CBS golf analyst Gary McCord has been "nowhere near the Masters for nearly two decades," but he "isn't bitter about being dropped from coverage" of the tournament, according to Michael Hiestand of USA TODAY. McCord has not been a part of the net's broadcast of the event since '94, when he said, among other things, the 17th green was so fast it could have been "bikini-waxed." But McCord said that he "doesn't even want back in." McCord: "I don't think they want to deal with it, and I don't blame them. I'd do the same thing." He added, "There's no going back in time. That's who I am. That's what I did. ... I wouldn't have me, either. It's just common sense." Hiestand asked why Augusta National or CBS does not talk to analyst David Feherty "about playing it safe there." McCord said, "That would be like talking to Charles Barkley about what to say on TV" (USA TODAY, 4/12).
GOING OVER THE TOP: In Toronto, Doug Smith wrote The Masters is "one of those annual sports events like Wimbledon or the U.S. Open that you just have to pay attention to." It remains a must-see event despite "the sappy and syrupy announcers," who are the "one thing that might drive me away from the coverage." Smith: "I get it that the azaleas are pretty and that there’s tradition to uphold but if I hear [Jim Nantz] wax poetic much more about Augusta I might barf. Really, it’s too too too over the top" (THESTAR.com, 4/11).
COVERING ALL ANGLES: SLATE.com's June Thomas noted Golf Channel "doesn’t have the rights to televise this or any of the men’s majors, but that won’t stop it from covering the tournament from dawn to dusk." Thomas noted after a week of "watching the Golf Channel, I’m a convert -- not to the sport, but to the channel’s celebration of full-on, no-holds-barred, nothing-too-nerdy, knowledge-dropping expertise, packaged in familiar, cozy TV formats." Tune in at "any time of day or night, and you’re likely to find a program you recognize: morning show, talk show, news magazine, reality contest, late-night chat fest. They’re just all about golf." Thomas wrote her favorite Golf Channel program is "Morning Drive." The set is "just like 'Today's' or 'Good Morning America's' -- if those shows had putting greens in their studios" (SLATE.com, 4/11).
