Video: Greg And Joe Live From The Pines At Pinehurst!
Other than Greg Noman calling Bill Coore “Coors" and repeating himself endlessly, this is only mildly painful unless you detest hearing the stock Fox Sports theme music. Get used to it. #12years #nocrashingrobotsyet
BTW, on the topic of theme music, Alex Myers wrote about NBC's iconic U.S. Open music, which may not be heard again when the network ends its U.S. Open coverage Sunday. The Yanni-composed "In Celebration of Man" started out as Olympics music.
"I would be disappointed if Fox doesn't use it," said Yanni, who is in the midst of a world tour covering 20 countries promoting his new album, Inspirato. "Nineteen years is a long time. 'In Celebration of Man' is kind of like a statue. And it stands for golf."
Despite requests, Yanni has never performed the piece live or included it on an album, but perhaps that will change now. "This song won't be lost," he said.
It certainly won't be lost among the golfers everywhere who hear or even hum the song when striking a good shot. Wait, that can't just be me . . . right?
Norman signed autographs earlier this week and Sam Weinman wrote about his preparation work for the U.S. Open broadcasts starting next year. Greg is mentoring Joe Buck, so rest assured:
"We've got 12 months to work at it," Norman said while signing autographs behind the 18th geen. "Joe's a good player (Buck has a 3.6 handicap index). But there's a difference between being a good player and being out here in the U.S. Open. There's a lot of little nuances he would never pick up on as a player. But we'll try to talk those things out and he's going to help me when we start in the booth with our rehearsals. So it's fantastic I can walk around with him on a day like today."
Geoff
**When you think opening round at the U.S. Open, you think highlight reel of Adam Scott's first round don't you?
Joe Buck and Greg Norman with day one Scott update from Pinehurst, and some Martin Kaymer too!
Reader Comments (35)
I know he won the Masters and has done really well - but re-watch the back 9 of last year's Open at Muirfield, and you will never pick Scott to win anything that involves putting under pressure.
Jim McKay's voice with brass fanfare followed by 'Love's Theme'--now that is iconic.
The whole thing with foreign announcers started with Henry Longhurst at the Masters. It worked because Longhurst had been a long-time writer, covering golf, and he had a soft touch. There was no ego involved, just a nice soft wit.
Norman has way to big an ego to ever be a truly world class announcer.
Plus, I find his voice grating. It will be insufferable for over an hour.
The stupid experiment of Greg Norman doing the US Open should stop, right now.
Peter Jacobsen, Andy North, Curtis Strange, Lanny Wadkins - any of them would be far better. IN FACT - Geoff, please pitch yourself.
thank you, i didnt realize that. interesting that no one else seems to do it though. it makes a person like me (who had no idea) think he doesnt know what hes saying
+1 Dave
can it get any worse ?
The Fox music needs to change. I'd be happy with some Chirkinian-era CBS Golf smooth jazz.
Scott is solid until he steps on the green. You'll have to work hard to convince me he has an ounce of confidence. Appears to be talking himself out of every putt before he starts wishing them in. A half decent putter would have turned that +3 into a 68 or 69 off his iron play. And any competitor that watched Kaymer play the back, 16, 17 and 18 to be specific, won't be having any warm feelings about his chances.
Paul
This quote puts on full display Norman's ignorance of how a TV booth works. Nance and Hicks and other Play by Play guys do/have played golf, but their expertise has little or nothing to do with their skill as a player. That is the Analyst's job. I am actually pretty open minded about Fox in general, but this Norman thing is concerning.
But then, golf broadcasts, like star talent shows, seems to be the province of the British voices of authority. (Even if, like Frank Nobilo, you seem to bring nothing to the table but a Kiwi accent.)
Now I have to pause. Does any golf broadcast in the English-speaking world use an American analyst?
Butch Harmon works for Sky Sports on the broadcasts in Britain, I believe. Others?
As for this duo, I'm very skeptical about whether it's possible for any announcer to Actually Add Something To The Broadcast. Go back and listen to the pieces above. Norman says ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that even the most casual golf fan doesn't know already. No useful facts or anecdotes; mere guessing and speculation. (And we all know that ANYBODY can do that.) I fully expect Norman and the Fox crew to fall into the typical golf announcer routine of 1) making useless predictions 2) telling us stuff we don't really care about, i.e. "This one should break left, Vinnie" 3) telling us what we just saw, i.e. "Uh oh, he doesn't like that one" and "That just slides by on the right." Wow -- what insight!
I know of lots of folks here (for reasons I cannot understand) don't like Brandel Chamblee, but in what little I watch of "Live From" I'm always amazed about his astute and convincing use of statistics to make a valid point, rather than merely offering another worthless opinion.
Or not.