"The two-network average showed an increase of 111%, or 4.0 compared with 1.9."

/

Thanks to reader Hugh for emailing this Thomas Bonk piece picked up in The Age, but run originally in today's L.A. Times. These numbers may cause dangerous health effects in tournament directors who never see Tiger Woods: 

According to research that traced Woods' effect on television ratings in 2007, tournaments in which he finished in the top five had a 171% increase in CBS' ratings over those in which he did not play or wasn't in contention.

The ratings were 4.6 compared with 1.7.

In similar tournaments on NBC, the ratings increase was 59%, or 3.5 compared with 2.2.

The two-network average showed an increase of 111%, or 4.0 compared with 1.9.

Tilghman Should Take Another Week Off

/

There has been no official word that Kelly Tilghman is returning to the Golf Channel booth for next week's Buick, but given the amount of press coverage that will be devoted to Tiger and Phil's first official event and Dave Seanor firing, it would be wise if Golf Channel gave her another week off.

The consensus in the Hope press center was that she's a good person who did not have any ill-intent, but if she were to come back next week it'll be a circus. A quiet return at Pebble Beach or Phoenix or Riviera would be the wiser strategy.

Finchem Blasts Golfweek

/

Jerry Potter reports that Commissioner Tim Finchem made the unusual move of issuing a statement on Golfweek's noose cover:

"Clearly, what Kelly said was inappropriate and unfortunate, and she obviously regrets her choice of words," Finchem said. "But we consider Golfweek's imagery of a swinging noose on its cover to be outrageous and irresponsible. It smacks of tabloid journalism. It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident that was heading to an appropriate conclusion."
Jeese, tell us what you really think.
 

Meanwhile, Ryan Ballengee makes an interesting point about the irony and hypocrisy of it all:

Golfweek's own Jeff Rude was among the first asking fans to drop the issue and forgive Tilghman for her gaffe. His own publication is not dropping the issue, though. They are devoting a cover to it - a cover that contains the image of a symbol that is becoming reborn in the southern influenced parts of the country as notice of racial deference, e.g., the Jena 6 case.

In essence, the cover propagates the coverage of the comment. It is continuing the news cycle on this particular story. I think that is unfortunate and inappropriate. The media should not be in the business of continuing to cover itself. It happens in varying forms, from when ESPN says that their reporters are reporting a story that someone else broke, to a magazine drawing other ink for making a controversial cover about a controversial media story. It can be enough to make the average sports fan's head spin at times.

The irony of this post is that the ploy is working. Elling, myself, and others are writing about what is being written and shown as a symbol of what Kelly Tilghman said. Maybe I should be lumped in with the crew that I am lambasting, but I thought this issue deserved a special comment.

"Rev. Al has more juice than Tiger Woods"

/
Loved this perspective from Alan Shipnuck's Hot List, which shows just how absurd our little world can be sometimes:
2. Al Sharpton. One of the lessons from the Kelly Tilghman situation is that Rev. Al has more juice than Tiger Woods, who seemed to have saved his friend until the Golf Channel brass caved within minutes of Sharpton entering the fray.

"You mean black people are watching the Golf Channel?"

/

Four minutes into Bill Maher's monologue, he took on the Kelly Tilghman episode. If you don't want to go through the first four minutes, here's the joke:

And of course Al Sharpton got involved. I was shocked. And he said this was offensive to all black people. You mean black people are watching the Golf Channel?


Golf Announcers Come Clean: We Say Stupid Things All The Time!

/

Yahoo's Steve Eubanks quotes some of the biggest names in the television business who weigh in on Kelly's Tilghman's behalf. In other words, Kostis and Clampett aren't quoted.

Loved this from Bob Murphy:

Bob Murphy, NBC: "I don't know her that well, but I watched the replay of what she said, and it is really, really nitty-picking to try to knock her out of the seat for something like that. My goodness, Johnny Miller might say three or four as good as that every day. We all try to be funny, and sometimes it doesn't work. That is what this was. To try to make something more out of it is just wrong."

He's right, let's talk more about these three or four good ones Johnny says a day! Does Bob know something about Johnny that we viewers don't know? 

 

Well Reasoned Perspectives On Tilghman

/

Now that the initial reactions are in, there are a couple of pieces worth reading that have taken more into account with regard to Kelly Tilghman's unfortunate comment and her future with The Golf Channel.

Steve Elling writes at CBSSports.com:

Sure, her comedy-challenged, dunderheaded, racist statement about stopping the world's No. 1 player by lynching him in a back alley was hurtful to African-Americans and offensive to many other hues. Yet without getting too deep into details, rest assured that Tilghman has personally felt the sting of discrimination in her career many times, and knows what it's like to be on the receiving end, too.

So, for those trying to look into her heart to see whether it's filled with sunshine or darkness, those demanding that she be ceremoniously canned for a statement that was blurted out in an unscripted exchange on live TV, take a step back for a moment and walk a mile in her spikes.

It was awful, yeah. But unforgivable?

And Cameron Morfit at golf.com makes this excellent point.

Why is Woods the only arbiter here? He hasn't exactly been a paragon of political correctness himself, having been quoted telling racial and lesbian jokes in GQ magazine in 1997. (He later claimed the jokes were off the record; writer Charles Pierce disagreed.)

Something still feels wrong here. Golf Channel's punishment of its anchor ought to reflect the feelings of its viewers and of sports fans everywhere more than what Tiger thinks. That's the way it works in television — the audience is the thing.

"Faldo’s remark prompted Tilghman to glibly raise the verbal ante to a level that would make anyone shudder..."

/

The paper of record's Richard Sandomir weighs in on the Kelly Tilghman episode and lumps her in with Jimmy the Greek and Ben Wright in TV-screw up lore.

This was interesting:  

No one knows what triggers sportscasters or public figures to say what they shouldn’t say to large audiences, and one can only speculate as to their intent. Experience seems to shield most of them from making dreadful, career-altering mistakes, but it did not prevent George Allen, the former United States senator from Virginia, from labeling an American of Indian descent, then working for his opponent, a “macaca” during his failed re-election campaign in 2006.

Working live isn’t easy. There is a tendency to make mistakes and strain for creativity when simplicity will do. Tilghman and Faldo were wrapping up Day 2 of the tournament when they were discussing how young golfers could challenge Woods’s primacy, and Faldo said they should “gang up” on him “for a while.”

Faldo’s remark prompted Tilghman to glibly raise the verbal ante to a level that would make anyone shudder and wonder, What would make her say that? or, What else is in her oratorical toolbox? Sadly, her remark made her and Faldo giggle.
Key word here: glibly.

Kelly Tilghman is good at a lot of things. She's a strong reporter, has a great ability to recall past anecdotes and she clearly has a passion for the game. Glib is not one of her strong suits, yet all of today's anchors seem to feel the need to do the Sportscenter thing. (Or perhaps they are told this is how you have to announce in today's world.)

 
So once again I ask, isn't her lynching comment a product of the type of announcing asked for today, all while trying to provide such a humorous edge over an excessive number of hours?

Tilghman Suspension Clippings

/

For what it's worth, this incident ought to generate a debate. Not about the word lynch, but about the origin of Kelly Tlghman's joke gone awry: overexposure.

During the Kapalua event, Tilghman and Nick Faldo are asked to be entertaining four hours a day, over the course of four days. It was inevitable that something stupid would be said. Golf Channel's skimpy production approach and overuse of announcers caught up to them here.

I don't expect them to change their ways, but hopefully it is a reminder to Golf Channel executives that there is a reason other networks have so many announcers on long telecasts to spread out the commentary.

Anyway, other writers had plenty to say.

Craig Dolch says it's overblown and if Tiger has not problem with it, we should not.  Ron Green Jr. says she apologized, end of story.

Steve Elling with help from Doug Ferguson's AP piece fleshes the story out with some interesting background and all of Al Sharpton's quotes from a CNN appearance. Sharpton:

 "If I got on this show and said I wanted to put some Jewish American in the gas chamber, I don't care under what context I said it, the entire Jewish community has the right to say I should be put of this show or put off my radio show," Sharpton said Wednesday night on CNN, before Tilghman was suspended. "This is an insult to all blacks. It's not murder in general, it's not assault in general, it's a specific racial term that this woman should be held accountable for."

Tilghman, 38, who ascended through the network ranks to the top of her profession after starting as a low-level lackey in the video archives room, until late Wednesday night was scheduled to anchor all four rounds of the Sony Open, which begins in Honolulu on Thursday. However, 2½ hours after the Sharpton interview aired, she was suspended for by network officials.
Jeff Rude believes the punishment doesn't fit the crime" and that we need to keep her comments in context. Exactly. If Bobby Clampett said it, we all know what would have to be done. But Kelly, come on...

And in case you haven't seen it...

 

"Lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley." **

/

Thanks to the reader who caught this wire story:

Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman has apologized after saying during Friday's telecast of the PGA Tour's opening event that today's young players should "lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley."

Somewhere, Ben Wright is smiling. He's off the hook!

A spokesman for the network said Tilghman apologized on Sunday's telecast and has reached out to Woods' representatives to express her regrets for the comments, according to New York Newsday.

Yeah, that'll do the trick. 

Golf Channel UK Goes Dark; Decency Laws May Have Forbidden Any More Big Break Airings

/

UK readers the channel went dark just in time for the Mercedes Championship's must flee TV opening ceremony. Perhaps the UK's ITC stepped in?

This discussion seems to confirm that viewers are going to be spared The Big Break and Mike Ritz, while Golf Channel UK's web site link takes you somewhere else.

"The network improved somewhat, but its progress was a little disappointing."

/

Credit Gary Van Sickle for revisiting his 2007 predictions, though his Golf Channel critique was more interesting (to me anyway):

The network improved somewhat, but its progress was a little disappointing. Critiquing the on-air personnel choices would be subjective, so I won't do it, but the Golf Channel proved no better than the other networks when it repeatedly signed off for the day even though play wasn't finished. Its post-round coverage at majors was spotty. It delivered one good hour, but unfortunately was on the air for three. Quality, not quantity, should be a goal in '08. The lack of audience was such a sore spot that the network only released the numbers that included the viewers who watched the nightly replays, too. Score a point.
Well there's good news. WinZone (remember that!) says there's a 95% chance this will be a winner:
A Doppler radar system made by the Denmark-based software developer Interactive Sports Games will begin to be used to convey club movement, ball trajectory, and other statistics to viewers, according to the company. The Golf Channel's first use of the TrackMan system will be at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii on January 3, according to reports.