TIGER VS. PHIL: DID ANYBODY REALLY CARE?
By Bruce Penton
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Chances are good that you鈥檙e $19.95 wealthier today because you didn't plunk down that amount to watch the Tiger-vs.-Phil pay-per-view golf extravaganza听 鈥� 鈥淭he Match鈥� 鈥� on the Friday of the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend.
Call it what you want, but in my book it was the Friday Folly.
This is being written a few days before the 18-hole event in Las Vegas with $9 million scheduled to go to the winner, but it would be a surprise if the pay-per-view telecast generated $9 million in revenues.
This has to go down as the ultimate 鈥榃ho Cares?鈥� event.
Tiger Woods is the biggest draw in golf, and his presence on the PGA Tour undoubtedly hikes ratings; viewing numbers skyrocket when he鈥檚 in contention.
Phil Mickelson has been a big name in the game for the past 25 years, but the narrative of this event shouldn鈥檛 have been a battle between two titans but a blast from the past 鈥� the Has Been (Mickelson) vs. the Best Player Ever (Woods, 10-15 years ago).
Any golf fan worth his sleeve of Titleists has seen far more of Woods and Mickelson than they鈥檇 ever want. The networks key on the two of them when they鈥檙e in competition, no matter their position in the field. It鈥檚 certainly understandable the networks go overboard on Tiger airtime, but it鈥檚 hard to believe too many people would spend $19.99 to see the two of them play when they鈥檙e visible in excessive amounts for free 12 months of the year .
Youth has taken over golf 鈥� Rory, Justin, Jon, Dustin, Rickie, Jason, Bryson, Jordan (last names not needed for the true golf fan) 鈥� yet the pay-per-view event features two guys in their 40s. Woods is still relevant 鈥� in fact, his comeback situation is one of the sport鈥檚 most intriguing stories 鈥� but Mickelson鈥檚 best days were about five years ago. As Rory McIlroy said, if this was 15 years ago, this head-to-head battle might be interesting, but excitement? Drama? Intrigue? No, no and no. I can think of nine million reasons not to care.
鈥� Comedy writer Alex Kaseberg: 鈥淚n the Panther's 52-21 loss to the Steelers, Carolina's Kyle Love fell asleep on the sideline. Love will be fined $5,000 and charged with impersonating a Cleveland Brown.鈥�
鈥⑻� Steve Burgess on Twitter: 鈥淚'm hearing the Calgary Olympic bid was doomed by the unpopular plan for a vape torch.鈥�
鈥⑻� Norman Chad on Twitter: 鈥淩eal reason (Chiefs vs. Rams) game was moved out of Mexico City? POTUS feared The Caravan might hop a ride into U.S. on team charter flights.鈥�
鈥⑻� Chad again: 鈥�(Raiders moving to Las Vegas) is also the best fit imaginable, unless Mark Davis moves the team to a stadium-on-wheels that travels from town to town like a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus troupe.鈥�
鈥⑻� Comedy writer Jim Barach: 鈥淓arlham College in Indiana has suspended its football season after 53 straight losses. To which the Cleveland Browns are saying 鈥楥owards!鈥欌��
鈥⑻� RJ Currieof :听 鈥淲innipeg Blue Bombers coach Mike O鈥橲hea called RB Andrew Harris鈥檚 work this season a 鈥榤asterpiece.鈥� If Montreal QB Johnny Manziel鈥�s work was art, it鈥檇 be taped to a refrigerator.鈥�
鈥⑻� Mike Hart of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the 1-8 Raiders visiting the 2-7 Cardinals: 鈥淪calpers in Glendale, Ariz., will have to get a second job this week.鈥�
鈥⑻� Headline at : 鈥淭he one likeable thing about Draymond Green is that he hates Kevin Durant.鈥�
鈥⑻� Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner on the 18-inning Game 3 of the World Series: 鈥淚 think my beard got about three inches longer.鈥�
鈥⑻� Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown when once asked why he refused to block with the Cleveland Browns: 鈥淒o you ask Liberace to carry his piano?鈥�
鈥⑻� Spotted on a gamer鈥檚 T-shirt: 鈥淚 went outside once: The graphics weren鈥檛 that great.鈥�
鈥⑻� Dwight Perryof the Seattle Times: 鈥淪easonal Affective Disorder 鈥� the 鈥榳inter blues鈥� 鈥� is real, saysDr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News鈥� chief medical correspondent. 鈥楾ell us about it,鈥� said Bills fans in unison.
鈥⑻� Perry again: 鈥淎 Red Sox fan won a $100,000 Mass Cash lottery prize by playing the jersey numbers of Rafael Devers (11), Andrew Benintendi (16), Jackie Bradley Jr. (19), Rick Porcello (22) and Steve Pearce (25). 鈥業s there a lottery that only uses one number?鈥� asked an Orioles fan.鈥�
Kevin Cusickof the St. Paul Pioneer Press, after Steelers RB Le鈥橵eon Bell sat out the entire NFL season, forfeiting a $14.5 million salary: 鈥淢ost analysts agree the decision will go down as the worst of Bell鈥檚 career 鈥� unless he signs next year with the Jets.鈥濃��Care to comment? Email [email protected]
