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Dear, Dougie, RE: British Open

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by beefncheddar, Jul 20, 2006.

  1. beefncheddar

    beefncheddar Guest

    Tiger's not actually leading the tournament.

    Just so you know.
     
  2. sportschick

    sportschick Active Member

    Jason never let the facts get in the way of a good story, and Tiger is one back of some guy I've never heard of.
     
  3. shotglass

    shotglass Guest

    Good heavens ... I'd rather read about Tiger than who's in the lead ...
     
  4. beefncheddar

    beefncheddar Guest

    And that's fine. Write about Tiger all you want. But is it asking too much to make the guy actually winning the tournament the lede?
     
  5. Dedo

    Dedo Member

    When it's not the biggest story -- the one everyone cares about -- yes, it is too much to ask.

    It'd be different if this was Saturday. But being the leader of a major after 18 of 72 holes is not that big of a deal. At least, not as big of a deal as the greatest player of his generation -- a guy who's won the British Open before and who just about everyone else in the field is scared shitless of -- bouncing back from missing the cut in the U.S. Open to look like his old self again.

    Leading with Graeme is what we call burying the lede.
     
  6. John

    John Well-Known Member

    Well put.
     
  7. shotglass

    shotglass Guest

    DOUG FERGUSON FOR KING OF ENGLAND!
     
  8. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Cracker!?! What's up with the racism?






    ;)
     
  9. Leading with Graham is also misspelling Graeme.
     
  10. beefncheddar

    beefncheddar Guest

    I disagree. I think it's lazy to just say "fuck it, let's make this about Tiger." A guy nobody's ever heard of just went 6-under at the British Open. There's a story there. I'm not saying ignore Tiger. Hell, get to him quickly -- but don't ignore the guy actually leading the tournament who just played the round of his life.
     
  11. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    Mustard, you're answering your own question here. When you look at that leaderboard, who is all of your readers going to be talking about? Tiger Woods. Especially after his struggles at the U.S. Open. Had Tiger shot 1-over, I'd agree with your premise. Ho-hum, Tiger's in the middle of the pack. But he's not. He's right there at the top a month after looking absolutely lost on the golf course. He's the story right now.
     
  12. Dedo

    Dedo Member

    Good point. Fixed.

    It's just that of all the vendettas on this board, the one against Ferguson -- whom I've never met -- has baffled me the most. I understand why people bash guys like Marriotti and Albom. But as far as I can tell, the biggest problem people have with Ferguson is that he writes too much about the best player on his beat and maybe the most popular athlete in the world.

    There's a reason his galleries dwarf everyone else's at every event, there's a reason every company on Earth pays him millions of dollars to endorse their products, and there's a reason why the freaking AP golf writer includes him in every story he writes. Like it or not, the first question a majority of readers have when they look at a golf story is not, "Who's winning?" but rather "How's Tiger doing?"

    To ignore that incredible interest -- even if we think those fans are mouth-breathing imbeciles for not caring more about whether Graeme McDowell used his gap or lob wedge on No. 17 -- is to do the readers a big disservice. Giving people what they want isn't always a bad thing.
     
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