Wait, was the US Open played in New York this weekend?

Fig Jam

Raise your hand if you hate New Yorkers more this week than you did last week.  Keep em’ up.  Ok, that’s what I thought, it’s everyone.  I guess the 40 hour infomercial that ESPN and NBC ran last weekend on what New Yorkers are like and how they talk (also referred to in passing as “The US Open”) did not have the desired effect. 

The Golf Tournament, which in years when it’s not held in New York is sometimes called one of golf’s “major” championships, was played for the second time in the last ten years at Bethpage State Park on the famed Black course.  The story, as I’m sure everyone is now aware, is that this is really awesome because Bethpage is a public golf course and anyone can play it.  This makes Bethpage different from most US Open courses which are either (i) private or (ii) “public” in the sense of the word that anyone who has $200-300 for a round of  golf is welcome to come play.  Bethpage is different, because when the USGA first decided to stage the Open there in 2002, it entered into a contract with the State of New York to lock the rates that Bethpage can charge, making a round of golf on one of the 5 courses at Bethpage State Park very affordable. 

So that’s the deal.  That’s why it’s a cool story.  That’s why it’s worth mentioning during the broadcast and highlighting a little bit as a cool feature.  The State of New York operates a golf course that is affordable and pretty sweet.  It’s neat that arguably the biggest tournament in the United States is played on a truly public course once in a while. 

However, this past week, NBC  and ESPN completely drowned the story.  The tournament coverage, which struggled due to a lot of down time caused by rain delays, turned into an absolute debacle.  Every 30 seconds there was a cutaway to a New York firefighter or a New York Barbershop owner or a New York  something-or-other who would look very seriously into the camera and say, “This is my course”  (insert accent).  Every minute one of the many announcers would say to the world, “and how about these New York fans.  The rain hasn’t dampened their spirits.” (then they cut to the interview with a USGA executive who announced that everyone who had a ticket for Thursday, which got rained out, would be able to come on Monday if the tournament wasn’t finished on time.  This, after it was made clear that all these cute and cuddly New Yorkers holding Thursday tickets had created an absolute shit-storm over not being able to watch the tournament on “their” course).   The end result was a combination of insult and over saturation of the state of New York. 

It was insulting because the entire basis of the coverage was that Bethpage was a public course and therefore it somehow represented the “common” golfer.  It was an attempt by the USGA and the networks to say, ”See, golf’s not a uppity and exclusive sport.  This is Bethpage.  Everyone can play here!”  Then they attempted to prove that premise by showing endless montage’s of firefighters, barbershop owners, and other public servants declaring that Bethpage was “my course.”  Well that’s all well and good, but wouldn’t it also be true of the lawyers, doctors, and accountants in the state of New York as well?  What about them?  How about all those financial analysts and investment bankers (the ones who are only under investigation, not indicted yet) working on Wall Street?  Isn’t Bethpage their course as well?  Where was the coverage of them?  Why is it that we only saw New York’s blue collar workers peddling golf’s virtues during the US Open?  

Then there was the absolute inability of any member of the television crew to go more than 4 minutes without mentioning how awesome New York sports fans are.  Good god that angle was played out.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the fans at Bethpage were excited about the US Open, but what… the… hell?  Are US Open’s not exciting when they are held in California or Ohio?  Does the rest of the country not sell out Open’s when they are held in their state?  Do the networks realize that 90% of their television audience doesn’t reside in the State of New York?  I mean it got to the point that the announcers were almost trying to one-up each other to see who could pour the most adulation onto the New York fans.  It was sickening.  The tournament is called the United State’s Open.  It’s the Country’s Open Championship.   Let’s celebrate the fact that it represents something more than just how totally awesome (except when their day gets rained out) New Yorkers are.  Especially considering the irony of how New York sports fans are generally portrayed:

I don’t know.  Maybe it’s just me.  Maybe it was the rain that dragged everything out that made the television coverage of the US Open so awkward this past weekend.  All I know is that by the end of the tournament I cared less about the result than about the fact that I was relieved to know that next year the tournament will be in California at Pebble Beach and will be somewhat back to normal.