This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
Murphy’s Law


A Wish List for Fox’s Golf Debut


of Chambers Bay floats across your high-def TV screen. Wait. The U.S. Open on Fox? All the characteristics of an NFL


Y


on Fox broadcast—the lack of grace, the bloat, the ham-fisted use of in- your-face graphics—are set to soil golf ’s national championship? You bet your last Joe Buck they are. But today, we come in peace.


Today, we come with an olive branch for the Golf on Fox production crew, as long as they promise to treat the olive branch with respect, and not mic it up and have it interviewed by Erin Andrews. Let’s change the narrative right


now, fellow duffer. You are as filled with trepidation as I am about Fox launching a 12-year run on the U.S. Open. After all, we had grown comfortable with NBC’s hold on the event: the respectful orchestral score, the emotional Jimmy Roberts’ essays, the plain-spoken analysis of Johnny Miller, telling us how everyone was choking. Let’s instead figure out: What


can we look forward to from Fox at Chambers Bay? After all, Fox is the network


that once introduced an animated figure called “Scooter” to explain baseball fundamentals to its young MLB viewers. Maybe they can build on that, and create an animated figure called “Reedy,” which would be volatile golfer Patrick Reed’s alter ego. Maybe “Reedy” could trans-


72 / NCGA.ORG / SPRING 2015


ou can hear it now, golf fans: The NFL on Fox theme song, da-da-da/da-da-DA/da-da-da/ da-da-DA . . . as the aerial view


late Patrick Reed’s profane on-course tirades into acceptable, G-rated language.


Just an idea. Obviously, the focus is on the


broadcast crew, Joe Buck and Greg Norman. Each man is under intense pressure: Buck, because of his inexplicable ability to rub millions the wrong way; Norman, because he’s going to have to figure out a way to out-Johnny Miller the ghost of Johnny Miller.


Fox gave us the “Catcher Cam” in baseball, so how about they think outside the box and come up with a “Caddie Cam?” Or a “Flagstick Cam?”


Because it’s 2015, and social media


has us all in a foul mood, each man starts 1-down with the viewers. Buck is a better broadcaster than many angry NFL and MLB fans perceive him to be. But he runs up against a few problems. He veers towards self-importance and bom- bast, when golf requires a Nantz-ian whisper of reverence. Advice from one peanut gallery member to Buck: Think more Jim McKay/Jack Whitaker, and less “THAT IS A DISGUSTING ACT!” proclama- tions, as he famously said of Randy Moss pantomiming a mooning. And Norman has to figure out


a way to transmit his first-hand experience with the crucible of pres- sure without soft-pedaling anything. Let it rip, Shark. You’ve got the chops to back it up. Miller’s brutal honesty redefined the golf analyst role, even


if some saw his “redefining” as more “scorched earth policy.” On the bright side, Norman will never reference shooting 63 at Oakmont. As for graphics and camera angles,


my hopes are moderately high for Fox. They’ve been innovative with microphones in bases in baseball, and tracers following pitches, and strike zone charts. So, don’t just tell us Tiger Woods


has the “Chip Yips,” give us a “Tiger Woods Chip Yips Cam.” Put a tiny camera just off the green of every hole, and give us a mole’s eye view of T-Dub firing hosel rockets all over Puget Sound. Thank me later. Fox gave us the “Catcher Cam”


in baseball, so how about they think outside the box and come up with a “Caddie Cam?” Or a “Flagstick Cam?” Or a “Scoring Trailer Cam,” so we can capture all the profanity of a world- class player, unedited, ripping the USGA’s sadistic course setup? Golf is ripe for an invasion of data


and metrics, so I’d hope Fox rolls up its sleeves and aids our viewing with new “Player Efficiency Rating” stats, like they have in the NBA. Of course, one might argue that a scorecard tells you a “Player Efficiency Rating,” but that’s nitpicking. Other possibilities: Volatile


political commentator Bill O’Reilly is a Fox employee; maybe he engages in pugilistic-style post-round interviews with players who have difficult days? And “The Simpsons” remains Fox’s all-time greatest hit; maybe Fox drops a Homer Simpson-esque “D’OH!” sound drop every time a player misses a putt within five feet? Bottom line, change is coming.


New music, new voices, new graphics, new camera angles. For a sport like golf, which pretty much set its baseline back in Edinburgh in 1735, and has moved at a glacier’s pace since then, it’s revolutionary stuff. Cue the music! Da-da-da/da-da-DA . . .


BRIAN MURPHY hosts the KNBR morning show “Murph and Mac” and was the San Francisco Chronicle’s golf writer from 2001-04.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84