AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2005 > December > 20
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
PGA changes still causing confusion
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
A quiet has fallen over golf in the U.S. these wintry weeks and that catches a lot of us sitting on the edge of our chairs, an uneasy society. The PGA Tour is in the last year of the old Tour as we have known it. Commissioner Tim Finchem sprung all this on us when the Tour Championship visited East Lake in November, and it came out sounding like a spin-off of NASCAR, a kind of points system that even at lot of the race car drivers don’t appear to care for.
The tour players themselves aren’t exactly sure what to make of it, mainly because a lot of the commissioner’s presentation included such phrases as “that’s still in the works,” and “it’s going to take several months to get that sorted out,” and “we feel very bullish about it.”
But about what? As Billy Andrade said the other day, “We’re all sort of in the dark right now,” and that speaks for the lot of us.
“There will be a points system, but we all know the World Rankings have been a puzzle all along,” he said. “The Ryder Cup system has been changed to put the emphasis on the second year. Will there be a new point system (for the FedEx Cup), or what will it be?”
I remember something Greg Norman once said: “The PGA Tour plays things close to the chest. You really don’t know what’s going on until Finchem decides to say something and then when he says something he really doesn’t tell you anything.”
Of course, Norman and Finchem have been at odds ever since the commissioner shot down Norman’s plan for a world tour, which he then established on his own. Tour players have little grounds for a beef with the commissioner. When he moved into Deane Beman’s chair, total prize money on the tour came to $56 million a year. It has since soared to about $252 million, which should get him a round of applause until you consider that that’s about the size of the 10-year contract Alex Rodriguez signed with the New York Yankees.
Did you notice the other day that both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson said they wouldn’t be playing in the Mercedes Tournament of Champions in January. Mickelson had already pulled out of the Tour Championship. Said he just didn’t care to play any more golf. Woods said he needed “some off-season.” Did it ever occur to him that he might have taken a pass on the Skins Game and his Target Championship and got a headstart on refueling that much earlier?
There’s an ugly supposition that the guys at the top are making too much money already. This, though, is the year when all this shakes down. The television contracts expire after 2006. Negotiation begins and Finchem has his new points plan to present to the networks. You hear all sorts of gossip, that ABC is wearying of it all, that even the Tour itself is thinking about creating its own network, which would fly in the face of the Golf Channel, and the truth is, nobody has an inkling. About the only thing we’re sure of is that The Players Championship will be moved to May.
Finchem’s points plan is aimed at getting the Tour Championship on the board in September and out of the way of football’s television onslaught. The FedEx Cup would be a tour within a tour, leading up to the Tour Championship, about six or seven tournaments to follow, both ending the season and starting the next. (Beg pardon?) Oh, well, if you are confused, consider Billy Andrade and the guys of the tour and the addled heads of those of us who write about it.
The last two times contract negotiations came up, Tiger Woods has been the tour’s ace card. There are no guarantees with him. If he decides to start staying home, bad news. Or what if he decides to start his own tour? Perish the thought.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Furman Bisher, Golf
Blank insists Falcons moving in right direction
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Owner Arthur Blank spoke with the Journal-Constitution’s Jeff Schultz about the state of the Falcons and said, among other things, he would not consider the season a failure if the team missed the playoffs.
Q: As soon as Saturday, you could be out of the playoffs. Can you contrast that to how you felt a year ago?
A: As soon as Saturday, we may still be in the playoffs. My attitude is we’ve still got two games left to play, we’re going to go out and play them, and until we’re eliminated, we’re not eliminated. The team hasn’t played with consistency, but we’ve won eight games and we’ve got two to go. We have to get some help, and we’re not in the condition we’d like to be in. But when was the last time this team could not win two games in a row?
Q: But it’s safe to say it’s not a situation you expected to be in.
A: It’s not a situation we like to be in. I’d much prefer to be on top of our division where we control our own destiny.
Q: In a sense, do you feel jolted, given the season that you were coming off, the season-opening win over Philadelphia and the high expectations that followed?
A: The issue is there’s two weeks to go. We have a reasonable chance of winning those two games, and hopefully we can get some help and find a way into the playoffs.
Q: You seem a lot calmer than I think you actually are.
A: I’m not angry. Am I jumping up and clicking my heels, no. But our players and our coaches aren’t either. My viewpoint has always been a long-term viewpoint. That’s the most important thing for our fans and the folks in this building. If we make the playoffs this year, it’ll be three out of three years when Mike’s [healthy and played]. If we don’t make it, it’ll still be two out of three years. We’re doing a lot of things well, we’re playing a lot of young guys, and that bodes well for the future.
Q: Most people don’t focus on next year or the year after. They focus on today.
A: They do, but you have to focus on today as well as tomorrow. You can’t run a football club or a company from year to year. We’re trying to build toward something, something that will be a sustained winning organization over a long period of time. I’m happy with our decisions in the personnel department. I’m happy with the coaching. Is every game perfect? No. But it’s Week 16 and we’re still in the hunt.
Q: Last season, the first of the regime with Rich McKay and Jim Mora, it seemed like just about everything went right. This may sound harsh, but in some way did you think you had it all figured out?
A: No. What I’ve said consistently is I want our team to be in the hunt every year. Is this year better than last year? Clearly it’s not, but the year’s not over yet.
Q: If you don’t make the playoffs, is the year a failure?
A: No, it’s not a failure. Does it mean I’ll be disappointed? Yes. But it’s not a failure. We’ve played hard. We’ve won a lot of games. Our players, both young and old, will be more comfortable with the schemes. So I don’t think we’d be failures.
Q: Try selling that to fans.
A: NFL fans today, including those in Atlanta, don’t expect you to be in the playoffs every single year. That’s unreasonable to expect, unless you’re the Braves. It’s become a birthright for them. Given the parity in the NFL, we want to be competitive every year. We want it so that two out of three years, three out of five, we’re in the playoffs. The question to me is: Are you moving in the right direction. The answer to me is that we are. There’s no sense of defiance in the building. There’s no sense of defensiveness.
Q: But wouldn’t you agree that whether you make the playoffs or don’t make the playoffs impacts how you evaluate the team after the season?
A: I’m not sure. Take last year. Other teams in our division played horribly. Let’s assume we got to the playoffs with a 9-7 record. Would I feel good about that? No. It’s not just a question of getting there, but how did you get there and what did you do with that opportunity. Last year I was happy with the way we competed. We can’t use injuries as an excuse. But you do have to look at that this year and ask: How did it affect us?
Q: But people don’t want to hear that.
A: I know, and I don’t use that as an excuse. The year Michael broke his leg — it was a reality, that was a factor. The injuries we’ve sustained this year are significant. But, yeah, other teams have had them, too.
Q: New England won a Super Bowl despite injuries. So your injuries not withstanding, what would it tell you if you didn’t reach expectations?
A: It would tell me that we’re dealing with an industry that, by design, is very competitive. And that we probably didn’t play with the consistency we need to play with.
Q: Is it inconceivable, or even up for debate, that you would make changes in the personnel department or coaching staff if you don’t make the playoffs?
A: That would be the worst kind of knee-jerk reaction. We studied every club who are winners on a consistent basis and they had that batting average I spoke of — two out of three years, three out of five. One thing you see with those organizations is staying the course. You don’t swap out coaches every year. You don’t swap our general managers. It’s so disruptive to what you’re trying to do that you don’t go up, you go back a year or two. We’ll look at the whole roster again, and we’ll do that with our marketing people and the whole organization. Do we have the best people, the right people, to best move us forward?
Q: I asked that because at various times this season, people have wanted to tie [defensive coordinator] Ed Donatell or [offensive coordinator] Greg Knapp to their front bumper.
A: You’re exactly right. Sometimes we haven’t been consistent on offense or defense. But you have to ask yourself: Are they making the right decisions? Are we moving in the right direction? I think we are. Sometimes it shows up immediately. Sometimes it doesn’t show up for a year or two.
Q: So as a fan and owner, when you’re watching your offense struggle in Chicago, whom do you focus on: the quarterback or the offensive coordinator?
A: I focus on the whole team. Obviously Michael gets the ball every play, and to some extent how Michael goes that’s how we’ll go on offense. But that’s not always true because we’re a running team, and that’s not all Michael Vick. But, yeah, you get frustrated.
Q: Do you want to make a prediction for the Tampa Bay game?
A: We understand if we don’t win, it is over. I feel like our team isn’t intimidated and we’ll go down there and play hard and do whatever it takes to win. How it ends up at the end of day, I don’t know. Obviously I’m betting on our team.
Permalink | Comments (181) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz
