Just Musing, Pondering and Pandering

Posted on August 20, 2016 by Keith Hirshland

Pressure is an interesting thing. Many great athletes succumb to it at times, the best in the world embrace it. Those of us who don’t deal with it in any way, shape or meaningful form have no idea.

The start of college football these days always makes me chuckle when I realize The Big 12 has ten teams and The Big Ten has fourteen

People with terrible voices should not be allowed to participate in radio or television broadcasts

The first week of the Olympics is better than the second

Golf in the Olympics has neither been as good as some would have you believe nor as bad as many had predicted

Speaking of the Olympics… there were 306 events in 28 sports. That’s too many. I’m not advocating that we go back to 1896 (43 events in 9 sports) but please place me firmly in the camp of “If the Olympics is not considered the pinnacle of the sport, it should not be in the games.”

I am also perfectly fine with U.S. Olympic medal winners getting taxed. Why is their accomplishment more meaningful, important or impactful than people serving their country in the military, teaching children and adults with physical and mental disabilities or other valuable, noble pursuits that actually help people?

I remember when Facebook was a place where you could “catch up with old friends” and see pictures of their kids

As football still starts I’ll still maintain baseball is the best

Have you tried a Bit-O-Honey lately?

 

 

 

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Another One in the Books

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Keith Hirshland

 

Three years ago, almost to the day, I published my first book. Cover Me Boys, I’m Going In (Tales of the Tube from a Broadcast Brat) was a memoir about a life and career in television broadcasting. It took 4 and ½ years to write and will always be, first and foremost a tribute to my amazing parents who left this earth way too soon. I appreciate everyone who purchased and read it in the past three years and if you haven’t read it yet I only have one question… What are you waiting for?

 

If you enjoy books that pull the curtain back and expose the inner workings of the TV industry I think you’d like Cover Me Boys. It has stories about television pioneers (my parents, Golf Channel founder Joe Gibbs, Don Ohlmeyer), the early days of two TV networks (ESPN2, The Golf Channel), and world renowned athletes (Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods). Best of all it’s got short chapters! I decided I had told my story and in doing so left behind a testimonial to my mom and dad as well as a reminiscence to show my kids what their old man was up to while they were growing up to become fabulous adults without him. It’s a time capsule, a tip of the cap and a token of my appreciation. And to the best of my recollection it all happened exactly the way I had written it down. It was mission accomplished. I’ve sold thousands of copies and received mostly favorable reviews and I came away from that project with the firm belief that I had another book in me. As it turns out, I did.

 

With a true story under my belt I decided it was time to make one up. The result is Big Flies and you can buy it RIGHT NOW at Amazon.com. Remembering things that happened and then putting those stories on paper in a way that is readable is one thing. The people are real, the places are there, the memories can be corroborated. Creating characters, dreaming up places and manipulating memories is something entirely different. The guy, girl, or in some cases Bernese Mountain Dog who comes to life on page ten has to be the same human or canine when the reader encounters them again on page 50, 150 or 200. There is nobody who can back up the claims you make, no one to correct a date or a quote. Writing well is hard, writing fiction well is harder. It took almost two years (honestly I’m not sure how some writers churn out new works every six months or a year) and it is something of which I am genuinely proud.

 

It’s a mystery. A story about a father and a son. A tale of deception and discovery. Oh, and it’s a love story too. I use actual historic events as a catalyst; four of the world’s most notorious unsolved robberies that happened within the space of 15 years. One of them, the hijacking of Northwest Orient flight 305 (better known as the D.B. Cooper case), happened in my own backyard. All four of the cases described in the book happened and the thieves have never been caught, the booty with which they absconded never found. The question I explore is what if all these crimes, and more, were all perpetrated by the same person or people. Improbable? Unlikely? Unfathomable? Why?

 

As I said I am grateful to those who bought and read Cover Me Boys, I’m Going In and I am hopeful you’ll take the time to purchase and read Big Flies. So go to Amazon.com and buy the new one. Heck buy them both. Then tell me what you think. By the way I’m already 13,000+ words into book number three.

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Cover me Boys I’m Going In! By Keith Hirshland — JANUARY GRAY REVIEWS

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Keith Hirshland

I have to admit, when I first requested this book for review, I did not know what I was getting into. I thought it was a behind the scenes look of general tv, not sports. I like horse racing. And, I have enough interest and knowledge of football to give healthy, wifely support to my […]

via Cover me Boys I’m Going In! By Keith Hirshland — JANUARY GRAY REVIEWS

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A Cut Above

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Keith Hirshland

This is your captain speaking. Please fasten your seatbelts because we are about to descend deep into the weeds. Thank you for your attention and we will advise when it is safe to move about the cabin again.

 

The second round of a golf tournament is the second most important day of the week. Sure nobody takes home a trophy but in most cases (excluding the Champions Tour, a handful of five day tournaments, and exhibitions like the Ryder Cup and the Solheim Cup) roughly half the field gets to play on and cash a check, perhaps even hold a trophy, while the other half packs their bags, pays their caddie and heads to the next event without earning a penny. Golf is great that way… no play, no pay. That whittling of the field, the separating of the weekly wheat from the chaff, the cream rising to the top is carried out in the form of, what golf calls, a cut. You make the cut, on you go. You miss the cut, sayonara and we’ll see you next week.

 

If you watch golf on TV or follow along via your favorite website you’ll notice little or no mention of “the cut” is made on day one (Thursday, despite the caveats listed above, for our purposes). But come Friday “the cut” becomes a storyline for several reasons. People want to know if their favorite player is going to be around for the weekend. There have been many occasions when a player “made the cut on the number” and went on to win the tournament. Tournament officials want to know how many players will tee it up on the weekend to schedule tee times for groupings and finish times for television broadcast partner purposes. It also determines whether the play commences off of one tee (the first) or two (the first and tenth). It is of interest to TV producers because certain players require coverage whether they are in the heart of the prescribed broadcast window or not. If you don’t think all of that is “in the weeds enough” you’re right. So here we go!

 

This post concerns the verbiage used to describe the cut. There seem to be two; “Current Cut” and “Projected Cut”. When I produced golf for TV I was firmly in the camp of, in fact one of the loudest voices for, “Current Cut.” I preferred it because that’s what it is. Each time you look at a leaderboard it’s a snapshot in time and that snapshot is a current snapshot. So imagine both my dismay when FOX used the inaccurate and mystifying “Projected Cut” during their USGA golf coverage and my delight when GolfChannel/NBC went with the more accurate and clear “Current Cut” on its broadcast of the British Open. The PGA TOUR (on the website) and the USGA seem to prefer the more nebulous “Projected Cut”. In fact the USGA goes so far as to explain it on its website thusly (bold words in italics are theirs):

 

We do not simply show the cutline at the player in 60th place, as everyone in the field would have to play even par for the remainder of the day for a cutline of that type to be accurate. Our goal is to project at the score at which the cutline will fall.

Wait… isn’t “par” the score a professional is expected to make on each hole? Didn’t someone, somewhere, at some time, establish par as “the number of strokes set as a standard for a specific hole of complete course.” Isn’t that what we should expect these men and women to accomplish?

Our cutline projects what the leader board will look like at the end of the second round. That projection is determined using a combination of actual scores for players and the hole statistics for the holes they have yet to play. For example, if a player has played 17 holes in even par in the second round and his 18th hole is statistically a bogey hole, that player’s projected second-round score would be 1-over 71. That score would be combined with his first-round score to determine his projected 36-hole score. 

So Carnac or Kreskin or Penn and Teller sit in a scoring trailer and stare into a crystal ball “projecting” the future, based on the past, using tea leaves, eye of newt and the equally magical “statistics” to determine a number that may or may not change once, twice, three times or never because human beings are playing a game.

We perform these calculations for every player after every hole, which impacts the hole statistics used to project players’ scores for the rest of their rounds. As players post scores, the projected cutline will move as the second round progresses.

Oh by the way so will the “CURRENT CUT LINE!” It’s all balderdash and at least the PGA TOUR doesn’t bother to try and explain why it uses those words.

 

We don’t put a qualifier on the leader of the tournament by saying he or she is the “projected leader” just because that person happens to have a better score at the moment than the other golfers still on the course in pursuit. He or she is the leader, plain and simple. And the cut line is the cut line, plain and simple. There is no magic, there are no projections. There are simply 60 or 63 or 70 or 78 players currently within the number to make the cut and play the weekend. That all happens in real time not in some imaginary future. So “bravo”  Golf Channel and “boo” FOX. Come on PGA TOUR and USGA change the nomenclature to “current cut.”

 

This is your captain speaking… I told you we were heading deep into the weeds but we’re clear now. It’s safe to roam about the cabin at your leisure.

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Playing The Woman Card

Posted on July 10, 2016 by Keith Hirshland

A couple of posts ago wrote about my affinity and enthusiasm for the United States Open Championship. I opined that if you are a golfer or golf fan, it’s a must-see in person kind of event. While that remains my belief I may have a better idea for you… get your soft spokes to a United States Women’s Open Championship. The venue is less crowded, the athletes just as talented and you just might find the experience more enjoyable.

 

Last time I checked the women play for five major championship trophies each year and the U. S. Women’s Open is, by far, the most prestigious. 2011 Champion Seo Yeon Ryu once said, “the entire world focuses on the U.S. Women’s Open”. Despite that you’ll find the players that are friendly and accessible at your run of the mill LPGA tournament are just as friendly and accessible here (especially on Tuesday or Wednesday). Disappointingly, the ones that are not, are just as not. I arrived at the 2016 U. S. Women’s Open at CordeValle Golf Club bright and early Thursday morning ready to watch some of the greatest players on the planet compete for a major.

 

I was at Oakmont for the U.S. Open weeks earlier and the first thing I noticed this time around was the vibe was much more laid back. Fewer people made for fewer headaches. The lines were short, the people less grouchy and the grounds easier to navigate. As my want I headed straight for the merchandise tent. The shopping space is much smaller than at a men’s open and the selection less impressive. Unscientifically I concluded that the ration of women’s options to men’s was about 70-30 in favor of the fairer sex but I found what I wanted and headed for the exit. No lines, no hassles, in and out in 10 minutes and ready to see what the day would bring. A quick glance at the groupings sheet told me I had a full day of great golf ahead. I planned the start to my day around the morning grouping of Defending Champion In Gee Chun, U. S. Women’s Amateur Champion Hannah O’Sullivan and Stacy Lewis. The afternoon had several options including a group featuring 2014 champ Michelle Wie.

 

There were other interesting groups to follow in the morning but I chose Chun’s because I wanted to see, up close and in person, the different personality and playing styles of In Gee and Stacey. I had seen them both on TV and thought I knew what to expect. I was also excited by the prospect of watching O’Sullivan, one of the world’s best amateurs and a sure-fire professional prospect. I strolled up to the first tee, got right up against the gallery ropes (a mere 15 feet from the teeing ground) and waited for the threesome to arrive. The first player to appear was Chun. With a big, natural smile on her face she acknowledged the applause with a wave or two. Next came O’Sullivan who appeared much more nervous but still managed a smile and a nod to the assembled crowd. Then came Lewis who looked the way she always looks, like she just came from a seven hour IRS audit. No smile, no wave, a slight, almost imperceptible nod to those kind enough to clap for her. After the customary announcement Chun ripped her first tee shot right down the middle. Lewis’s and O’Sullivan’s balls didn’t go as far or as straight but we were off.

 

I was joined by at least a hundred other folks so finding a spot along the rope line with all three players in sight was an easy task. I grant you that it was Thursday morning but if this had been Oakmont and defending champion Jordan Spieth had been the target such stellar access would have been impossible. After assessing the crowd as happy, excited and knowledgeable I turned my attention to the approach shots, O’Sullivan was first. I get that she is young and playing with two of women’s golf’s biggest stars might be intimidating but it took her a full minute to hit her short iron approach to the first green. Chun and Lewis each played in less than half that time. It wasn’t an anomaly. She took almost exactly the same amount of time to play every shot and through no fault of the two professionals in the group they were a hole behind by the time they reached the third tee. By the sixth tee they were “on the clock”. Playing with the “flaps down” O’Sullivan managed to scrape her way to 4 over par through 5 holes. After the USGA traffic cop gave her a warning for going slow in the fast lane and implored her to pick up the pace she played the next 13 holes in 4 under par. Imagine that.

 

RANT ALERT !!!

8, 10 and 12 year-old girls (and there were hundreds of them at CordeValle) are going to want to be like Hannah O’Sullivan and who can blame them. She’s cute, athletic, talented and wears FootJoys with “I      golf” stamped on the right heel. She is already an accomplished player and no doubt has a bright professional future ahead of her. There is no need to rush success but how about when it comes your turn to play, play. If an aspiring young player thinks your pre-shot routine is the way to approach every shot, then we’re all in big trouble. And so, sadly, is the game of golf. As a long time player and fan of the sport I find it an unsettling and disturbing trend. I saw it in person with O’Sullivan, you see it on television with Jordan Spieth. Young, terribly talented, terribly slow, players. Pedantic pace of play is a disease that can cause lasting and irreparable harm to this great game. Especially in this day and age.

RANT OVER – we now return to our regularly scheduled blog post.

 

I left that group and went in search of history. Se Ri Pak was playing in her 19th and final United States Women’s Open. She won the championship in 1998 and started a phenomenon. Before Pak burst onto the scene, Koreans had won exactly one LPGA event. Since that historic victory her countrywomen are responsible for 142 wins, many of them major championships, several of them U.S. Women’s Opens. Se Ri Pak, and Se Ri Pak alone is the reason for that. She did much more than anyone hoped or imagined Tiger Woods would do for the sport. She energized an entire nation, set a standard of excellence and instilled an achievable dream in the hearts and minds of a country full of parents, children, brothers and sisters. She competed with class and grace and is leaving the game in better hands than she found it. At every green along her final U. S. Women’s Open journey the fans let her know how much she is appreciated by the strength of their cheers and applause. I know Se Ri Pak would have wanted to thank each of them personally if there were time.

 

By the time the afternoon wave of players hit balls with a purpose the sun had burned off all the early cloud cover and thousands more golf fans had arrived. They were here to see Creamer, Henderson, Thompson, Ko, Lincicome, Wie and more. The group of a hundred or so who joined me to watch the defending champion a few hours ago now numbered in the thousands as Angela Stanford, Sandra Gal and Michelle Wie began their 2016 U. S. Women’s Open on the tenth hole. Many walked with me and just as many stayed behind to be joined by others waiting for Lydia, Brooke and Lexi who would tee it up two groups later. I wanted to watch Wie. She hasn’t won since her U. S. Women’s Open victory two years ago but she is still a commanding presence on the golf course and demands attention. As I walked ahead I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard someone in the gallery say, “this next group is Michelle Wie’s group”, or “here comes Michelle Wie.”

 

The golf course at CordeValle is built into the hills of San Martin, California about a half an hour south of San Jose. It’s a good walk. Not from San Jose (that would be silly) but around the course once you get here. A continuous cart path borders the entire layout. I don’t know if it was the routing, the roping and staking, or the fact that there weren’t 35,000 other people on site but unlike the men’s open I got to see golf shots played on all 18 holes hit by players I specifically wanted to watch. Sometimes, like with Wie or Chun, I had company. Other times it was just me Lee Ann Pace, Sung Hyun Park and Chella Choi. That would never happen at a men’s open. Believe me when I say I am not casting aspersions on people that are or do the following things but another difference between the folks who attend most men’s opens and most women’s opens is, on this day, nobody was drunk, nobody was rude and nobody was puffing needlessly on a big, fat, smelly cigar. Another thing you won’t find at a men’s open are port-o-lets that are convenient, plentiful, devoid of long lines, and for the most part clean considering they are there for the benefit of humans of all shapes and sizes. Hey these little things matter!

 

So I will reiterate my unconditional recommendation that you attend a United States Open Championship in person but would offer this caveat. Go to a Women’s Open instead of a Men’s Open. Some of the host cities during the course of the next several years include Charleston, SC, Houston, TX, and San Francisco, CA. I can’t promise you’ll have as good a time as I had but what I can promise you is that you will see world class athletes whose skills will be tested by the game’s most challenging conditions. If that isn’t enough, those athletes will, for the most part, be amazingly friendly, exceedingly accessible and a joy to watch. You will be treated to a championship test in a much more comfortable setting. Oh and be sure to bring your sunscreen and a Sharpie because you can bet that sunshine and autographs will be plentiful.

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Thanks Tiger

Posted on June 28, 2016 by Keith Hirshland

“While I continue to work hard on getting healthy, I’m not physically ready to play in this year’s U.S. Open…” so said Tiger Woods on June 8th, 2016 referring to the national championship he has won three times. Woods is recovering from two back surgeries and hasn’t played competitive golf since last August when he finished in the top 10 at The Wyndham Championship. Some opined and many hoped Tiger would tee it up at Jack’s tournament in Dublin, Ohio in preparation for Oakmont, but he didn’t. Predictor’s penned that he would certainly play in his own tournament, The Quicken Loans National, which benefits The Tiger Woods Foundation starting the road back which would include The British Open in July. Tiger’s announcement on Wednesday included the news that he would be skipping Congressional too. Tiger’s recovery, or lack thereof, continues to fuel the narrative that he is done for good, his career as a professional athlete is over.

 

I saw him in the booth during the telecast of the Quicken Loans National on Sunday. He looked good, sounded moderately hopeful but still said he couldn’t say whether or not he would play again this year. He said he wanted to, hoped to, but left doubt as to whether or not he would ever again compete at the game’s highest level. If it is indeed the end for Tiger Woods as a competitive professional golfer (and I don’t believe for a minute that it is) then I say simply, Thank You Tiger.

 

Tiger Woods made golf cool and great and interesting and must see sports TV for more than one generation of fans. He added to the coffers of several major companies which had never before had a presence in the golf space. He helped power the engine of, what at the time was, the only television channel dedicated to one single sport. Hell he WAS the engine and the transmission and the tires and the mirrors and you get the idea. Certainly The Golf Channel might have never gotten on the air without the great Arnold Palmer but it would have never stayed on the air without the great Tiger Woods.

 

Because of Joe Gibbs, Bob Greenway, Gary Stevenson, Mike Whelan, David Graham, Paul Farnsworth, Jeff Gershengorn and maybe a couple others I was awarded the honor of being the channel’s first and for many years only live domestic tournament producer in October of 1994. The network famously flipped the switch and hit the cable airwaves on January 17th, 1995. Tiger Woods was a tropical storm in the amateur golf ocean. He had won three straight United States Junior Amateur Championship in 1991,’92, and ’93 and then he won the U.S. Amateur in 1994. Seven months after Brian Hammons spoke the first words on The Golf Channel’s air Tiger captured his second straight United States Amateur Championship.

 

NBC had just wrestled the USGA television contract away from ABC, ESPN was still broadcasting golf (and a lot of it), we, at The Golf Channel, were just finding our footing. Crawling before we could walk, teetering on unsteady legs trying to run. Despite that we showed a lot of golf too, The European Tour, The PGA TOUR, The LPGA Tour and the Nike Tour. And we talked. We talked a ton. In fact, probably the most popular show on the channel had “talk” in its title, Peter Kessler’s GOLF TALK LIVE. I say “probably” because nobody had concrete numbers back then to tell us who and how many were tuning in and what they were tuning in to see. When The Golf Channel was showing tournaments, and we televised more than 50 in that first year, we talked.  When The Golf Channel wasn’t showing tournaments, we talked. We talked to and about the players, we talked about instruction, we talked about travel and leisure and we talked about equipment. We all worked our tails off, had a ball, survived more than a few bumps in the road, and made it through year one and into year two. Tiger Woods was still churning away in the amateur golf ocean, gaining steam. In 1996, he won his sixth straight National Championship and third consecutive United States Amateur then on August 28th he turned pro in Milwaukee with four simple words, “I guess, hello, world.” A few days later, playing his first Sunday as a pro he made a hole in one. The tropical storm would become a Category 10 hurricane swelling and swirling and strengthening and sweeping the land for the next two decades. It gave everybody on the air and around the water cooler at The Golf Channel something more substantive to talk about for twenty years. And if he is really and truly finished collecting PGA TOUR trophies (he managed to grab 79 of them as well as 14 professional major championships) they’ll be talking about what he accomplished for at least twenty more.

 

I say Thank You Tiger because he helped make it possible for me to make a difference during a career in TV golf for more than 15 years. He made it possible for me to make lifelong friends, identify formidable foes, visit places I never would have been lucky enough to see and learn about the game, the business and myself. I want to say thank you Tiger because in large part he helped feed my curiosity and my family. Because of his popularity and his genius, I collected a healthy paycheck performing a job in all honesty I would have done for free as part of an industry I loved. Those paychecks put my kids through private school, sent them to college. I’m sure I could have/would have found work somewhere else doing something different but because of Tiger Woods I didn’t have to. He was that rarest of sports figures both magnetic and polarizing, hero and villain, admired and admonished. But love him or loathe him you had to appreciate his greatness. You had to acknowledge his impact. Like Arnold Palmer had 40 years before him, he made the game exciting to the fans who loved golf and compelling to the ones who knew little or nothing about it. He took a niche sport and made it front page news from the mid 1990’s until now.

 

I hope we haven’t seen the last of Tiger Woods at or near the top of a leaderboard. I’d bet more than a dollar we’ll see that again. But if we have, if we don’t, I’ll say what I hope millions more are thinking… Thank You Tiger.

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After The Deluge, Pure Delight: My Weekend At Oakmont

Posted on June 19, 2016 by Keith Hirshland

I drove the 5 1/2 hours to Pittsburgh, PA on Thursday of U. S. Open week. On the radio Brian Katrek, Mark Lye, Carl Paulson, John Maginnes and others admirably described the round one action. Rain was expected but had yet to arrive. Then it did, stopping play not once but on three separate occasions. The initial plan to head out to Oakmont Country Club was scrapped when they called play for good in the early afternoon. I’d stay at the hotel, watch FOX’s replay and head out in the morning.

The shuttle left the hotel at 10:30. The world’s best had already been playing for a few hours but I was in no hurry to slog around in the mud. I had brought a sacrificial pair of shoes knowing the treading was going to be sloppy and I had them on. During the short ride, our driver could not have been more pleasant.

I have spent a little bit of time in Pittsburgh and I hope my friends and readers who are from there and live there now aren’t offended when I say it is not a pretty city. But it’s gritty and muscular and there is something attractive about that.

Traffic was impressive, a steady stream of cars and SUVs with a multiple passengers wearing a variety of colored golf caps.
I knew we were getting close when I looked to the sky and spotted the MetLife blimp. I also couldn’t help but notice the area on the other side of the river from Oakmont could use a facelift. You cross a bridge from one side of the Allegheny to the other but little immediately changes in regard to the scenery. It just looks a little creaky but I imagine if there was money to be made in a renovation, somebody would be making it. Don’t get me wrong it’s not Augusta, Georgia by any means; it just looks “lived in”. Two lanes become one and the line of cars filled with golf fans slows to a crawl. 

Three plus inches of rain made parking for the masses a challenge but park they did and onward they all marched. The neighborhood improved and transitioned to quaint, still “lived in” but quaint. It’s straight up hill and some hearty souls were hoofing it. Further indication that we must be close. I had been to Oakmont CC once before, working with ESPN in 1994, for a U. S. Open preview show but I didn’t remember any of this. Small houses with one car garages become brick, stone and wood paneled mansions. Big yards, fancy cars and then we’re there, 38 minutes door to door.

When I walked onto the grounds I was struck by two things; how massive the piece of property is and how much elevation change it features. It’s not Olympic Club hilly, it’s more like Augusta National in that the ups and downs surprise you.

They played a lot of golf on Friday and I watched a ton of it. Out there with the masses. Despite being one of about 40,000 in attendance, there is so much acreage at Oakmont that it never felt crowded. Admittedly Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy weren’t playing. But Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson were. Unlike The Masters there are Merchandise pavilions, a Partner Village, a Trophy Club and a Spectator Square in plain sight but they are all tastefully presented and mostly on the periphery of the golf course. When you look out on the property from the beautiful, historic clubhouse you see golf course and golfers. And it’s a splendid sight.

So that’s where I spent the majority of the next 72 hours. Walking the property, watching golf, seeing old friends and making new ones. It is my fifth straight United States Open Championship. I could never/ would never say one was better or worse than another. I will say from Olympic to Merion to Pinehurst to Chambers Bay to Oakmont they have all been memorable. Not necessarily for the winners (Simpson, Rose, Kaymer, Spieth, Johnson) but because of the experience.

I have attended and worked at hundreds, if not more than a thousand , professional golf tournaments and this is NOT just another one of those. This is America’s National Championship. It’s the one title hundreds of thousands of worthy participants and millions of dreamers imagine winning when dusk turns to dark on practice putting greens all over the world. “This putt is to win the U. S. Open” are the words whispered, not too loudly in fear of offending those pesky golf gods, by hackers, golfers and players from 8 to 80. I’ve whispered them myself on countless occasions. 

It’s also one of the rarest of all dreams to fulfill. Of the billions of humans that have walked this earth only 88 have their name engraved on the U. S. Open trophy.

I’ll never play in a U S Open, you probably won’t either but if you’re a golf fan I encourage you with all my persuasive powers to attend one. Don’t rely on your television to tell you the story, it can’t do it justice. You won’t be sorry and you’ll never forget it.
 

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Why do people talking about sports on television have to talk so darn much?

Posted on June 12, 2016 by Keith Hirshland

In my nearly thirty years producing sporting event telecasts I engaged in a constant battle with many of the men and women wearing microphones. My side of the fight proudly used the battle cry, ” less is more, let the pictures tell the story, shut the hell up.”
The other side retorted, “we need to set the scene. We played the game, we’re the experts. We are the eyes and ears for the viewer.”

In my mind I won every argument and I left production meetings absolutely certain I had gotten my point across. Then we hit the air and the folks wearing the headsets mutinied. Almost every single time i’d spend minutes on end repeating a mantra, “shhh, shhh, shhh. Hush. Stop talking. Shut the F up!” It drove me crazy as a producer. It pisses me off as a fan. My advice to every single announcer comes in the form of a challenge. Watch your favorite sport or favorite team as a fan and I dare you to not yell at least once at the man or woman on the other side of the screen to shut his or her pie hole. Do it, try it, I dare you. Unless of course you’re lucky enough to watch Vin Scully! Then just sit back and enjoy.

Good commentary should indeed set the scene, provide information to help clarify or explain the situation and advance the story. What good commentary does NOT do is tell us something we can see with our own eyes. TV is a visual medium, if you want to do radio play-by-play, go work in radio. I often told a colleague, good friend and great broadcaster to think about what he was going to say, not only the actual words but whether or not what he was about to say added anything to the story. Then use 20 per cent fewer words to say it. “Talk 20 per cent less” should be painted above the monitors in every announce booth at every sports event in America. Even that percentage, for some “talkers”, wouldn’t be enough.

The best in the business know they are at their best when they are NOT talking, either letting the players speak for themselves ( in golf ) or the moment speak for itself ( in every sport ). The best in the business are few and far between. I guess the rest don’t know any better or just don’t care. Fans and viewers don’t need or want a baseball play-by-play person to tell us that pitch “was off the plate” . We’d prefer a golf announcer not think they have to tell us “that putt came up a little short”. I have eyes, I have a 60 inch, big screen, HD TV with a sound system that I don’t use because you can’t shut up.

The events these days should be more informative with the sound up. Sadly many are better enjoyed on mute. What these ubiquitous “pronouncers” (as a famous producer used to refer to them) don’t seem to understand is that when they constantly run their mouths, we the viewers, the fans, get cheated out of the experience. Their bloviating takes center stage and the chatter of the players, the roar of the crowd, the rustling of the leaves, the whistle of the wind, gets shoved aside. 

When you go to a game do you want some washed up, once upon a time .220 hitter and his broadcasting school graduate buddy sitting in the seats on either side of you blathering the whole time? When you go to a golf tournament do you want a retired touring pro and an 8 handicap with perfect hair right behind you yapping every second? Of course not. You’re like me, you just want to watch the game or the shot. Why is that so hard for tv people to understand? Just let it breathe once in a while.

The great Don Ohlmeyer once broadcast an entire NFL game using NO announcers. I used a similar blueprint for a golf broadcast a few years ago. Both things should be attempted again, more than once. I understand that approach could put people out of work but I don’t care. This isn’t about too many people making too much money while they ruin my viewing experience. This is about preserving the rights of the fans, the masses. Give me back my game!

I used to scream “Please shut up” all the time in the truck. Now I say it from the comfort of my couch. Very few listened then, nobody listens now.

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The Memorial Tournament Is Illustrative Of Everything That Is Fabulous And Funky About PGA TOUR Golf

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Keith Hirshland

Good for William McGirt. Yesterday he won an impressive PGA TOUR trophy. He did it on the second hole of a playoff against another guy most golf fans had never heard of, John Curran. It was undoubtedly the best of times for the 13 year pro we affectionately called “Dirt McGirt” when he played the Nationwide Tour in 2010. It was arguably the worst of times for a PGA TOUR battling tooth and nail for every eyeball in the ever expanding sports universe.

 

Let me say it again, good for William McGirt. He’s a great guy, clearly an accomplished player, and now a PGA TOUR winner. But he is not Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson or Matt Kuchar. All of those guys are household golf names and all were at one time or another yesterday in Columbus at or near the top of the leaderboard. The beauty and the problem with professional golf is that at other times during the weather interrupted, tape delayed broadcast of the tournament that same leaderboard was populated by Emiliano Grillo, Robert Streb, Curran and the eventual winner, McGirt.

 

It’s what makes golf great in the minds of golfers. Nobody is entitled to a trophy. You have to play all 72 holes (and in McGirt’s case two more). Just because you are number one or three or six in the Official World Golf rankings ( www.owgr.com ) you don’t get a favorable tee time or pairing or ruling. You don’t get to play a larger percentage of your games on your home field. You don’t get to take a day off if you’re tired. They all played the same golf course, under the same conditions and a guy with zero wins in 164 previous starts beat everybody else. Yay golf!

 

But here’s the rub… William’s win may have reverberated throughout Team McGirt but to the general sports fan, the sports press and the “lead”, “headlines”, “breaking news” crawl world in which we now live it resonated with a resounding thud. Had McIlroy or Day or Johnson or maybe even Kuchar won on Sunday the headline, story and maybe even a picture would have shared the first page of the USA Today sports section with the Warriors, Novak Djokovic, and Muhammed Ali. Instead see page 6C. Digital golf magazines featured the obligatory trophy shot but some golf blogs didn’t even headline McGirt’s victory. If you can’t get the entire choir, you have to conclude that there is something wrong with the song.

 

I’ll say it a third time, good for William McGirt. He was always good to us (our Nationwide Tour TV crew) and he held it together when others faltered to earn this championship. Rory McIlroy (one of the guys that would have changed the Monday conversation) never, ever, ever, ever had a chance to win. Despite that TV teased us with the tried and true “if he could just birdie the last two and post a number…”  narrative. He didn’t, he couldn’t but that didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact that “everybody knows who Rory is”. It’s not TV’s fault. It’s not even golf’s fault. This immediate gratification world has beaten the ability to appreciate the nuance out of everything, especially competitive sports.

 

Jack Nicklaus is considered by most golf’s greatest player. That argument is bolstered each passing day Tiger Woods stays on Injured Reserve. Jack’s image as a player sparkles as bright as ever but you could argue that his terrific tournament is starting to get an image problem. After decades of champs named Azinger, Norman, Singh, Couples, Furyk, Els and Woods, its last three victors were first time winners. Oh sure a look back in the history books also shows Bart Bryant, David Edwards and Keith Fergus won at Muirfield but names like those are few and far between. Until now. It’s true that the 2014 champ is Hideki Maruyama, the incredibly talented, young, Japanese player who always lands on pundit’s short list when major championships come around. Maruyama has already won again on the PGA TOUR and nobody expects him to stop. But those same “nobodys” won’t be surprised if 2015 winner David Lingmerth and McGirt never win another event.

 

You might say first time winners at Jack’s tournament is no longer an interesting quirk but instead a trend. The problem isn’t the tournament’s impressive history or the great golf course on which it is contested. The problem might be the first weekend in June has suddenly become prime thunderstorm season in that part of Ohio. These are not passing showers. These are downpours, drenching rains that take every bit of the “fire” out of the golf course making it, at least recently, easier for “anybody” to win. And Anybody has. I’ll say it one last time, good for William McGirt. I am a golf fan and I am happy for him and happy for golf that he won. But I am not blind to the fact that William McGirt winning yesterday was bad for golf too. Bad for golf in the sense that to get any buzz these days big names need to win big events and that’s too bad.

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Golf Is A Great Game And It’s Even Better “Together”

Posted on May 26, 2016 by Keith Hirshland

Those of you who know me, either personally of through this space, know my two favorite sports are golf and baseball. Don’t get me wrong I am a sports fan. I have a favorite NFL team (the San Francisco 49ers), I cheer for my alma mater (Nevada) and other college basketball teams. I watch their games (sometimes to the dismay of my wife). I have over the last couple of years even found myself tuning in to an NBA game or two. But I will seek out a Web.com Tour event, I will record an LPGA Tour tournament, I’ll watch early coverage of a weekend round on the PGA TOUR even though the leaders haven’t even made their way to the practice tee.

 

Part of the reason is because I made a living in television golf for more than a quarter century and still have friends in the industry. I enjoy watching their work. But I believe the main reason I am a prime example of, as they say in the business, golf’s “core customer” is because I LOVE the game. I feel that way because my parents felt that way and I can never thank them enough for passing that on. Some of my fondest memories growing up were the times spent on golf courses all over America with my Mom, Dad and brothers. It was family time, it was fun. Most of those rounds were played at the venerable Washoe County Golf Course (‘The Shoe”) in my hometown of Reno, Nevada. The pro, Pete Marich, and his staff knew us well and were happy to let us play as a fivesome (as long as we didn’t hold anybody up!) so we did (and we didn’t).

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We played together for years. My brothers and I got better, my parents got worse but the enjoyment for the game and the coming together as a family was always the same. No matter the skill level I always looked forward to my rounds of golf with Ginger and Lee Hirshland; even, and maybe especially, into their retirement years on Maui. I read and hear people write or say things like, “I would give anything for one more round of golf with my Dad.” I don’t have to say that because in some way he and my Mom are there with me in every shot I hit. I like to think the love of, and respect for, the game they instilled in me led to an incredibly fulfilling career. I hate to think that same career led to one of my most lamentable regrets; the fact that I was never able to pass down the love of the sport of golf to my own children.

 

My kids don’t play golf, never did, and that’s too bad. Oh I bought them clubs, took them to the practice range, encouraged them as best I could but none of that was good enough because I couldn’t do what my Mom and Dad did with and for me. Make almost every summer weekend a family golf weekend. When you work in golf television you work on those weekends and a lot of holidays too. During my two youngest children’s “formative” years I was “on the road” for an average of 30 of 52 weekends, most of those in the Spring, Summer and early Fall. That’s not a blueprint for getting out to the golf course with your children. So they did other things, played other sports (lacrosse, soccer, gymnastics, figure skating, basketball). Activities they could participate in without their dear old dad. I could have pushed it when I was home but I didn’t. That was a mistake. Because of that they’ll never have the memories that I have playing golf with my parents. I will never have the memories my Mom and Dad had playing golf with me and my brothers. That makes me sad. Now my most enjoyable rounds of golf are the ones I play with my wife. That makes me happy but I can’t help but wonder how much more enjoyable those rounds would be if our kids were out there with us.

 

I applaud initiatives like The First Tee and Drive, Chip and Putt but when push comes to shove there is nothing more meaningful than heritage. The custom of passing down a family activity from one generation to another. I am not, however, without hope. Our children are still young (early 30’s and early 20’s) but I am realistic enough to realize that bit of hope is tiny. These remarkable kids lead incredibly busy lives, they are accomplished, we are extremely proud of them all. Golf is going to have to come to them on their terms. If and when it does I can only hope that I am still around to do what my parents did with us, enjoy this greatest game of all together.

 

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