Sports need villains to put on a good show.
I loved when the late Kobe Bryant would saunter out on the Suns floor to work on his craft hours before the opening tip. Karl Malone would often run the stairs when the Jazz came to town. He’d be dripping with sweat two hours before he’d put up his usual 25 and 10. When Tiger Woods used to play TPC Scottsdale, it was a privilege to walk with his group, to see the interaction and feel the anticipation that at any given moment, you may see something extraordinary. Unfortunately, in sports and even in society today, admiration is waning, and showing disrespect seems to have become the new norm. Our industry doesn’t help, because anger and conflict bring bigger ratings points than simply the athlete’s performance.
The way fans behave has become too much of a storyline in the presentation of a broadcast. Saturday’s Ryder Cup is a perfect example. Rather than focusing on how dominant the European team performed, I was given constant updates on how unruly the fans were. I spoke to a couple of my media friends who are at the event, and they said that it was way out of hand on Saturday towards Rory McElroy.
A dust-up on the 15th hole with the caddies for Bryson DeChambeau, Scottie Scheffler, and Justin Ros, lining up a putt, produced about half an hour of TV that once again took away from Europe destroying the United States. After McElroy blew right through the Americans in his afternoon four-ball match, he danced around the question of the fans’ boorish behavior. He made every effort to credit his teammate and best friend, Shane Lowery.
I suppose that having a roundtable discussion on how, what, where, when, and why the number one-ranked player in the world is winless in four matches so far this weekend isn’t compelling enough for our industry. Why is it that Scheffler has lost his last eight Ryder Cup matches, dating back to 2023, and won’t carry the audience in a blowout? Instead, we are presented with the fact that when the United States is getting boat-raced, we don’t want to hear it. Instead, it’s left to the easy way out of talking about some dumbasses who had too much to drink. I can get that right here in the Valley the first week of February every year when the PGA Tour rolls into town. Substance is greater than style…
What will Ken Kendrick and Derrick Hall do, now that the Diamondbacks have missed the postseason in each of the last two seasons? I can argue that not much needs to be tinkered with, and I can also make a case for pushing the reset button and bringing in some fresh faces and voices. Last year, it was the pitching coach and bullpen coach who were let go. This year, it was the third base coach who was removed during the season. To think that it’s just a change to the 25-man roster would be naive. This owner doesn’t settle for “nice try, boys, we’ll get them next season”. Nothing would surprise me…
Zac Gallen has done big things in Arizona. Time for him to have his free agency period and go elsewhere if he so chooses. Players have the right to test the market. He’s done more than enough to earn his right to shop around…
Arizona was not ready for Iowa State’s offense Saturday night. The Cyclones dusted the Wildcats 39-14 The play caller for Iowa State is Taylor Mouser, who played his high school football here in the Valley at Basha. He’s a future college head coach…
October 18th is Arizona State’s next home game. I would suggest that if the matchup between Texas Tech and the Sun Devils features two teams continuing their current trajectories, we could very well see ESPN College GameDay or Fox Big Noon Saturday come to Tempe for the game. Ole Miss vs. Georgia, Tennessee vs. Alabama, and USC vs. Notre Dame (already on NBC with a 4:30 pm kick) are the other big games of that day. There’s something about Texas Tech that doesn’t sit well with some of the Arizona State players. Stay tuned…
UCLA is 0-4 in football. How’s that Big 10 move working out for the teddy bears? Arizona and ASU should schedule them for a near-term future date ASAP…
Why is it that Penn State v Oregon and Alabama v Georgia nailbiters didn’t keep me captivated on Saturday night? Because I will almost surely see them play again in December games as part of the CFP…
Say what? “I hope that we win more games than we won last year, but the truth is, it’s not going to be measured by wins and losses this year, but it is going to be measured in success.” -Mat Ishbia, Owner, Phoenix Suns – I understand what he means. still, the paying public doesn’t want to hear the owner admit that wins and losses aren’t his first metric of success…
The post Ryder Cup blowout, D-backs owner impatient?, FOX, ESPN eye ASU vs Texas Tech, more… first appeared on Sports360AZ.
