LPGA Tour & Pro Wrestling: A Comparative Essay
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 24, 2008 10:46 AM EST
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PrintProfessional wrestling is (a) staged and (b) often taped well in advance. If you do watch wrestling and miss the most recent episode, you can find the results online in advance if it has been taped. Even if it hasn't been taped, you could miss the broadcast, read the recap online, and probably not miss a thing.
As I was watching the ADT Championship yesterday on NBC, I couldn't help but have the same feelings about this tournament as I do about pro wrestling.
No, I don't think that the results were staged. Hardly. If the results were staged from the beginning, Annika would ride off into the sunset with a glass case filled with $1 million, not have been randomly selected for a drug test, and announced her un-"stepping away" upon winning. Sadly, that didn't happen.
What I mean, though, is that the ADT Championship final round really lost a lot of its luster on television because it was tape delayed. Not to begin a cliche sentence, but in the age of the Internet, spoilers are only a click away from interested parties.
I was an interested party and went over to LPGA.com for the results. They had them up even though the NBC telecast had not even started yet. Even World Wrestling Entertainment doesn't put up spoilers before a key telecast! They ruined their own telecast - that they paid for - by announcing the results. Not to mention that it was not as though Golf News Net, Golf Channel, or any website with golf in the name had not posted the results before the NBC telecast at 3pm.
The LPGA Tour may be a niche sport. Its leadership may make questionable decisions. But the Tour's marquee event, its finale, should not be relegated to a taped broadcast. There was nothing else on NBC on Sunday. Notre Dame plays on Saturdays. Even the Dew Action Sports Tour couldn't knock the LPGA Tour off of the air this weekend. To paraphrase Bill O'Reilly, they should DO IT LIVE!
Broadcast the final round of the season, giving away $1 million to the champion, on live TV. If it costs more, pay for it. The NFL has been so awful this year that a few extra eyeballs might avoid those snoozer 4:15 games to watch someone win a million bucks. But when they see that it has been taped, they probably changed the channel. I watched the World Series of Poker final table the first time because I purposefully avoided the spoilers online. Once I saw the first airing, I can't watch it again because I know what happens.
That's the same kind of impact that a tape delayed ADT Championship has on the LPGA Tour. The only difference is that ESPN gets a lot of mileage showing WSOP repeats to nightowls like me at 1am.
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it's not unusual...(no - I'm not breaking into Tom Jones tunes)
…for this to happen. 5 or 6 times this year on the PGA Tour, tournament final rounds were started early and tape delayed because of incoming weather. It happens.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
It does
But could you imagine the Players Championship or a WGC on tape delay? The PGA Tour wouldn’t let that kinda thing happen.
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 24, 2008 11:52 AM EST up reply actions
if the weather demands...
…it would happen. Finishing on Sunday is more important than chancing bad weather in the afternoon just for live TV.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Agreed
But it didn’t look like that was going to happen on Sunday. If the original intent was for it to be live, then consider my commentary retracted. Really, I just wanted to write a funny kind of post for once. :)
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 24, 2008 11:58 AM EST up reply actions
supposed to be live
that was the original plan. They weren’t going to tee off until 1:30 – but that goofy Florida weather popped up.
I’m with you, though, on the WSOP re-runs…and especially the Big Stakes poker games on GSN. Love watching those guys play for their own money.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Same here
And they’re coming back next year! Bigger buy in!
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 24, 2008 12:57 PM EST up reply actions
The min
buy in got bumped to $200K, up from $100K. They can still go up to $500K.
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/article/5586/high-est-stakes-poker-ever
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 24, 2008 1:06 PM EST up reply actions
cool
the last season had a min $500k buy in. Guys were bringing in $1-2 million to sit down. That’s why AJ Benza and “Mr Koter” were wearing tuxedos.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Jesus
I didn’t see much of last season so I didn’t know that stipulation. I did remember thinking that they were playing with an awful lot of money…
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 24, 2008 1:25 PM EST up reply actions
it was great...
…that’s when Guy Laliberté – one of the two guys who started Circ du Soleill – got in the game. The guy is a multi-billionaire and a pretty good poker player. He got into a $1.2 million hand with one of the younger players who was really sweating the thought of losing $600k of his own money. Laliberté smiled and said “I can afford to lose this – you can’t.” It was hilarious. I think they ended up splitting the pot.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Haha
I didn’t see that one, but I would have loved to. Such a great show.
by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 24, 2008 1:36 PM EST up reply actions
I'm amazed...
…that GSN doesn’t sell the DVD’s. It would probably sell.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
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