5-at-10: Friday mailbag with lots of golf, a short answer segment, Rushmores and media discussion

From Hal

I listen to your radio show. A friend suggested I read your online column.

I like it but man no one has the time to read your 12,000 words every morning. Can you make it shorter?

Hal –

Yes.

___

From Mike

True or False: Greeson can drink more Cokes than Luck.

Mike –

True. (Sorry, Hal, need to offer some background here.)

Earlier this week on Press Row, we discussed that Andrew Luck has not thrown a pass through the first three weeks of the season that has travelled more than 43 yards. Think about that for a second.

Now, in further attempts to protect his surgically repaired shoulder, the Colts put Jacoby Brissett into the game to throw a Hail Mary that needed to travel 55 yards.

So we offered that we could throw a football farther than Luck can currently. We were joking. Mostly. (Cue the Uncle Rico references, and “How much you wanna bet I could throw a football over them mountains?”)

But we feel pretty confident in our Co-Cola capabilities. Dilly! Dilly!

And is there a better question for National Drink Beer Day? We think no.

From Scott

There’s no way you’re getting up at 2 a.m. to watch the Ryder Cup. You are so full of it. I don’t know why I even listen to your crap.

Scott –

Do those things have to be mutually exclusive. Can’t we still get up at 2 to watch a little golf and still be full of it too?

We think so. But, in accordance with Hal and in full tribute to my man Otter from the fraternity documentary Animal House, I’ll be brief.

The issue here is not whether we broke a truths, or took a few liberties with our stories. I did. But you can’t hold all of Press Row responsible for the behavior of a single, sick twisted individual. For if you do, then shouldn’t we blame the whole sports radio system? And if the whole sports radio system is guilty, then isn’t this an indictment of our entertainment institutions in general? I put it to you, Scott – isn’t this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to me, but I for one am not going to stand here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!

(Great start to the Ryder Cup this morning. Jordan and Justin delivered. DJ was aces. Rory gagged and Tommy Fleetwood saved the Euros from being in a 4-bagel hole with a couple of monster birdies on 15 and 16 as he and Molinari beat Tiger and Patrick Reed. The afternoon alternate shots should be a lot of fun. We’ll even say in terms of entertainment, the Ryder Cup will be full of it.)



From Pete

Jay, thanks so much for all you do and for the 5-at-10. It’s part of my morning ritual.

In the media world of today, what would you have done in the Oklahoma State thingy with Mike Gundy this week? Seems like a terrible precedent for the reporters covering that team.

Thanks again, and here’s hoping your Fab 4 are more entertaining this week.

Pete –

You have to acknowledge the situation.

Here’s the back story. An Oklahoma State wide out announced he’s transferring, not unlike Kelly Bryant at Clemson, and he left the team this week so he could redshirt.

Lundy sent one of his media lackeys to the press room to inform them that if anyone asked the OSU players about the transferring receiver, he would cut player access to every reporter on the beat.

Screw Mike Gundy. Period. That’s not his job nor is it his right to dictate the terms by which the reporters do their job.

Gundy’s gestapo took it a step further and said if anyone even mentioned it, that the player ban would be enacted.

Again, screw Mike Gundy. That’s bush league beyond belief.

The only thing more embarrassing in this whole thing is that the reporters and editors obeyed Gundy’s wishes. That makes the entire profession of sports writing – something I love mind you – look bad. Imagine if a public official did this to news side reporters? Would they oblige?

Certainly not.

How did this get out? An associate professor named Joey Senat who specializes in open government shared the details on Twitter. https://twitter.com/Joey_Senat/status/1045000626025959424

Player access is the trump card coaches are waving in front of reporters in yet another effort to try to control the message.

Hey, tons of folks in the public spectrum try to control the message, but if we let them control the messengers, then we are useless as journalists.

How would we have handled it in the moment? Well, we would have given the beat writer some freedom to make a decision. He’s the one on that beat and he has to make his living there. Now we would have quickly – if possible – dispatched a columnist there with the specific intention of writing about this topic under the direction of, “Why Oklahoma State has perpetually underachieved under Mike Gundy example No. 874 being that he is more worried about how reporters are doing their jobs than he is about figuring out a way not to lose by 17 points to a Texas Tech team that was boat-raced by Ole Miss.”

And I would have called the SID to make sure he knew it was coming.

If the beat writer felt like he needed to comply, I would have tried to talk him or her out of it, but would let that person handle their beat their way. But I for sure would have had an editor’s note in every OSU story the next day clearing stating for readers that reporters were threatened not to ask players about the departing receiver.

And if he denied access to players? Well, every story written until this cockamamie threat/ban was lifted, the place in every story where player quotes would normally be we would insert something along the lines of:

“Questions to quarterback Johnny Gunslinger about the offense’s ability to convert in the red zone were forbidden by Oklahoma State coaches and administrators because they simply do not understand the First Amendment.”

Or something of that ilk.

Here’s hoping the folks in Stillwater start to fight back, because this is an awful precedent that simply can’t be tolerated.

And yes, fans of Gundy and Saban and so many other iconic/bullying/media-hating coaches are thinking, “No, screw you media guy. You’re trying to be a distraction. You’re trying to sabotage the program. You’re trying to divide the team. Blah, blah, blah.

No, we’re trying to do our jobs and report on the news.

I wonder what some of you guys and gals who we have had excellent conversations with on the topic of “Fake News” feel about these types of threats and message and messenger control.



From Alejandro

How different would golf be if Tiger never had injury problems or marriage problems?

Big Al –

It’s impossible to think what Tiger would have been without the injuries – physical and mental. The speed bumps – incidental and self-inflicted – are part of life but we agree that Tiger would have 20-plus majors and be the biggest star in sports. Soccer and LeBron included. (Heck he’s right there now and he’s still chasing the all-time marks. If he was looking to add to an all-time legacy with every swing, he’d be even bigger than he is now.)

That said, it’s impossible not to ponder the ‘What Ifs’ without acknowledging the what was said. Earl Woods, Tiger’s old man, said long before Tiger started stalking Jack that the only thing that would prevent him from setting every record in the game was women. He may have meant a wife and family and reworking priorities to where you are not hitting four hours of 56-degree wedges from a variety of distances. Or Earl, who reportedly had a few extracurricular associates himself, may have been predicting the personal issues that Tiger succumbed to.

It’s one of the great “What Ifs” in sports for sure.



From Richard

Hey Jay, got a question for you in the mailbag. Tiger was just asked for his personal golf Mt. Rushmore in a press conference at the Ryder Cup. He listed Snead, Jones, Nicklaus and himself. What do you think?

Richard –

Tiger and Jack are no-brainers, end-the-discussion-if-someone-thinks-otherwise choices. We can all agree on that right?

We get Tiger putting Snead on there because he is chasing Snead’s record of 82 career PGA Tour wins. But Snead is the first one we’d pull, and we’d certainly put Palmer ahead of him in terms of scope and meaning to the game.

Palmer did for golf what Magic and Bird did for the NBA. He lifted the game back into the public view. Sure, Jack’s emergence and greatness after that helped, but a lot of folks do not recall how much Jack was hated in his younger days. And that angst was primarily in place because he was passing Palmer.

We also understand putting Bobby Jones there because he actually won the Grand Slam and he did create Augusta National.

But as some have discussed around these parts this week, that’s a tough Rushmore because if we went Woods, Jack, Arnie and Bobby Jones that leaves off a slew of qualified candidates.

But anyone who wants to bag on Tiger for putting himself on there, well, they would be just as upset if he had left himself off and said he was pandering for compliments.

This week’s Rushmores

Rushmore of people with meat in their name: Meat Loaf, of course. Pittsburgh Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Ham. Kevin Bacon. Kobe Bryant.

Rushmore of Paul Newman films. Butch and Sundance. The Hustler. The Sting. Cool Hand Luke. (And dude was such a stud, his back-up Rushmore of Cars, The Verdict, Slap Shot and maybe Hud would be awesome for most, and his third Rushmore of Nobody’s Fool – severely underrated – Color of Money, Absence of Malice and Road of Perdition is pretty excellent too.)

Rushmore of one-hit wonders. Macarena for sure. Come on Eileen. Kung-Fu Fighting. Tainted Love. This one is harder than most and could be overruled with the right suggestion.

Rushmore of best individual comebacks. Sports: Tiger. Ben Hogan. Rocky Bleier . Mario Lemieux. (Seriously, his story about coming back from a car accident that should by all accounts have killed him is amazing.) Non-sports: Well, our Lord and Savior Jesus is far left. Amen. Robert Downey Jr. Abe Lincoln, who lost running for Congress, Senate (twice) and a VP bid before winning. Drew Barrymore.