Looking forward to that prime-time golf

Sidebar on Mediate moved at 11:33 EDT. Only three minutes past our deadline.

 

Given what Tiger did, I'm betting those ratings will be pretty damn good.

 

And then, as soon as the US Open ends Sunday, your ass can stay planted for another 3 hours for the coronation of the Celtics

 

Another three hours? Try another 90 minutes. Nobody'll be tuning in to the Celtics until halftime.

 

As if David Stern didn't have enough problems these days, the finale of his championship series is going to draw a zeros share everywhere except Boston and L.A. for any portion of the telecast that overlaps the U.S. Open as long as Tiger is still on the first page of the leaderboard.

BTW, ever notice that Tiger's name is always first on the TV leaderboard whenever he's in a two- or three- or eight-way tie for a position? Dishheads would never dream of doing it alphabetically unless Tiger changes his last name to Aaron or Abrams.

 

(Hey, sometimes smart is better than fair.)

 

FWIW, I'd do it the same way if I had advertisers to keep happy. Just sayin' that it opens the door to questions as to whether the networks are rooting for anyone in particular . . .

 

I don't think it's for the advertisers. It's for the audience. The mass of folks that watch because of Woods wants to see how he's doing as quickly as possible. I bet they do the same thing on the TV leaderboards for Phil, too.

 

PS: That reminds me of this leaderboard story, which I heard from Charles Pierce, and I hope it's not just apocryphal. At the Milwaukee J-S back in the day, the standing order on PGA Tour agate was to give the final results in the Monday paper down to homey Andy North's name, then cut it off.
North wins Open. Disgruntled agate guy cuts off agate after his name.

 

As right as your numbers seem, I'd be willing to bet there's overlap.

 

The first half of the NBA Finals will be taken over by Tiger.