Shame on Tlighman and xxx Golf Channel for Ambushing Matt Every
by courtgolf on Jan 14, 2012 5:20 PM EST
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PrintBy now, I'm going to assume that everybody has heard or read the disgraceful post-round interview by Kelly Tilghman with Matt Every, who had just had his best round as a PGA Tour member. A round that set him up as the overnight leader going into the weekend of the Sony. (If not - here is a YouTube link to it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWnqIDI9Y9s )
This was a short 3-minute interview - not a long form sit down. There was not going to be enough time for in-depth discussion (Tilghman should know better - Strike 1) - and as it came off, Tilghman didn't even take time to get the story right. Every was not suspended for an illegal substance, he was suspended for conduct unbecoming. (Strike 2 on Tilghman) Here's where you might see a wasted pitch, but the overly aggressive Tilghman couldn't help herself and forced the issue. After Every plainly said he was done with the issue, Tilghman went right back at Every with another question on the subject. Strike 3, you're out.....left up to me, Tilghman would be on the next single oar outrigger to Orlando. (no such luck)
Post round interviews are basically round recaps, how did it go, are you ready for tomorrow, etc etc etc. They are generally where sound bites come from.
You can bet that the PGA Tour had a few words with xxx Golf Channel people about this ambush. The Tour is very protective of its players. Xxx Golf Channel has pretty much tried to sweep the interview under the rug, trying to deflect all attention onto Every. The interview is not posted on their web site, only an edited (read "sensored") media center session that eliminated 10 questions asked about the Tilghman interview. (PGATour.com did the same thing).
Here are the 10 questions and answers:
Q. You brought up the incident at Deere. Not as much talk about what happened but how it has affected you over the remainder of that year, and obviously you only had‑‑ did you have like Disney was all you had to try and keep your card?
MATT EVERY: Yeah.
Q. And then how you focused on that or what you did to kind of get that behind you.
MATT EVERY: Those three months that I was off, I did practice a lot for Disney, but I mean, how much can you really expect having a three‑month layoff trying to‑‑ I think I had to finish probably top 5 or top 10 to have any kind of status for the next year.
As far as putting it behind me, though, I have other stuff that is important to me. I didn't really‑‑ I was pissed for sure, like for probably a good month, but then after that, it was kind of like‑‑ I didn't write off Disney and say, I already know I'm not going to get my status. But I kind of in the back of my mind was like, okay, we're going to have to go to Q‑school this year and try and get it, but I didn't. So then I was on the Nationwide, and once I got my card through the Nationwide last year, I kind of feel like it's completely behind me now.
I felt like my penalty for getting in trouble was not only the three months but being on the Nationwide Tour last year.
Q. Why were you upset?
MATT EVERY: A lot of reasons, man. I was upset at myself. I was upset at‑‑ there's some stuff I can't talk about, but I was pissed at the way it was handled. I don't know. I'm not a‑‑ I don't do drugs. It was a crappy deal, man. Wrong place, wrong time, perfect storm, and you know, I got three months out of it. It's over with. I'm not mad at the TOUR. They did what they had to do. I totally understand it. But it's over with.
Q. Did you have to make a lifestyle change at all because of that?
MATT EVERY: No, man, I'm married, I've got a kid on the way. I'm not like this party animal.
Q. I'm not suggesting that, but maybe the guys you might have hung with or something like that?
MATT EVERY: No, I still hang out with the same people. I have great friends, man. If one of my friends likes to smoke marijuana every now and then, I'm not going to say, well, you can't be my friend anymore. Honestly, man, I know more people who smoke marijuana than who don't smoke marijuana. I know that's probably not the politically correct thing to say, but it's the truth. It's not a big deal to me. Like I don't frown upon people doing that stuff. I don't do it, but I don't frown upon it.
Q. You lost for me a second when you said you were upset about the way it was handled. It got me thinking that you didn't like the way the TOUR handled it, but then you said you're not upset with the TOUR at all. What part of the handling things did I miss there?
MATT EVERY: Well, the‑‑ I don't think the police handled it very well. But whatever. And the TOUR, too, man, if they would have thrown a month at me instead of three, that would have been nice.
Q. Did you think the punishment fit the crime?
MATT EVERY: Probably, but there's nothing I can do about it now. We're all under the TOUR. I'm not bigger than the TOUR, never will be. It's their call, and I did it, and it's over with.
Q. Is it a stretch to say that once you got back to‑‑ once you paid your penalty of Nationwide essentially, which I think is correct, that you look at this as a second start at all, this season?
MATT EVERY: Yeah, I honestly kind of feel like a rookie out here this year, because I was doing just fine until I got to Hilton Head. I broke my finger, six weeks there, then I get back and I was out for like two weeks, then get in trouble, there's three months. My rookie year was cut‑‑ I still almost kept my status and played half the tournaments that everybody else played. I feel like it was a pretty good year for me. I just didn't get to play much.
Q. Is there any question in your mind if you hadn't been off for those three months that you would have kept your card?
MATT EVERY: Oh, man, I would have been‑‑ well, if I didn't break my finger I think I would have kept my card, even if I got those three months, because I was playing really well. But I can't‑‑ I mean, that's not fair for me to say. Everyone can say, oh, if I would have done this.
Q. But you felt like you were playing well enough could have kept it?
MATT EVERY: Yeah. I mean, yeah. There was plenty of tournaments left. And the tournaments I missed were New Orleans, huge purse; Charlotte; TPC; Byron Nelson; Colonial. I was in all of those. And then I got four starts last year. No offense to these tournaments, they're great, and I'm going to play them this year, but I get Puerto Rico, Mexico. That's not really that fair, but whatever.
Tilghman has been a part of xxx Golf Channel since day one - she SHOULD know better than to try to get away with things like this - but at this point, I don't think she cares. I believe that she, like way too many other members of our power-happy media prefer the mantra "it's better to ask forgiveness than permission" than to doing things the right way. I think she beileves that the golf channel watching public doesn't care enough to remember reprehensible ambushes like this, much less react to them in a significant manner. I think she probbaly believes, as do many media and marketing people, that there is no bad publicity. As long as people are talking about what you did, it's good. (nonsense in my book)
Geoff Shackleford was pretty turned off by the interview as well. His article about it is worth reading, as are the comments. There are some pretty funny things to read there. (http://www.geoffshackelford.com/)
Matt Every is a good guy who put himself in a dumb situation. Kelly Tilghman is typical media - always ready and willing to embarrass a player...a player not named Tiger, of course.
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Court
How was it an ambush when Every himself first broached the subject in his interview in the media centre prior to the GC interview? He opened the can of worms himself, so I can’t see your ambush angle. He could easily have said “no comment” when Tilghman asked the question, but he didn’t. That was his choice, the same choice he made in the media centre earlier. If Tilghman hadn’t asked the question, we would probably be wondering why.
One thing that really did strike me was his statement that he knew more people that smoke marijuana than didn’t.
Really? I must be getting old :-)
Media center is never before TV – especially with the tournament leader. It’s part of the TV contract. They leave their last hole, might do a quick couple of questions, then to the scoring tent, then TV, then the media tent.
Please – if Tilghman hadn’t asked those questions, you never would have thought about what happened 2 years ago. That’s as bad as his “more people” statement.
The reason Tilghman’s questions were out of line is because this was a very short form interview. There is no way to get into questions like that in 3 minutes. She didn’t even bother to get the facts straight. The line of questioning left most people thinking he was suspended for smoking pot – not the case.
Yeah – that “more people” line was a bit out of whack….or he doesn’t know very many people. :-D
If at first you don't secede, try try again
Not this time Court. The media centre interview was before the Tilghman and GC interview.
I’m not defending her or GC, but Every did open the floodgates when he broached the subject himself in the media centre.
by chip n'putt on Jan 15, 2012 11:28 PM EST up reply actions
This is how HE brought the subject up….
Q. Are you a goal‑oriented kind of guy coming into this year?
MATT EVERY: No.
Q. Just go play?
MATT EVERY: Yeah. Just try and stay out of trouble this year.
If you call that bringing up the subject and the media just magically had 10 questions pop into their minds and THEN the Tilghman interview – then you have a better imagination than I do.
I think what bothers me most is that all the media has to do is point the finger back at the player, who is not the one paid to do the talking. They’re saying “how did he not know these questions were coming” and they consider themselves free of sin.
The Tilghman questions were still out of line because they were doing a short interview – not an indepth long – and he was not told that she was going to ask them. What happened in the media center is not a green light to go after a guy on TV.
If at first you don't secede, try try again
We are going to disagree about this
Part of being a professional athlete is dealing with the media, even when the question is more personal than ’what did you hit into the 14th green;. Tilghman asked Every about something that affected his ability to play on tour (the suspension). What is the difference if Every was injured and it cost him three months of tour action? Is it out of bounds to ask Paul Casey about his decision to ski before a Ryder Cup season?
Not to mention this literally is the first time since his suspension he was in a position to be interviewed as he wasn’t on the tour last year.
The Golf Channel is not the propaganda arm of the PGA Tour, nor should it be.
True – she asked about sort of a golf related issue – and do not have a problem with an interview with Every to talk about what happened and what’s gone on since then – however, they are not short answer questions for a 3 minute interview…actually it was more like a minute and 45 seconds after she pretended to ask golf questions.
So here’s a question for you – would you prefer actual honest answers like you heard the other day, as awkard as they came out, in what could be a very good interview (where a decent interviewer would take the time to at least get the facts straight) – OR – would you prefer Tiger Woods / Phil Mickelson “smoke up your rear end” cliche answers to poorly asked questions ?
If at first you don't secede, try try again
I have no problems with answers like Every gave. They weren’t polished, and he was trying to get around how he really felt (he got a raw deal, marijuana isn’t a big deal), but he didn’t go to the one or two word answers Tiger does when he doesn’t like the question.
And I don’t even mind that. I put the onus on the interviewer in cases like this. There are times where an uncomfortable question needs to be asked, whether is is on or off-course related. Of course the athlete doesn’t want to get into why he or she choked down the stretch in a major or got arrested in the off-season. But that is part of the job.
True – but the interviewee needs to be told ahead of time that these are the kinds of questions they are interested in discussing – ESPECIALLY for a live interview. xxx Golf Channel and much of the media are trying to say that because he was asked topically similar questions in the media tent, the person sitting in the chair for what is traditionally a discussion of the day’s golf, it’s the player’s fault for not being prepared for questions not normaly heard.
Every’s story is a good one and I would love to see a good story done – but a 3 minute post round is not the place for questions that take a lot of discussion to tell correctly.
If at first you don't secede, try try again
Why does the interviewee need to be told ahead of time about the questions? If Tilghman was going to ask about the current Presidental primary, or his opinion of having a playoff in college football, I can understand a heads up. In this case, I think a question about Every’s first tournament back after a suspension from the PGA Tour and a year on the Nationwide Tour is totally appropriate. And frankly, if Evers did have the heads up the question was coming, he might have been able to conjure up a Tiger/Phil-like non-answer answer instead of what came out of his mouth.
What, in my opinion, ramped up the uncomfortable-meter was Tilghman was expecting a pat answer after her first suspension question (‘it is what it is’, or ‘I took it to heart and made some changes’) and Every didn’t have one. So they were trapped in this dance where Tilghman was doing the Fox Trot and Evers was doing the Roll, Bounce and neither of them knew how to get out.
You watched the interview and have to ask that question ? Post round interviews are not there to embarrass the players – they are there to talk about the golf. If Tilghman had come out and said “how about those Broncos” after they had gotten thrashed by the Patriots, that would have been a stupid question, and would have gotten a disappointed (and probably disappointing) answer – which is not what anybody is looking for.
These interviews are not there to make players uncomfortable or to dig into a topic that they might find difficult to talk about. THAT is why any decent interviewer asks before bringing up a topic.
Tilghman is supposed to be a professional “journalist” – she should know better by now than to do what she did. If she does know not to do what she did, then she did it on purpose and is an embarrassment to the channel and the PGA Tour. Every is a professional golfer who was in a position he had never been in before – a true professional journalist would know how to handle the situation better. Don’t blame the guy who isn’t used to the situation.
If at first you don't secede, try try again
I don’t think the goal was to embarass Evers. It was literally the first time he was in a position to be interviewed since he rejoined the tour (and before you say this conversation should have been done at the media availability where Finchem ‘gives’ the top 25 their card; you’d be laughed out of the production meeting bringing that up). Tilghman did vocal gymnastics to make it as soft of a landing as possible; imagine the question Jim Gray would serve up in that circumstances.
As for the idea Every isn’t used to the situation; he has been a professional athlete for years now. Someone from TGC asked him for the sit down; he said yes (Tiger has taught us they can say no). Not to mention the suspension happened a year and a half ago; if he couldn’t in that time determine he might be asked about the suspension and come up with something to say about it, he either didn’t care (from his presser comments, this seems to be the more likely choice) or he is a golfing savant.
Being a professional athlete means he is media savy ? Be serious. The closest thing Every has to media experience before last weekend was 3 episodes of The Big Break and a couple of days of questions following the arrest at The John Deere.
Again – three minutes is not the place for questions the ones Tilghman tried to pull. Tilghman is supposed to know better and she clearly doesn’t.
One more thing to consider is the pressure that little red light puts on people when they aren’t used to it. I’ve been a part of a radio show for almost 8 years now and I still get nervous when the “On Air” light goes on.
There is no defense for what Tilghman did.
If at first you don't secede, try try again
Being a professional athlete means dealing with the media is part of his job. He may not be good at it, he may not have had a much practice as someone with more success on tour, but it is part of the gig.
As for Tilghman, if the television sit down came after the media availability where the suspension was mentioned (I’m not sure which came first), she had every right to bring it up. Why would it be fare game for print reporters and not for her? Becasue it would be embarassing to Every?
You answered your own question – TV. That little red light can really mess with your head. Sitting at a desk in the media center is not the same thing as sitting down for a TV interview. It just isn’t.
What you say sounds good, but these guys are golfers first – it takes time and practice to be good with the media. You’re saying that all of the responsibility is on the player and nothing goes to the media. I don’t go along with that. I don’t believe the media should be allowed to do whatever they want to do with no accountability.
If at first you don't secede, try try again
I’m not for the media having a lack of accountability when warranted. I just don’t think Tilghman did anything wrong.
She asked a line of questions about an incident that directly affected Every’s ability to play on the PGA Tour, an incident (irrelevant of how anyone feels about marijuana usage or the length of suspension) that was totally on Every. His discomfort with the hot red light should not be a shield to protect athletes from difficult questions.
I know golf is put on a pedestal, but if this was an athlete in any other sport there would be no complaint with Tilghman’s line of questioning.
Hardly. And before I give you one obvious example, I’ll let you make sure you’re sitting down, in case the name throws you into convulsions….ready ? Jim Gray. (I know – the name makes me twitch, too) He has done interviews in a lot of sports, and you can find example after example where he is accused of asking inapproprate and poorly timed questions.
Ok – deep breaths…. :-D
(but we have all seen and heard other examples of incredibly poor taste from interviewers – the ones I hear most often are sideline reporters in football, and tennis “reporters” doing really lame post match interviews)
If at first you don't secede, try try again
I’m still trying to figure out why the PGA Tour, or anyone else for that matter, gives a shit about a Tour player using marijuana. (disclosure: I tried it twice in 1967, I didn’t like the way it made me feel, haven’t used it since).
"(I)f you think you've got an inside track to absolute truth, you become doctrinaire, humorless and intellectually constipated." Saul Alinsky
Ummmmm – because it’s illegal ? Because it’s on the list of drugs tested for by the people who designed the Olympic drug testing ?
SO ! You and Slick Willie, eh ? (j/k) :-D
How’s the retirement thing going ? Indoor training so you’ll be in tip-top shape and ready for golf season ?
If at first you don't secede, try try again
It's not exactly human growth hormone, is it?
I’m engaging in a couple of months of public service work since it’s too cold to hit golf balls.
"(I)f you think you've got an inside track to absolute truth, you become doctrinaire, humorless and intellectually constipated." Saul Alinsky
ssooooooooo……because it’s not exacly HGH….no, that doesn’t compute either…..marijuana is illegal, regardless of what you think it is or isn’t. (the right or wrong of that is debatable, but not that fact that it isn’t legal right now)
“public service”…this doesn’t require you to wear an orange jump suit, does it ? ;-D
If at first you don't secede, try try again
There are countries with Olympic athletes where marijuana is legal. Do those athletes get a pass if the Olympic drug test finds one had a joint? Every was arrested in Iowa for possession. The Tour didn’t get him during a drug test.
my “public service” requires a headset, not a jumpsuit.
"(I)f you think you've got an inside track to absolute truth, you become doctrinaire, humorless and intellectually constipated." Saul Alinsky
no – Olympic testing is Olympic testing around the world. Doesn’t stop cheating as we all know, but the testing process is uniform around the world.
Every was arrested as one guy in a room where pot was found – the guy who it belonged to confessed and Every was cleared, but told to behave himself. The Tour has standards and practices that cover things like that. Once again – he wasn’t suspended for drugs – he was suspended for conduct unbecoming a professional – and he didn’t dispute it.
If at first you don't secede, try try again
Court
He was not cleared at all. He was convicted of possession and the record was expunged when he didn’t get into any more trouble for next twelve months.
Now I need to take that back
I read about it a couple of times, but I can’t find the source. Apologies.
So, let me get this straight...
Every was suspended for being in the same room with someone who had pot? He wasn’t suspended for drug use? How in the name of your deity of choice does Olympic drug testing come into play here? Your logic escapes me, CG. Have you been using the banned substance in question? 8-)
"(I)f you think you've got an inside track to absolute truth, you become doctrinaire, humorless and intellectually constipated." Saul Alinsky
wow – are you wearing those headphones over your eyes and not your ears ? The drug testing discussion came in when Every was thought to have been suspended for drug use. He wasn’t doing drugs – especially during a tournament. He was suspended for conduct unbecoming a professional – hanging out with guys who were in possession of illegal drugs. Not sure how that can be any clearer.
The PGA Tour uses the same drug testing list as the the Olympics.
If at first you don't secede, try try again
It’s a good thing you’ve never been in the company of someone who had drugs in his possession, whether you were aware of that fact or not. You might be banned from whatever it is you do, assuming your employer doesn’t believe in your right to associate with whoever when not at work.
"(I)f you think you've got an inside track to absolute truth, you become doctrinaire, humorless and intellectually constipated." Saul Alinsky
You love making assumptions. How do you know I’ve never been around people who did drugs, sold drugs, or were just carrying them round ?
Here’s something it doesn’t sound like you’re considering. Being a card carrying member of the PGA Tour is not the same thing as working at the local convenience store. Members are a part of an organization where the players make and agree on the rules. The players have agreed that drugs are bad things and are bad for their image.
If you’re saying what I think you’re saying, part of it is that the rule is a little hypocritical. They can’t police who everybody hangs out with, so the only way something like this comes into play is if they get caught and the authorities get involved.
If at first you don't secede, try try again
You’re getting closer. Had it been proven Every was there to purchase or consume an illegal substance, let the chips fall where they may. But as far as I can tell neither of those situations occurred. it’s like the Tour wanted to make an example of him so the suspension was excessive. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was given the choice of that or losing his card, so of course he’s not going to argue.
"(I)f you think you've got an inside track to absolute truth, you become doctrinaire, humorless and intellectually constipated." Saul Alinsky
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