here or maybe it was because this team was that good but I found them to be an incredibly easy listen. Pet peeve alert Even if they did talk too much at times 😊. I would relish another chance to work with any and/or all of them again. 

We were what is called the World Feed for the event. If you watched stateside you watched it on Golf Channel but other people in various points all over the world watched our work on whatever network carries golf in their homeland. That changed the way I had to think about what I was doing. Basically, we never went to commercial. I counted the announcers down to a “layout” which meant they stopped talking for a second or two but then we kept on keeping on. That second or two allowed “the world” to go to break. When they came back to the broadcast minutes later there’s no telling where I was in the show. It could have been right before Dustin Johnson teed off or right in the middle of Ratchanon Chantananuwat’s ball in flight. I have no idea what it looked like back home but one of these days I’ll watch the recording.

I would say it was mission accomplished for all four days and the fact that it was one of the most exciting finishes of this, or any other, year certainly helped. The tournament came down to a duel between Bubba Watson and Harold Varner III. Bubba, playing a couple of groups ahead on Sunday birdied the 71st hole then made eagle on the 72nd to take a two shot lead. But HV III still had the drivable par 4 17th and the reachable par 5 18th to play. He made easy birdie on 17 and drove it well on the last. His second shot ended up just in front of the green 92 paces from the hole, the trophy, and a million dollar first place check. At that time, we were all expecting a playoff so I was instructing Mel and Mark and Simon and Ranish to prepare for that. Then, by golly, Harold made the darn putt for eagle and the win. Pandemonium broke out on the green (Varner’s caddie leapt into his arms, Bubba raced from the practice tee to the 18th green to congratulate the winner, and we were cuing up replays and reactions from every angle we could find. For a few hours at least all the controversy around the event turned into a celebration of an amazing win.

I had a blast. I will admit I was nervous. Every. Day. But thanks to Scott and the aforementioned great team I managed to produce a compelling telecast. I will admit producing live golf is, as always has been,exhausting. I guess if you do it right it should be. Will I do it again? Don’t know. First someone has to ask (definitely not a given) and then the stars would have to align (much like they did this time). But regardless of whether I do it another time THIS time was something I will never forget. Thanks Scott.

“They came to collect silver and gold”

U2

If you’ve visited here before you know I am an insatiable sports fan. I am also a proud American and a huge fan of the Olympic Games. Summer. Winter. Para.

I was lucky enough to attend one, the 1960 Winter Games at Squaw Valley. We lived in Reno, Nevada at the time. My Dad, who was GM at a TV station there, was head of the broadcasting committee. A guy named Jean Vuarnet won the downhill (years later I would buy a pair of sunglasses named for him). The USA beat Canada for hockey gold and Americans won gold in men’s and women’s figure skating. In all Team USA finished third in the medal count with 10.

I don’t remember any of it. I was 5.

Fast forward fifty-eight years and my wife got a job with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. A pretty big job. A job that meant I was about to attend Olympic Games that I’d be able to remember starting with The Tokyo Summer Games in 2020.

Well, you know what happened.

Thanks to Covid-19 she went to Tokyo with Team USA. Without me. For three weeks my schedule was turned upside down staying up until all hours of the night staring at one, two, or three tv’s AND my phone. After all there was a lot going on. Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of Mountain Time in the USA so I’d get to talk to my bride twice a day. Once when she got up (late afternoon for me) and once when she went to bed (usually just before my morning dog walk). It wasn’t anywhere near enough but it had to do. We’d talk about her day and the amazing accomplishments and bitter disappointments of Team USA on the field of play. We’d talk about her plans for the next day, which events she’d attend, with whom she’d meet. It was my daily job to give her updates on results via a phone app. It was a job I took extremely seriously. So I watched. Night and day. Living and dying with every event, checking the medal count, dozing off and awakening before the alarm, which I had set at 3 AM to watch wrestling, went off. It was exhilarating and exhausting. In the end it was all more than worth it.

I was glued to my devices, as incredible men and women from all over the globe, competed. I watched with pride whenever someone from Team USA took the field. Through it all, Covid sidelining our men’s pole vault medal hopeful, Simone Biles shocking withdrawal, protests, extreme conditions, and no fans, these Games were not found wanting. They thrilled and they inspired. They introduced us to “new sports” and made us remember what we love about the “old ones”. They showcased the best athletes in the world who impressed us with their athleticism AND their sportsmanship.

And as I write this these Games are NOT over. Several events are still to be decided and many medals yet to be hung around athlete’s necks but up to now these are, in no particular order, my favorite Team USA Olympic moments.

Lydia Jacoby and Seward, Alaska

Navin Harrison

Caleb Dressel

The A-Team

Katie Ledecky

Xander

Sport Climbing

Sydney Mclaughlin

Surfing

Bobby Finke

Women’s 3 x 3 hoops

Krysta Palmer

USA Wrestling

Ryan Crouser

Tamyra Mensah Stock

USA Boxing

Valarie Allman

Athing Mu

Nelly

USA Baseball

Katie Nageotte

Lee Kiefer

Women’s Water Polo

Sam Mikulak, Allyson Felix, Kara Winger, and Brittany Reese

I realize that’s a lot of “favorite moments” but MAN there was a lot to like. If some of the names are unfamiliar I humby suggest you look them up. You won’t be sorry you did.

If you were one of the folks who claimed you “didn’t watch” I feel sorry for you because you missed a hell of a show.

Team USA will come home with their heads held high, and they should. Then they’ll turn around and head to Beijing for the XXIV Winter Games. As of now it looks like I’ll be watching those from the good old U S of A too. I know it’s not about me but damn I want to go. Maybe Paris.

“I’ll be watching you.”

STING

If you’re a golf fan you know that because of Covid-19 the USGA is playing the United States Women’s Open Championship this week. If you’re a golf fan on social media (specifically Twitter) you NOW know the US Women’s Open features athletes who are #worthwatching.

What a load of hooey.

Not because these amazingly talented professionals AREN’T #worthwatching it’s because these amazingly talented professionals have ALWAYS been #worthwatching. This nonsensical campaign shows you what happens when panderers and bureaucrats sit in bubble chamber boardrooms and think they’re clever.

“Hey! Little else is going on in the world of golf this week let’s tell people that women who play golf at the highest level are suddenly #worthwatching!”

“Great idea Biff!” “Bravo Chumley!”

Peeshaw! I mean what? These incredible players weren’t #worthwatching last week? Or last month? or last year? Or when Annika Sorenstam won her THIRD US Women’s Open in 2006? Or Karrie Webb won back to back in 2000 and 2001? Or Michelle Wie won her long awaited major in 2014? Of course they were. But the geniuses would have you believe that THIS is the week the greatest players in the game are #worthwatching

To underline the shortsightedness of the whole charade is that NBC doesn’t really think they’re all that #worthwatching. Twenty-five and a half hours broadcast across the NBCUniversal platforms (Peacock, Golf Channel, NBC). Sound like a lot? It should be after all these tremendous players are #worthwatching. But back in September the US Open was scheduled to be on for 37 1/2 hours. I guess those players were 12 and a half hours MORE #worthwatching.

If you read this and think the point I’m trying to make is that the best players in women’s golf ARE NOT #worthwatching I’ve either done a terrible job writing or you’ve done an awful job reading. OF COURSE I think they’re #worthwatching. The difference between me and them, however, is that I’ve ALWAYS thought it. I didn’t just decide they were #worthwatching this week.

I could give them the benefit of the doubt and say “at least they’re doing something” but that’s calculating too. There WERE two simpler solutions. The first would have been to disregard the idea of #worthwatching altogether. The second, and better in my opinion, would have been to make it this…

#ALWAYSWORTHWATCHING

“Love is the most important thing in the world. But baseball is pretty good too.”

Yogi Berra

 

The 2019 Major League Baseball season is over for me. It “officially” ended on the evening of October 9th when the Washington Nationals eliminated the Los Angeles Dodgers in game 5 of the National League Division Series. The season didn’t end in the 10th inning of that game because I’m a Dodgers fan. It ended, thanks to Howie Kendrick’s grand slam, because I’m a San Francisco Giants fan.

 

It was ingrained in me as a young man that we Giants fans have two jobs. Number one is cheer for the orange and black. Number two, or more accurately number 1A, is root as hard as you can against the Dodgers. My wife has scolded me on numerous occasions that that attitude is an undersirable one. “You should never root against any one, or any team”, she says. Bless her heart. Any self respecting SF Giants fan knows that the Bums that travelled west from Brooklyn are more than deserving of our hopes for their failure.

 

It hasn’t been all that easy. I was born in 1955 and became a lifelong Giants fan on May 28, 1957. That was the day that MLB owners approved the move for both The New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers. But there were conditions. Both teams had to move or neither team could. The Giants committed first, hosting a farewell party at a game on September 29. The Dodgers followed suit nine days later. The rivalry came west with the teams. We had just moved to Reno and San Francisco was the closest city with an MLB team.

 

Before the move (their’s and ours) The Giants had won 4 World Championships and the Dodgers owned one. That changed when the Brooklyn Bums became the LA Bums. They won the World Series in 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, and 1988. And we suffered through them all. Then a strange thing happened, LA stopped winning. Don’t get me wrong, they won plenty of games, division titles, and National League pennants but the World Series well ran dry after Kirk Gibson dipped into it for his “I can’t believe what I just saw” home run at Dodger Stadium. It wasn’t all good news for us Giants fans either. Between 1988 and 2002 we reached the World Series twice as many times as the Dodgers (2-0) but lost both. One in spectacular fashion as the Oakland A’s swept the Giants four games to none in 1989 in a series that included an earthquake. The other was in heartbreaking fashion as our boys, with the greatest home run hitter of all time Barry Bonds, lost both game 6 and game 7 in Anaheim to the “rally monkey” Angels. Then 2010 happened.

 

 

That year, then two years later, and two more years after that Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey, Tim Lincecum, Brandon Crawford and dozens more became heroes. Legends even as improbably our san Francisco Giants won three world championships in 5 years! And the official World Series trophy tally became NY/SF 7 and Brooklyn/LA 6. So there! As I’ve already stated the Dodgers are good at winning games and division titles. In fact they’ve won seven of those in a row compiling a won loss record of 671- 464. But to me, and no doubt to them, the only numbers in recent history that matter are 3-0 (as in RINGS BABY! And while the faces of San Francisco Giants success have been thoise of Timmy, and MadBum, and Buster, and others the lone face of Los Angeles’s delicious defeats has been Clayton Kershaw. He’s one of the game’s best regular season pitchers, a multiple Cy Young Award winner and the ace of their staff. But he just can’t get it done when it matters and he came through (as far as we were concerned) again Wednesday night.

 

 

The night the 2019 baseball season ended for him and me.