i was scanning the news headlines yesterday, as usual skipping any of the bad news, pretty much of all of it, and reading a paragraph or two when i actually found an item of interest.

The headline caught my eye: “US Open commentators better shut up.” The columnist who wrote the text is Phil Mushnick of the New York Post. i need to meet him as he not only expressed my disdain of golf commentators, but all sports commentators.

https://nypost.com/2021/06/19/us-open-golf-commentators-should-shut-up/

Mushnick’s column was particularly appropriate as i watched 12 innings of Vanderbilt scrapping and clawing their way to a 7-6 win over Arizona. It was sweet. It was long, five hours long. But boy, was it sweet.

Except for two things that caused me to turn off the sound repeatedly. The commentators and the play-by-play announcer just couldn’t shut up, just like Mushnick’s golf announcers. They couldn’t wait to point out how a player had screwed things up, how the coaches made bad decisions, how the umpires missed calls even though replay showed the umps got it right. And boy, can they just wax non-stop about a play or something totally unrelated to the play of the game.

And then there’s this Vandy fan who has been around for years. i guess some fans like it because they respond to his whistling, his shrill continually annoying, disruptive whistling. He reminds me of that rainbow hair guy that used to stand behind the tee boxes on televised golf with his sign that read John 3:16. There are places for whistling and signs, but not during a sports event.

Between the announcers and the whistler, my sound will be muted for the U.S. Open in San Diego today and Vandy’s next CWS game Tuesday.

Thanks, Dave.