When Johnny Miller was hired to replace Lee Trevino as NBC`s golf commentator, it hardly caused a ripple.
Since the former PGA Tour veteran hit the air, however, hardly a week goes by without him creating waves.
All because Miller isn`t afraid of the dreaded C-word. As in ”choke”-
something all athletes face at some time, something all athletes never admit to.
”They`ve turned me loose to speak my mind, to be candid and honest,”
says Miller, who won the U.S. Open and British Open during his 21 years on the Tour.
Honesty has never been a big part of golf telecasts, which is part of the reason they sometimes take on all the excitement of a PBS special. While Dave Marr and Ken Venturi are great guys, they often add to the sleepy mood on those late-afternoon telecasts.
Intentionally or not, Miller has broken that mold.
”The bottom line is that as long as I like it and it`s honest and I can back up what I say, I`m willing to say it,” explains Miller. ”Even though a few people may not be too thrilled. Maybe the candor is at the point where they (Tour players) have to readjust their thinking a little. I`m not going to readjust mine. (NBC Sports executive producer) Terry O`Neil`s pretty happy. Of course, I`ve got to polish my act up and get better.”
Miller`s act had hardly opened (at the Bob Hope Desert Classic) when Tour regulars wanted to bring out the hook. First, he compared a Mike Ditka tirade to ”Curtis Strange after a three-putt.” Then, he had the audacity to use the C-word when describing leader Peter Jacobsen`s second shot on the final hole: ”It`s a perfect shot to choke on.”
Strange, who has been trying to change his tempestuous image, wrote a letter of complaint to Tour Commissioner Deane Beman, and Jack Nicklaus criticized the use of the C-word.
”The Curtis Strange thing, I semi-understand it,” Miller says. ”It just came out. I don`t feel bad that I said it. It wasn`t malicious. It was supposed to be funny.”
As for Nicklaus excoriating Miller, ”It was very well taken by me. The public thought Nicklaus was criticizing me, but really he was giving me his super-positive outlook (compared to) my realistic outlook. I look at it the way most people would look at it: `Wow, this is a tough shot; I hope I don`t screw it up.` Whereas Jack is more like: `There`s the brass ring, and I don`t care how many people are in the way, I`m going to get it.` ”
Miller still thinks the viewer wants to hear the other side, ”the side that never gets talked about-a little bit of gagging, the choke factor. People tend to think that`s untreadable ground.”
Miller was signed, almost sight unseen by O`Neil, for 19 telecasts. This weekend`s Players Championship will be his seventh. He`s still learning the TV trade, but he prepared for his role during his playing days.
”It was always a hobby of mine to watch (other golfers) going down the stretch,” Miller says, ”watch the mannerisms and their performance. How it changed, how their strokes changed, how irritable they were. All those things were very interesting. I feel like a got my doctorate in stress management.” – SportsChannel was stymied in its attempt to air the De Paul-Creighton NIT game Friday night by ESPN, which holds the cable rights to the tournament. According to a SportsChannel spokeswoman, ”ESPN wouldn`t grant us a waiver for De Paul, even though we were going to show it on delay. It`s a shame.”
”The games we do not select, Raycom can sell to over-the-air stations,” said an ESPN spokesman. ”The only exception is a local cable system can do a game, but not a cable network. We consider SportsChannel, which is part of a cable network (SportsChannel America) a competitor.”
In all likelihood, should De Paul advance to the second round, ESPN would televise the Blue Demons` game. The ESPN spokesman wouldn`t confirm that, but added, ”The fact they`re a nationally known team would work in their favor,” he said. The next ESPN-NIT telecast is scheduled for Monday night.
SportsChannel will telecast the NCAA women`s tournament game Saturday between Northwestern and South Carolina, but not until 9 p.m. Sunday. ”It`s the best we could do,” said the spokeswoman.
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– Not with a bang, but a whimper: ESPN bows out of the NCAA men`s basketball tournament business after 11 years at the conclusion of its tape delay telecast of the Michigan-Illinois State game Saturday morning. ”We`ll probably go out the way we came in,” said a saddened ESPN spokesman. ”Very quietly.”
The passing, however, will be duly noted. For the marriage of the tournament and ESPN not only catapulted the cable network into America`s consciousness, but it also built interest in college hoops to the point where CBS had to pay $1 billion to retain rights to the NCAA meet.
”Without question, ESPN has been a major factor in the great growth of enthusiasm for college basketball,” said CBS analyst Billy Packer, ”not only in the tournament, but in the regular season. When you take into consideration the volume of games they do as opposed to what we do at the networks, it`s not even close. They deserve a great deal of credit for the growth of collegiate basketball.”
– NCAA Productions will try something different on its telecast of Friday night`s Notre Dame-Virginia game on ESPN. Mamie Griffin will serve as analyst, marking the first time a woman analyst has done a men`s game on the cable network. Griffin has worked the NCAA women`s final the last five years for CBS.
– CBS sportscaster James Brown fell victim to a household accident recently that left him with a cast on his left arm. Brown had just returned from taping a program on a group of Special Olympics athletes climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro when he decided to do some housecleaning. He soon found out it was safer mountain-climbing in Africa when he slipped on a rug while doing his laundry, suffering a torn ligament in his thumb. But after surgery earlier this week, Brown expects to be back at his post for CBS this weekend.
– FNN:SPORTS, in an effort to combat Mizlou`s infant Sports News Network, has expanded its coverage to include the heavyweight bout between former champion Tim Witherspoon and Ossie Ocasio from Jakarta, Indonesia, at 1 p.m. Sunday and spring training reports (if there is spring training).