Observations about golf, football and TV

Did you know…

·         …who has the most second place finishes in professional golf’s famed major tournaments (Masters, US open, Open, PGA)?  Who has the second most?  Third, fourth, fifth most?  Are you thinking Phil?  Maybe even Tiger?  Here they are:

o   Jack – 19 second place finishes

o   Arnie – 10 second place finishes

o   Greg Norman, Sam Snead and Tom Watson – 8 apiece

o   Phil has 7; Tiger has 6

o   Next time someone starts talking about who is the all-time greatest golfer you now know that Jack either won or placed in 37 major tournaments; Tiger 20; Arnold 17 and Phil 13

·         …that there is almost no sporting event that you can watch live on television that is not more enjoyable with the sound muted?  If you are watching it with friends or family members or both it also has this great benefit – the automatically increased volume for the horrendous repetitive commercials never occurs – and with a small amount of retraining you and your friends/family folk will start using this time to chat about things until the play returns.  This is what we call – win/win.

·         …that no journalist, real or faux, will gain an interview with the president or any top government employee or any member of the party in power if they ask a question using facts not known to the interview subject or any of their handlers?   And that any attempt to catch/embarrass/question or pursue a challenging line of questions will not only end that interview but guarantee no subsequent  questioning opportunities?  The answer to these questions is:  of course you knew.

·         …that Arnold Palmer made $1,861,857 in 734 PGA Tour career starts over 53 years?  An average of about $2,500 per start?  That Rory McIlroy made $1,800,000 for his win Sunday?  This year alone Rory has won almost $7 million.  An average of about $535,000 per event. 

·         …that the average televised college football game now last 3 hours and 20 minutes?  The actual clock game time is 1 hour with a 15 minute half time break.  So, that means that there are 2 hours and 5 minutes of something else going on.  In the SEC, Mississippi averages 80 plays per game; Arkansas 65.  If they are playing; that’s 145 plays with a 40 second clock; let’s say they use 30 seconds, that adds up to about 1 hour and 15 minutes leaving 50  minutes for commercials, during the game; pregame, halftime and postgame commercials – all bonus time for sponsors.  In the 1960’s and even the 70’s average college game time was about 2½ hours.  Here’s Nick Saban on this topic – “College football is the only game in the country, of any kind, that the college game is longer than the pro game.”

·         …that the first ever college football game took place in 1869 and featured New Jersey (now Princeton) versus Rutgers (now Rutgers)?  We have no idea how long it took.

·         …that the players did not wear helmets until 1893?

·         …that the first bowl game featured Michigan and Stanford in 1902?  Michigan won 49-0. It was played in Pasadena but not in the Rose bowl which was not built until 1923?

·         …that the forward pass was not legal in college football until 1906?

• …that the viewing experience of the college football game is also enhanced by muting the chatter of the commentators and the commercials?  We bet you knew that too.