Announcer ticked at Tiger Woods' tantrums
By Shane Bacon
Before the Masters started, Tiger Woods told us that he had changed. His outbursts would be quieted, his club tossing would be softened and he was going to be a different guy on the golf course.
No matter if you bought that or not, it's true that the weekend brought out some of the old Tiger. He screamed "Tiger, you suck!," only to follow that up with a profanity unlike any other in the third round. On Sunday on the 13th hole, Woods screamed "Jesus Christ!" after a tee shot and he wasn't complimenting the man upstairs.
It wasn't something new with Tiger, but it is something he told us would be avoiding in the future. Jim Nantz, the voice of CBS at the Masters, had a chance to talk with Mike Francesa of WFAN on Monday, and let it be known that he wasn't happy with the way Woods acted.
"If I said what he said on the air, I would be fired. I read in the USA Today and it was called “mild language.” Someone on my broadcast dismissed it as him having a camera in his face. Well, guess what? Phil Mickelson had a camera in his face all week and did you even hear him come close to approaching that? He didn’t hit every shot the way he wanted. Have you ever heard Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus use that kind of language? What are the parameters between what’s right or wrong?"
Nantz then admitted that this isn't something that has disturbed him in the past, but the fact that Tiger promised us a change is why it rubbed him the wrong way. He mentioned that he doesn't speak perfectly, but when the red light is on, he has things he cannot say.
He also said that there are people watching the telecast that shouldn't be subjected to such profanities.
"How about the father and son who are standing right there by the tee? How about the hundreds of people who are around that tee who hear that? How about the hundreds of letters I’ve gotten through the years from people who have been outraged at the language they’ve heard there and have written me and said, ‘Why don’t you guys ever say something about that?’ "
Nantz obviously has some great points here. If you're going to cuss when the cameras are rolling over a live broadcast, that is one thing, but when you tell us you won't and still do it, it sure makes you look bad. Especially for a guy trying to bulldoze his past image.