Do The McEnroe's Want To Announce Golf?

Reader Jim asked that question after watching week one of the ESPN2 telecasts of U.S. Open tennis.

Listening to the famous brothers or the CBS team of John McEnroe-Dick Enberg-Mary Carillo or ESPN2's Cliff Drysdale or even the opinionated analysts on The Tennis Channel, and I can't help but wonder if part of tennis' resurgence should be credited to the compelling television coverage?

(Whatever they've done to slow down serves hasn't hurt.)

The number one thing we all hear from non-golfers: our sport is so boring to watch. Yet no one was watching tennis a few years ago, and while Federer and Nadal have helped, they are no Tiger and Phil.

While I understand that tennis produces generally more intelligent and quirky characters when golf produces drones, there is no way that tennis should be more compelling when golf has beautiful venues and its fair share of characters and the world's most famous athlete?

The two sports passed each other a few years ago when golf's trajectory was up and tennis was so far down, but now it seems to be going the other direction again. After a dreadful few weeks on CBS, the Deutsche Bank telecast on NBC restored some dignity to the game by showing us more shots, providing more spirited announcing and lending that sense of urgency missed in the week's prior.

So am I overestimating the impact of the network's presentation styles in how people view a sport? Profound thoughts on this vital topic, please.