Tuesday
Sep112007
"They got it."
Doug Ferguson says there has been too much FedEx Cup complaining...from everyone, starting with the players,
Woods and Mickelson were the ones out front in asking for a shorter season. They got it. Players were invited to a half-dozen meetings to look at the new model and offer suggestions. Most of them didn’t bother to attend.
It must be hard for fans to stomach the thought of these guys playing for $63 million over four weeks, in tournaments that have produced some of the best golf of the year, yet going out of their way to nitpick every detail.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 10:39 PM
Reader Comments (9)
You forgot to cut and paste this:
"...it’s a comical coincidence that the FedEx Cup was patterned after NASCAR, where 12 drivers qualify for the final 10 races that comprise “The Chase” to see who wins the Nextel Cup. Those dozen drivers will be in New York on Thursday doing promotional blitzes everywhere from ESPN Zone to Letterman to Regis."
Perhaps, since it was disclosed by PGAT and pundits that only the top 15 on the points list at the end of the "regular season" really had a chance to win FEC, then only the top 15 should play the events for the FEC.
Basically unless you agree 100% with everything the Tour has done, then you are a whiner.
I think that is a little unfair.
The media asks the player about the Fedex Cup, they say it would be better if (blank) and they get labeled a whiner for suggesting something different.
If I was advising the players I would have them just say: "Yes the Fedex Cup is the greatest thing ever invented, the Tour did everything right" because anything less and you get labeled a whiner.
At my job, when I suggerst that maybe we should be allowed to telecommute somke days, nobody calls me a whiner.
I mean seriously, player X could say something like "The green on number 9 was a little beat up" and immediately the media will say he is a whiner, a spoiled brat, you should play on what everyone else plays on, etc. Jeez. It's like these guys aren't allowed to have opinions and should instead never say anything critical about any aspect of the PGA Tour, or else get labeled a whiner.
Media member asks Phil what he thinks of the deferred compensation prize-- Phil says it would be cool if they just had a huge payout at the end--
media immediately says: "Phil is a whiner, Phil is a whiner, he's a spoiled brat blah blah blah".
Just for simply suggesting something different.
And we'll probably see this one:
Player X,- how were the greens? Player X: "They were a little bumpy, a few rough spots"
"Player X is a whiner, Player X is a whiner, try playing municipal golf courses, blah blah blah.
Just for giving an accurate assessment of the condition of the greens which the question called for.
I guess answering a question accurately and honestly qualifies as whining these days.
The media is not helping matters for the Tour by constantly portraying the players as whiners, when all the players are really doing is answering the media's questions honestly, with a few suggestions for how to make it better.
It seems the media is trying to set it up so that no matter what the players say, they can write in their column that they are nothing but whiners. I guess it sells papers and increases website hits.
I would point out to Mr. Ferguson, who has boondoggled around the Tour's media center for years now, get off your fat ass and do some interviewing! Ask some hard questions instead of the softballs you toss Finchem. If you were not so obsessed with todays lunch menu you could be writing articles worth reading, in context. For your lazy existent self apthy players have been skipping player meetings for years now, there's a reason, why don't you bother to ask WHY?
They get a few quotes from players about how they would change the Fedex Cup-- and the media calls it "a firestorm of controversy" "all the players are complaining etc."
One player talks about another player and the headline is "Player X rips so and so"
They ask Tiger what he thinks of the 17th hole at Sawgrass, he says it's gimmicky, and the headline is:
"Tiger rips Sawgrass" and then in their coloumn they tell Tiger to just shut up, quit complaining and play the course, it is the same for everyone"
When all he did was give his opinion of one hole, when asked about it.
Then get a quote from another player who likes the hole and the headline is "Player X rips Tiger for saying #17 is gimmicky"
It's just a lazy way to do their job, get a few quotes which show a difference of opinion, and then write a column saying there is a controversy, bad blood, animosity, complaining etc.
Doug Ferguson may be -- no IS -- the hardest working member of the golf media. Period. At every tournament he covers, his "fat ass" -- as you incorrectly put it -- is out on the course following players, or on the range or putting green INTERVIEWING them.
In a demanding beat that one former AP writer told me is "a meat grinder," he gets more stories by simple shoe-leather reporting than virtually anyone.
Unlike a lot of other reporters, he doesn't talk out of his ass.
And unlike a few posters here, he doesn't write out of it either.
And no, I'm not Doug.
Doug Ferguson is no less a media lackey for Tim Finchem through his AP writing. His handler is no other than Victor Ganzi, PGA Tour policy board member, and board of director to the AP.
When "The Timmy" starts feeling the pressure the chain of command winds down to Mr. Ferguson's laptop and the message is spread in over 150 daily US newspapers. I feel sorry for Mr. Ferguson, being a Tim Fincem - Victor Ganzi media lackey must be a terrible existence spiritually, emotionally and physically. There is no honor in such line of work, unless of course your an atheist, and in that case one wouldn't have a care in the world where his next paycheck was coming from.
As for the shoe leather reporting, how can you call it reporting when the transcript is handed to you by Victor or Tim and told to "Just Print It"!?!?
Freedom of the press? It looks more like the PGA Tour propaganda machine.
Operation Mockingbird