Should Golf Channel Have Had Brandel On To Discuss Apology?
/Ed Sherman feels that Brandel Chamblee apologized to Tiger Woods for the incited discourse, not the actual accusation.
He also wonders why Golf Channel didn't have Chamblee on to discuss his column for golf.com or his apology.
I can’t believe Golf Channel thinks this is just going to go away. At some point, Chamblee will have to discuss the whole affair in front of a Golf Channel logo.
I would agree that such a discussion would have made for must-see TV, and would have been a stronger venue than Twitter. However two things make me agree with the call not to have Brandel on to flesh out the story.
There is nothing more obnoxious than the media exploiting itself in these instances. While you can quibble with Chamblee's questionable decision to roll out the cheating analogy, if you've met him or watched him work long enough you know he's not the limelight hog that many have portrayed him as in this little first golfing world saga. He's opinionated, paid for his views and generally backs up his positions as well as anyone in sports television.
Furthermore, this was a golf.com column and they have not, until today (October 23rd), acknowledged the brouhaha over the piece. Had the column appeared on Golf Channel's site, there would have been more of a necessity to address on the Golf Channel airwaves. But even then, it woud have been Golf Channel covering news made by a column on their site, and the whole thing is just a tad incestuous to a lot of viewers and readers.
Tiger, meanwhile, has a chance to capitalize on Chamblee's apology. Traditionally, he would (and will) dig in, exerting behind-the-scenes influence to get revenge. But a wise Tiger would let Chamblee off the hook with a simple "we all make mistakes." He would end the spat the bigger man, moving the discussion off of the cheating allegation toward an act of forgiveness, shifting focus off his disturbing number of 2013 rules gaffes.
It'll never happen.
Oh and the photo of these two is from GolfDigest.com, where Alex Myers dissects the only known photo with our two protaganists featured. And boy has golf fashion changed in ten years.
**Reader Manku may have found the inspiration for Brandel's apology for the Tiger-cavalier-with-the-rules "discourse."
