One Way To Kill A Sport
We’ve seen this before. A sport struggles, it loses some of it’s spectator appeal. Then, along comes a superstar. Young kids are attracted to play while their parents are attracted to the professional game. There’s a resurgence in popularity and all’s right with the world.
Meanwhile the seeds of the demise of the sport have been sown while hardly anyone was paying attention. By the time the superstar’s playing days are over the sport has fallen on hard times.
Why does it happen? Because the media and powers that officially manage the sport lose perspective. In their rush to embrace the new superstar they end up making the sport one dimensional.
We are in the midst of just such a scenario in the Tiger Age of Golf. Golf is now so Tiger focused that the other 99% of what makes the sport great is ignored and becomes invisible. Admit it to yourself, when Tiger isn’t playing you feel ho hum about the pro game.
The commissisoner needs to sit down with the media and help them to sell the sport once again. They’ve got to present the excitement and interest in the game even when Tiger isn’t around. It’s part human nature and part laziness to do otherwise.
Who needs to work hard to develop a storyline when the ‘Tiger story’ is so easy to sell. It’s gotten to the point that advertisers can’t think of a clever commercial unless Tiger is involved in some way.
The recent Match Play Championship had real excitement and interesting storylines going for it, but you’d never know this from the coverage. Geoff Ogilvy is turning into a real talent and has started the ’09 season on fire. The young Irishman Rory McIlroy is a teenage phenom and very likeable guy.
The only way he was going to get much press last week was in a matchup with Tiger, which didn’t happen. So, he went almost unnoticed except by Geoff Ogilvy in his winner’s speech. He’s that good that a new young superstar himself takes the time to point out what a talent this kid is instead of talking about his own game.
That alone should make you stand up and take notice. But not the golf media. They were too busy replaying Tiger’s performance last year to take the time to educate us about the very interesting story playing out right before our eyes.
As Tiger grows ever more selective in the coming years, golf’s popularity will wane. If Tiger is not in a tournament it will be ‘who cares’. We might care if the media started doing more than picking the low hanging fruit of Tiger stories. They should start helping us see the real drama and interest that’s there whether Tiger plays or not. In the end, we’ll all pay the price for one dimensional reporting.
Related posts:
- Faster Pussy Cat, Kill Kill – Ryder Cup Agida
- Conflicted Values and Steroids
- Will The Haney Project Kill Golf Instruction?
- Tiger Wins On Nationwide Tour!
- Rise Up and Save Your Sport
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