DL551: Masters Preview with Jay Busbee & Shane Bacon (Sorry for Bad Audio)

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I hate Skype. The last ten minutes of this show and somehow MY mic was choppy. Inexplicable. If anyone asks why I’m giving up the show, you can tell them it’s because I hate the new Skype. Maybe that’ll get me a feature on Engadget or something.

Anyway, damn you Skype, but thank goodness the Masters is here. Jay Busbee and Shane Bacon preview the tournament, talking about some of the favorites, some of the players who have the most (and least) momentum. Seriously, PGATour.com has a meter determining each player’s momentum heading into the tournament.

Thinking about picking Anthony Kim? Don’t, his Uncle Mo’ has left him behind. That said, SANDLY LYLE has high momentum coming to Augusta! Yeah, it’s that kind of list.

We talk a lot about Phil, not as much about Tiger, and wonder if it’s more important to have a history of good play at THIS TOURNAMENT or to be hot coming into the tournament. Also, is the course better suited for a lefty, or do we lumpREAD MORE

What’s On In Sports, Tonight: February 22nd

This weekend, the purchase of NBC by Comcast will once again cross over into the world of sports. Golf Channel, the Comcast-owned network that covers, well, golf, will begin “producing” all golf events on NBC, starting with the Accenture Match Play Championships. The Championships, which began today, will feature Golf Channel on NBC branding when they jump to the broadcast network for the weekend, similar to ESPN on ABC. Will this really affect anyone? No. Is it still important? Yes. Moral of the story: watch the Match Play Championships at 2 p.m. Thursday and Friday on Golf Channel, and this weekend on NBC.

Oh, and because we’re talking about golf, here’s the obligatory mention of Tiger.

If golf isn’t your thing, find a basketball game. Really, not that hard.

Now on to the rest of the field:

6:30 p.m.

Big Ten Network- MBB: Wisconsin at Michigan.

7 p.m.

CBS College Sports- MBB: Tulsa at Marshall. ESPN- NBA: Oklahoma City Thunder at San Antonio Spurs. Dan Shulman (PbP), Jeff Van Gundy (Analyst) ESPN2- MBB: Temple at Duke. Rece Davis (PbP), Bob Knight (Analyst)READ MORE

Four Questions – Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters

Hey, look, a new recurring post we’re hoping to pull out a few times a week! Why is it called Four Questions? Well, because of this old story: My roommate in college had an internship at The Daily Show and his first day was also Jon Stewart’s first day. I told him that he’d make a great first impression if he suggested to Stewart that they change Craig Kilborn’s “Five Questions” to “Four Questions,” what with Stewart being Jewish and all. Instead, Stewart did five, four, three, two and one question on each of his first five shows in a quick and painless way to retire Kilborn’s bit. Alas, the Four Questions remained a dream…until now.

There’s a lot of news surrounding the announcement of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters. Shane Bacon and I go over some of the biggest questions to come out of the news.

1. Jim Nantz is the voice of the new Tiger Woods 12: The Masters game from EA Sports. We media wonks think this is a big deal because NantzREAD MORE

DL448: Heat Index, Bacon on Euro’s Ryder Cup Win, Dexter, Mad Men

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We end the show with our weekly recaps of Dexter and Mad Men. We’ll continue to do these on Tuesday so we don’t spoil anything for those of you — or of us — who DVR it and watch it on Monday. If you don’t get to it by today, sorry, you just don’t care that much and probably won’t mind the last 17 or so minutes are about that.

But first…

Nick and I talk about ESPN’s Heat Index. No, it’s not Blog Buzz repackaged. It’s actually a blog about the Miami Heat. From ESPN PR:

ESPN.com will launch The Heat Index, a special section devoted specifically to daily, season-long coverage of the Miami Heat and their new superstar core of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, on Monday, October 11. The Heat Index will be housed under the ESPN.com NBA section and will include in-depth editorial coverage (columns and blogs), video, audio, automated modules, social media elements, photo galleries and other multimedia offerings.

We actually think the blog is a fineREAD MORE

Live Golf on ESPN and NBC This Weekend? Thanks, Mother Nature!

Shane Bacon wrote an angry rant for us a few days ago about the news that NBC would be showing the Ryder Cup on tape delay.

Should we put a giant UPDATE on the top of that post? Here are some particulars, via Bacon at Yahoo:

Because of rain delays on Friday that have pushed the matches back considerably, ESPN will be showing live golf early Saturday morning from 2:30 – 8 AM ET and NBC will then pick up the golf, live as well, from 8 AM – 6 PM. Sunday, NBC will show live golf from 4 AM ET until play concludes.

Jim Remy, President of PGA of America told the ESPN audience a few minutes ago that all 28 points will be played for, hopefully by Sunday evening. Here’s the format:

As soon as the fourball matches are done (the second session that was supposed to finish today that will finish tomorrow), the players will go out with six foursome matches (also called alternate shot…every player will be involved in those).

Then…session three will consist of four fourball matchesREAD MORE

Call of the Day: “They’re Headed Someplace Dry To Find Something Wet”

Play is suspended at the Ryder Cup (note: this post is being written at 5:16am so by the time you read this, hopefully play will have resumed).

The ESPN announcers were talking about the decision to halt play will impact the players, before Curtis Strange remembered that it certainly impacts the fans as well:

Strange: “Yeah, one other person I forgot to mention — or group of people — are the fans that are disappointed. They have looked forward to this for six years, ever since they announced that Celtic Manor was going to get the Ryder Cup. So…they won’t go very far though, I suspect. Maybe the nearest…pub, or outlet to get a refreshment.”

Tirico: “They’re headed someplace dry to find something wet.”

I’ll say this: NOTHING would be better than an unruly, wet and half in the bag Ryder Cup crowd. They should let them down a few pints on the course…it’s not like we have to worry about spillage.

Call of the Day: These Guys Are Good, Ryder Cup Edition

Hey, the Ryder Cup starts tomorrow (well tonight in the States) so why not do a blast-from-the past Call of the Day to break up the run of baseball highlights we’ve had.

From 1999…when Ben Crenshaw had a good feeling about something. The video is NBC’s highlight package from just after the competition ended.

DL445: Shane Bacon Talks Ryder Cup, Tiger, Swing Changes, Betting A Tie & Rickie Fowler, Not Ricky Barnes

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Shane Bacon, writer at Yahoo’s Devil Ball Golf as well as this fine site here joins the show to talk about the Ryder Cup, which is going on right now. Yes, for one more week of the year, golf is entirely relevant.

We start with a conversation on the FedExCup, which hasn’t been able to capture the audience you’d expect for a tournament full of big names that offers a $10 million prize. Is it too much money? Seriously, are people turned off by that big of a prize that the event has become more of a sideshow than the “fifth” major?

And why not amend the schedule so the FexExCup doesn’t land on the second or third week of the NFL season? End the major golf season on Labor Day weekend and it will have Sunday (and Monday) to itself without any NFL interference. Sure, it’s a holiday weekend, but it’s not an NFL weekend (yet).

(Note: this topic allows me to share my “sports on TV as snack foods” analogy that I’ve hadREAD MORE

NBC’s Inane Decision to Tape Delay the Ryder Cup

When you wake up Saturday morning, fresh off a fun Friday night and getting ready for an afternoon of college football, you should be greeted with an exciting surprise.

The Ryder Cup should be live, giving you the opportunity to to see matches finishing up across the pond, hoping for your team to gain a couple of extra points before the all-important Sunday singles matches. That should be what happens.

But it won’t. Nope. Not with NBC. The network that decided to tape delay Michael Phelps’ run for Olympic history, and continued delays of the Winter Olympics and Wimbledon, has decided once again that live coverage be damned. On Saturday, the second day of the three-day team matches pitting 12 Europeans against 12 Americans, NBC will show the coverage on tape delay.

It’s interesting to point out that on Friday, when ESPN has the rights to the opening matches, golf will be live. The coverage will kick off at 2:30 AM ET (11:30 PM for west coasters!!), and go until the matches conclude. This will give those real golf fans aREAD MORE

Ryan Ballengee: PGA Was Right To Strip Peyser’s Credential After Tiger Scene

(This post comes courtesy of Ryan Ballengee from Waggle Room, )

The day after Tiger Woods & Elin Nordegren made their divorce official in a Panama City, Florida, court, Woods somberly faced questions from reporters at Ridgewood Country Club. The New Jersey club playing host to The Barclays would be remembered as the first touranment of Tiger’s post-divorce career.

Woods’ press conference was held outdoors after the Wednesday morning pro-am, a day later than his typical presser slot for obvious reasons. By all accounts, Woods was greeted by reporters who asked him questions about his game and the impact his divorce had and will have on his form.

Six questions into the gathering, Woods was asked about the People Magazine announcement teasing a tell-none interview with his ex-wife. The questioner, Andrea Peyser from the New York Post, engaged Woods in this exchange:

ANDREA PEYSER: Tiger, in today’s People Magazine Elin describes the end of your marriage like a death where she feels grief, she hopes to forgive one day. I’m wondering, do you still love her?

TIGER WOODS: I wishREAD MORE