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Watching Golf This Week: Bubba’s Back in NOLA

April 26, 2012 by

Has the feel-good aura of winning the green jacket already worn off? Or was Bubba Watson always something of a crank, and now we’re just noticing because everyone is paying attention? The simmering story this week on the PGA Tour is that Bubba Watson is back playing in a somewhat minor event, which is surprising because tour stops like the Zurich Classic of New Orleans are the types the big dogs usually skip. And now Bubba is a big dog, courtesy of his Masters win. But Bubba is a man who is loyal, and he won here last year so he considers it his obligation to show up.

The only problem is, he’s letting everyone know that. And if you read between the lines from his testy press conference earlier in the week you get the feeling that the feel-good everyman Bubba may not stay that way for long. Cue the prima donna music! Let’s see how cheery the new dad is if he starts hitting them into the swamp. And if Bubba fails us, maybe John Daly can provide some excitement. Anyway — no online golf AGAIN this week, so you are stuck with broadcast TV, radio or shot tracker. (At least there’s the bonus Golf Channel coverage on the weekend) But you probably won’t care until Saturday anyway since you will be watching the NFL Draft.

But if you want golf…
Here’s where to follow the action:

ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

(all times Eastern)
TV COVERAGE
Thursday, April 26 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Friday, April 27 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Saturday, April 28 — Golf Channel, 1 p.m. — 2:30 p.m.; CBS, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, April 29 — Golf Channel, 1 p.m. — 2:30 p.m.; CBS, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.

RADIO
SIRIUS XM (Satellite)
12 p.m. — 6 p.m., Thursday-Sunday

ONLINE
The PGA’s Live@ broadcasts don’t return until the Players in early May. So you will have to get by online with…

PGA SHOT TRACKER
Get your online fix via Shot Tracker for the ZCoNO.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW

Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend

LOCAL FLAVOR
Is there any place in the U.S. more flavorful than New Orleans? Wish we were there this weekend — not only is there golf, there’s the New Orleans Jazz Festival. For golf, Doug Tatum at the New Orleans Times-Picayune is the guy to follow

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?
Not much flavor or history to the TPC Louisiana. Looks swampy.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST YEAR?
Bubba. (Has he become a one-word player yet? Like Tiger or Phil?)

FEDEX CUP LEADERS
1. Hunter Mahan, 1,378 points
2. Bubba Watson, 1322
3. Phil Mickelson, 1,136
4. Carl Pettersson, 1,111
5. Johnson Wagner, 1,056

See the full standings for the FedEx Cup points list.

WORLD GOLF RANKINGS
1. Rory McIlroy; 2. Luke Donald; 3. Lee Westwood; 4. Bubba Watson; 5. Hunter Mahan.
See the official World Golf Ranking list.

Filed Under: CBS Sports, Golf, Golf Channel, PGA Tagged With: , , ,

NFL Draft Tidbits and EA Curses

April 26, 2012 by

Have you ever wondered what it is like in a team’s War Room during the NFL Draft? Well Andrew Brandt at ESPN has put together what it was like at Green Bay when he was there. There is not much that a fan does not know, or thinks that they know about how a team operates its draft.

One thing that stood out was the fact that the Packers had two rooms, one focused on players with the expected lists and depth charts. The second one was a financial room that dealt with issues such as salary cap, contract acceleration and years, agents and more.

It was not just for the Packers but also other teams as it could affect both drafted players and ones that are already on a rival’s squad that might be released due to cap space. This was an aspect I had never really given much thought to even though executives are often touted as cap experts, it has a much far reaching impact than it might seem on its face.

The Fans have spoken
At this time of the year there are a number of important issues facing NFL fans- should my team trade down in the draft? Will we be able to trade up to get that power back the team sorely missed last year? Why did we fail to get our pick in on tine?

However one of the biggest issues is “Who do we stick with the Madden Curse?” Yes the voting is in for who will grace the upcoming release of Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL 13. This year’s ‘winner’ is Calvin Johnson, Jr., the Detroit Lions wide receiver.

Johnson beat Carolina Panther’s quarterback Cam Newton by a healthy margin of 52% of the total vote. It is interesting to see how much attention this event now has. A total of 20 million votes were counted in the seven week campaign on ESPN that narrowed the field down to the final two, this was a 54% increase over last year, 19.6 million compared to 12.7 million.

The Draft
The Draft starts tonight with the selections starting at 8 p.m. ET. Tomorrow’s round starts at 7 p.m. ET and the Saturday selections start at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Filed Under: Detroit Lions, ESPN, Fantasy Sports, NFL, NFL Draft Tagged With: ,

Hints about Seahawks picks to be Twittered in Advance?

April 25, 2012 by

Seattle Seahawks’ coach Pete Carroll has developed a unique tool to convey the intentions of the team in regards to each draft choice- he tweets about it.

But rather than make reference to the position or school that the prospective choice might come from he takes a different approach.

Two years ago he tweeted songs about the picks. His first was Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice” and this was followed by a number of other song hints. No explanation was provided, and in fact he tweeted a number of cryptic responses as to what, if anything they meant.

Last year he repeated the act with song hints from everybody from MC Hammer to John Denver to Black Eyes Peas. Is this all for fun or is he providing real clues? NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has warned teams not to leak their selections, but this seems to be hazy enough not to get him in trouble if truly representing his choices.

This year he is at it again, starting Thursday night. You can follow him again, not at his usual twitter handle but at #seahawksdraftclues! To see what he posts this year. The team has the #12 pick in the first round and is reportedly looking for a speed pass rusher. If you crack the code let us know.

Filed Under: Humor, NFL, NFL Draft, Seattle Seahwaks, Twitter Tagged With: , ,

Lotsa Luck: Colts will Have Live Mobile TV Cam Following Top Draft Pick

April 25, 2012 by

In a new, mobile twist to the 24/7 NFL Draft coverage idea, the Indianapolis Colts will have a live, mobile TV camera following top draft pick Andrew Luck from the moment he’s picked Thursday throughout his Friday welcome-to-Indy activities.

Partnering with mobile camera technology supplier LiveU, whose camera modems are finding more fans in the sports world, the Colts will be breaking new ground by providing a Luck’s-eye-view to the hoopla surrounding the top draft pick. No info yet on where the feed will be posted, but you can check the Colts’ official website as well as the LiveU Facebook page, where more info is sure to be posted.

UPDATE: Here’s the link to the streaming page. Apparently not quite 24×7, but still cool.

The Colts will also host a Google+ hangout with luck, according to this release. We will also update this post with more info as we get it, so stay tuned for live, mobile coverage of Andrew Luck’s million-dollar-plus day.

The Colts are also not the only NFL team taking advantage of LiveU’s technology, which is basically a bunch of cellular modems in a backpack (or a beltclip) that allows users to broadcast live, professional video content from just about anywhere at the fraction of the cost of using a satellite truck. Though LiveU couldn’t name the teams, several more are expected to be broadcasting their own draft news and views live Thursday, so check your team’s home page to see if they have a LiveU feed running. For fans of always-on info, the revolution has now reached the broadcast TV market.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Facebook, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NFL, NFL Draft Tagged With: , , , ,

Want to Spout off About the Draft? CBSSports Wants to Hear From You!

April 25, 2012 by

Have you ever watched some talking head spout some nonsense on television, say about the qualities or lack thereof in a football player being drafted? Well CBS Sports is grabbing hold of social media and will allow you to have your say- within reason of course.

CBS Sports has set up an interactive 2012 Draft Day program, rather than fill the airwaves with two days of people explaining why Team A was wrong in selecting Player B because on this expert’s mock draft the player is not even a 3rd rounder, and so on and so forth.

While it does have the usual suspects, NFL insiders, draft experts and college football mavens, it has a number of systems in place to allow you to comment about the events as they unfold. The show will include two sets, one that is dedicated to following social media such as Twitter feeds and Facebook, and highlighting the current hot conversations. The set will also have live interaction with fans and have snap polls to get instant feedback on events.

Manning the social desk will be moderator Lindsay McCormick along with CBSSports.com’s Senior NFL Columnist Pete Prisco along with Senior NFL Blogger Will Brinson.

On the second set will be what viewers have become accustomed to over the years, where we see the draft as it unfolds, hear commentary and analysis from the experts on the picks and listen to prediction on who each team will draft to fill important voids in their lineups.

The more mainstream set will feature Jason Horowitz as master of ceremonies along with CBSSports.com College Football Insider Bruce Feldman and NFL Draft expert Rob Rang, and former St. Louis Rams General Manager Billy Devaney. If you are away from your television during the draft CBS Sports Mobile iPhone users can watch live streaming coverage of CBSSports.com Draft.

This is a great way to use social media to your advantage. The huge growth in the draft just highlights how interested fans are in their teams and the moves that they make. My allowing them to have a say simply makes them even more involved.

Filed Under: CBS Sports, Facebook, Fanatic Fans, NFL, NFL Draft, Social Media, Sports Social Media Tagged With: ,

ESPN Gameday Contest Draws Fan Interest — Maybe Too Much Interest?

April 25, 2012 by

Any but the most casual college football fan has seen the throngs at the ESPN College Gameday sets, with fans in the background hoisting all sorts of signs, occasionally ones that are risqué or outright rude, and during the course of the week we see lots of ads for the program.

Now fans can influence where the ads will be shot in a clever little contest that ESPN and Facebook are hosting that enables fans to vote once a day for their school of choice. The winning school will have a Gameday ad shot on campus and it will include students from that school.There are a total of 120 schools involved and you can vote over at Facebook or ESPN GamedayVote.

I really like the contest on a number of levels. It should generate a great deal of attention between rival schools and rival contests. A quick look at some of the blogs out there already have battle cries that call for votes or else.

For ESPN it just brings additional attention to its football programming, and at a time that it is not usually on the minds of fans. It seems to have already taken off since the ESPN Vote page, and the Facebook one, as of this writing, has been overwhelmed and are down while it verifies the votes. I suspect that it will just get busier before this is all over.

The one flaw seems to be that the powers that be underestimated the popularity of the program. Looking at some of the posts on the Facebook page I noticed both accusations of cheating and complaints that votes were credited to the wrong team. I have to say that if I was in school and knew a hacker I might be so inclined to see if I could ‘rock the vote.’

I would really love to know where the votes are coming from, not in terms of schools and conferences, but are more voters coming from the Facebook page or the ESPN site? ESPN’s Facebook page has one million followers and so can be a tremendous force in this contest.

Filed Under: Contests, ESPN, Facebook, Fanatic Fans, NCAA Football, Social Media, Sports Social Media Tagged With: , , ,
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