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

What We’re Thankful For In Sports

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This is show 481. That’s a lot of shows, which necessitates a lot of thanks. Thanks for listening, be it for just this show or every one since we started. Thanks for taking the time to visit our site — even though it’s far from what it’s going to be in the new year, I greatly appreciate those who stop by every day — and thanks, sincerely, for allowing me to play in this internet sandbox.

As for my “thankful in sports,” it’s mostly about baseball. I’m thankful the sport is more about advanced stats and new math and a player’s clutchness and contract squabbles and less about the game being tainted and full of cheaters. Sure, there are still cheaters, but we seem to be past that “era” and into one that’s a whole lotta fun to watch and fight over.

Since we do this show every year, it’s great to have an array of friends who share their stories as well. This year, we have three conversations framed inside aREAD MORE

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

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

DL424: Tiger Woods, Age of Media & John Terry ISN’T a Philandering Lech?

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We posted late last night about the NY Post columnist who really really wanted to know if Tiger Woods still loves his wife. At what point do we start to sympathize with Woods having to deal with the constant barrage of inane questions from reporters who, frankly, have no business being credentialed at a golf press conference?

That conversation hopped skipped and jumped us across the pond to talk about the report this weekend from Polly Vernon of The Guardian who spoke with Vanessa Perroncel, the woman in the middle of John Terry’s recent sex scandal. You may remember Perroncel as the the significant other of Wayne Bridge – the former Chelsea defender who moved to Man City then refused to play for England after this scandal hit. Reportedly, when Bridge left Chelsea, the two became distant and Perroncel — who has a child with Bridge — started to spend time with Terry — who is married. They were “just friends” but it reportedly turned into much more, culminating (reportedly) withREAD MORE

NY Post Columnist Needs To Know If Tiger Woods Still Loves His Ex-Wife

When you have a press conference at a golf outing (even if you’ve just gotten a divorce with your wife and even if that divorce just went public with a huge spread in People magazine where your ex-wife says her life has been hell) you don’t necessarily expect to get asked this question, thrice:

“I’m wondering…do you still love her? … Do you still love her? … Do you still love her?”

Three times. Three times a credentialed reporter asked Tiger Woods if he still loved his ex-wife. Who was the reporter? According to someone in attendance, it was Andrea Peyser of the New York Post. Here’s Peyser’s bio:

A born and raised New Yorker, award-winning columnist Andrea Peyser started her career at the Albany Associated Press bureau, did one lost year in Charleston, W.Va., before working for CNN and the Tampa Tribune. She landed at the Post in 1989 and was named columnist in 1993. Her columns have won awards from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, Newswomen’s Club of New York and the New York AssociatedREAD MORE

DL423: John Ourand on Jenn Brown and ESPN’s Ombudsman. And More.

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John Ourand of SBJ/SBD and Richard Deitsch of SI were chatting on Twitter the other day about the potential conflict of interest Jenn Brown may have as spokeswoman for IceHouse beer and ESPN college sports sideline reporter. I thought it was ridiculous at the time and still think it’s ridiculous.

ESPN, however, does not find it ridiculous, as they reportedly told Brown she could not sign the deal (even after they approved it, according to MillerCoors). So, did Deitsch and Ourand kill this deal for her? I wanted to ask Deitsch, who tweeted a response to this allegation and denied my repeated cajoling to come on and the show and talk about it. Ourand was more forthcoming and generously gave up his time to discuss the situation.

He feels I’m giving too much credit to two media writers on Twitter and that the deal may have been quashed with more important folks in mind…namely the NCAA and the heads of major conferences who take the association with alcohol very seriously. I try to pointREAD MORE

DL421: Shoals on Whitlock. Plus: From Tiger to Mad Men to Mosques (Oh My)

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Nick and I spent a lot of time talking about Jason Whitlock’s “Explanation” yesterday. Well, we talked around it more than talked about it, considering neither of us actually listened to the three hour tour. Bethlehem Shoals of Free Darko and Fanhouse did, in fact, look into the sun last Friday afternoon. He lived to tell about it.

We talk about the particulars of Whitlock’s comments, vacillating from poignant media commentary to rampantly-mongering gossip. Shoals called it, for lack of a better term, schizophrenic. We also discuss the “fallout” (if there is any) and what this means for the newspaper industry (if anything.) I also manage to soap box about people who leave newspapers lamenting the death of the industry.

We also have a rather advanced plug of Shoals’ new book, coming out in October.

CULTURE POP:

Nick and I manage to talk about Tiger Woods, Mad Men and the Ground Zero Mosque all in one conversation. At some point, maybe, I’ll put my thoughts about the latter in print, but you can hearREAD MORE