duncan228
05-14-2009, 12:35 AM
Barkley of golf – off-color lilt (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/buck_harvey/Barkley_of_golf__off-color_lilt.html)
Buck Harvey
David Feherty will work this weekend in San Antonio, when a case can be made he shouldn't. With golf representatives on Capitol Hill this week, with both legislation and sponsors in doubt, the sport doesn't need anyone who jokes about political assassination.
But CBS is standing by Feherty for the same reasons TNT has stood by Charles Barkley. Feherty is good at what he does, and he's likeable, and he has a round-mound quality.
This quality allowed him to get away with something others couldn't get away with.
Feherty once played in a Ryder Cup, and now he would struggle to beat even Barkley on a golf course. He suffered a series of injuries when a truck hit him last year while he cycled in Dallas.
“I'd have to re-learn the game completely,” he's said. “Learning it the first time was bad enough.”
So he reports for CBS, and he writes. He had a piece this month in D Magazine, including the following passage:
“Despite how the conflict has been portrayed by our glorious media, if you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Osama bin Laden, there's a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death.”
Had he said the words, not even his Irish lilt could have saved him. There was nothing funny about any of it, and the title of one of his books applied to him as never before.
“Somewhere in Ireland, a Village is Missing an Idiot.”
Feherty hadn't blurted out his mistake into a microphone. He had written his words. He'd had time to rethink and edit, and another would have lost his job over this.
But CBS and the PGA Tour gave him a slap on his golf glove, and Feherty apologized in a statement. He will return this weekend for the first time since the controversy began.
He will likely address this again on the air Saturday, and a few minutes later, he will remind everyone why he should stay employed. He will be self-deprecating, and he will be funny, and eventually he will throw around a few opinions that make sense.
Barkley is the same. He puts himself so far out there that his mistakes become lore, and the DUI details this year were part of that. Barkley has done everything but pose naked.
Which is something Feherty has done. Three years ago, he curled up without noticeable clothing for a magazine photo.
Again, this is golf. People not named John Daly do not act this way.
But the picture captured the theme. Feherty would bare all, from his alcoholism to his depression. Even then, amid the sadness, Feherty remained himself.
“I quit drinking not because I was a bad drunk,” he once wrote. “On the contrary, I was spectacular.”
He admits to everything, and then he comes at everyone. Earlier this month, for example, Feherty interviewed Tiger Woods after he finished fourth at Quail Hollow. The on-air conversation ended with Feherty telling Tiger, “Hey, you're a loser.”
Tiger might have stormed away from another. CBS might have canned another. Instead, Tiger played along with golf's Barkley.
Coincidentally, just this month, Feherty wrote about Barkley. “Sir Charles has the ability to open his mouth and allow whatever is in his massive, shiny cranium to fly out, unfiltered by thought of consequences. This is a beautiful thing, and long may it continue.”
Feherty's own thoughts would fly out not long after, and they were unfiltered and indefensible. And yet he will be here, working again, as it is for some people.
Buck Harvey
David Feherty will work this weekend in San Antonio, when a case can be made he shouldn't. With golf representatives on Capitol Hill this week, with both legislation and sponsors in doubt, the sport doesn't need anyone who jokes about political assassination.
But CBS is standing by Feherty for the same reasons TNT has stood by Charles Barkley. Feherty is good at what he does, and he's likeable, and he has a round-mound quality.
This quality allowed him to get away with something others couldn't get away with.
Feherty once played in a Ryder Cup, and now he would struggle to beat even Barkley on a golf course. He suffered a series of injuries when a truck hit him last year while he cycled in Dallas.
“I'd have to re-learn the game completely,” he's said. “Learning it the first time was bad enough.”
So he reports for CBS, and he writes. He had a piece this month in D Magazine, including the following passage:
“Despite how the conflict has been portrayed by our glorious media, if you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Osama bin Laden, there's a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death.”
Had he said the words, not even his Irish lilt could have saved him. There was nothing funny about any of it, and the title of one of his books applied to him as never before.
“Somewhere in Ireland, a Village is Missing an Idiot.”
Feherty hadn't blurted out his mistake into a microphone. He had written his words. He'd had time to rethink and edit, and another would have lost his job over this.
But CBS and the PGA Tour gave him a slap on his golf glove, and Feherty apologized in a statement. He will return this weekend for the first time since the controversy began.
He will likely address this again on the air Saturday, and a few minutes later, he will remind everyone why he should stay employed. He will be self-deprecating, and he will be funny, and eventually he will throw around a few opinions that make sense.
Barkley is the same. He puts himself so far out there that his mistakes become lore, and the DUI details this year were part of that. Barkley has done everything but pose naked.
Which is something Feherty has done. Three years ago, he curled up without noticeable clothing for a magazine photo.
Again, this is golf. People not named John Daly do not act this way.
But the picture captured the theme. Feherty would bare all, from his alcoholism to his depression. Even then, amid the sadness, Feherty remained himself.
“I quit drinking not because I was a bad drunk,” he once wrote. “On the contrary, I was spectacular.”
He admits to everything, and then he comes at everyone. Earlier this month, for example, Feherty interviewed Tiger Woods after he finished fourth at Quail Hollow. The on-air conversation ended with Feherty telling Tiger, “Hey, you're a loser.”
Tiger might have stormed away from another. CBS might have canned another. Instead, Tiger played along with golf's Barkley.
Coincidentally, just this month, Feherty wrote about Barkley. “Sir Charles has the ability to open his mouth and allow whatever is in his massive, shiny cranium to fly out, unfiltered by thought of consequences. This is a beautiful thing, and long may it continue.”
Feherty's own thoughts would fly out not long after, and they were unfiltered and indefensible. And yet he will be here, working again, as it is for some people.