I Guess I HAVE to Address the TNT Coverage

Sigh.

Ok, when I was a little kid I wanted to be a sports broadcaster. That was my only dream. I actually taped a national championship football game once and would commentate it alone in my room, which is just about the dorkiest thing I've ever done (you know, besides start a blog about golf).

That being said, working for a TNT or ABC or something would still obviously be a dream come true. The thing is, I really don't know if I could have sat through that entire telecast without having to bitch out the producer/directors for this "telecast" they're giving us.

It's been pitiful to be fair. It is a golf telecast sans the golf. I've decided, in honor of TNT, I'm going to list the problems because that shows less work and probably is easier.

Here goes...

Lexus at the Turn - If you haven't been dumb lucky enough to watch golf for two straights days, let me introduce to you to the "Lexus at the Turn" feature. What it is, is a 20-minute or so thing where two broadcasters recap the golf, but they do it like every hour, so it's pointless. During this time, they show maybe one live golf shot. Maybe. Also, during this, you get those horrible Lexus commercials with an LPGA golfer and a Champions tour golfer.

The Features - So, did you know Tiger Woods isn't playing in the British Open this week? Well then, you know more than anyone at TNT. In hopes of drawing in more people with the thought of a Tiger feature, they've had one each day, which would make a lot of sense if Tiger owned TNT. He does not thus it makes no sense. Hey, at least there isn't any asterisk talk*.

*=lie

Showing live golf - If I were to rank important things during a golf telecast, they would go in this order.

1. Show Live golf
2. Everything else

Obviously TNT didn't get my memo because more than once, they've gone in this order - interview, commercial, ONE live golf shot (usually a meaningless putt), feature, commercial. It's like they thought of the one thing people care about and avoid it like it's Lindsay Lohan's vagina.

Interviews - Honestly, Jim Huber is great at his job, it's just overkill. Here are the people you should interview -- leaders (like Greg Norman, K.J. Choi), ONE previous winner that had a good/solid/memorable week (Tom Watson) and then one other player that did something fantastic (like David Duval or Jim Furyk). We don't need to interview EVERY SINGLE GOLFER that comes off the course. If you go against my advise, and decide to interview everybody, please ask one or two questions, and have a split screen that shows golf. Nobody wants to hear how Justin Leonard made birdie on the 11th hole. We see it, it's great, even in HD. Him talking about it doesn't give us a better grasp of the accomplishment.

Cutting Out Early - Yesterday, Sergio Garcia was the late star, the big name that cameras followed around most of his round. He got to 17, the birdie-friendly par-5, pumped a drive down the middle, and they cut the coverage. Are you fucking serious? We didn't want to see him hit the second shot on and/or make a birdie on 18? Good decision, "The Closer" is on next.

Ian Baker-Finch feature - This deserves its own category. On Thursday TNT did a feature on Baker-Finch's victory at Royal Birkdale in 1991. It was so long I seriously thought he was playing this week. I bet it went on for nearly 10 minutes, with an "interview" of Baker-Finch after, EVEN THOUGH HE WORKS FOR THE GODDAMN NETWORK!!!!

There you have it. If you DVR'd the coverage today, and are heading home, don't be fooled. They start out with this "we're going to show golf all day" introduction but really go back to the same 'ol shit. I need a drink.