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Here comes the deluge: Another round of Tebow mania for ESPN, everyone else

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For those of us who are sick of Tebow mania, which I assume is everyone not named Skip Bayless, nothing could be worse than the most over-hyped player ever signing with the genius in New England.

Bayless had this tweet last night: “Saving all my thoughts on TEBOW for 10E ESPN2 live from The Hard Rock in San Antonio (9 Central). I’m going to UNLEASH on Stephen A.”

Yikes.

To be fair to Bayless and ESPN, it isn’t just them. On the eve of a Blackhawks Stanley Cup Final, sports talk radio in Chicago was buzzing about Tebow yesterday. Most talk in this town for a quarterback not named Cutler.

Meanwhile, they are obviously bracing for the deluge in Boston, as evidenced by the front page of the Boston Herald. On the eve of the beloved Bruins playing in the Stanley Cup, Tebow mania was the talk of the town Tuesday, and will be for some quite time.

As a public service, Steve Politi of the Newark Star-Ledger, who had a full dose of Tebow with the Jets, offers five tips to the Boston media on how to cover this nonsense.

He writes:

Congratulations! Tim Tebow is signing with the Patriots and, on behalf of the chroniclers of his short-lived career with the Jets, I wanted to send along an extra large bottle of ibuprofen and a few tips for how to cover him properly.

I know, I know. Right now, you’re probably thinking something crazy like “he’s a third-string quarterback, why would I waste my time covering him at all?” You’ll get over that. You’ll get sucked in like all of us down here did, becoming hopeless and happy slaves to the Tebow Hype Machine.

And…

Tip 2: Everything he does is news. A post-practice shirtless run in the rain? News. A blind quote from a teammate questioning his ability as quarterback? Big news. He lines up as a running back in practice … while shirtless? Twitter will explode.

And….

Tip 4: Tom Brady is finished. Okay, not really. But someday, right? So don’t let things like “facts” get in your way of wild speculation about what the organization might do with their newest asset.

Try writing a column that’ll fit under this headline: “Will Tebow take over when Brady retires?” That’ll get you at least four appearance on a variety of ESPN2 shows, and eternal damnation.

Duck and cover everyone.

 

Posted in NFL

Dick Vitale: He’s a Hall of Famer, BABBEEE!!

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Talk about a great 74th birthday present for Dick Vitale.

The ageless one will be in Salisbury, N.C. tonight for induction in the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.

Vitale told Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times:

“It’s an honor that blows me away,” Vitale said. “When I look back at my career, I pinch myself. … It’s just beyond belief. To be selected by your peers is quite a thrill, and I’m just honored beyond belief.”

Beside Vitale, Mitch Albom is going into the Hall on the writer’s side. Dan Patrick is being honored as  National Sportscaster of the Year and Peter King is the National Sportswriter of the Year.

You WILL want to watch Dr. J documentary tonight

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It’s Dr. J. Nothing more needs to be said.

The Doctor premieres Monday at 9 p.m. ET on NBA TV.

Last week, Julius Erving said on a conference call: “I was completely thrilled when the team at NBA TV originals approached me about this film…and I know the excellent work they do. They’ve delivered in past with projects like ‘The Dream Team,’ ‘Mr. Russell’s House,’ ‘Wilt 100,’ ‘Last Night at the ABA,’ other series like ‘Open Court’ and ‘The Association.’ The film enabled me to revisit some people, place and moments in my life. And, I hope after people finish watching ‘The Doctor’ on NBA TV on Monday, they’ll have a better understanding of the journey I’ve been on.”

Here’s the trailer:

Posted in NBA

Esposito brothers revisited: Chicago-Boston Final should be huge for NBC

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I am sure Mike Emrick is gathering his stories on the Esposito brothers. Phil and Tony went at it back in the day.

Throw in some Bobby Orr, Johnny Bucyk, Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, the old Chicago Stadium, and the old Boston Garden, and “Doc” should be good to go about a Final that links hockey’s present to its glorious past.

It’s hard to imagine a better scenario for NBC than Chicago-Boston in the Stanley Cup Final. It marks the first Original 6 Final since Montreal-New York Rangers in 1979.

If it is a compelling, tight series, NBC stands to break its network record for a Stanley Cup Final.

For starters, it has two large-market teams with passionate followings. Chicago is No. 3 with nearly 3.5 million TV homes, while Boston is No. 7 with 2.366 million homes.

You could argue No. 1 New York with the Rangers might produce better overall numbers, but ratings for that city usually are splintered when it comes to their sports teams. Boston will be fully behind the Bruins. It did a 25.4 rating for its Game 4 clincher against Pittsburgh.

Chicago, meanwhile, did a 19.6 rating for its Game 5 double OT victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

Both teams did huge ratings during their last visits to the the Finals. Chicago pulled a 32.6 local rating for the Blackhawks Cup winner in Game 6 in 2010. Meanwhile, Boston delivered a 43.4 rating for its Game 7 victory over Vancouver in 2011.

Not coincidentally, those games were the highest-rated NHL games since the 1974 Stanley Cup Final, back when the TV universe was totally different.

Large ratings from the Chicago and Boston markets will have a dramatic impact on NBC’s national number again. Interest in hockey has increased in both towns since winning the Cup. Those local ratings might be even higher.

Big smiles here for NBC and the NHL.

A Chicago-Pittsburgh Final with Sidney Crosby might have had a bit more star power. But it’s hard to beat the romance of two Original 6ers from storied hockey towns playing for Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Cue up the stories, Doc. This should be great.

*******

Here’s a rundown of NBC’s coverage:

NEW YORK, N.Y. – June 9, 2013 – NBC Sports Group’s exclusive presentation of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final begins Wednesday night with Game 1 between the Eastern Conference Champion Boston Bruins (2011 Stanley Cup Champions) and Western Conference Champion Chicago Blackhawks (2010 Stanley Cup Champions) at 8 p.m. ET on NBC from United Center in Chicago, Ill. NBC Sports Group broadcast (NBC), cable (NBC Sports Network), digital (NBC Sports Live Extra and NBCSports.com), and regional (CSN Chicago and CSN New England) assets will all contribute to the comprehensive coverage of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final.

NBC will broadcast Games 1 and 4, and, if necessary, Games 5-7, while NBC Sports Network will telecast Games 2-3. In addition, NBC Sports Network will present pre-game and post-game coverage each game night. And for the first time ever, the Stanley Cup Final will be streamed live through NBC Sports Live Extra.

NBC Sports Regional Networks will continue to surround the Blackhawks (Comcast SportsNet Chicago) and Bruins (Comcast SportsNet New England) with in-depth live-event and/or news coverage. NBCSports.com will provide comprehensive online coverage of the Final with online-only video, contributions from Comcast SportsNet insiders, and constant news updates from ProHockeyTalk.

2013 STANLEY CUP FINAL SCHEDULE

Coverage of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final begins Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET when the Chicago Blackhawks host the Boston Bruins on NBC. All 2013 Stanley Cup Final games will air exclusively on NBC or the NBC Sports Network. Following is the full schedule (all times ET and subject to change):

Wednesday, June 12
8 p.m. Bruins @ Blackhawks (Game 1) NBC
Saturday, June 15
8 p.m. Bruins @ Blackhawks (Game 2) NBC Sports Network
Monday, June 17
8 p.m. Blackhawks @ Bruins (Game 3) NBC Sports Network
Wednesday, June 19
8 p.m. Blackhawks @ Bruins (Game 4) NBC
Saturday, June 22
8 p.m. Bruins @ Blackhawks (Game 5) * NBC
Monday, June 24
8 p.m. Blackhawks @ Bruins (Game 6) * NBC
Wednesday, June 26
8 p.m. Bruins @ Blackhawks (Game 7)* NBC

* If Necessary

NBC SPORTS LIVE EXTRA COVERAGE

For the first time ever, the Stanley Cup Final will be streamed live. NBC Sports Live Extra — the NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, and tablets — will live stream all Stanley Cup Final games. NBC Sports Network games will be live streamed via “TV Everywhere,” the media industry’s effort to make quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms.

For desktops, NBC Sports Live Extra can be accessed at NBCSports.com/liveextra. The NBC Sports Live Extra app for mobile devices and tablets is available at the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and on select Android handset and tablet devices within Google Play.

Stanley Cup Final games airing on:

  • NBC will live stream to PCs, mobile devices and tablets through NBC Sports Live Extra.
  • NBC Sports Network will live stream to PCs, mobile devices and tablets through NBC Sports Live Extra, and to the digital platforms of participating cable, satellite, and telco services, via “TV Everywhere.” “TV Everywhere” is available on an authenticated basis to subscribers of participating MVPDs.

In addition to live streaming the Stanley Cup Final, NBC Sports Live Extra will offer bonus coverage by utilizing Star Cam and Spotlight Cam for each game of the Stanley Cup Final. Star Cams are dedicated cameras that follow a star player from each team throughout the entire game. Spotlight Cam is a unique top-of-the-glass camera that is positioned at center ice. They are exclusive to NBC Sports Live Extra. This also marks the first time this season that alternate cameras have been used for the live streaming of games that air on NBC Sports Network.

COMMENTATORS

Emmy Award-winner Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick (play-by-play), Eddie Olczyk (analyst) and Emmy Award-winner Pierre McGuire (‘Inside-the-glass’ analyst) will call the action during each game.

The studio team will feature host Liam McHugh and analysts Mike Milbury and Keith Jones, with the latest highlights, news, analysis and player interviews, live on-location from either the United Center in Chicago, Ill. or TD Garden in Boston, Mass. The team will cover intermission reports during games, and pre-game and post-game shows on NBC Sports Network.

Additionally, Jeremy Roenick will conduct on-ice segments and demonstrations as part of the coverage.

ENCORES

NBC Sports Network will air encore presentations of the previous night’s NHL Live post-game show, as well as a cut-down version of the Stanley Cup Final game from the previous night.

NHL Live post-game encores will air nearly every day at 6 a.m. ET and 8:30 a.m. ET, with the game encore airing from 6:30-8:30 a.m. ET.

COMPREHENSIVE LOCAL COVERAGE

Comcast SportsNet Chicago, the hometown network for the Chicago Blackhawks, and Comcast SportsNet New England (Boston Bruins) will air special pre- and post-game coverage for all games, as well as in-depth coverage and analysis of their hometown teams.

COMCAST SPORTSNET CHICAGO

Comcast Sports Net Chicago, the hometown network for the Chicago Blackhawks, will provide expanded, local “Blackhawks Post-Game Live” coverage, hosted by Pat Boyle & Steve Konroyd, following every Stanley Cup Final telecast. CSNChicago.com will also deliver “Blackhawks Post-Game Live” via live stream following every game.

In addition, the network will provide expanded pre/post-game coverage nightly on “SportsTalk Live”, weekdays at 5:30 p.m. CT, and on “SportsNet Central”, nightly at 6:30 p.m. CT, on game days, along with providing a half-hour show nightly at 11:00 p.m. CT on non-game days entitled “Blackhawks Fever”.

CSNChicago.com‘s Blackhawks “Insider” Tracey Myers and Comcast SportsNet’s Blackhawks beat reporter Chris Boden will cover every Stanley Cup Final game from either the United Center or TD Garden.

COMCAST SPORTSNET NEW ENGLAND

Comcast SportsNet New England will provide extensive coverage of the Bruins/Blackhawks series with Pre-Game Live and Post-Game Live shows surrounding every Stanley Cup Finals game. Michael Felger and Tony Amonte will lead the coverage, with analysis of each game and response to Bruins fans’ questions, posts, and tweets submitted on Twitter, Facebook, and CSNNE.com.

Unfiltered, in-depth discussion and analysis of the team’s playoff performance will also be part of all Comcast SportsNet programming, including Chevrolet SportsNet Central and UNO’s Sports Tonight. CSNNE.com Bruins Insider Joe Haggerty will once again be on-site providing in-arena reports from every game, both home and away, and will be joined by Comcast SportsNet anchors Mike Giardi and KevinWalsh.

CSNNE.com will provide 24/7 coverage of the Bruins Playoffs action including daily game-day and off-day coverage from Haggerty and the entire CSN crew and post-game editions of “The Great American Hockey Show.” Fans can also follow @CSNNE on Twitter and join the conversation by using #BruinsTalk in their Twitter comments throughout the series.

NBCSPORTS.COM

In addition to its live stream coverage via NBC Sports Live Extra, NBCSports.com’s ProHockeyTalk will anchor NBC Sports’ online and mobile coverage of the Stanley Cup Final.

ProHockeyTalk provides unique, informative and entertaining news, commentary and analysis — updated around the clock — on all the stories surrounding the Stanley Cup Final. Other NBCSports.com features will include:

  • PHT Extra, a multiple-times-a-week online-only video segment.
  • Online-only videos featuring NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network hockey commentators previewing upcoming Stanley Cup Final games.
  • Content provided by Comcast SportsNet NHL insiders.
  • A NHL Stanley Cup Final Channel Finder tool that will help fans locate the times and stations for every Stanley Cup Final game.

SOCIAL MEDIA

In addition to broadcast, cable, regional and digital platforms, NBC Sports Group will connect with NHL fans via numerous social media initiatives, including social integration, on-air integration and news:

  • Social Integration:
    • Social Stanley Cup Final Schedule:
      • Fans that come to the Stanley Cup Final Schedule page on NBCSports.com/NHLonNBC will not only be able to see schedule updates, but also dive into a deep photo experience. Fans can upload photos showing their Stanley Cup Final team spirit directly to NBCSports.com or through team specific hashtags. Fans can vote on their favorite pictures and see the best of photos from the NHL and the teams using #StanleyCup. The best fan photos from this experience will be featured on-air during NBC and NBC Sports Network games.
    • #StanleyCup: NHL Fans can join the conversation by using the #StanleyCup hash tag across every game of the Stanley Cup Final.
    • NHL on NBC Sports Instagram: NHL fans can upload photos to Instagram and use #StanleyCup. The NHL on NBC Sports Instagram account will feature select fan photos.
    • Live Twitter Chats: Fans will have the opportunity to have live Twitter chats with NHL and NBC Sports personalities and commentators.
  • On-Air Integration:
    • Polls: Fans can weigh in on a variety of NHL themed polls on Facebook and Twitter that commentators will discuss throughout the Stanley Cup Final.
    • #MVPonNBC – During pre-game, post-game and in-game coverage, fans can tweet who they think is the #MVPonNBC. Commentators will discuss the fan favorites and weigh in with their own opinions.
  • News:
    • Fans can engage with Twitter (@NHLonNBCSports) and Facebook (facebook.com/NHLonNBCSports) to receive the most up to date tune-in information, scores, reports and stories from around the NHL and ProHockeyTalk.

 

 

 

 

Hey Rovell, you need to get facts straight about Blackhawk rating for double OT game

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Update: When the Hawks scored winning goal in OT, an estimated 843,000 homes in Chicago were watching.

Also, the game did a 37 share in Chicago. That means of the people who were watching TV last night, 37 percent–almost 2 out of 5–were tuned into the game.

Just adding a bit more “perspective” to Rovell’s tweet.

********

Among Darren Rovell’s blizzard of tweets Sunday was this one:

4 out of 5 people in the Chicagoland area did not watch the Blackhawks on TV last night.

The ESPN sports business reporter is a Twitter machine, sending a seemingly infinite stream of facts about his beat. This one, though, is totally out of context.

Restaurants were empty last night in Chicago because everyone was watching the double OT thriller. I should know. The place we went to (don’t get on me, previous commitment) usually is jammed on a Saturday night. But there were plenty of tables available.

Here’s the reason: Game 5 of the Chicago-Los Angeles series did a 19.6 local rating. That means an average of nearly 700,000 homes tuned in during the telecast.

And while I don’t have the exact number, I’m betting the local rating was deep into the 20s during the two overtimes. Those are numbers usually are reserved for the Bears in this town.

And let’s not forget, it was a Saturday night. I’m sure the bars were jammed with happy Blackhawks fans.

Furthermore, the 19.6 local rating was the highest for a non-Stanley Cup Final game in Chicago. Nationally, the game did a 2.9 overnight rating on NBC, the network’s highest ever for a conference final.

I’m not going to get into an analysis of how the ratings work, but those numbers are huge. To suggest nobody cared in Chicago is flat-out wrong.

C’mon Darren, you know better.

 

 

 

Sunday flashback: 40th anniversary of Johnny Miller’s 63 at Oakmont

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I have Johnny Miller to blame.

As a young kid, I watched Miller do the impossible in 1973. He shot a 63 during the final round on Oakmont, perhaps the hardest course in the world, to win the U.S. Open.

In my mind and others, it is the greatest round in golf history. And in the process, it got a 13-year-old kid hooked on golf, leading me to a lifetime of torture on the golf course.

Thanks Johnny.

It is hard to believe that 40 years have passed. The anniversary of Miller’s great feat surely will be mentioned several times during ESPN and NBC’s coverage of the U.S. Open next week.

Adam Lazarus, a friend of this site, passed along a 40th anniversary post based on his 2010 book, Chasing Greatness: Johnny Miller, Arnold Palmer, and the Miracle at Oakmont, co-authored with Steve Schlossman.

Lazarus and Schlossman write:

A number of mythologies — some generated by Miller himself — persist about the 1973 U.S. Open, all of which should be re-examined and, wherever possible, clarified. There are also several features of Miller’s extraordinary athletic achievement that haven’t been sufficiently appreciated.

Refuting the notion that Oakmont played soft that day:

Johnny Miller shot 63 and Lanny Wadkins shot 65 in the final round at Oakmont in 1973, but very few others shot low scores that day. In fact, Nicklaus and Ralph Johnston (both shot 68) were the only other two players to break 70 on Sunday.

 Beyond that, scoring in Sunday’s final round was not statistically different from the scores that these same players (i.e., the qualifiers) had posted on Thursday. Therefore, contrary to what is often claimed, Oakmont did not play unusually easy on Sunday, when Miller shot 63 and Wadkins shot 65. Two players renowned throughout their careers for the ability to “go low” truly played lights out on Sunday. (And until Wadkins’s right foot slipped on his tee shot at # 18, leading to a bogey, he too believed that he had a realistic chance to win the championship by shooting 63 on Sunday.)

Refuting notion that Miller didn’t feel any pressure:

Some commentators continue to believe that Miller felt no pressure in shooting his final round 63 because he finished several hours before the leaders. This is just not true. He was in the seventh-to-last twosome, teeing off at 1:47 p.m., so he was not a morning starter, an also-ran. And at six shots behind (3-under) and in a tie for 13th place, Miller wasn’t so far back that it would be unprecedented for him to win; recall that Palmer won the U.S. Open at Cherry Hills from seven shots behind in 1960.

Furthermore, after his four consecutive birdies to start the round, Miller immediately jumped into the mix well before the four leaders (Palmer, John Schlee, Julius Boros and Jerry Heard) teed off. He knew precisely where he stood on the leaderboard as he walked to the fifth tee: -1 for the championship, only two shots behind the leaders as they prepared to play the toughest opening hole in all of American championship golf. Miller (quite reasonably) assumed that that it was the leaders who might begin to tremble on the first tee when they learned what he had already done.

Arnold Palmer’s disappointment. At age 43, it was his last run at winning a second U.S. Open:

Palmer was in genuine disbelief. Miller had played poorly from tee to green when they were paired together in the first two rounds. Only stellar putting had kept Miller in contention. It simply never occurred to Palmer that Miller could become a factor in the final round at Oakmont. (Tom Weiskopf — who finished third, two shots back — facetiously remarked Sunday evening that “I didn’t even know Miller had made the cut”[4])

Palmer did his best to fight through the shock, but he couldn’t. Even 36 years later, when we interviewed him in Latrobe, Pa., the defeat and bewilderment that he felt at the time projected through his words and pained facial expressions. Only his collapse on the back nine at The Olympic Club in 1966, he told us, haunted him more deeply than his collapse at Oakmont in 1973.

There’s much more. Definitely worth checking out Lazarus’ post.

 

Sunday books: Red Smith, the Babe Ruth of sportswriters; new book of columns

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My upcoming book on Babe Ruth’s Called Shot homer (due out next spring) includes several passages from Red Smith.

Smith was at Wrigley Field for that famous game in 1932. He only was a young reporter for the St. Louis Star on that day and wasn’t much of a presence given a press box that included Grantland Rice, Ring Lardner and Damon Runyon.

However, Smith became a giant in the business. He wrote brilliant columns about Ruth, Rice and others. It was an honor to feature some of those excerpts in my book. Not that I didn’t already know it, but reading his columns again reconfirmed just how good he was.

Smith truly was a Babe Ruth among sportswriters. A new book, American Pasttimes: The Very Best of Red Smith, celebrates his work.

Edited by Daniel Okrent, the book features his classic columns. They truly are classics.

Jonathan Yardley of the Washington Post writes:

As Smith’s son Terence, himself a distinguished journalist, says in a brief, affectionate afterword to this collection, his father was a columnist pure and simple, a master of the 800-word “plinth,” as he was amused to call his column, with no pretensions or desires to be otherwise. Born in Green Bay, Wis., in 1905, he did a prolonged journalistic apprenticeship before finally reaching the New York Herald Tribune in 1945, where he stayed until the paper’s demise in 1967 (by then it had been folded into what was called the World-Journal-Tribune), after which he floundered around until being taken in by the New York Times in 1971, where, as Okrent correctly writes, “he was, immediately and obviously, the best writer in the paper.” His last column for the Gray Lady was published on Jan. 11, 1982, and four days later he died.

Smith’s son wrote about his father in the Columbia Journalism Review:

Once he got into it, he relished writing sports and thought it was as good a vehicle as any to shed some light on the human condition. “I never felt any prodding need to solve the problems of the world,” he said in an interview years later. “I feel that keeping the public informed in any area is a perfectly worthwhile way to spend your life. Sports constitute a valid part of our culture, our civilization, and keeping the public informed, and, if possible, a little entertained about sports is not an entirely useless thing.”

 

 

Programming alert: Lee Trevino documentary Sunday on NBC

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One of the great things about this year’s U.S. Open at Merion is that people are recalling Lee Trevino’s Open victory there in 1971.

NBC will premiere 1971 U.S. Open: Lee Trevino An American Champion Sunday at 5 p.m. ET.

Here are the details from NBC:

When Lee Trevino captured his second U.S. Open title at Merion Golf Club in 1971, it wasn’t the prestige of winning a major championship in a playoff that mattered so much to the eighth-grade dropout with the homemade swing.  As revealed in 1971 U.S. OPEN:  LEE TREVINO AN AMERICAN CHAMPION, premiering Sunday, June 9, at 5 p.m. ET on NBC, it was the fact that he beat Jack Nicklaus – “the best in world” – to do it, which helped him turn a career corner and made him feel like he truly belonged in the fraternity of professional golfers.

As the U.S. Open returns to Merion June 13-16, NBC and Golf Channel will present 1971 U.S. OPEN:  LEE TREVINO AN AMERICAN CHAMPION, a 60-minute retrospective documenting Trevino’s victory and how he claimed his place among the great champions in U.S. Open history.  Produced by Golf Channel in association with the United States Golf Association, the documentary also will replay on Monday, June 17 at 10 p.m. ET on Golf Channel and throughout June.

The 1971 U.S. Open at Merion was one of six major championships won by Trevino, a Mexican-American who embodies the eclectic spirit of U.S. Open champions who have come from myriad backgrounds to claim the game’s most coveted title.  Narrated by Academy Award-nominated actor Andy Garcia, 1971 U.S. OPEN:  LEE TREVINO AN AMERICAN CHAMPION captures the drama that unfolded that week in June just outside Philadelphia, and tells the story of Trevino’s rise from an impoverished childhood to become arguably the greatest shot maker and one of the most beloved personalities the game has ever seen.  The documentary was produced by 12-time Emmy Award-winning Golf Channel producer Israel DeHerrera, and written by Aaron Cohen, winner of 18 Emmy Awards whose work has been featured in acclaimed documentaries for HBO, as well as for NBC, ESPN, NFL and MLB.

As in 1971, this year’s U.S. Open will be played on a golf course that’s relatively short, tight and penal, and one where par golf is great golf.  Reminiscing about “the hardest damn course I’ve ever seen,” Trevino recently was quoted about what the 1971 victory really meant to him.  “Merion gave me my career.  Up until Merion, the way this played out, I never felt comfortable.  I never thought that I belonged,” he said.  “So when I got into the playoff and I beat Jack … what I took away was, it wasn’t so much that I had won the Open for the second time, it was who I defeated to do it.  It finally made me feel like I belonged in the fraternity.”

Interspersed with newly created interviews with Trevino and Nicklaus, 1971 U.S. OPEN:  LEE TREVINO AN AMERICAN CHAMPION tells the complete story of the championship from the opening round through the Monday playoff.  The program covers events both on and off the golf course and includes perspectives about Trevino’s life and career from friends, current and past players, historians and golf media, as well as historical photographs and archival interviews.  Some of the personalities interviewed for the documentary include:  TV icon and golf essayist Jack Whitaker; golfers Johnny Miller, Andy North, Curtis Strange, Ben Crenshaw, Hale Irwin, Lanny Wadkins, and Tom Watson; USGA historians Rand Jerris and Michael Trostel; and Merion Golf Club historian and archivist John Capers III.

“Lee Trevino’s duel with Jack Nicklaus deserves to be remembered as one of the great moments in U.S. Open history,” said USGA President Glen D. Nager. “This year’s return of the championship to Merion Golf Club serves as the perfect opportunity to work with NBC and Golf Channel to tell the story and celebrate one of its most colorful champions.”

“Lee Trevino is truly a man of the game and there’s no question about his rightful place among the game’s all-time elite players and personalities,” said Golf Channel President Mike McCarley.  “We’ll not only capture his life story with this retrospective, but also will remember an epic U.S. Open playoff at a legendary golf course our viewers will get to know all over again this year.”

For the first three days, the 1971 U.S. Open featured a mishmash of contenders.  But as they often do, the championship finally came down to a duel between heavyweights – this time Nicklaus and Trevino.  Missing a six-footer on the 72nd hole to win in regulation, Trevino fell into a tie with Nicklaus, forcing a Monday playoff.  The tension on the first tee was thick but soon lifted as the ever-playful Trevino pulled a rubber snake from his golf bag, held it up for the gathered crowd to see and tossed it at Nicklaus, who broke out laughing.   When play commenced, an early deficit for Trevino turned, ultimately, into a three-stroke victory.  On the final hole, he ran onto the green with his trademark smile, blew an appreciative kiss to the gallery and sank his putt for the win.

Of the six major championships Trevino won in his career, four required him to defeat Nicklaus at his best, and he did it all with his trademark charisma and fun-loving style.  As the first person of Hispanic descent to claim a U.S. major championship, his contribution to the game is undeniable.  He had overcome poverty and a professional game that was slow to accept outsiders.  He pursued the game not for its prestige but as a way to support his family, and he created a legacy that continues to inspire the future of the game.

 

New York Post lays off horse racing writers on the eve of Belmont

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Talk about horrible timing. Wonder if the Post would have done this if a horse was bidding for a Triple Crown today?

From the Daily Racing Form:

The New York Post, one of three major dailies in the New York area, fired its racing reporters effective immediately on Friday, one day prior to the state’s biggest race, the Belmont Stakes, and the paper will no longer cover racing in-house, its lead racing reporter said.

Ed Fountaine, the Post’s lead racing reporter since 1998 and a former Daily Racing Form reporter, said he was informed in a letter on Friday that he was being fired immediately along with analysts John DaSilva and Anthony Affrunti. Fountaine, 60, said the letter cited a “transition period” for the Post because of the planned spin-off of the newspaper properties of the Post’s parent company, News Corp.

The paper will not have any in-house coverage of the Belmont Stakes, Fountaine said.