TEED OFF: In Toronto, Lorne Rubenstein writes that the
Tiger Woods-David Duval made-for-TV event "is to golf what
Las Vegas architectural design is to authenticity -- the
display of show over substance, of artificiality over the
genuine" (GLOBE & MAIL, 5/12). In Chicago, Bernie Lincicome
writes under the header, "A Match Made In Phonyville."
Lincicome: "Made for TV is like saying Made for Suckers"
(CHI. TRIBUNE, 5/12). In Miami, Rana Cash calls the event
"phony and, for golf purists, unnerving" (MIAMI HERALD,
5/12). But in Charlotte, Ron Green Jr. writes that "purists
can argue this made-for-TV event isn't good for golf. But
for a sport that's still reaching out to minorities and
children, putting Woods and Duval on television ... should
benefit the game" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/12).
WEB NOTES: USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand examines the
"lucrative" side of athlete's personal Web sites. Hiestand:
"The proliferation of such sites, where athletes tout their
memorabilia amidst online lollipops that read like fanzines,
isn't just about the rich maybe getting richer. It also
lets athletes and their agents at least dream of a much
bigger breakthrough: the means to more tightly control
public images and maybe even someday circumvent all those
pesky sports reporters" (USA TODAY, 5/12)....CNN/SI.com
touted a March study by Nielsen NetRatings which showed that
CNNSI.com scored the highest average number of minutes per
user/per month with 35.3. ESPN.com was second with 31.5,
followed by SportsLine.com with 17.8. Meanwhile, Media
Matrix data had ESPN.com leading with an average of 28.3
minutes per user/per month, followed by CNNSI.com with 28.2
and NASCAR.com with 23.5 (CNNSI)....SportsTicker will
provide sports data to Snap.com, the Internet portal service
owned by NBC and CNET (SportsTicker).
NBA RATINGS: Turner's NBA playoff ratings "are down"
12%, to 2.2, from last year, but Turner Senior VP Kevin
O'Malley said, "We're going to do fine as we get through the
head-to-head games" (USA TODAY, 5/12).....DAILY VARIETY's
Tom Bierbaum writes that Sunday's Rockets-Lakers Game One on
NBC, which scored a 7.2/16 overnight Nielsen rating, was the
"lowest rating for a network primetime NBA playoff telecast"
in the '90s and "possibly ever" (DAILY VARIETY, 5/12).
