OK, things turned out as expected. Germany is snowed in. I'm enjoying sports on TV and really enjoyed the Hessen-Derby of the Deutsche Bank Skyliners vs. Gießen 46ers with my dad. Then the European Tour and Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned Africa Open, a true feast. Also I am watching the PGA Tour SBS Championship on Kapalua, Hawai'i.
Since the US media, the officials, and the sponsors are _really_ worried about the absence of Tiger Woods and are learning their lesson for the second time (first injury, now adultery), they are trying to "profile" the other remaining players. One of the criticisms is that the most successful players are "running around like robots" and are showing no emotions, unlike Tiger. The whole situation is not so nice for the audience measurement.
Now, obviously the angle of the media is all about stakeholders, the advertisers yada, yada, yada... but I see a valid point made there. Golf is of course all about concentration, but I also thought golf was equally about the life lessons and sportsmanship. Still, very successful players tend to drag their game face off the course to the media. And honestly, a sports fan is all about the extras: The interviews afterwards, the insight into the player's psyche.
I don't expect professional athletes to be comedians or even make a clown of themselves just for good ratings. But if you have made it this far, there is definitely some personality directly related and very relevant to your profession that has to be shown. Why not show it? And I don't mean plotting your private life publicly.
The US media is maybe pushing it a bit hard all of a sudden, but it doesn't seem to hurt. The current SBS Championship leader Lucas Glover was criticized harshly for not showing emotions after his 2009 US Open win. And I have gained the impression opening up is working well for him at the moment. I'm really enjoying his wit and entertaining qualities.
I hope other professional athletes would also get rid of their replaceable and generic vocabulary and provide an interesting conversation once in a while.
PS, absolutely unrelated: Michelle Wie's Blog, which she was successfully rocking anonymously for quite a while.
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