NFL Golf

Earlier MDS noted that the Sports Bog's Dan Steinberg caught up with Stuart Scott at the Earl Woods Memorial Pro-Am yesterday, and like most people at pro-am events, they talked about sports blogs.

Near the end of Steinberg's post on the festivities, he notes that Scott's answer of the day came in an interview with Sports Groove's Mark Gray, "who asked about the criticism Tiger receives for not being outspoken enough." Scott's response:

"All the people who say Tiger doesn't do enough, stop," Scott said. "Shut up. Shut up....He's got about as much money as Oprah, but it's important for him to do something tangible for kids. Tangible."

As much as it pains me, I agree with Scott on this one. For some reason, certain segments of the population think high-profile athletes should have an opinion on every social issue under the sun.

During the "hey, I got an idea: let's lynch Tiger!" fiasco, Jim Brown said Woods "waited until it was politically correct to come out and he should have come out right away." Maybe. Or perhaps Tiger just wanted the whole thing to blow over. Frankly, I have no idea why he didn't hold a press conference denouncing Kelly Tilghman as the next coming of Hitler (or worse, the Celtics), but I can't begrudge the guy for how he ultimately chose to deal with it the matter.

Earlier I mentioned that television advertisers were excited with the FedEx Cup ratings, even if the players and fans were less so. Despite the 18 percent increase in ratings from a year ago, it's not all good news:

Steve Stricker's hot streak and the duel between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at the Deutsche Bank Championship arguably rank among the most compelling moments of golf television this season. But such highlights mask what remains an ominous problem for the Tour: Professional golf still struggles to draw much of an audience for anything but the majors.

The AP reports that the Little League World Series final posted better head-to-head ratings up against the final round of the Barclays, the Cup's first event. And the final-round Woods-Mickelson Deutsche Bank matchup failed to match ratings of the same even last year.

... of the four playoff tournaments, only the Tour Championship produced significantly better weekend ratings, and that's largely attributable to improved scheduling – mid-September this year vs. a football-filled November in 2006.

And that's the thing: professional and college football are so popular that golf basically becomes irrelevant once September rolls around. That the tour doesn't just shut down until January is a testament to two things: one, money drives everything; two, there are still some fans who prefer golf to other sports, even during the fall and winter months. Which is good news for Golf Channel and their new 15-year deal with the tour.

Televising PGA Tour events not only gives them credibility, but will also boost their ratings. Even when it's football season. Plus, it'll hopefully me a lot less filler programming (I'm staring at you "Big Break").

How much did viewers hate ESPN's "Who's Now" SportsCenter segments? So much that the Worldwide Leader's ombudsman says this:

No single topic has ever drawn the volume and intensity of unsolicited complaints to either my or my predecessor's mailbox that this sports popularity contest has.

Who's Now, which named Tiger Woods the most "Now" athlete, also got more than 5 million votes on ESPN.com, which means ESPN executives can say with a straight face that they don't think it was quite the miserable failure that most people do. And Glenn Jacobs, senior coordinating producer for the 6 p.m. and weekend morning editions of SportsCenter, defended Who's Now in a discussion with the ombudsman, Le Anne Schreiber.

But don't worry, folks. ESPN can publicly defend Who's Now all it wants, but the people in Bristol aren't stupid, and they have to know that the feature was an embarrassment. I can't imagine that it'll be back next year.

This is probably the second weirdest thing I've seen today. Here's the GEICO Caveman (the one who's dating Sherry, apparently) playing golf with CBS NFL analyst/caveman Phil Simms. Surprisingly, Simms acts like he has a personality in the video.

After watching this, I'll admit it -- I wouldn't mind seeing these two guys working NFL games. It would be just like last year's Monday Night crew. But funny.

UPDATE: Matt Ufford points out in the comments that he posted this clip (via WBRS Sports Blog) way back in March. So I'm five months behind. Makes sense -- I'm from North Carolina, we're five months behind on a lot of stuff.

Ben Curtis came out of nowhere to win the 2003 British Open. After struggling in '04 and '05, he bounced back to win twice in 2006: the Booz Allen and the 84 LUMBER. He's in Oakmont this week, and is currently tied for 37 with a two-day 8-over total. Given the conditions, that's pretty freaking good.

Anyway, Oakmont is located in suburban Pittsburgh and Curtis is an avowed Cleveland Browns fan. Usually, that wouldn't mean much -- it is the PGA Tour after all, not some sport that revels in trash talking, or even contact, for that matter -- but, well, there are two things:

• First, the NFL is one of Curtis' sponsors. As part of the deal, he sports the "logo of the NFL team associated with the city where the PGA Tour is playing."
• Second, Oakmont is located in suburban Pittsburgh.
  

So you know what that means: Curtis was parading around in black and gold. And if you've ever been to Western Pennsylvania, two things are painfully clear: one, the Steelers are Western Pennsylvania; two, the Browns are the Steelers' most hated rival. More proof of how professional football pervades everything: during today's telecast, Roger Maltbie (at least I think it was Maltbie) put into perspective exactly what the Steelers mean to the region (and I'm paraphrasing): "I've seen a lot of Steelers tattoos on the course this week ... and that was just the women."

Nice. And probably true. Good news for Cleveland fans, though. In addition to finally landing the next Tim Couch, Curtis also wore his Browns get up this week ... during the practice round. Fitting. (Photographic evidence after the jump.)

I get Tommy Maddox trying to qualify for the U.S. Open. He's got nothing but time on his hands, and golf patrons are a lot less likely to trash your yard after a bad outing. (Or more precisely, your agent is a lot less likely to make up a story that fans trashed your yard after a bad outing.) But this I don't get:

[Dallas quarterback Tony Romo] was at Hackberry Creek Country Club in Irving with only a handful of spectators, attempting to make it to the sectional round of qualifying for the U.S. Open.

Now it's obviously a lot better than riding around on a motorcycle sans helmet, but doesn't Romo have other things he should be doing? Like, say, doing football-related stuff.

I get that a lot of professional athletes play golf, and I also understand that their job is a demanding one. I have no problem with that. But like it or not, the 2007 season unofficially begins as soon as the draft ends. Yeah, it's kinda silly, but that's the reality of today's NFL.

Romo missed the cut by four strokes and he probably had no real shot at qualifying for the U.S. Open (he was trying to make it to the sectionals). So its safe to assume he won't miss any real practice time. Fair enough, but I'm pretty sure other NFL quarterbacks aren't trying to qualify for professional golf tournaments. They're getting ready for the 2007 season. And given how Romo's 2006 season ended, you figure he'd be doing the same.

On Super Bowl Sunday, the FanHouse's Michael David Smith wrote that 1998 first-overall pick Ryan Leaf was now the golf coach West Texas A&M. Hard to believe, I know, but it's true. In fact, Leaf took time out of what I imagine is a not-so-busy schedule to get on GolfDigest.com's version of the ESPN Hot Seat. Here are some things you almost certainly didn't know about Leaf:

• He got the golf gig because the West Texas A & M athletic director liked the way Leaf "dealt with the quarterbacks, developed relationships with them and motivated them" during a stint as an assistant football coach.
• Leaf doesn't deal with his players' swings – they have a swing coach. In fact, he says "I have nothing to do with golf... I just oversee them, get them set up with tournaments, get them in the weight room, work out with them and just try to get some team camaraderie, some team leadership, so they can go out and play the mental side of the game.You know, golf's a lot like quarterback play. There are a lot of ups and downs on a golf course, same as a football game.
• Leaf says he's currently a 10 or 11 handicap.
• He thinks Tiger Woods is an "unreal, unbelievable" player. Leaf also likes Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco.
• His favorite club is his 7-iron and his dream foursome includes John F. Kennedy, David Duval and Michael Jordan.
• He can recite lines from both "Caddyshack" and "Tin Cup."

Leaf sounds like a good guy, but I think it's funny he's not really the golf coach. He's kind of the golf manager/motivational guru. Basically, Tony Dobbins without the charisma and the big teeth. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

In an extensive interview with Golf Digest's Bob Verdi we learn all sorts of interesting facts about Sergio Garcia who, amazingly, is 27 years old (honestly, it seems like just last month he was battling Tiger for the 1999 PGA at Medinah).

A bunch of good stuff, but this Q & A caught my attention:

Q: You do beer commercials in America, but do you drink?

Garcia: Not a lot. If I go to dinner, I might have two or three beers. Or a glass of wine. But I've never been drunk, wasted, even after a big win. You see people who go out and get smashed, and they wind up screwing up the night for everybody else they're with... I don't need to drink to have fun.

I take this to mean Garcia has never hung out with Dominic Rhodes. Or Deltha O'Neal, Odell Thurman, Chris Henry ... most anybody on the Bengals. He's probably never made it rain either. Pac-Man Jones would be unimpressed.

Some other things you may not have known:

• In 2002, Garcia thought about giving up golf and playing professional soccer. "Maybe left forward, or midfield." Thankfully, his parents talked him out of it.
• The Masters doesn't mean as much to him as it used to because the course it too tricked up.
• Despite the canary-on-canary ensemble at last year's British Open, Garcia won't apologize for his clothes ... or the resulting burn-in millions of plasma TV owners experienced as a result of his fashion choice.
• He dated Martina Hingis for almost nine months, had drinks with Elin Nordegren in 2001,but "just as friends" (translation: She wasn't interested), and is now dating Greg Norman's daughter, Morgan Norman. (Which, for some reason, reminds me of Julia Gulia)
• After the 2002 Ryder Cup, Jim Furyk was quoted as saying the U.S. was defeated by "11 gentlemen and one little boy." Twelve guesses on who he was referring to.