Nothing Beats Watching a Major Golf Championship on a Sunday Afternoon
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Wolverine
3 Votes
30%
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I watch lots of different sports and I watch them all the time. That got me thinking about what is the ultimate sports TV experience. After a few moments of running through all the options, it became clear to me that the best is The Masters, US Open, British Open or PGA Championship. Pick any. I'm sure on first blush most people will disagree, but let's consider this:
1. You are getting all of the best players from around the world -- not just two teams that are hot at the end of the year
2. The final round is almost always relatively competitive. Occasionally Tiger stakes a big lead and runs away with the tournament, but that is the exception. In most other sporting events, half the time you are getting a blowout or a non-competitive result. Boring.
3. The Tiger Factor: Tiger's mere presence in a Major makes it extra special. It is always fun to track him against the field to see if he will be in it down the stretch. When he is lurking or in the lead, there is an extra wow factor that is tough to turn off.
4. The sport is relaxing and exhilarating at the same time: That great feeling of lying on the couch on a lazy Sunday afternoon with a cool breeze wafting in through your windows, hand halfway tucked into your pants, beer in hand, watching a great competition unfold before your eyes. That's priceless.
5. The visuals are stunning: Every Major-worthy golf course is amazingly beautiful. Just seeing the rolling hills, manicured greens, and well groomed fairways is nice on the eyes.
6. The announcers are pleasant: They are nicely complementary to the game as opposed to obnoxiously dominant, like you see in many other sports, baseball being the other exception. Golf announcers talk in soft, almost hushed voices, and even give you the bonus of a cool Scottish, South African, or Irish accent sometimes.
7. By panning around to show you multiple golfers, the action to dead time ratio is pretty good. Hockey is the best, as I've stated before, but compared to Football (so much time between plays and tons of timeouts in between possesions), Baseball (my God does it take long for pitchers to throw the ball), and Basketball (boring free-throws, tons of timeouts, and lengthy end-of-game sequences) Golf offers a continually entertaining experiecne.
8. Referees don't screw up the game: In all other sports, the referees or umpires have too much of an influence on the outcome of the game. Golf is super pure. It's all about the players. I love that. After watching a Major Championship, I feel like the players decided who was best, not some overzealous ref.
As you can see, from a consistency standpoint, nothing compares. Tennis can be good for many of the same reasons that Golf is good, but seeing a ball go over the net repeatedly doesn't do it for me. Sure there are great individual games in other team sports, but over the long haul, I'll take a Major Championship any day.
Rebuttal
SmackDaddy, you are not really following very well, as usual. When I was a kid, I liked to play with blocks and pick my nose a lot. Doesn't mean those are great activities for me now, although you never really stop picking your nose. As I have matured, I have come to appreciate the beauty of golf and especially golf TV watching. I'm more refined now. You talk of other great sports on TV, but I didn't see any really good examples. I don't want to hear about cricket either. Only legitimate sports.
I just got through watching my second game 7 NBA playoff game in two days. Somehow I found both to be quite boring. It's weird, the two teams that won (Boston and SA) did so by playing less poorly than their competition. It was brutal basketball. I find that most NBA games I watch are brutal. I could go down the list with other sports, hockey excluded of course.
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SmackDaddy
7 Votes
70%
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Wolfie, I don’t deny golf is a great sport to watch- let’s be very clear about that! But to say that “nothing” beats it?!? You’re smoking the grass you’re playing on. I agree that on a lazy Sunday, the lawn is mowed, the kids are sorted, and the beer is cold, that a bit of Major golf is a great way to spend the afternoon- no doubt about it. But I can think of a long list of sports/sporting events I’d rather spend a Sunday afternoon watching.
Let me demonstrate my point by asking the following questions: When you were a kid, did you have Tom Watson posters on your wall? Do you wake up on Sunday morning and nervously think to yourself, “Gee... I hope Sergio Garcia’s knee will hold up in today’s conditions?!?” Do you wear a maple leaf tattoo on your cheek in support of Mike Weir? Do you plan, with military precision, trips to the shops to buy the right beer and nacho ingredients for final round coverage? Do you e-mail/ring your mates in Australia on the Monday before a tournament to boast “Tiger is gonna kick your boy Adam Scott’s butt this weekend!”?
I don’t think so!
Golf is a great spectator sport, particularly Majors and I will happily spend a Sunday afternoon watching (heck, I wake up at 4am here in Sydney to watch). But to say that “nothing beats” it is grossly overstepping the mark.
Rebuttal
Wolfgang, I’m not missing the point at all.
I feel compelled to help you feel better (or more embarrassed!) by responding to your argument point by point:
- You may get the best players from around the world, but who cares? By Sunday afternoon, 99% of the field is out of contention, so instead of getting two teams that are “hot at the end of the year”, you get two players that are hot at the end of the day. I’d certainly rather have the former- teams that have had consistently good form over weeks/months than the latter- two players who have only hit form over the past three days.
- Your second point is just plain silly; other sports ARE competitive. Did you happen to catch the most recent Super Bowl, by chance?
- Tiger actually makes golf LESS attractive because he’s so much better than the rest of the field. Gone are the days when one of a dozen different golfers were in with a chance on Thursday morning. Now, if Tiger laces up, he’s already the white-hot favourite
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Packer Backer (voted for SmackDaddy)
19-May-08 21:34
Wolverine, your hatred of the NBA and the fact the Lions have sucked FOREVER is seriously altering your sensibilities. I really like golf and think it's a top 3 sport for Tivo but to watch it live and call it the best to watch on TV is simply not right. When Tiger is way ahead, it's only interesting to Tiger fans. When Tiger is way out of it, it's only interest to the your favorite golfer. It doesn't have a broad enough fan appeal to really be considered and SmackDaddy makes very solid arguments on posters and living for the sport. It just doesn't have the emotion and intrigue to be the best on TV. This Smackdown should not be close.
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schmax (voted for Wolverine)
19-May-08 22:28
The mistake here is equating the PGA championship with the British Open or the Masters; its like comparing Obama to Jackson; does not compare. Bottom line the British Open, Masters and possibly the US Open represent another world.
Second point, it is not team vs. individual sport; what makes golf amazing is that it is individuals against the course (you can play harder defense in golf). The best comparison is down hill sking; it is all about who can take charge despite the elements.
With this said I will give it to the Wolverine just for having the guts to stand up for the greatest game!
schmax
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TK (voted for SmackDaddy)
19-May-08 22:28
Wolverine, I like the diligence of your argument, but having professional golf as the pinnacle of your sports viewing is a sad state of affairs. It means you are old.
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schmax (voted for Wolverine)
19-May-08 22:29
P.s. my point is you CANT play harder defense in golf
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SmackDaddy (voted for SmackDaddy)
19-May-08 22:31
The rest of my Rebuttal got cut out. Here it is:
- Mate, I have no reply for Point #4. If your idea of sporting entertainment is as you described, than maybe golf IS for you.
- Ditto above. If I want to watch rolling scenery, I’ll watch the Travel Network, not ESPN.
- You’re running up a slippery slope. Would you really rather listen to a bunch of nancies with names like Davis and Fuzzy whispering into their microphones more than a bunch of fat guys yelling “BOOM!” into their microphones???
- So you’re saying that you’d rather fill the so-called “dead time” by watching players who don’t have an ice-cube’s chance instead of taking that time to discuss the players/teams that are actually in contention? I enjoy the game analysis (and when extra time allows, getting updates to my turducken recipe).
- I don’t entirely buy this, either. Yes, the Topic du Jour is officiating, but every sport has officials (golf included) and they are simply part of the game.
Again, for the record, golf is a great spectator sport. As far as what I like more/less, that’s just me; others may have other preferences and I respect that. If you’d like for me to give you specific sports that I’d rather watch on a Sunday afternoon (assuming they’re on), I’d list most NFL games (post- OR regular season), selected college football (again, regular OR bowls), NHL playoff if my team is on (which is rare), NBA Finals, or World Series. Above all, I put Australian Rules Football (Sydney in particular), although this may be lost to my fellow smackers who don’t have access to the game as I do. Simply put, any rational sports fan/smacker would agree that golf sits below at least one other sport.
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Nilbilly Boy (voted for Wolverine)
20-May-08 08:45
Nothing like getting loaded on Bourbon and watching Tiger
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Nilbilly Boy (voted for Wolverine)
20-May-08 08:45
Nothing like getting loaded on Bourbon and watching Tiger
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Cheesehead (voted for SmackDaddy)
20-May-08 09:24
This is such a "no contest" for SmackDaddy, I'm amazed the vote is almost evenly split. Golf as the best spectator sport?? It's not even the same thing. Golf is great to play. It's even enjoyable to watch if you have a resting heart rate, a mojito in your hand, and have no greater aspiration than to be lulled to sleep by the hushed announcers and chirping birds background soundtrack of every major. It's like an audio-visual sedative -- like the bubbling brook track on the Sharper Image alarm clock.
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Mike Trigg (voted for SmackDaddy)
20-May-08 09:30
"Nothing Beats Watching a Major Golf Championship on a Sunday Afternoon..." Except ANY OTHER SPORTING EVENT! I'd rather watch ESPN 8 -- "the Ocho."
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Mike Trigg (voted for SmackDaddy)
20-May-08 09:37
One more point: Wolverine's #1 argument, that "You are getting all of the best players from around the world -- not just two teams that are hot at the end of the year" is complete BS. I think golf is much more prone to the random, never-heard-of-him-before, golfer to suddenly be playing out of his mind and ending up on the leaderboard Sunday. Case in point: Paul Goydos in the Players Championship last week. This is this guy's one flash in the pan. Watching him choke was just painful.
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Duncan (voted for SmackDaddy)
20-May-08 18:20
Golf is a sport?
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Wolverine (voted for Wolverine)
21-May-08 20:47
Anyone watching the end of Lakers vs. San Antonio in game one will understand how flawed the officiating situation is in the NBA. There have been about 5 critical calls in the last 90 seconds and I don't think the officials have gotten one of them right.
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