The King is Dead! Long Live the King! No, that isn’t just a line from The Tudors or some other British movie/television drama. Apparently that is the new slogan of the PGA. Well not really, but it sure seemed that way with ESPN and NBC’s coverage of the US Open over Father’s Day weekend. With Tiger Woods out due to a gimpy knee, the stage was set for Rory McIlroy to bounce back from a disastrous Sunday back nine at Augusta to run away with the our national championship, shattering all of the tournament records, including several held by former world No. 1 Tiger Woods. What was so funny was the coverage all seemingly forgetting what Tiger Woods had gone for golf over the last 15 years simply because he hasn’t won a major since 2008, simply because he was tracked down at a major for the first time of his career in 2009, simply because he lost his No. 1 ranking, and simply because of that whole marriage-ending scandal thing. David Feherty of The Golf Channel seemed to be the first commentator to throw dirt on the career that was Tiger Woods. (I know plenty of players including Ian Poulter have done so over the last few months, but those twerps shouldn’t be listened to. In most cases the players were speaking though jealousy.) I will take into account that Feherty was likely trying to put his name out there to draw some interest for his new show, which debuted earlier this week on TGC, but Feherty was asked by one of his co-hosts whether Rory’s performance at Congressional in 2011 was more impressive than Tiger’s showing at the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach, and Feherty said that Rory would have “kicked his arse.” What was so interesting about the comments was that he made them Friday afternoon with 36 holes left to play. As it turns out McIlroy went on to set all sorts of records over the next two rounds, but the egg would have been on Feherty’s face had McIlroy pulled a, well, a McIlroy and blow up over the next two days in a severe meltdown.
Feherty did seem to back off his statement the next day on an appearance on The Golf Channel’s The Morning Drive. Feherty “clarified” his statement, saying that McIlroy would have “kicked the arse,” of Woods if the “in the prime Woods” had been going through the same situation he is now, with the injury and the Perkins scandal, which wasn’t the question to begin with. The two co-hosts of The Morning Drive, Gary Williams and Eric Kuselias, both accepted Feherty’s opinion but then politely disagreed, saying that McIlroy was dominating but he is too much of an unknown to know what he will eventually do. Woods meanwhile was “murdering the scoreboards” according to Williams and was creating a vacuum that made competition impossible. I would have to agree with the boys from The Morning Drive. We SAW Woods own golf for a decade. Perhaps McIlroy will eventually do that, but I have a feeling that McIlroy would have pooped his pants if he ever appeared in a final Sunday pairing with Woods in his prime, much like Sergio Garcia, Aaron Baddeley, Lee Westwood, Justin Rose and all of the rest of the “next foreign sensations” did when matched up with the best in the world.
I am not certain what the problem is but can 790 The Zone please bring back Barnhart and Durham, and in a hurry to the midday time slot. Jamal Anderson is simply making my ears bleed. I know that this guy used to appear on ESPN’s First Take with Skip Bayless, but he was awful then and he hasn’t gotten much better now that he is working with Hans. He spends far too much time talking about what he read on Twitter (no one cares) and far too much time stumbling into an agreement with Hans. PLEASE bring back Barnhart and Durham. I don’t care that they would talk college football. That would be GREAT. This is SEC country (ACC too) and that CAN WORK down here. If you wanted to talk about recruits showing up, summer workouts, interview coaches, WE WILL TAKE IT! I don’t need a generic sports show which is what is being thrown out there now. It can be specific. But please bring Barnhart and Durham back. I just can’t take my ears bleeding anymore from Anderson.
Finally, on Football Night in Atlanta, 790 The Zone’s John Michaels argued that Falcons wide receiver Roddy White should have been higher than No. 24, where the players placed him in a recent survey ranking the top players in the league today. Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, Tony Gonzalez and John Abraham were also on the list, but it is interesting that Roddy White was No. 24. Michaels reasoned that White has been nearly unstoppable the last four seasons and was putting up Pro Bowl numbers with Joey Harrington as his quarterback and is now exploding with Ryan under center. In a recent list from The Sporting News ranking the top fifty baseball players, Jason Heyward checked in at No. 49 with Brian McCann towards the end of the list as well. That leads to the following question: Is Roddy White the best player, regardless of sport, in Atlanta? One could say that perhaps Joe Johnson or Al Horford should be thrown into the discussion, however neither showed up for the Chicago series, so they are out. Brian McCann has been an All-Star each of his first full five years with the Braves, but Roddy White has become one of the best wide receivers in the game. In a football-first town, maybe it is White over McCann, but if you were currently putting together a Mount Rushmore of current Atlanta sports stars, I would say it includes both along with Matt Ryan and Horford from the Hawks. Oh how I wanted to include a Dream player but alas. No Room!
Can You Believe He Said That
“If you look at the schedule, especially with the first game, Kellen Moore has to be the front-runner for the Heisman right now.”
That was 790 The Zone’s Chris Dimino talking about how the Georgia Bulldogs will be facing one of, if not THE Heisman favorites in the first game of the season. As a Georgia fan I remember the last time a Boise State quarterback came into a season-opening contest against Georgia as a Heisman contender and a high ranking. That one ended well for Mark Richt and his squad. Here is hoping history repeats itself Labor Day weekend.
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