Give Me Daly Instead Of Woods Any Day

I missed, by design, the 4:09 tee time this morning. Well, not my tee time for my golf game today (which I do not have scheduled), but 4:09 was the appointed time when Tiger Woods teed off in The 150th Open Championship, the golf tournament being played this week on the Old Course at St. Andrews Links in St. Andrews, Scotland.

When ESPN won the rights to show the 150th version of The Open Championship, the original first TV time was 5:00 a.m. eastern daylight time, but when the first round tee times came out, Tiger was in the 4:09 tee group and ESPN, with 11 hours of coverage today, decided to start at 4 or whatever time it was in Scotland at that time.

But, when I finally got around to switching on the telly, I was surprised but thrilled to see the headline around 5:30 a.m. was not Tiger but my true life golfing hero, John Daly, with apologies to Ken Venturi, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and many others. He was 6-under par when the picture on the small bedroom set came into focus and he soon added a birdie before bogeying 17 and finishing the round at 6-under, 66. Watching the highlights, he could have, should have been much better as several putts lipped out or came up inches short.

The best part was taking the spotlight away from what ESPN really wanted: Tiger Woods, who no matter how many women he’s bedded over the years and who no matter how many women today will not watch or pull for in anything and who no matter how many women do not want their husbands watching or pulling for as well, playing well, making birdies and dominating the field. Tiger Woods, with his good play and bad doings, is still the ratings driver in golf.

But Daly, to me, offers a lot more excitement except when he’s beating his wife of the day or ripping apart hotel rooms. Unless you’re one of those golfers with your nose up in the air, Daly is much easier to relate to than Woods, unless you’re married and doing a different woman at every tour stop and other places. Daly played the Old Course today with calm and excitement. He loves the course; it fits his style even with trouble all around. With any course, hit the tee shot long and straight and the Old Course, one of seven courses at the St. Andrews Links complex, will play much easier.

When Daly is on, he’s dead down the middle off the tee. He has maybe the softest hands in the game, giving him a unique grip and rip style that changes 180-degrees for his approaches, especially the short ones. But Daly makes mistakes late in holes. While Tiger used to be on, driving it straight and long, he’s also been more of a scrambler over the years, hitting tee shots all over the place but recovering with interesting approaches that result in birdie tries.

The 17th hole was a great tale of these two players. Daly hit the long straight drive and had a punch 7-iron to the green but hit the ball with the sweet spot of the club and watched as the approach rolled off the back and onto the pebble covered cart path. His recovery went past the cup and his par putt missed, giving him his only bogey of the day. Woods pulled his three-wood from the new tee on 17 and into deep, heavy rough to the left of the fairway on the dogleg right. Using his strong hands and strength, his muscled his approach to just a few feet off the front of the green and putted to about 4-feet, a makeable par attempt. But, he rushed and jerked his putt left and had to make an equally long effort for bogey. Daly messed up on his second shot; Woods got himself into position for par with his recovery second shot.

At the 18th hole, both made par, though Daly lipped a putt that should have dropped and Tiger pulled another one left of the cup. So at the end of round one, Daly was ahead of Woods by one, and neither was the tournament leader. Both understand how to play the Old Course, knowing to pitch and run and to use putter from off the green, even 60 yards off the green as Woods did a few years ago. I think I have the record for length off the green with a putter, maybe 100 yards.

From watching this morning, both players showed seriousness about their games. But, it always looks as if Tiger is the businessman in golf and Daly is enjoying his play, especially when he’s on. The scores may be similar, but I’d much rather focus the cameras more on Daly and less on Woods.

I missed that 4:09 tee time by design and what I missed was a chance to see the early holes of Daly. Tomorrow, the two tee off late. My guess is ESPN will give Woods more attention, especially if Daly fades; my guess is that by the end of the day Sunday, Woods will be in contention and Daly will be a mere mention. That’s okay. I still have my preferences when it comes to watching those two play golf. I trust it’s obvious.

(NOTE: Photo is of some of the past winners of The Open Championship.)

Does LeBron to Heat Mean Same For Coach K?

With the suspenseful, much anticipated, over-hyped announcement that LeBron James, the basketball superstar who has dwelled in the loser city of Cleveland for the seven years of his professional career, will take his free-agent talents to Miami and the Heat and join fellow superstar Dwyane Wade and slightly-lower-level star Chris Bosh, the table has been set for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to leave the Blue Devils and to begin his much wanted quest for basketball coaching infamy with a National Basketball Association championship to go with his NCAA titles and his Olympic gold medal.

What? LeBron going to Miami was all about Coach K? Not really. It’s just a by-product of a series of events that could culminate with Duke looking for a new head coach, something that would just happen sooner than later when Krzyzewski eventually retires, even though he’s just 63 years old now.

As someone who doesn’t have the NBA on his radar whatsoever, except to watch a few minutes of a game or two (I didn’t watch more than a minute of the season or playoffs this year), I took a little more than just a passing interest in James’ dilemma, if you call it that, of what to do with his free-agency situation. For anyone interested in sports, we knew this would be a big deal in one way or another. He has now surpassed Michael Jordan in NBA notoriety even without a league title.

When James decided to make his announcement, after days and weeks of being courted by six franchises, on a live broadcast on ESPN, The Decision escalated to worldwide leader in sports proportions. Leading up to it, nearly every ESPN (mother ship and other outlets) station hyped it. Colin Cowherd on his radio show which is also shown live on ESPNU was all over himself about it, getting excited at the mere idea of LeBron not only telling the world of his choice on live ESPN, but on how James would keep it quiet, as quiet can be, before saying the magic (oops, that’s another team that was not in the mix), before saying the heated (that’s more like it) words that would please many and disappoint more.

So, at 9:00 p.m. eastern daylight time, right after the weekly episode of Glee, a musical weekly television show that has 19 Emmy nominations, I dialed up 1500 on my Time Warner Cable-based television system and settled in for what turned out to be about 30 minutes of fluff followed by some interesting and much better questioning. Just prior to its start on the 42” Vizio, I was berated with, “I can’t believe you’re going to watch that! Who cares? It’s stupid. I’m going to bed to read.” And so I was left to listen and learn, just as if it was an election night and the results of the town council race in Angier was being flashed onto the screen while a new President was being chosen by the voters.

A couple of quick observations: Jim Gray, the initial interviewer designated by James, was weak, but I think his hands were tied by LeBron and his handlers who controlled the reality show. Maybe, maybe not, but Gray, a free-agent himself and not an ESPN employee, obviously followed somewhat of a scrip with the questions. While Gray was not exactly the Mike Wallace of last night, his effort or lack thereof was much better than what was offered in the first few minutes of the entire show by ESPN’s Stuart Scott, Chris Broussard, Jon Barry and Michael Wilbon, all of whom were convinced the choice would be Miami, but all of whom hedged their bets just enough to be able to say “I told you so” if LeBron picked the Knicks, the Nets, the Bulls, the Cavaliers or one other which I cannot remember or care to remember. Was it the Celtics? Oh yeah.

When LeBron made his dramatic announcement, which went something like, “I’m taking my talent to South Beach to play for the Miami Heat,” the interview with Gray ended shortly thereafter and Wilbon, an excellent Washington Post columnist and insightful NBAer, took over giving the viewers more of what was desired. I was more relieved to listen to that banter than to know where James was going to call basketball home for the next certain number of years.

I was also glad to hear that James passed up an additional $30 million he could have taken if he has stayed in Cleveland so he could join Wade and Bosh and claim his legacy through winning NBA titles and not just with his superior talent and his huge income. He wants to win championships and that admirable. I was also happy to know that the primary sponsor—University of Phoenix—of The Decision program was donating $500,000 and several additional scholarships to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Say what you want about uncaring, egotistical professional athletes, but I believe LeBron is unique in that he wants to share his wealth with those who need it and who need his attention. He is more about being the winner of titles (and playing with his Olympic teammates Wade and Bosh) than he is about the money or he would have stayed at home in Cleveland.

“You have to ask yourself,” said a friend in an email late last night, “if he’s dead set on championships being his main goal, why not play for the Lakers or Celtics for $5.00 a year?” No need to answer that one, but he’s got a good point, sort of. Well, not really.

On the other hand, I was extremely disappointed in his choice because I had it on good authority that he would sign with Kentucky to play for his friend John Calipari. The money would have been just as good, at the very least as much as he makes now. Which bring me to another email from last night: “Now that we know where LeBron is going to play, I’m just curious if anyone has heard where Shavlik Randolph may be playing next year?” That’s not really relevant but…

That brings us back to Coach K and his new opening to coach in the NBA, specifically at Miami. As it turns out, on good authority, Krzyzewski is pretty good friends with Micky Arison, the Israeli-American (born in Tel Aviv in 1949) who is Chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation (world’s largest cruise operator) and who owns the Miami Heat. His father, Ted, was instrumental in getting the Heat to Miami. And, Micky Arison’s son, Nick, who is now one of Micky’s limited partners in the Heat, was once a manager for the Duke basketball team coaches by Krzyzewski.

While Pat Riley, the team’s president who was instrumental in getting Wade to return to Miami and James and Bosh to move to Miami, appears to be headed back to the bench so he can coach the threesome, I’ll go out on a long limb and say that if Riley returns to the bench, it’ll be short lived, maybe a year or two and then hands will be extended by Arison (both Micky and Nick) and by James, Wade and Bosh to Krzyzewski to give him the opportunity to work again with these three members of his Olympic gold-medal team but this time for an NBA title. Mike will celebrate his 64th birthday next February; I can imagine, just after he turns 65, he could be celebrating an NBA ring. The King has spoken. The table has been set.

ESPN3? Not On Time Warner Cable Internet

While Luck DeCock, a sports writer/columnist for The News & Observer, continues to beat the drum loudly to get MASN—the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network—onto the basic cable of the Time Warner Cable systems in North Carolina, especially in the Raleigh-Cary-Durham-Chapel Hill area, he should be as concerned about Time Warner Cable Internet allowing access to ESPN3.

My guess is, eventually, the outrage from customers of Time Warner Cable Internet in this area will be much greater than it is for the MASN cable television sports offering. Eventually. Right now, because I’m a NC State football and basketball season ticket subscriber, there’s little concern here about the lack of being able to connect to ESPN3 through my internet provider—Time Warner—to watch NC State’s opening football game, Saturday, Sept 4 at 6:00 p.m., against Western Carolina or any other home football or basketball game for that matter.

But, if and when the new contract with ESPN is signed sealed and delivered by and to the Atlantic Coast Conference, and when part of the contract includes numerous games on ESPN3, especially when the deal includes several Wolfpack away games, that’s when my concern level—and that of most Wolfpack fans in this area—about not being able to watch the away games on the computer screen will increase.

ESPN3, which used to be known as ESPN360, according to the ESPN3 website, “is available at no charge to fans who receive their high-speed internet connection from an ESPN3.com affiliated internet service provider. ESPN3.com is also available to fans that access the internet from U.S. college campuses and U.S. military bases.”

Time Warner Cable Internet is not an ESPN3.com affiliated internet service provider. There are 162 such affiliates; that’s the number shown on a list when trying to access that programming. Time Warner Cable Internet is not in the list, and the sign-in says so: “Your current computer network falls outside of these categories. Here’s how you can get access to ESPN3.com. Please select your internet service provider from the list. If you can't find yours, select "Not Found" at the bottom.”

That’s when the list of 162 provider affiliates appears in a pull-down menu. And, when “Not Found” is selected, ESPN3 tells you: “Switch to an ESPN3.com affiliated internet service provider or to contact your internet service provider and request ESPN3.com.”

If you’re thinking when I thought, don’t waste your time contacting Time Warner Cable Internet. Calls to customer service are routed to sales and technical support, and those who answer your call are among the clueless, wanting to sell you something or to know of the nature of the technical problem. They have no concern whatsoever about being able to get ESPN3 through Time Warner Cable Internet.

You can get through with a different number (see end of this story) to the Office of the President of Time Warner. The nice lady who answered my call knew immediately of my concern once I mentioned ESPN3. “My husband complains to me all the time. We have Time Warner Cable Internet and he wants to see programming on ESPN3. We can’t get it either,” she explained as if that’s life so live with it.

When ESPN360 was thought of, it was a service of Verizon Wireless, available through mobile devices. That was shut down due to lack of subscribers but when it was brought back to life, it seems as if Verizon still owns the basic rights and those other 161 internet providers including AT&T internet negotiated with Verizon and offer ESPN360, now known as ESPN3.

“There’s no way that Time Warner will negotiate with Verizon,” the nice lady in the Office of the President told me. “We’ll make a deal with ESPN but not with Verizon.” Damn stubborn corporate America!

This is where I appeal to the people, though the nice lady said the Office of the President of Time Warner has heard from lots of people who want access to ESPN3 through Time Warner Cable Internet. She said calls from North Carolina include requests for both ESPN3 and MASN. (Luke’s writing must be doing some good.) She said most are concerned about getting ESPN3.

Now, back to the ACC and its contract with ESPN. My guess is that ESPN will dictate the games it carries on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3. My guess is that no basketball games involving North Carolina and Duke will be shown on ESPN3. For ratings, for the money, that has to be a pretty good guess. For football, there’s no telling.

Imagine the public relations nightmare for the ACC when ESPN tosses games on ESPN3 and there’s no coverage in most of North Carolina. It’ll probably be hit and miss, but if ESPN would put a handful of games involving UNC and Duke in basketball on ESPN3, there would be a huge uproar probably all the way to the General Assembly. In addition to the Raleigh area, Time Warner has a vast presence in Charlotte and Greensboro.

So, if there anything anyone can do? Maybe, the least of which is to make telephone calls to the Office of the President of Time Warner asking for access to ESPN3 on its cable internet service. And, you might want to call the ACC and encourage the league to persuade ESPN work out something with Time Warner. You may not be concerned with it now, but when your team is relegated to ESPN3 and you don’t have access, you’ll wish you had placed calls to one or the other or both. Of course, you could always change your internet to AT&T which is not a bad idea at all. Here are the numbers to call to voice your concern:

Time Warner: 800-950-2266. (Press 2) Office of President
Atlantic Coast Conference: 336-854-8787

(If you want to read Luke DeCock’s latest poke at Time Warner to include MASN, go to Strasburg interest could benefit fans. If you want to encourage Luke to write about the ESPN3 concern, email him at luke.decock@newsobserver.com.)