Deadspin tale about Lupica and Mickelson

[JohnnyChan]

http://deadspin.com/5302243/phil-mickelson-ruined-mike-lupicas-us-open

This is priceless in its own right, but even better if you happened to be in the press room at Winged Foot a few years ago, before the tournament began, when Lip asked one of his patented long-winded questions, and Mickelson pondered his answer for a few seconds, and then, wonderfully, amazingly, magically, said ....

"Well, Mitch ..."

Lupica looked like he'd swallowed a Big Gulp of arsenic after that. Lefty has been a hero to the masses ever since.

[Ryan_Sonner]

Ohhhh...now THAT'S funny!

[Boom_70]

Funny on many levels. I think it was last week here at sj that some were questioning why Luppy was made fun of around here.

[Mediator]

Agreed that ripping Lupica never gets old.

But I read the original story on the Huffington Post, there's a link to it on the Deadspin post. It was an example to me of what passes as coverage but is really just self-centered "Hey, Look at me! I got a credential to the US Open and I have no fucking clue!"

That's becoming way more pervasive. And it's always annoying. I don't care if you couldn't sell your extra ticket, if you ruined your shoes or if you ran into a friend on 18. Look up! What's happening beyond the end of your own fucking nose?

He wrote a few thousand words and accidently tripped over an interesting tidbit on Lupica because it impacted him personally somehow. Talk about making yourself the story.

The novelty of this kind of writing has worn off for me.

[Moland Spring]

I can throw stones with the best of them... but this little tidbit just doesn't sound entirely true. Say what you want about Lupica, but do we really think he was out in front of Mickelson, shaking hands with fans and leading the charge to the next tee? Really?
Sorry, I don't buy it...
Also, do fans really care about the whereabouts of a columnist? Ugh.

[21]

Here's the lengthier piece from the HP.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patrick-sauer/18-rounds-of-soggy-sunny_b_220337.html

The blogger writes about cars and was there as a guest of Lexus.  Seems offended that his credential did not carry the same weight as those given to SI.

Has that distinct 'Ooh, There Are Naked People In the Locker Room' feel to it.  

That said, it's a great Lupica story if someone else can confirm any part of it.

[YankeeFan]

Here's the lengthier piece from the HP. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patrick-sauer/18-rounds-of-soggy-sunny_b_220337.html

The blogger writes about cars and was there as a guest of Lexus.  Seems offended that his credential did not carry the same weight as those given to SI.

Has that distinct 'Ooh, There Are Naked People In the Locker Room' feel to it. 

That said, it's a great Lupica story if someone else can confirm any part of it.

He blogs about, and does reviews of cars and he accepted a pass from Lexus to the U.S. Open?

I'm sure his reviews are completely unbiased.  What an ass. 

And from his lede, it's not the first time he's accepted such a freebie:

I've been writing about cars for awhile, and it has its perks. Mainly, getting to test drive dream rides, but also the occasional chance to attend auto-sponsored events.

[mediaguy]

Woah Nelly? How does somebody get "Whoa" and "Nellie" wrong? Sorry, couldn't get past that.

[mediaguy]

And is there a sillier form of expletive sanitation than writing "fu*king"? Either just write it and move on or do something like f-------. It's like the pasties of expletives -- you're not really covering up that much.

[Mediator]

The other thing that got to me was that the author, Patrick Sauer, saw Charlie Sifford and didn't ask him a question.

"I saw both men as they were leaving and regretted not asking Sifford, 87, his thoughts on the state of golf today."

If you can't even muster the instincts to ask a question, put your USGA-sponsored lunch down and leave. You have officially revealed yourself to be a fraud.

But I'll bet his editors, if he had any, loved this piece because it got hits.
 

[Walter_Sobchak]

I laughed at this comment.

"Isn't it about time for someone to stuff Lupica's body in the trunk of a car and leave it in long term parking?"

[Appgrad05]

Deadspin is linking here: http://deadspin.com/5302467/two-sportswriters-you-meet-in-hell

Time to clean up, everyone.

[dooley_womack1]

An "anonym"? JohnnyChan has said various times on here who he/she is. Nice reporting, deadspin.

[playthrough]

Deadspin is linking here: http://deadspin.com/5302467/two-sportswriters-you-meet-in-hell

Time to clean up, everyone.

Do these pants make my butt look big?

[pseudo]

An "anonym"? JohnnyChan has said various times on here who he/she is. Nice reporting, deadspin.

Yup. #DeadspinFail

[mediaguy]

Maybe I'm not cool enough to appreciate the coolness of "anonyms" as shorthand for "anonymous people." I'm going to try to float "anonos" and see if it sticks.

As in "Hey, Guy With Real Name, what's with all the anonos on here?"

fondly,

mediaguy

[Mediator]

Then what are homonyms again?

(Sorry, couldn't resist...)

[Dave Kindred]

Here's the lengthier piece from the HP. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patrick-sauer/18-rounds-of-soggy-sunny_b_220337.html

The blogger writes about cars and was there as a guest of Lexus.  Seems offended that his credential did not carry the same weight as those given to SI.

Has that distinct 'Ooh, There Are Naked People In the Locker Room' feel to it. 

That said, it's a great Lupica story if someone else can confirm any part of it.

If you're talking about the "walking in front of Phil" part, yes, that often happens when we have "media" armbands that allow us to walk inside the ropes. You can get in front of a player by accident even...though you're supposed to walk within an arm's reach of the gallery rope....on that par-3, it was nearly impossible to walk near the ropes....I saw Mike several times inside the ropes and, yes, people called out to him and he spoke with them -- he's a NY sports-media celebrity....not my cup of tea, grandstanding, but he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't...at least he was on the course, working...

[21]

Here's the lengthier piece from the HP.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patrick-sauer/18-rounds-of-soggy-sunny_b_220337.html

The blogger writes about cars and was there as a guest of Lexus.  Seems offended that his credential did not carry the same weight as those given to SI.

Has that distinct 'Ooh, There Are Naked People In the Locker Room' feel to it.  

That said, it's a great Lupica story if someone else can confirm any part of it.

If you're talking about the "walking in front of Phil" part, yes, that often happens when we have "media" armbands that allow us to walk inside the ropes. You can get in front of a player by accident even...though you're supposed to walk within an arm's reach of the gallery rope....on that par-3, it was nearly impossible to walk near the ropes....I saw Mike several times inside the ropes and, yes, people called out to him and he spoke with them -- he's a NY sports-media celebrity....not my cup of tea, grandstanding, but he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't...at least he was on the course, working...

That was basically my point....a random observer/car-blogger might see that differently than you would.  Was this really a noteworthy offense (when there are perhaps so many others to choose from)?

[Mediator]

I've covered the Open before, and it is protocol not to walk in front of the golfers. Ever. You walk behind them even if you have the inside-the-ropes armband.

[21]

I've covered the Open before, and it is protocol not to walk in front of the golfers. Ever. You walk behind them even if you have the inside-the-ropes armband.

No question. But if it wasn't Lupica, would we be talking about it?  (Not that I mind talking about it. )

[Dave Kindred]

I've covered the Open before, and it is protocol not to walk in front of the golfers. Ever. You walk behind them even if you have the inside-the-ropes armband.

I've walked in front of hundreds of players. Not on their line. Along the ropes but way in front of them. The few times that it has been necessary to walk on the same path, I've stayed behind them -- though even that is not always possible, or even reasonable. When leaving some greens to get to the next tee without causing a delay, I've left in front of players, caddies, scorers, rules people, everybody. The rule of common sense is to make yourself as invisible as possible. I've never once had anyone call me out.

[Mediator]

Aha. I see the difference. To the writer, Lupica would have been in front of Michelson because he was closer to the ropes, not necessarily in front of Michelson's path.

I think I need an aerial photograph and a few graphics to clear this up~

[Dave Kindred]

Aha. I see the difference. To the writer, Lupica would have been in front of Michelson because he was closer to the ropes, not necessarily in front of Michelson's path.

I think I need an aerial photograph and a few graphics to clear this up~

On the par-3 in question, there was a ravine between the tee and the green and waist-high hay everywhere. The only way to walk from the tee to the green inside the ropes was on the path mowed for the players. The "invisible" thing to do was move outside the ropes and duck back in near the green. Some of us don't care for being invisible. Mike may fall in that category. The second-best thing to do is to fall in far behind the players, again as invisible as you can get. But iit's possible to get caught in a place where you must move ahead of the player. The question then becomes how far in front? A long way, OK. As if he were part of the group, no.

Wow, this is TMI if I ever heard it.

[bigbadeagle]

I read the HuffPo piece for about two minutes before I realized:
1) This guy must not have covered many golf tournaments. Anytime it rains and you get lots of mud, it smells like a barnyard (like the last time I went to Augusta before this year). That, and he also had "There was no test drives" in there. I'm no big fan of Lupica — I did love the line in the comments about the trunk and the airport long term parking — but come on, pal, what did you expect?
And I've met Chi Chi and he is well worth the trouble to go talk to.
2) I could have spent that time reading that piece (and posting this) going to Chick-fil-A instead.