Too Much

I don't want to talk about the Twins loss and more trade rumors today.

So I won't.

Instead I'm going to talk a little bit about the British Open. While waiting to go to church yesterday morning, I turned on the TV hoping to catch a few baseball highlights before taking off. ESPN was broadcasting the British Open instead so I figured I'd watch a little golf.

I didn't watch it long because of their "new improved" way of showing tee shots. As soon as the golfer hit the ball, a blue graphic arrow was superimposed over the ball showing it's flight path.

WHAT?

One of the few things I've liked about watching golf over the years was seeing that shot WITHOUT the graphics. Even in the old days before HD television I could see the shot well enough to follow its path. It was FUN to see that ball get up and MOVE. With my HD television I was really looking forward to seeing the ball's trajectory.

Except they didn't show it.

I watched the next guy's tee off too, hoping that it was an occasional thing to "add" to the viewing experience. NOPE. Big blue ball path, immediately. Again. And they never showed any replays of the shot without the graphic either.

This reminded me a lot of the failed NHL experiment years ago where they had a trailing graphic following the puck all over the ice so you could "see the movement of the puck" as it went from player to player. Thankfully, that didn't last long. As bad as hockey is to watch, that made the game completely unwatchable.

I wasn't alone in that assessment because it didn't take hockey long to can the entire experiment. Those who followed the game, had no problem following the puck. And hockey went on just lke it used to.

I hope the same thing happens with golf. Even if you can't always follow the ball when it's hit from the tee, the blue graphic is not in any way an improvement. It makes the game itself look like a computer simulated tutorial.

I'd rather watch the Twins get slaughtered than watch that. And I turn the TV off when the Twins are getting slaughtered.