Another Dumb Comment from Ken Venturi

[Nick_Ficorelli]

Jim McKay
Pat Summerall
Ken Venturi
Dan Rather
All continued after their time had past.
Too bad their  final incoherent ramblings are what remain freshest.

[Brad Klein]

Cos, playing golf in front of 40,000 people is also really tough, which is why most of us don't do it.

Sure, it's hard to talk (and know when not to) on national TV live, but there are some who do it really well and some who get paid to do it whom everyone agrees are awful.

[Paul Richards]

I thought he was retiring anyways?

[John_D._Bernhardt]

The sound would go off if Ken and Brent M were in the booth together. Brent M was the worst in a profession that has alot of very average to poor anouncers. Ken may be poor but he can always look good compared to Brent M.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Cos - I believe he has lasted decades because of what the media calls the "Q" factor, or likeability.  I think we all know someone in our own offices who survives because everyone likes him/her more than because of their technical competence.  And of course, it drives all the technically competent people in the office nuts!

I attended the Nelson on Friday with my wife and golfer son.  They were both surprised at how few golfers were hitting the greens - it was because of the gusty winds.  On 2 and 5, both easy par 3's of medium length, 2 out of every threesome missed the putting surface with the tee ball and usually long and short - not left to right, which is the typical miss pattern for pros.  In one case, a club pro overshot a downwind green by 40 yards! In others, they came up way short with the wind in their faces.

The 554 yard 16th, damp, uphill and into the wind was only reached by a few players the day I watched - Tiger and Bateman (who had the "Verizon Long Distance Drive of the Day" with only 289 yards!  Few others came close.

So any comments anyone may have made about choking, or anything else like that should have accounted for the wind conditions prevalent all four days. (I was only there one day, but I was around town, and it was gusty and strong)

[Robert_Walker]

This is yet another topic that was up here last year.
There is nothing new here.

[RandyC]

Don't like it? DON'T WATCH IT.

"Our United States of Unconsciousness
Apathetic therapeutic and extremely addictive
The methadone metronome pumping out
150 channels 24 hours a day
You can flip through all of them
And still there's nothing worth watching."

--Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, "Television, Drug of a Nation"

[George Pazin]

Just because you yearn for better commentating, doesn't mean you don't like watching the golf. Look for a better quote, Randy.

[Dan Kelly]

150 channels, 24 hours a day -- and NOTHING WORTH WATCHING?

What garbage! There's ALWAYS something worth watching.

There's so much more good television now than they're there used to be! There's just no comparison! (More crap, too, of course; there's no denying that.)

Sometimes, that good television is golf!

On the other hand: That good golf television is not often worth listening closely to, on any American network ... even on CBS -- even if, deep in your heart, like millions of people, you have an abiding affection for Ken Venturi, no matter how old and tired his patter ("You could take your whole practice bag out there and not hit a better shot") ... an affection born of his near-win losses at Augusta ... of his gallant, nearly heroic (and truly heroic, if true heroism were possible in sports) victory at Congessional ... of his wonderful playing-tips segments, where he'd tell you how and then, magnificently, SHOW you how ... of his forthrightly stated, lifelong, painful need to please his father (and who can't identify with that?) ... of his never seeming to be overly impressed with himself ... of his having been there with us, week after week, as we all got older together.

I won't miss his announcing. I'll miss him.

[RandyC]

My sincere apologies for having a different viewpoint. What was I thinking?

Not watching or listening IS an option, you know.  

And how dare I invade the precious little clubhouse with a quote from someone in RAP MUSIC (it's not MUSIC!) for crying out loud! This site doesn't need a different viewpoint! It runs on its own self-aggrandizement!

Forgive me if I'm a bit defensive but GOOD LORD does this site tend to have a stick up its collective butt and consider itself beyond reproach, way up there on its mighty high horse.

(a collective sigh was let out as the unwanted guest went back to lurking. "Why... he must be a coward if he doesn't respond to our queries and yaps of indignation!," they cried. Guess I'm just yella. Or maybe I have better ways to spend my time.)

[Dan Kelly]

RandyC --

WARNING! Sarcasm directly ahead!

Don't care for debate, eh?

You'd rather just drop in, tell us your "different viewpoint" (a viewpoint as old as television itself -- and way older than any rapper!), and have us roll over, play dead, and say: "Oh, gosh, RandyC, you're so right! Why didn't WE ever think of that? Gosh, darn it, you've got a point there: We don't have to watch golf on TV at all! No one's forcing us to do it! Holy cow, you're right! We're not strictly required to discuss golf broadcasting, or Ken Venturi, or any of it! Bless you for delivering us from our bondage to the tube!"

You write: "And how dare I invade the precious little clubhouse with a quote from someone in RAP MUSIC (it's not MUSIC!) for crying out loud!" Did I miss it when someone took issue with your quoting rap music? I don't think anyone objected at all to the source of your quotation -- but only to its content.

You write: "Forgive me if I'm a bit defensive but GOOD LORD does this site tend to have a stick up its collective butt and consider itself beyond reproach, way up there on its mighty high horse." I'll take you at your word and say: I, for one, forgive you. The stick up by butt forgives you. Even my mighty high horse forgives you.

But having forgiven you, we're not required to agree with you, are we? Where'd you get that idea?

You write: "(a collective sigh was let out as the unwanted guest went back to lurking. "Why... he must be a coward if he doesn't respond to our queries and yaps of indignation!," they cried. Guess I'm just yella. Or maybe I have better ways to spend my time.)"

You're not unwanted. You're perfectly welcome here. Just don't expect everyone else to roll over and play dead in the face of your proclamations.

If you have better ways to spend your time: By all means, do it! And if GCA sometimes seems like a good way to spend your time: By all means, do it!