Late Week Laments - The Yin and the Yang of It All

Just a little golf news today, but lots of people beclowning themselves... This is why I got into blogging.

Tiger, The Adult in the Room - Patrick Reed continues to adhere to the terms of the Blogger Full Employment Act of 2018, for which I give constant thanks.  Patrick spared no effort in alienating all involved, though his comments about Spieth garnered most of the ink and pixels.  I had speculated that his comment about Tiger apologizing to him after their Friday fourball loss might prove to be be the most problematic, as The Striped One has well-known issues with privacy.

 Now comes word that the elder statesman tried to be just that:

Woods is the captain now, ready to lead the U.S. squad against the International team during the 2019 Presidents Cup in Australia. Reed figures to be a key piece of that team.

And they recently had a very different conversation coming off Reed’s very public comments about Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk and former partner Jordan Spieth, whom Reed said didn’t want to play with him in Paris. 

“We spoke after the Ryder Cup for a long period of time,” Woods said. “We talked amongst us and it will stay between us.”

A courtesy that Patrick notably does not extend to others....  I was surprised to see Patrick at Albany, though I figured that perhaps the invites predated Paris.  

How has Patrick repaid Tiger for the invite and the fatherly chat?  The same way he's treated everyone in his stormy career, by throwing them under a bus.  We've already discussed his toneless touting of his singles record, upon which he doubled down when asked about his former partner:

During the event's Wednesday pro-am, the New York Post's Mark Cannizzaro asked

Reed whether he'd reached out to Spieth in the two months since. "Nope," Reed said before adding, "He has my number." 

Wow. It got a lot chillier in the Bahamas all of a sudden. 

Reed went on to tell Cannizzaro, "I have nothing against Jordan, nothing against him at all. That [perception] is done by the media, that’s not done by how he or I feel."

Stay by the phone, Patrick, I'm sure that call is coming through at any moment now....

But our hero isn't done demonstrating his abject cluelessness....  Remember his "I wanted to light up the room like Phil" nonsense?  It turns out that it was all our fault, and I for one am glad to have the benefit of his wisdom:

But Reed wasn’t done there. He defended his decision to air his grievances publicly in the post-Ryder Cup press conference because “something needed to be changed.” Reed

feels the reaction to his comments was overblown, claiming that Phil Mickelson was treated much differently after his own Ryder Cup diatribe in 2014.

“He did it and got praised. I did it and got destroyed. It all depends on who the person is, obviously,” Reed said. 

If nothing else, Reed’s comments prove that fissures on the U.S. Ryder Cup team have not closed, and we will continue to monitor them leading into the Presidents Cup next fall, a team that will be captained by Woods.

Wow!  You don't need to be a fan of Phil's 2014 hissy fit, which I'm not, to understand that it matters terribly who the person speaking is, as it should.  

At this juncture he's trashed Tiger, Phil, Furyk, Spieth and Thomas, and I'm sure I'm leaving a name or two out.  Those guys figure to be involved in future cup efforts, so that will be one deliciously awkward team room.... 

Da' Match, The Hits Keep Coming - Brandel Chamblee takes to the pages of Golf Channel's website to offer his thoughts on the event, and you'll be shocked to hear his overwrought reaction:

Let’s call this affair in Las Vegas what it really was: two stars trying to rehabilitate their images, that had little initial gravity and failed to generate its own energy when neither Tiger nor Phil could find authentic motivation in the carnival atmosphere. Tiger and Phil looked like two guys who needed the money and were only there for it. That’s fine, everyone watching likely has been guilty of the same, but we are not meant, in watching these events, to be reminded of our lives. When an athlete gets lost in their art and performs like they don’t need the money, the audience gets lost with them and forgets their own lives; that’s transcendent.

The Match was not transcendent, it was transparent, and it demeaned the game. Period.

Brandel has some valid criticisms, but this event simply wasn't important to demean our game....  Phil swiping his moving ball on Saturday at the U.S. Open perhaps, but not this.

But Brandel does mention an interesting antecedent:

As for being a vehicle for growing the game, there was at least precedent for such a thought. In the mid-'60s, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, both well past their primes, played a match for "Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf". The immediate and lasting popularity of that proved to be the catalyst for what is now the PGA Tour Champions. That match undoubtedly grew the game. But Hogan and Snead were not billed as raconteurs and they had what could legitimately be called a rivalry. Add to it the mystique that followed Hogan, the fact that Snead had the sweetest swing in history and that the TV audience, seeing very little of them on their screens over the years, was ravenous to watch them play.

The whole production of "Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf" took the game to exotic locales and presented golf in a way consistent with its traditions of comportment and class. The Hogan and Snead match put the older stars and the game on center stage and those of a like mind decided to stick around. Which was a far cry from the weed-style entertainment of The Match, which made promises it couldn’t keep, shined a light on the greedy – not the charitable side of golf – and put its two biggest stars in a position to fail. The Match may grow the game, just as weeds grow on your lawn.

Let me try to explain where I differ with Brandel, who seems to think golf needs to be treated delicately.  

My problem with the event isn't that they tried to mix the game of golf with reality television, it's that they did so in such an obviously inept manner.  Phil is very much the "raconteur", it's just that there was no way he could carry five hours of commercial-free television.  I could see beforehand why this wouldn't work, and Phil keeps assuring me that he's much smarter....

The far harder question is how can this be made to work and be interesting?

Joel Beall takes a good crack at it, though internal consistency doesn't seem to be a prerequisite:

Less in the booth is more

A three-person booth, a handful of on-course reporters (you’ll see why in a second)...and that’s it. A pre-game crew isn’t warranted, particularly one where Capital One

spokesmen non-golf personalities stop by and offer a whole lotta nothin'. There's an impulse to deviate from normal golf broadcasts, which we applaud and welcome. But welcoming a score of voices into the booth isn't innovation. 

While we're here... 

Silence can be golden

Ernie Johnson, bless his heart, was on the warpath when it came to narration, and a Twitter search of "Peter Jacobsen + mute" produces NSFW results. Take a page from the Vin Scully Playbook: dead air is perfectly fine. Sometimes, the moment even calls for it. 

Bring in a comedian

Again, this should be entertaining, and the broadcast desperately required levity. This doesn't require someone who dabbles in high-concept pieces, although Norm MacDonald thrives in this arena, and given he was at The Match, this certainly makes him a candidate. Pair a comic with Dan Hicks (a man who knows how to direct traffic, not cause it) and Geoff Ogilvy (an Internet favor) and you got yourself a viable booth.

Less is more, except if Norm MacDonald is available....  Seriously, let me know when you've squared that circle....

No live mics

Know why Charles Barkley endures as a prominent figure into his mid-50s? He's funny. Not athlete funny, funny funny. So while it's understandable fans were disappointed at the lack of engaging discourse between Tiger and Phil, the dirty truth is that's the norm, with Sir Charles a far outlier. Continue to have the players mic'd, on the off-chance anything of substance is actually said. But without smack-talk or organic banter, there's no need to hear every mundane comment or observation. And there's DEFINITELY no need to hear Phil's "I just did 40 minutes on elliptical" breathing, which continues to haunt our dreams.

 I said this from the get-go....  Much better to have the broadcaster screen the audio, and allow us to listen to only the worthwhile bits.

Add undercards

At least two, three being ideal. The big mistake would be making these traditional one-on-one bouts. Mix in a scramble or alternate shot, even a game of Wolf, tag on an in-group reporter and let these serve as interstitials rather than the forced convos between Tiger and Phil. 

There's a chance, just like boxing, the undercards could be more compelling watches than the title fight. Conversely, as this year has testified, Tiger continues to be golf's needle. Whatever scenario you can concoct—Spieth vs. Reed, DJ vs. Koepka, top-flight juniors, DeChambeau debating a Modern Flat Earth Truther—Woods will still draw the most eyes.

Everyone is suggesting this, blindingly oblivious to the obvious fact that Jordan Spieth, as an example, isn't likely to be anyone's undercard.

But this highlights an important issue about our game, which explains why match play isn't used in the professional game.  Any one match is more likely to disappoint than please, so how can that be accommodated?  A Spieth-Reed undercard would excite, but they ain't coming unless they're cut in on the take, and that raises a whole bunch of questions about the financial model.

Kontent is King - Discovery CEO David Zaslav spends nine minutes on Squawk Box touting his new deals with the PGA Tour and Tiger Woods, which can be viewed on Geoff's blog, along with a follow-up interview with Tiger.  Give them a viewing if you're interested in the subject of the future of golf media.

Geoff has a couple of quibbles, including this overlooked issue:

Like many stories on Tiger’s new deal with Discovery and the PGA Tour, this interview Discovery CEO David Zaslav glosses over one key element of the Tiger Woods-is-coming-to-your-living room-next-year-narrative: he’s not, if you live in the United States. (At least not on Discovery’s GolfTV, he will be seen on PGA Tour Live, Golf Channel, NBC, CBS and TNT, among others).

Nor is Tiger going to be seen on American screens until 2022 at the earliest as part of this content play that more like the PGA Tour building its own network while wisely consolidating its international presentation, as something looking to satisfy viewers.

He's been all over this U.S. market issue, which does seem to be deliberately swept under the rug.  That to me is just a timing issue, with this seemingly the more substantive contribution:

More interesting for those on the television side of this story is the increasingly debatable 

vision of a world where we all watch things on a phone. Zaslav emphasizes repeatedly in this interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, even holding up his phone twice to highlight his predictable “Netflix” comparison.

Anyone who has watched golf on a phone can tell you that the viewing experience is generally limited since it is not shot for such devices nor can it ever be made compelling as a cell phone product give the length of a round. Then again, maybe this will finally encourage the PGA Tour to do something about slow play! 

Conversely, on a large screen golf is brilliant, giving the sport an aesthetic advantage over others. Sponsors pay handsomely to be viewed in as many homes as possible and to have their logos seen as easily as possible, without being obtrusive. The phone push seems to conflict with the needs of sponsors.

These kids today....  I quite agree with Shack, though I'm of course far removed from the target demographic....  I don't watch anything on my phone, not even on my iPad in most cases.

Now let's digress and enjoy Tiger's part in this for a sec....

The 14-time Major champion said he was excited for the new endeavor, which he hoped would generate enthusiasm for the game among a new, younger audience.

"I want to talk to golf fans and golfers everywhere, directly, and straight from me," Woods said. 

"That's important to me. Talking about what we care about: what's happening on the course, how to play better, how can I shoot lower scores tomorrow, how can I beat my friends?" 

The 42-year-old said sharing his knowledge of the game through training videos was his way of giving back to people who share his love for the game. 

"Getting the chance to do instruction is exciting," he said. 

"I've always been focused on my own game and this experience can help players everywhere. Whether you're a long-time player or a beginner, there are some things that help us all play better." 

"If I can help the next generation enjoy the game more and play better, that's pretty special."

Unfortunately, I watched that on my phone, and the small screen precluded noticing whether Tiger's nose was growing during his comments.....

Zaslav wants to be the Netflix of the golf world, but is that a necessary thing?  To me, the content sounds dreadful, as if the world needs more instructional videos....  The only thing missing is Tin Cup on an endless loop.... 

And the timing is schadenfreudalicious, coming as it does after the perfect demonstration of Tiger's disappointing TV presence....  Color me skeptical, though that is of course my default position.

Enjoy the weekend and we'll catch up on Monday.

Thursday Threads1. The course was designed by Ernie Els: The Big Easy and his design group are the brains behind this 18-hole championship course in the Bahamas. The course, which totals 7,400 yards, combines links and desert features with dunes and water meant to both serve as scenic and challenging. The club also features a 400-yard driving range, plenty of chipping and putting greens and a swing-performance center. For younger golfers, there is an academy to take part in private lessons and clinics.1. The course was designed by Ernie Els: The Big Easy and his design group are the brains behind this 18-hole championship course in the Bahamas. The course, which totals 7,400 yards, combines links and desert features with dunes and water meant to both serve as scenic and challenging. The club also features a 400-yard driving range, plenty of chipping and putting greens and a swing-performance center. For younger golfers, there is an academy to take part in private lessons and clinics.1. The course was designed by Ernie Els: The Big Easy and his design group are the brains behind this 18-hole championship course in the Bahamas. The course, which totals 7,400 yards, combines links and desert features with dunes and water meant to both serve as scenic and challenging. The club also features a 400-yard driving range, plenty of chipping and putting greens and a swing-performance center. For younger golfers, there is an academy to take part in private lessons and clinics.

It is Thursday, isn't it?  Feels like I'm in a bubble out here... A good first day on skis.  The mountain is noticeably whiter than this time in prior seasons, and some snow is in the forecast for the next few days.

Not a lot going on in our little golf world, but we'll try to keep it lively.

Dateline: Albany - Yeah, id does seem an inapt name for a playground for the rich, given it's linkage to that corrupt cesspool to which your humble blogger sens far too much money.  Pat Ralph, a new name to me at Golf.com, can only come up with three items to share about the joint:

1. The course was designed by Ernie Els: The Big Easy and his design group are the brains behind this 18-hole championship course in the Bahamas. The course, which

totals 7,400 yards, combines links and desert features with dunes and water meant to both serve as scenic and challenging. The club also features a 400-yard driving range, plenty of chipping and putting greens and a swing-performance center. For younger golfers, there is an academy to take part in private lessons and clinics.

2. The origin of the name Albany: The course, which opened in December 2010, was developed by businessman Joe Lewis. But the course earned its name from a fixture on the Bahamian coast. Albany is the name of an iconic pink beachfront Bahamian manor house. In fact, the pick manor house is credited as the home of the villain in the James Bond film “Casino Royale” from 2006.

I've got a fourth....  You can't afford the place.  Not that that's new data....

Tiger seems to have recovered from the S***storm at Shadow Creek:

Tiger Woods is starting the new season with the same set of clubs he used to win the

Tour Championship at East Lake back in September. 

The driver still works. 

That much was apparent Wednesday during Woods’ pro-am round at Albany Golf Course ahead of the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. 

Woods was wearing Nike shades for much of the day – it’s rare to see him wearing those on the course, but this Bahamian sun is no joke – and shot around 2-under par. The wind was swirling hard all morning but he clearly had control of his golf ball. And he was absolutely piping it off the tee.

Which only begs the question of what clubs he used in Paris and Vegas....  There was also this, though it took place before Vegas:

The masses that tuned in for the The Match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at

Shadow Creek expected to see some incredible play. Some even placed prop bets hoping to see one of golf’s biggest stars make an ace during the $9 million grudge match. It turns out those viewers were too late, because Woods made his first hole-in-one since the 90s just days before. 

According to Bob Harig of ESPN, Woods says he completed the feat during a casual round with friend and World Golf Hall of Fame member Fred Couples at the Madison Club in La Quinta, Calif. Woods used a five-iron to ace the 210-yard, par-3 2nd hole at the course near where he grew up.

Apparently son Charlie was on hand, so perhaps now he knows that Dad was more than a YouTube golfer.... His last came at The International in 1998, which gives the rest of us hope.

Anyone remember who won this event last year?  Anyone?  Bueller?

It was this guy, who admits to being on the clock:

Rickie Fowler turns 30 in two weeks, and based on conventional pre-Tiger Woods PGA Tour career wisdom, he should be entering his prime. But ever since Woods crammed

three whole Hall of Fame careers worth of winning in his 20s—46 wins and 10 majors, to be precise—the competitive clock has started ticking sooner. 

Fowler is starting his 10th season on tour, and measuring by cash he's been wildly successful, with more than $34 million in career earnings on the course and at least that much off. Still, his 2018 season was a fair representation of his career. Fowler won the last Hero World Challenge with a spectacular final-round 61, but didn't record a "real" victory the rest of the season. He even made his traditional appearances on major championship leader boards at Augusta and the PGA and was counted on to be one of the leaders of the American Ryder Cup team. 

"I had a fairly consistent season—put myself in contention a lot, put myself in great positions at the majors—I just never got the job done," Fowler said. "It's not like it was a bad year by any means. I just didn't win."

He caught a huge break in that Tiger and Phil deflected so much of the Ryder Cup heat, where Rickie played just about as poorly.

Back to the host, who's got plans for December:

Tiger Woods remarked on Tuesday at the Hero World Challenge he intends to trim his schedule for 2019. One event that Woods hopes won't be a causality of this scale-back strategy is the Presidents Cup. 

Earlier this year Woods was tabbed as captain of the American club for the international biennial event. But during his introductory press conference in March, Woods stated his intentions to not watch from the sidelines. 

“I would like to get to a point where I'm playing well enough where I could make the team on points,” Woods said at the time. “I wouldn't want to have the conversation and go, ‘Self.’ I don't really want to have that conversation, so let's just see how it progresses.”

One can see it getting tricky should he fail to qualify, but we shan't have to worry about that for a while.   

Tone Deafness On Parade - Patrick Reed remains the gift that keeps on giving, when asked the inevitable question:

Per Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard, Reed was asked Wednesday if any damage had been

done to his magnificent Ryder Cup reputation after a rough showing at Le Golf National that ended with him slamming Jordan Spieth and Jim Furyk in a post-event interview.

His response was classic Patrick Reed. 

“No, still 3-0 in (Ryder Cup) singles,” Reed said, according to Golf Channel. 

That is technically true! 

Reed did expound on what having a strong Ryder Cup reputation has meant to him.

“It’s something that I love and cherish and hopefully will continue playing really good golf when I represent the country and keep on bringing it in those events,” Reed said. “Being 3-0 in singles is something cool because you always want to feel like you can be counted on toward the end, especially during a Ryder Cup.”

I get it, he's a singles specialist....Next time I'm sure he'll have his own pod....  and perhaps Phil can be a Vice Captain whose only job will be to eat dinner with Captain Table For One.

Is That All There Is? -  Turner et. al. have been crowing about the huge audience for Da' Match, though this seems underwhelming to me:

Turner Sports announced its viewership numbers from last Friday's match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at Shadow Creek, and though the early returns are

impressive, the most startling number is the amount Turner might've lost on a processing snafu.

In an interview with the Sports Business Journal, Turner president David Levy said there were 750,000 unique video views logged, and 55 million minutes consumed on B/R Live for "The Match." But the glitch that made the pay-per-view event free to watch potentially cost Turner a $10-million total, according to SBJ. 

"We are in this for the long haul," Levy said. "We don't have all the facts and figures, but based on early indications, total audience for the match surpassed expectations across all of our platforms."

Is that a homerun, because it seems kind of paltry to me.  I suspect that Golf Channel gets those kind of numbers for reruns of Tin Cup....

As longs as we're back on this sorry story, Jeff Ritter has some matches that he'd pay to watch.....  though I see scheduling issues:

3. Old Tom Morris vs. Young Tom Morris, c. 1868: The father-son duo dominated golf in their era, as they combined for eight British Open titles from 1861-72. When Young Tom won his first, in 1868, he became the youngest major champion ever … at age 17. (Old Tom finished runner-up.) They often teamed up to take on other players in “challenge matches.” Wouldn’t it be fascinating to see how the father and son interacted on the links? We don’t have pay-per-view television, but last year the movie Tommy’s Honour gave fans a look at their complicated relationship.

If you're gonna show off, at least do it with a little flair.  Young Tom would have closed out his Dad on the twelfth hole....  Better to think of a fourball match with the Parks of Musselburgh.

As for this? 

9. Tiger Woods vs. Bob May vs. Steve Scott, c. 2001: With all due respect to Mickelson, Woods really didn’t have a true rival in his prime. But Tiger was famously pushed to the limit in two head-to-head showdowns early in his career. Scott, then a junior at the University of Florida, took Woods to 38 holes at the 1996 U.S. Am. And the unheralded May fell to Woods in a playoff at the epic 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla. We’re not sure how this three-way match would work, but it could’ve been a blast to give two guys who came up … just … short one more crack at Woods.

Not sure what he's going for there, as you can enjoy both of those unlikely tests of endurance on video.

But this might be peak silliness:

2. Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson vs. Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward, c. 1956: Golf historians know that golf’s original version of “The Match” was staged at Cypress Point on Jan. 10, 1956. The foursome combined for 27 birdies and an eagle; Hogan shot 63, Venturi fired 65 and their partners each carded 67s. A few hundred lucky spectators witnessed Hogan and Nelson’s 1-up win, and it’s been memorialized in books, not to mention golf lore. (They even tried to recreate it six years ago.) But, oh, if only there were cameras around to capture the original. And how wild would the real-time betting have been for this one?

Books?  I only know of one.....  

Still Grinding -  Golf Digest's young whippersnapper Alex Myers writes a weekly feature called The Grind, which we've not visited recently.  This weeks' edition has a good take on a Phil milestone:

Lefty didn’t earn any Official World Ranking Points for his win — he’s probably pretty satisfied walking away with 9 LARGE—but staying at No. 27 allowed him to hit an incredible milestone. Mickelson has now been ranked inside the top 50 for 25 consecutive years. Not 25 consecutive weeks or even months, but YEARS. An amazing athletic achievement—especially for someone who breathes so heavy walking around a golf course. Seriously, Phil, maybe do a little cardio this off-season.

Cardio?  Why start now?  But I do agree that it's an amazing milestone...

Alex has some amusing bits, including from the dueling golf weddings this week.  But be forewarned, if you continue to scroll down you won't be able to unsee this photo:

Stay classy, Phil.

See ya'll tomorrow.

Midweek Musings - Mountain Edition

I write from the cozy comforts of Unplayable Lies' Western HQ, where I have found most of the crap I'll need for making turns later.  Most, but certainly not all....

Da' Match, The Backlash Has Legs - A few different threads involving The Striped One, as he's obviously promoting his little event in Albany.  We'll lead with Da' Match, specifically this from Alan Shipnuck's mailbag:

How much of a car crash was ‘The Match’ as seen in the USA? Viewed as a total disaster from Great Britain. -@PasDeDeuxBetty 

Boy, I’ve rarely seen a group of people hate anything as much as the British golf press despised The Match, and that was before it was even played. Sure, it was a vulgar display of American excess, but otherwise rather harmless. I read a million tweets about The Match from golf fans and pundits and nearly that many words typed by my esteemed colleagues and I think the overall impression, which I share, was this: Eh, coulda been worse. Yes, the PPV platform was a disaster, the course borderline kitschy, the golf mediocre, the mic’d up patter awkward, the makeshift par-3 to end things absurd, but the back nine was undeniably exciting as these proud champions were grinding so hard to beat each other. There are a million ways it can be improved going forward, but I think this first try was just entertaining enough to prove the concept has some merit.

He seems to be setting the bar awfully low, no?  I'll stipulate to harmless, especially since we all ended up getting it for free, but they were trying to change the world.

Did The Match meet your expectations coming out of your breakfast with Phil a few months back? #AskAlan -@ScottyGMan23 

That avocado toast summit is what led to me breaking the story about The Match. At the time it was very early in the process and many of the specifics and parameters were still coming together. But what I took away most from that morning was Phil’s giddiness at the concept and his belief that The Match would reinvent the way golf is consumed by fans. Per the second point, I think it proved the opposite: the telecast had many longing for the production values of the established TV networks, and the much ballyhooed aspects of the presentation – mic’d players and real-time betting odds – fell flat. But if The Match succeeded at all it was largely because of Phil’s gee-wiz enthusiasm and the intensity of his play, and he had broadcast that ardor to me months earlier.

Intensity?  Was he watching he same broadcast?  Imagine if it had been a 6&5 rout?

This one is perhaps a bit more interesting:

People were speculating that Tiger and Phil agreed to split the $9M ahead of time. I’d like to think they didn’t but each agreed to a percentage of the PPV take, similar to movie stars getting a cut of the box office. Did you hear any rumors like that? Also, I think the main reason Tiger lost the match was because he couldn’t swear. He was so outside his comfort zone having to worry about what he could/couldn’t say. Agree or disagree? #AskAlan -John (@jkellgrew)

In the old days on the PGA Tour it was common for the participants of a playoff to agree to split the money, on the theory that they had tied for first place and both deserved an equal share of the spoils. One of the more underrated acts of gamesmanship in golf history came on the morning of the playoff at the 1962 U.S. Open, when Arnie asked the young, brash Fat Jack if he wanted to split their winnings and Nicklaus declined. Anyway, it would make a certain amount of sense if Tiger and Phil agreed to split the dough, given that they were co-headliners, but only they know for sure. But even if that didn’t happen Tiger still earned a nice chunk of change from the rights fees and merchandising. He and Phil are co-owners of this franchise and they are taking big gulps from every revenue stream. 

As for Tiger’s potty-mouth, I agree it was fascinating/torturous to listen to his G-rated mumblings during his struggles on the front nine. Not sure it cost him the victory but your larger thesis is correct: this just wasn’t Tiger’s cup of tea. He’s an introvert and a grinder. Phil is a showman and clearly was enjoying himself while Tiger looked like he had a bad case of buyer’s remorse.

Don't forget those open mic's and their effect on the human body's need to release flatulence....  Hard to look all chipper when you're missing three-footers, but I'll just remind that there's a body of thought that Lindsay broke up with him because she realized how boring he is....

As for that PPV take, ummm...what take?

The Tiger Woods – Phil Mickelson Match delivered some impressive online audience numbers for Turner Sports, but they came at an extraordinary cost. 

The livestream drew 750,000 unique video views and logged 55 million minutes of viewing time. A glitch that resulted in the pay-per-view event being streamed for free on BR/Live, however, likely cost Turner Sports upward of $10 million in revenue. 

No figures were available for the number of pay-per-view buys, most of which were refunded since The Match ended up being given away for free by BR/Live.

Still, Turner President David Levy remains pleased with the event and hopes to produce similar events in the future. 

“We are in this for the long haul,” Levy told John Ourand of Sports Business Daily. “We don’t have all the facts and figures, but based on early indications, total audience for the match surpassed expectations across all of our platforms.”

So...errr, what exactly went wrong?

“This all boils down to really insufficient memory, server capacity that was required, and the high volume of consumer access requests in a condensed amount of time,” Levy said of the technical issue that forced the decision to make the stream free on B/R Live. “Try to do this during Black Friday with Amazon’s cloud with everybody online ordering stuff.”

Seriously, you're blaming Amazon?   I'd have gone with the Russians, but who could have seen Black Friday coming?

As for this?

“You now have a franchise that you can use in many different ways,” he told SBD. “It’s a little early to say what we’re going to do next. Certainly, Tiger and Phil would like to have conversations. So would I. I don’t think you have to keep this just to golf. This is something that could be used for other sports and other competitions. We now have a new model. If you put a compelling event together, people are willing to pay for it.”

Archery?  Curling?  Though after that first experience, I'm not sure all that many of us will be willing to pay for it the next time.... 

At his Hero presser, Tiger had some thoughts:

“I wish we both would have played better, but neither one of us putted well that day out there… we should’ve each played seven or eight birdies a piece,” Woods told reporters

in his pre-tournament press conference Tuesday at the Hero World Challenge. 

Overall, though, Woods described the experience as “positive,” while noting that there is room for improvement, “There’s some things in which we can make it better for the viewer, but I think a lot of people turned in and tried — well, tried to watch and then ended up watching.” He continued, “maybe going forward, just don’t quite have the greens so fast or the pins so difficult.”

I just did a spit take with coffee, given how easy they made that golf course.   But as for the greens, and I'm just spitballin' here, but did anyone consider having the greens not visibly aerated?  Back to Alan's mailbag:

Why of all things did Shadow Creek present itself with obviously recently aerated greens which apparently were terrible to putt on? #askalan -@TreeGolfCustoms 

This will go down as one of the most burning questions in the history of grass, right up there with the USGA’s decision to not water the greens at Shinnecock and what exactly Ty Webb was smoking in Carl Spackler’s shed.

 Fortunately, my picture quality was sufficiently poor that I couldn't see that level of detail....  

If you're interested in the subject of streaming sports events, I'll recommend this Bloomberg column linked by Shack as a backgrounder on the difficulty:

Live streaming sports is harder than streaming TV shows and movies -- like Netflix Inc. does. That’s mainly because live sports is only available for a few hours, making it vulnerable to crashes when many people watch at the same time. It’s also more complicated. It involves taking a feed, ensuring it works on devices such as Xbox or Roku, encrypting it, inserting ads, then handing it off to a third party for delivery to an internet provider -- all in real time. A crash means viewers can miss a thrilling touchdown, buzzer-beater or a missed putt.

Not to worry, they missed so many putts that we all got our fill.... 

If you're not already worn out on this topic, Ryan Lavner has a good take on the issues involved in the sequel, first with this:

There’s almost no way there’ll be the same interest to pay $19.99 again, especially after this inauspicious debut. For Round 2, it’ll need to be $4.99 or $9.99, if not free.

Interesting...  As you know, I thought PPV was an unforced error.  And that was before I understood the technical risks, but there's plenty of time for commercials, so what's the point?  

As for this?

2. It’s time to focus on the participants. 

Mickelson is a natural showman. He likes performing in front of crowds and wowing his

playing partners. He doesn’t mind woofing when he hits a spectacular shot, and he’s playful when he doesn’t pull it off. 

There’s absolutely no one in golf who is as well-suited for PPV golf than Mickelson.

His opponent? Not so much. It’s not Woods’ strong suit. Never has been. Never will be. He’s a grinder who isn’t wired for these big-money chucklefests, which are more about entertainment than competition. 

Once Woods started hitting a few wayward shots, he retreated into his usual grind mode, and The Match fizzled out. It became just a golf match between two players who are well past their prime. 

The PPV model probably can't survive without Woods' participation, but the quality of the product would be markedly better with a more engaging crew around Mickelson. An example: Phil with Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. That'd have a more Tuesday-practice-round vibe, and it'd be more compelling TV.

That's really a dilemma, isn't it?  And combined with the silly restrictions imposed by the Tour, color me skeptical about the future of this franchise.

Other Tiger Scat -  From that warm-weather presser, it's clear that we'll see less of Tiger next year:

Woods is still going to be careful while picking his spots for this season, even more so with the bunched-up nature of the new schedule with the PGA Championship moving to May and Players Championship in March. 

He doesn’t know what the right balance is yet, but Tuesday at Albany Golf Course he said there’s no way he can play seven tournaments in a nine-week stretch like he did to conclude last season. 

“Only thing set in stone is I’m playing Genesis and the four majors,” Woods said. “Other than that we’re still taking a look at it as far as, what is too much? We know seven of nine was too much. What can I handle going forward? I need to make sure I’m rested and ready to play. I have found through all of that, I’ve played all my good tournaments when I had time off and I felt rested. If I didn’t feel rested I didn’t play well. Maybe that’s being a little bit older, but I just think it’s important. Playing seven of nine last year was too much.”

That will shock exactly nobody.  Last year he obviously needed to push himself to get back his "feelz", but no reason not to follow the approach of Hogan and Nicklaus going forward.

Let me digress for a second to this interview with the Champion Golfer of the Year that's well worth your while:

Why did the U.S. team unravel at Le National, and when did you first sense they were going to? 

It’s difficult to pinpoint a specific reason. Undoubtedly the tricky setup of the course was a huge factor. But don’t forget, we lost all three of the first matches on Friday morning. If it hadn’t been for Tommy Fleetwood and me beating Woods and Patrick Reed, we would have been at 0-4, and it would have been really hard. We reacted by winning, 4-0, in the afternoon. But we didn’t kid ourselves. The more-experienced players worried about an American backlash, but with time we felt better on that course, which many of us know [as an annual European Tour stop for the French Open]. The key moment was Saturday morning, when only Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth had earned a point. We saw that they were probably more tired than we were, also because the majority of them had been busy with the FedEx right up until the end. But you know how the Ryder Cup is. In fact, after the 2-2 Saturday afternoon, they attempted a comeback in the singles on Sunday. But we reacted well.

One of the amusing comments in the triumphant and self-congratulatory run-up to this Ryder Cup was Phil's assertion that the FedEx Cup helped the Yanks stay sharp heading into the event.  That never made any sense to me, as most of the Euros were playing the same schedule, so perhaps some enterprising reporter will follow up with Phil on that?

Lastly, Tiger will be endorsing some large checks from a new sponsor, Discovery Channel's GolfTV.  Shack had the skinny on that endeavor In October, but now comes this news:

That Discovery’s new global golf brand would seek a content partnership with the world’s most recognizable golfer makes all kinds of strategic sense. That the golfer in question would actually sign on for the idea speaks to the remarkable ambition behind GOLFTV. 

GOLFTV, the new live and on-demand video service Discovery is launching jointly with the PGA Tour in January, announced on Tuesday that Tiger Woods has agreed to a multi-year partnership that will offer global audiences an unprecedented look into Woods’ game and his life on and off the course. In addition to features about Woods in a competitive realm, it promises weekly practice and instructional video from the 14-time major champion. 

“I want to talk to golf fans and golfers everywhere, directly, and straight from me. That’s important to me. Talking about what we care about: what’s happening on the course, how to play better, how can I shoot lower scores tomorrow, how can I beat my friends?" Woods said in a statement made through GOLFTV. "Whether you’re a long-time player or a beginner, there are some things that help us all play better."

Timing is everything....  Good to know he really wants to talk to us, just not, you know, last Friday....

Shack's got a full-frontal Fisking of the press release, well worth your time if your ecosystem is in need of nourishment.  Or even if it's not....

More Alan - We've been awfully Tiger-centric, so perhaps a few more bits from Shippy?

#AskAlan will either Jordan or Rickie or both get a win in the 2018/2019 season? -@FaceSandin 

Spieth for sure. Ten victories from 2015-17 is no joke. He knows how to win, and one bad season doesn’t change that. And Spieth has one of the highest golf IQs on the planet. He’ll learn from last season and be better for it. It’s hard to predict Fowler’s form from year to year – in a decade on Tour he has only four wins (plus a pair on the Euro tour). He was spectacular at this year’s Masters but couldn’t build on it. As for the coming season, I’ll say a Rickie victory is a definite maybe.

I don't see anything "For sure" about Jordan's game these days, so I'll go with time will tell.  Rickie is most certainly on the clock, especially in the majors.

First tee walk up music… Yeah or nay? -Ryan (@mantheybrewcrew) 

Depends on the tournament. It would be awesome at the Phoenix Open but feel out of place on Riviera’s stately first tee. Players? Yes. Pebble? No. New Orleans? Definitely! Hilton Head? Nah. You get the point.

We do, and it's the correct one.

Odds of and thoughts on Phil completing the grand slam next June?? He was breathing awfully heavy even on the first hole during the match!! -@JimsOrr 

In fairness to Phil, it was the day after Thanksgiving! And Las Vegas is at 2,000 feet of elevation and the desert air is awfully dry. But more than that, I think his shortness of breath was because of the built-up nerves. It was more about feeling jittery than out of shape. The Match meant a ton to Phil, and it showed in his (mostly) inspired play. The 2019 Open at Pebble Beach is probably Phil’s last stand. He’s an emotional golfer and plays his best when he feels inspired by the venue. Well, Mickelson has won four Clambakes at Pebble and there are few places on the planet he loves more. The course will play so short that few drivers will be needed, which obviously helps Phil. Iron play remains one of his strengths and with its tiny greens Pebble is the quintessential second-shot course. After the Beach the Open goes to big brawny courses like Winged Foot and Torrey Pines, where hitting driver long and straight will be a necessity. If Phil, 48, doesn’t get it done next year I’m afraid it’s never going to happen.

He was breathing heavily on the damn putting green....  Odds are long and getting longer.  

Apparently there are changes coming to the OWGR. What would you like to see changed? More emphasis on winning? One year ranking period? Hero World Challenge not getting ranking points? -@GeoPBurdell 

No fair, you took all the easy answers!

Yeah, OWGR points being awarded for the Hero World pretty much destroys any credibility the system might have once had.

 I'm going to get on with my day... Catch you tomorrow?

Weekend Wrap

I know, but there was some actual golf played....  We'll get to that in a sec. though first a scheduling note.  Tomorrow is a travel day, so you'll next hear from me from Unplayable Lies' Western HQ.  No need for guilt in reading this blog, as I wasn't the beneficiary of the same kind of incentives as offered to Amazon for their HQ2's.

Belgian Rules - Wait, didn't the N.Y. Times say that Orange Man bad?  I'm so awfully confused:

MELBOURNE, Australia — In the end, there was no doubting these Thomases. Armed with a two-shot advantage on the 18th tee, the Belgian pair of Pieters and Detry combined for their 25th birdie of the week (they also threw in a couple of eagles) over

the Metropolitan Club to emphatically clinch the 59th World Cup of Golf. Their 23-under-par aggregate for 72 holes—half four-ball, half foursomes—was clearly the best of the 28 nations competing, three strokes clear of runners-up Mexico and host nation Australia. For their trouble, each of the new champions earned $1,120,000. 

More importantly, this was Belgium’s first-ever victory in the event, 63-years on from the Benelux nation’s previous best effort—the T-4 finish from Flory Van Donck and Arthur de Vulder in 1955. And even more impressively, it was achieved in an atmosphere that, while never unfriendly, was nevertheless distinctly pro-Aussie. 

Indeed, five-shots back with one round to play, the home pair of Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith did their best to impress 2019 International Presidents Cup captain, Ernie Els (who was on-site to announce his first assistant captain, 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy). Their closing seven-under-par 65 was equaled only by defending champion Denmark. The Mexican pair of Australian Open champion Abraham Ancer and Roberto Diaz may have had the last chance to catch the eventual winners, but it was the Aussies who pushed the Thomases hardest. Not until Leishman failed from four feet for a birdie on the 16th green that would have closed the gap to two shots did the air go out of the home balloon.

There's rejoicing in Wally-world, though he's picked Belgium to win more team events than Open Championships that I've credited to Sergio.... But it's an event with some actual history, though admittedly not helped by the current scheduling process, which seems to be holding the event when they feel like it....

Since the Presidents Cup has been mentioned, I'll note that Ernie needs no introduction to those two Aussies, who will no doubt be at Royal Melbourne.  And the God of segues smiles down at us, as there's news on that front. first with Ernie's sense of what's been missing from the event all these many years:

I don't know, I might have been tempted to go with a more competitive team, but a logo is good as well.  Let's let Ernie explain:

“It’s a special group of guys from all over the world that make up the Presidents Cup International Team,” Els said. “Being from across the globe, we don’t all play for the same flag. This special group of people needed something to identify with. To lift the spirit of the team, we felt like we needed a logo for ourselves.”

 And, presto, you've got one....  Better yet, I'm guessing that he brought it in under budget....

Ernie did have a couple of quasi-interesting takes on the event, including this about the opposing captain:

Ernie Els expects Tiger Woods will be a U.S. playing captain when the two lead their

teams at the Presidents Cup next December at Royal Melbourne. 

"I think so, the way he's playing," Els said Sunday during a media conference during the final round of the World Cup at Metropolitan. "I'm not sure what kind of points system they use for their team, but I think there's a big chance. The way he's going, it looks like he's going to be in contention a lot this year."

 I can only assume that Ernie didn't pop for the PPV.... This could be taken as a warning shot that there are only eleven spots up for the taking:

"[Scott] is going to be on the team, no doubt about that," Els said. 

"He's right top of [my] list. He's one of the most motivated guys to make the team and he's been very vocal behind the scenes.

Ernie also named Geoff Ogilvy a vice captain, logical given that the guy lives on the golf course....  But, as you'll no doubt agree, it's that logo that's the game-changer.

News From The Land of The Rising Sun - We don't spend much time covering the Japanese Tour, but I'd like to second Shack's motion to get this guy a Masters invite:

Ok, no one has made that call. But I am now! Ryo Ishikawa was 17 and 76th in the world when played on a 2009 Masters invite. But not nearly as interesting as Hosung Choi and his swing.

Will Gray calls it unique with wild gesticulations. 

Ryan Ballengee went with fisherman-style that’s been thrown around to the best effect. 

Josh Berhow mustered up an unconventional designation for the swing. 

And Christopher Powers cooked up absolutely electric.

I'm unable to embed any of the videos, but if you haven't previously seen the swing, you'll want to acquaint yourself with it.  It seems like the perfect fit for Augusta....

Cue The Backlash - Over the course of a year there are only a few items like this that challenge the blogger with where to begin.....  It being an embarrassment of riches, that I'll try not to screw up.

The Tour Confidential panel waited until Sunday night (though their writers did have their own bylines on the event), so we'll expect that additional level of depth and piquancy to their takes:

1. After months of hype and anticipation, we finally saw The Match unfold on Friday at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. There was some good, some bad and even some weird in the inaugural showdown. Would you consider the entire event a birdie, par or a bogey?

Good call to leave eagle off the table....

Josh Sens: On some of its own most explicit terms, it was worse than bogey. It was “take an X and move on to the next tee.” The play was poor. The banter was painful. And the promised side wagers all but petered out just at the point when the match finally picked

up some tension. We were also told that this would show us Phil and Tiger, up close and personal, as we’d never seen them before. What it wound up showing us was Phil and Tiger exactly as we’ve always believed them to be. Then there’s this: In the HBO promo, the two stars talked a lot about the event as a vehicle for growing the game. If you believe it succeeded on that front, you probably also think that yacht racing arouses popular interest in boating. Where The Match worked was as a dose of entertainment for the audience it was really meant for all along: golf nerds and gamblers, many of whom, like me, are one and the same.

Yeah, this was ball-in-pocket bad, my only quibbles are with his premise that it worked for even those small sub-sets.

Michael Bamberger: I watched it in person. It was odd and, in the end, entertaining. But to grade it with a birdie, par or bogey is to imply it was real golf and it wasn’t. 

Josh Berhow: It was successful, or not, based on what you viewed it as: a match play event between two golfers or a gimmicky show for your entertainment. If you wanted the former you were probably disappointed. As Sens said, there is an audience for this. If you were sitting in a Sportsbook and making wagers on the hole unfolding in front of you, it was probably a lot of fun. But if you wanted riveting match play to rival the final day of a Ryder Cup — heck, to rival the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play — well, this wasn’t that. It was basically what I think a lot of people expected. Not great. Not bad. Kinda meh.

We get that this was part sporting event, part reality television.  But it didn't work even remotely well on either metric.

2. Which part of The Match was better than you expected? And which part disappointed? 

Sens: The banter was awful, but that’s not so unexpected. The quality of play was the big disappointment. Mostly, I thought the motley and overstaffed broadcast crew did a good job with what they were given. Barkley, in my view, was in especially fine form. 

Bamberger: The course. I had heard so much about Shadow Creek over the years and it seemed like such a showy and ridiculous use of the world’s limited water supply. After seeing it and walking it, I’d say that’s right. But it’s a good course with good holes and (surprise!) an unpretentious clubhouse.

Martin Kauffman, who covers the TV beat for Golfweek, has a thoughtful item on that which can be salvaged from the event:

1. This should go without saying, but get the basic stuff right. Nothing irritates consumers more than the sense that they’ve been ripped off, and that’s how a lot of people felt Friday afternoon after paying $19.99, then learning that Bleacher Report was streaming it free. Fortunately, most cable and satellite providers – in addition to Bleacher Report – offered refunds or credits.
2. Speaking of the basics, how could the organizers spend two months planning the event but forget when the sun sets? Finishing under the lights on a rinky-dink par-3 hole was more unsatisfying than ending the World Cup on penalty kicks.

 They couldn't even do that in order to secure their payday....  Interestingly, at least to me, Cablevision remains silent on the subject of my refund.  They'll likely make me waste my time to call for it, meaning that I'll hate them all the more.

3.  Come up with a format that doesn’t make many of us feel vaguely repulsed. The image of two fabulously wealthy guys standing behind a $9 million pile of money only reinforced the notion of the game’s elite players simply looking for an easy payday. Frankly, I would have found it less tawdry if Woods had accepted the reported $3.25 million appearance fee to play in Saudi Arabia. At least he would have had to travel a great distance and put in an honest week’s work.

That was the only hook they had, yet it always had the potential to make them look greedy....

4.  One of the many problems with “The Match” was the organizers were counting on seeing Woods and Mickelson in top form. That didn’t happen. You can’t guarantee great golf; the players won’t be sharp every time they tee it up. But I’d settle for something that is at least interesting. Maybe it’s a hickory tournament or a long-drive contest or a par-3 contest or speed golf or 18 holes over a 9,000-yard course or a cross-country golf event or a virtual tournament played by Tour stars at Topgolf locations around the country. People far smarter than me can put their minds to work on the format. And if you’re going to give players the power to make wagers, force them to do it on every hole.

Couple of points here, with an apology for patting myself on the back.  My predictions for this event were pretty damn good, and given the rarity of that occurrence....

I have a slight quibble with Marty in the sense that the PGA Tour is more responsible than most folks might understand.  The quibble is that the date virtually guaranteed off-form play, and you might be surprised to hear that the Tour also undermined the event in other ways:

The side-bet challenges made by Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson added another

dimension to The Match, but apparently they were only allowed to do so many.

Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard, citing sources, said the PGA Tour limited the number of challenges between Mickelson and Woods. 

Tour policy prohibits players from gambling at the site of a Tour co-sponsored event, but a Tour spokesperson told Golf Channel that Woods and Mickelson did not violate any rules since the side bets went to charity. 

The broadcast relayed updated odds and moneylines after ever hole via the MGM Resorts Race & Sports Books, and the opportunity for side bets was heavily touted in the lead-up to The Match — by Mickelson, Woods, broadcasters and Bleacher Report — yet Woods and Mickelson made only five side bets that totaled $800,000 changing hands.

Did you actually see that money change hands?  One last bit from Marty:

5.  If you’re going to put microphones on the players and caddies – the lone interesting production concept of “The Match” – don’t hire an army of announcers to talk over the players. There was nothing that Peter Jacobsen or Darren Clarke or any of the other “Match” announcers could have said that would have been more interesting than even the most mundane comments from Woods and Mickelson.

I nailed this one as well....  There's just no way that two guys can be sufficiently interesting for 4-5 hours, therefore it's far better to let the broadcaster weed the nonsense out.

Now someone is taking the hit, and The Forecaddie is all over that:

Various pre-match stories said the original vision belonged to Hollywood producer Bryan Zuriff and CAA agent Jack Whigham, but it was Turner parent AT&T that ran with their winning bid set on validating the $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner. The company CEO, Randall Stephenson, even told the Wall Street Journal in September that “The Match” would illustrate the benefits of the purchase. 

“It’s the whole cross-platform and lifecycle management of this content,” he told the Journal. 

Please don’t ask The Man Out Front what that means. But given that Stephenson sits on the PGA Tour Policy Board and Turner is expected to show an interest in picking up PGA Tour coverage when their TV deals expire in 2021, “The Match” was at least a temporary setback.

Methinks that specific content will have a disappointing lifecycle, but let's hope they got more for their $85 billion than that.

And lots of folks are hitting the What's Next angle:

So what is next? 

The question going forward is this: Should there be a sequel? And the answer is obvious because, again, the encouraging numbers Levy referred to say there probably will be one. But it says a lot, and not good, when the HBO 24/7 program and the promotional trailers were vastly more intriguing than the 22-hole golf exhibition. The problem is, this still needs Tiger, who sells with reputation and popularity, and Phil, who is the showman. 

But it will take more. Turner should take one more stab at getting The Match right, only have a team format. The rumors of an Asian duo taking on the Americans will not cut it. Bring us Justin Thomas, who is brash and jocular, and pair him with his loquacious buddy Jordan Spieth. There will be no dead air. There will be jawing. You have a generational hook. See how that sells.

Meh.  Presumably they'll wise up and realize that the PPV is more trouble than it's worth, and perhaps deliver better production values.

But I think Shack has an answer worthy of your consideration and, fair use be damned, I'm going to excerpt it in full:

More than any contribution it made to television innovation, gambling intrigue or Phil’s pocketbook, The Match reminded us that the Skins Game worked. 

What a perfect time for the organizers of The Match to pick up the right to bring it back with modernized elements. 

As The Match played out and the gambling possibilities were just too tricky to work out despite Shadow Creek’s endless walks between greens and tees, the simplicity of the Skins Game kept making so much sense.

With a few tweaks.

Skins died when the money became irrelevant for today’s players and you were left with oddball foursomes, including 2008’s gathering of K.J. Choi, Stephen Ames, Rocco Mediate and Phil Mickelson. It deserved to die. 

And while The Match was never that interesting because of the $9 million at stake for the winner, you’re only going to get top players if it’s going to pad their pocketbook in a meaningful way.

More than anything, The Match reminded us that Skins was relatable, just unpredictable enough for viewers, and predictable enough for television to take a crack at showing it. At nine holes, it didn’t force us to sit around too long.

Perhaps a new Skins Game needs to return as a nine-hole event and for just one day with three holes played for $500k each, $1 million for the middle stretch and $2 million each for the final three. Lift the best elements of The Match, spread the wealth to four players and use the pay-per-view concept to justify renting an exotic golf course.

Oh, and make sure the credit card readers are working.

Here's the thing....  You can't know what to do with this franchise without understanding what the Tour will allow.  To the extent that it needs to be at this time of year, that puts in the heart of the Silly Season, rendering strong play highly unlikely.

The brilliance of Shack's argument is that it accommodates reality, defining the event in terms of the demands of the calendar.  What a concept, eh?

I'll catch you from the other side.....