Barstool sports (YouTube print outs) vs. Journalists (degrees)

[Mr. Grumpy]

Was the link you provided a sample of a new generation of golf reporting?

TBH I know little about barstool sports except the pizza thing. Would they really be called reporters?

[bladehunter]

I’ve heard that name. But without googling couldn’t tell you his accomplishments or resume etc.

 

i get the attempt at humor. It’s just not funny.

[pilot25]

Look up golf.com article on the Max Homa twitter tear. Even they covered it. All in good fun.

https://www.golf.com/news/2019/12/21/max-homa-twitter-takedowns-pros-swings/

[bking556]

Max Homa was on a flight home or something like that and asked his followers to post videos of their swing if they wanted to be roasted. Everyone who posted videos did so voluntarily.

You may not find it funny, however many did, which is why many people posted videos of their swings for Max to roast them (including Justin Thomas, who posted a video of himself swinging lefty). It's all in fun. Lighten up.

[bladehunter]

I don’t disagree at all. I said that I understood the point and attempt. Just not the humor. I guess you just had to be there. At any rate. I’m not sure how Homa is famous , but when googled this story is literally the entire first page .

[bladehunter]

What does “ even they covered it “ mean ? Serious question. I’m not familiar with golf.com either .... are they pro or anti barstool boys ?

[bking556]

He's just another younger player on tour trying to play well enough for a long career. He won the Wells Fargo last year. He happens to be a pretty funny guy so he has many followers on twitter for the lighter side of things.

[BB28403]

I’ve been watching last years Wells Fargo, I’m on the third day. Watching Sergio play an amazing round! The guy is in the zone. Making just about every putt and hitting his irons and wedges to within 8 feet on a tough setup.

[grm24]

You state" I’m not familiar with golf.com either". So you've never heard of Golf Magazine? Golf.com is their online presence. Hmm.

FWIW there is also a golfdigest.com That is the web presence for the Golf Digest magazine. Ever heard of them?

[bladehunter]

Serious .... no. I’ve never heard of them. People don’t believe me when I say I only started playing this game in 2014. So some things I’m not familiar with because of that , and other things I don’t partake in because they are less connected than I am

in The car world ( my profession ) we’d call those mags “ wannabe “ Like car and driver , motor trend or popular mechanics . They are for the weekend hack And usually 2 months behind the news cycle

 

Golf digest yes. My dentist office has it. Lol.

 

I prefer this place and or my own actual eyes and ears while watching events and talking to people I know in the tour circles to tell me the golf news. Twitter , those rags etc get a lot of their info from members here.

Example. I know of 4 times that a member here has posted the first Taylormade or callaway driver pics on earth when a new model is eminent. Twice TM reps have threatened suits and once ( m4 release ) they somehow sleuthed the personal cell number of that member , by internet detective work and called him personally to threaten him.

 

[Christosterone]

I got temporarily banned from barstool maybe 11 years ago for defining communism...

I copied and pasted it from the dictionary btw

they said I was being politically inflammatory in defending our women’s gymnastic team against the Chinese 8 year olds at the 08 olympics ....true story

He Kexin was later proved to be 11 in 2010 if memory serves...so I never reinstated the Christosterone membership...

-Chris

[MtlJeff]

I once cited acceleration times from "Car and Driver" to contest a speeding ticket , arguing i didn't have enough time to get up to the speed they said i was going in that model car using some math. I think the judge was so amused by the argument that he found me not guilty.

So those mags are allright by me!

It's a good comparison. I like cars but i'm a casual enthusiast at best. I just bought a new car and read the reviews on those websites and some popular Youtube truck channels.

Mainstream media is still a great tool because i'm guessing well over 50% of most markets are "casual" including golf. But most people know they are casual, they aren't necessarily wannabes (i don't even know what the car equivalent of GolfWRX is or how to find it) I can't believe you've never read Golf Magazine! Used to always buy them in airports waiting for flights.

[bladehunter]

Yep. And I get that. And in hindsight my wording is harsh. For brand new stuff I do see the comparison use as being good. And I get how more info is better than no info for the novice.

 

Im just looking from the lens of a builder. Their coverage on performance stuff just makes me chuckle , often times their “ pro drivers” are a full second or two slower than what I’ve seen accomplished at the local track by owners of these cars. Anyway....

 

Meh. I’m odd. Everybody is aware of that by now. Lol I don’t notice the obvious things a lot. But I’ll see something that is obscure and nobody else cares about frequently. Just don’t read a lot of golf writing. I watch so much as I work , that I just rarely read something I didn’t already know.

[Vindog]

If I get to fist bump them it would be just like I fistbumped Tiger too, bro. Do you think they play TaylorMade? All the bros do, so I think I might switch. Can't wait for them to land that interview with the Boss Man.

 

 

[Christosterone]

Minimum age of 16 by the time of Olympic competition....

‘Lousy cheating communists....I’ll never relent...

and I know my leaving barstool has killed their bottom line over the years :)

 

[ryanarneson]

I think the PGA TOUR loves this type of "new media". LOOOVES IT.

First, it's a huge audience of young golfers.

Second, they get to practically control the actual narrative from the get go.

These new media types aren't after stories. They're after likes and retweets and fist bumps with Tiger. That's easy and safe for the TOUR. Just give them a media pass and have some TOUR handler or agent tell Tiger to go fist bump that goofy guy over there with the iphone. Much easier for the TOUR and Tiger to do that than sit down with an actual journalist who may ask about that incident with Elin 10 years ago. Awkward.

No tough stories. No tough questions. Just a few minutes of standing next to the equivalent of Chris Farley and Paul McCartney on SNL. (Remember when you were with the Beatles? That was awesome.) And let's face it, many actual journalists covering golf have gone down this path anyways to cling to whatever shrinking access they may still have. Now that players have social media and can build their own brand on their own (shout out Phil) there is even less need to face any actual media type in anything but the most marketing driven, scripted and pre-vetted setting. (Nice onesies Taylor Made).

Meanwhile, the TOUR just gets to send out their PR tweets on whatever glamour shot they want to use to make themselves look super duper fantastic that day. All is well in Ponte Vedra!

[bking556]

Well said. I'm sure the PGA absolutely loves what Max Homa did too. Free publicity from a very fun and interactive public roast fest.

[capking]

They all have full titleist FYI haha.

[pilot25]

Why exactly do you want to know what happened with Elin? Tough questions? How about stupid ones that are asked over and over again. If you were Tiger and you endured the bashing of the old man media over your personal life would you sit down with one of them? If you say yes, you are full of it.

[dcmidnight]

Even though some of these guys arent my speed, I love all options that new golf media brings to the table and lets be clear - I'm definitely not in the young crowd.

I think Ashley Mayo put it best - or quoted someone that did. Old print media tells you what happened at an event. New media tells you what its like to actually have been there while its happening. I dont always want to read a long form article about a tournament three days after something happened. Sometimes I want to have a list set up on Twitter so I can read from the people who are on the grounds at an event covering whats happened. What did Tiger say after he piped that drive out of bounds? What did Rory do after that fan heckled him? Show me a video of the tantrum Sergio just through - filmed onsite right now. I dont want to read about that in Golf Magazine a month from now or wait a week for it to be up on the Tour website.

Long form has its place - as does new media. As I said, Golfers Journal is my favorite read right now. But this isnt 25 years ago either. I dont have to drive to Barnes and Noble, pay $15 to preorder the Sunday Boston Globe a week ahead of time and then drive back a week later to read the Sunday Globe - on a Wednesday.

I realize change is hard for a lot of people and they just arent going to take to this no matter what. But between all the podcast, website and social media options - you dont have to wait a week to find out what happened either.

[J13]

Old man media got too TMZ and now they are paying a price for it. The REAL journalist of yesteryear didn't dive into players personal lives which is why we don't see tons of stories about Palmer and Nicklaus ect... The media back then had respect because they focused on covering the sport. Glad to see it's getting back to that and the "journalists" are going bye bye.

[Sean2]

One problem I see with the "new media" is yes it's immediate, but sometimes too immediate, i.e., what is reported may not be completely factual, taken out of context, or what have you.

[pilot25]

Just like the "news" let alone sports media. This is prevalent in society today. If people wanted facts and information then the story or stories of the day wouldn't be speed reported. However, supply and demand is everything. What is in demand is what is going to be produced. 90% of the US has the intellectual capacity of a squirrel and the attention span of a toddler so we get quick spurts of less than factual information and mostly of the "TMZ" nature.

[ryanarneson]

I think you're reading a bit too much into the specifics and missing the point.

I don't care about Elin. Make up any question you want if it bugs you to read that name.

"Hey Phil, let me ask you about that stock tip thing"

"Hey Dustin, what's the real reason for that suspension?"

"Hey Lucas, how are things between you and your wife these days?"

"Hey Jay, why did it take you years to address slow play? And while I have your attention, do you think you handled the Patrick Reed situation correctly given what then transpired down in Australia with his caddie getting physical with a spectator?"

"Hey Taylor Made, how many hot drivers did you put into players hands this year and how many of them knowingly played them?"

The list of embarrassing and awkward questions is endless and the players and TOUR itself would much rather have a bunch of "new media" types who only want to get inside the ropes to take selfies and fist bump players than "journalistic" types who maybe would veer off into murkier waters. But sometimes, those questions need asking otherwise we get a bunch of kiss-ass suck ups running around acting like extensions of the PGA TOURs PR department.

That's the point. That's why the PGA TOUR isn't going to cut off entities like Barstool who, depending on the day, may or may not act like real journalists.

[15th Club]

 

And as "entertainment," they get media passes? That's the question.

I didn't see anybody suggest that Barstool Sports (did I spell that right?) shouldn't exist. I think the only suggestion was that nobody should confuse them with the professionals who are there to cover the event as journalists. I agree with Huggan, and Shackelford, and the others. Like, 1000%.

I've never seen the Barstool Sports website as far as i know, but this kerfuffle has given me what I think I need to know about them. Trashing the greatest golf writers of their generation; Huggan and Shackelford.

What I might suggest is that we settle the dispute with a Foursomes match between Huggan (the 1978 Scottish Boys Champion and past club champion at the brilliant and under-appreciated Open qualifying site, Dunbar Links) and Shackelford (Pepperdine University golf team)... and whoever Barstool Sports can come up with from their paid staff. If they have a paid staff.

Edit: I forgot how good Huggan was/is as a golfer. Scottish Am finalist 1983; British Am quarterfinalist, 1985.

 

 

[stingerfade]

That’s the thing though is that they’re proud of the fact they suck at golf. It’s part of the schtick

[15th Club]

Yep; that's an entirely fair comment. And a good one. And I thank you for putting it up. It is important. They are ordinary sports fans, dabbling in golf.

[15th Club]

You don't have to be a great golfer to be a great golf writer. But Bernard Darwin was very good. And then, Herb Wind was not good.

Best of all, I expect that the boyz at Barstool Sports have never read Darwin or Wind.

Although Herbert Warren Wind was one of the founders Sports Illustrated.

In a funny story from almost 100 years ago, Bernard Darwin ("grandfather," he usually coldly interrupted the omnipresent question) who had been assigned to write about the Walker Cup whilst also serving as non-playing captain, filled in as a player when one of the team members fell ill. He lost his fourball match but won his singles match. Captain of the R&A, OBE, wrote the preface to the Oxford dictionary of quotations and also an edition of Dickens' "The Pickwick Papers."

So okay, there is some real conflict of interest from 1922. Lulz. There's more class on one dusty page from Bernard Darwin than the entire digital history of Barstool Sports.

Another edit; When Herb Wind was playing his best golf, he was a 4. I might just take a dead-Darwin-and-Wind team, versus a living Barstool Sports pairing. And give, uh, BS two shots a side.

[GolfChannel]

Listening to Barstool sports is essentially taking a dump in your own ear. To each their own, but now I know more about you than I want to.

[BB28403]

Deep Insults by Jack Handy.