First Round Fodder

I'm heading out to the course to take in The Pairing and mercifully, the audio has been muted in the press tent so I won't be able to track idiotic comments.

Under the comments section here, feel free to post any observations about the telecast or good reads you've spotted online.

Comments

[Bruford]

ESPN graphics are brutal, they give you everything except for who you are looking at, their yardage, and their score, not that anyone would want to know that.

[kizzy]

ESPN uses feed from NBC has no control over cameras or what is shown Johnny doesn't show until the weekend he doesn't do early rounds

[dsl]

Let's see - in Canada we have to deal with that ridiculous ESPN scroll at the top AND the TSN scroll at the bottom. There's so much stuff moving around the edges of the screen, it's hard to follow the action. I watched the event on DVR yesterday and I wish (WISH) the networks could see how much crap I hit fast forward on.

One of the biggest problems with the coverage is the tag-teaming networks all day long. I have to record 3 different programs called 'US Open' because it goes from ESPN to NBC to ESPN. Also, according to my cable provider the coverage ended at 2100 EST. However, Mike Tirico was trumpeting about how the coverage might extend beyond 2200 EST. Not sure if that was true or not. The other problem with the tag teaming is that you get 3 different 'starts' to the telecast. Again, I have DVR so it's no biggie - just fast forward through the fluff (as soon as they stop showing the flag, you're ready for some golf).

Curtis Strange has spent a lot of time in the booth over the years. Why, then, did ESPN feel the need to introduce us to him and build up his credibility? I know who he is, for cripes' sakes, just show the darn golf (this was a time for the fast forward button). I think as soon as they learn that the coverage is not about the announcers we'll all be better off. Speaking of announcers - at 23:30 last night I had about 2 hours of coverage to get through and was on the fence about sitting through it at such a late hour. There were compelling stories on the course and it was pretty un-US Open-ish to that point (this is a good thing). Right at that moment, Tirico announced that Maltbie and Berman would be taking over in booth. Bam! Decision made. I deleted the remainder of the coverage, shut the TV down and went to bed. Back back back back back back back...

Aside from most of the coverage, the golf was great. It seemed like the guys had a real chance to play well out there. They got a mixed bag of breaks in the rough, which is perfect. The greens seemed to be running a bit slowly (or somehow different from what we typically see in the US Open), but I expect that they'll get the hang of it. Now that we know how the course will play, I can't wait to see what happens if they stretch it out a bit and/ or shorten it up. Very compelling stuff and atypical of a normal US Open. One final thought - they mentioned (well Tirico did) that the 18th on Sunday could be really exciting. I tend to think that if they stretch it out then it'll probably just end up being a layup and a short pitch, is much the same way that Ogilvy played it.