Johnny Miller's An Egotistical Blabbermouth, Volume 149
by Ryan Ballengee on Sep 24, 2009 11:32 AM EDT
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PrintShane Bacon via Geoff Shackelford via Forbes found this story on Johnny Miller - America's favorite bloviating golf color commentator. He thinks he is tougher than nails, which are tough.
From Shane:
[A]s for his current job, he wants you to know he does that better than anyone else too, just in case you forgot for a second he's the best around.
Johnny Miller: I don't want to brag, but I do more homework on the course than any other announcer. I chart the greens to get all the breaks. I walk down into the greenside bunkers. I walk into the fairway bunkers to see whether a player can reach the green from them. My goal is to get to know the course as [well] or better than the players.
I really wish I could start a list of things people should never say. Miller's would be, "I don't want to brag." Stephon Marbury's would be, "This might sound crazy, but ..."
Nothing to add there. Shane nailed it.
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I love Miller...
…not because I think he’s humble, or even that insightful…but he’s just becoming such a train wreck. God it’s awesome to watch.
I love Miller precisely because he just says whatever comes to mind. I find that refreshing. So he says stuff that gets people riled up. Good. Yeah, his Millerisms can be painful at times. And maybe his ego is on the large side, but that’s typical of people in his previous profession. The only difference is, he says it while others just think it to themselves.
WHY is it a good thing to not have an intelligent filter on the things you say ? WHY is it a “good thing” to get people riled up ? WHY is it a good thing to say things for the purpose of getting riled up over an egomaniacle TV announcer ?
I just get tired of Miller’s 20/20 hindsight and ceasless badgering of players – like the player chose to hit into the creek. That was a mistake…gee Johnny…no kidding ? I never would have known that.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Yeah, but really is there anything that any commentator can say in that situation that isn’t obvious and/or redundant? How many of them say stuff like, “He’d like to have that one back” That’s about as obvious as it gets. I don’t think Miller corners the market on saying obvious things, he just states it a little more directly.
Come on, when Mickelson hit that shot in the 2006 U.S. Open and Miller said, “Ben Hogan is turning over in his grave.” that was the kind of thing many of us were thinking. Not, “aww, gee, I bet he’d like to have that one back.”
Finally, look at the types of intense criticism that those of us who are bloggers, and those of us who comment on blogs, level against players for things on and off the course. Much of it is unkind, at best. Why should we then turn to someone like Miller and claim that harsh criticism is just so awful? Just because he has a bigger audience? Isn’t that a bit hypocritical?
Just look at some of the comments in this thread. Has he ever said anything that negative on the air? He says what he says and owns up to it. How many of us would say what we’re saying here to Miller’s face? Or, for that matter, John Daly, Camilo Villegas, Phil Mickelson, or whomever is being criticized at the time? Miller has the guts to say it, put his name to it, and in a few rare circumstances, apologize when he feels he went over the line.
by Double Eagle on Sep 24, 2009 4:41 PM EDT up reply actions
Well sure – if you like the blind squirrel approach to halfway insightful lines – then great – take Miller. I have no idea what Ben Hogan had to do with Mickelson’s shot – and of all people – a technician like Hogan who didn’t give a rat’s behind what another golfer did.
I’ll take “he’d like to have that one back” over “that was a mistake” or “why would he want to hit it there” ANY day. Give me Renton Laidlaw over Johnny Miller…give me Faldo over Miller 7 days a week and 3 times on Sunday. Faldo gets a little goofy sometimes, but he doesn’t assume that a player was trying to hit his ball in the water.
No – Miller doesn’t own up to what he says. Time after time, he says that he makes his comments and then forgets about them. He doesn’t care what he says.
And yes – he is about as negative as anyone could possibly be. Nobody has ever been as good as he was. There is only one way to play golf – the Miller way. It’s that arrogance that just bugs the crap out of me.
Funny thing is – he got pulled off the air for a comment he made on an LPGA broadcast, but nothing he ever says on the PGA Tour broadcasts gets him in any kind of trouble. Long time ago, calling an LPGA tournament, Miller was calling a shot on a short par 3 – girl snap hooked a 9-iron into the woods. Miller said “I guess the lie wasn’t very good.” I almost fell off the chair laughing at that – and he was relieved of his duties almost immediately.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
And Yet...
…he’s been broadcasting for almost 20 years, and through it all, some players actually like his direct approach. So, he must be doing something right.
And I’d certainly take Renton Laidlaw or Nick Faldo over Miller. But that wasn’t the point of this whole thing. While I can pick a few things he has said that I don’t like I certainly don’t have a problem with him overall.
I’m not sure I agree that he doesn’t own up to what he says, though. He addressed a number of statements he’s been heavily criticized for in his book, and he certainly didn’t pretend the Rocco/pool man comment didn’t happen. At the same time, if he doesn’t feel the need to apologize for something, he won’t. You call that forgetting what he says, I call it not dwelling on it.
by Double Eagle on Sep 24, 2009 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions
You keep calling it a “direct approach”. I guess I don’t see it that way. Being rude and obnoxious after the fact is like dropping a rock and hitting the ground – it’s easy, lazy, and thoughtless. He doesn’t offer explanations of what happened or suggestions of what to do before – he just hides behind the mic to ambush anything he doesn’t like or to throw out some sort of obvious statement we didn’t need to hear.
You’re right about the Rocco statement – but that’s because people keep bringing it up. Again, it was a brainless statement that I doubt was intended to be offensive, but it just shows the guy’s general attitude towards what he says. He just doesn’t care.
I didn’t mean “forget” as in amnesia – I meant it in the careless modern connotation where people don’t take responsibility for their words or deeds. They think that because it’s in the past, there is no reason to address it.
You’d think that after 20 years, he would actually be better at what he does – and he’s not. He’s exactly the same arrogant ass he was when he started.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
What I’m saying is, I don’t believe these statements that bug you are as common as the times when he does offer some insightful commentary. And I definitely do believe he does that. He doesn’t sugar coat bad play, which is what I mean by his direct approach. He doesn’t dance around trying to not offend, and sometimes he does cross the line. I’ll accept the occasional line-crossing in exchange for brutal honesty over the “aw, gee…” type stuff any day of the week.
I think if you put aside your disdain for him, and look objectively at an entire body of work, I think there are a lot more positives than negatives. As I said, the comically obvious stuff that you point out can be heard coming out of the mouths of just about all of them at some point.
He’s not my favorite commentator. Probably not even top-five. But I still feel that he does an OK job.
by Double Eagle on Sep 24, 2009 5:49 PM EDT up reply actions
There are so many bad broadcasters these days. I would love to do a study of what people do when these guys are talking. Personally, I do a lot of yelling at my screen. :-)
20/20 hindsight doesn’t impress me – any idiot can do that, which is why I like Faldo’s and Madden so much. They set up the action before it happens, then they break down what happened. If something went wrong, they figure it out and explain it – they don’t call the player an idiot.
I’m sorry – I just don’t get very much good from a Miller broadcast. Boring analysis, negative comments, and inane blathering about himself and his glorious past just makes me save more money to buy a 5.1 surround sound setup so I can turn off the front speakers.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Right about Faldo
I actually like him a lot. Of course he had the reputation for being cold, so I was a little surprised that I took to him so much. It’s a shame that he felt he had to put on that face to compete. I feel like we’re seeing the real guy now. If this side of him had come out in the 90’s, I think he could have been orders of magnitude more popular. Not that it should be a popularity contest, but it’s a lot easier to root for a guy who you connect with.
by Double Eagle on Sep 24, 2009 9:18 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah – that reputation was when he was the big dog on the PGA Tour. I never had a problem with his demeanor because that’s what he needed to do to keep his competitive level up. But I’ll never forget the year he played Pebble Beach and the regular round was rained out – a few guys went out to play a few holes and Faldo put on a wig and hat, and caddied. It was hilarious. I knew he was going to be covering golf when he finished his playing days.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
So in a nutshell, it’s fun to watch a narcissistic boor?
by Charles Boyer on Sep 24, 2009 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions
I think Miller and Finchem went to the same “any PR is good PR” school.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Sep 24, 2009 12:23 PM EDT reply actions
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