Poll: What Should Be The Next Move By CBS?
/Golf broadcasts are as big a part of telling the story of golf as any PSA, star player or major championship. The entire vibe of the sport can be influenced by the announcers who analyze golf tournaments on television. (Just look at ESPN's recent strong effort at the U.S. Open tennis.)
So it's no small deal that new NBC/Golf Channel hire David Feherty, who has brought much needed levity to sometimes funereal CBS telecasts, has left Gary McCord as the primary comic relief character. This is no small deal for a network doing more than half of all PGA Tour broadcasts.
There is good news for CBS right now: ESPN is on the verge of getting out of the golf business (other than the Masters), leaving some talented voices looking for work after the 2016 Open Championship. Folks like Paul Azinger, Dottie Pepper, Andy North and Bill Kratzert are all experienced broadcasters with playing pedigrees and plenty to offer a CBS telecast. The first two are as good as anyone in golf broadcasting. I've come around on North and Kratzert, valuing their insights, sense of when to chime in with an opinion.
CBS, regularly charged on social media with multiple counts of putting on stale broadcasts, is a victim of their announcer stability and reluctance to embrace select innovations. In recent years CBS has been cutting back the size of its announce teams, too. This has left almost no room to develop talent to announce or compliment a broadcast. The idea of finding the next Bob Drum seems like a pipe dream at this point. (Link to Bill Fields piece on the Drummer for millennials.)
With these factors in mind, I'd love to hear what you think CBS should do to replace Feherty. I've provided a few options, including Frank Nobilo (added part-time to the CBS broadcasts this year) and other ESPN talent to the list. I don't know contract situations, backstories and other nonsense that might interfere with these options, including the possibility of simply giving Matt Gogel more work.
My vote? Hire Azinger to make Jim Nantz play the Tirico traffic cop role between a reunited Azinger-Faldo and hire one of the ESPN trio of Pepper-North-Kratzert for on course. Of course, that's two votes. Not an option! So I'm voting Azinger.
Your votes please...
