December Offers To Lighten The Load Of My Self-Inflicted TV Sports Overload

Stop the madness. need a rest.

Ever since the Presidents Cup was televised, it has been non-stop sports action. Night and day, day and night, there is always something to watch. When you add in the time spent on all the fake news available and the high level entertainment in international politics, there isn’t a TV junkie who isn’t close to overload.

We have Brexit negotiations, the secession movement in Spain, North Korea, Syria and Donald Trump. Talk about a lot to handle. Add to the mix the fact that every professional sport played is producing its own mind-numbing action.

For example, Major League Baseball offerings include the Yankees looking for a new manager, a player arrested for allegedly pointing a gun at the head of a woman delivering food to his house and the teams in the World Series hitting more homeruns than during any previous final in history to which the players blame juiced-up baseballs. Game 5 was likely the most exciting game of all time in the World Series.

Other than that, not much is going on.

Turning to the NHL, the Las Vegas Golden Knights are proving to be more than a handful for their first year in the league, Connor McDavid is still terrific, Montreal hasn’t looked good and Toronto is upwardly mobile.

The NBA started its schedule early and hasn’t yet had much in the way of “new” news so far. In the “old” news department LaBron is still fantastic.

Once again, “old” news is “new” news in tennis where Roger Federer won the Swiss Indoor title for the eighth time giving him 95 career trophies. One can only hope he remains healthy long enough to reach 100. Currently, he stands behind Jimmy Connors, who had 109 all-time singles victories.

There’s plenty going on in NASCAR and the “beautiful” game of soccer, or football if you prefer, and then, we have golf.

In the past few months, we’ve had the ffs for the FedEx Cup playoffs, the Presidents Cup, the end of last season and the beginning of the new season, the Web.com Tour Finals, the Charles Schwab Cup, the European Tour’s Race to Dubai and LPGA Tour’s Asian swing and just to keep you on your toes, Tiger has announced his latest return.

At the WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai, the wind blew hard enough to cause World #1 Dustin Johnson to surrender a 6 stroke lead. Justin Rose, who began the day eight behind, shot a closing 67 to earn his victory,

Meanwhile, across the globe, the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Miss., was being dominated by a longtime journeyman professional, Ryan Armour, who at age 41 won for the first time on the PGA Tour.

In contrast to the collapse of Dustin Johnson, Armour teed off his final round with a five-stroke lead and shot a methodical, trophy-producing four-under 68. I love stories like this because the win not only comes with a nice sized cheque for $774,000; it comes with a two-year tour exemption that makes life much more comfortable going forward.

Relevant to competition, the finest player in the world, Bernhard Langer is closing in on his fourth consecutive Charles Schwab Cup at the age of 60.

While plodding along on the PGA Tour circuit Champions, Langer continues to amaze everyone.

At a time when most old warriors get tired and lose a little skill level, Langer is getting better. He has always driven the ball very well, been a strong iron player, a deft pitcher and since becoming a long putter advocate, a superb putter.

Where he gets better and better is his tenacity and course management and his distance control with his irons. I didn’t think anyone would ever play at a higher level on this tour than Hale Irwin, but Bernard is closing in.

As the LPGA winds its way through a series of events in Asia/Malaysia we have nothing but great golf, fine shot-making, fantastic short game work and wonderful putting. Take that lovely 35-footer Cristie Kerr sunk on the final hole to win last week in Malaysia, for instance.

These women are good. They rarely miss a fairway and they actually play shots that break toward the hole – what a concept. Not only that, but I think the finest swing on any tour belongs to So Yeon Ryu.

Typical of most Canadians, I cheer for Brooke Henderson who I think is fantastic. I am also drawn to watching the LPGA approach its finale at the CME Group Tour Championship next week.

Since the beginning of September, I have looked at sporting events held in every corner of the world – one on one, five on five, six on six, nine on nine, team sports and individual sports. I love them all.

In the 1488 hours in September and October, there have been over 500 hours of TV broadcasting high-profile sports, most of it in prime time. I think I’ve watched my share.

I’m glad I am retired because it saves someone the unpleasant ask of firing me because,, quite frankly I couldn’t fit a job into a schedule that primarily involves a bit of work around the house, a bit of golf played, some sleep and a lot of TV entertainment

When people say I watch too much TV, at least my priority is golf. Sometimes I fall asleep during a tournament but unlike other sports, I never turn it off until it’s over and golf is the only sport I only like watching live.

I’ll be glad when December comes around. At least there will only be football, basketball and hockey to cope with and the NFL playoffs are on weekends. That should lighten the burden somewhat.

About Michael Schurman

Michael Schurman is a Master Professional and Life Member who first joined the PGA of Canada in 1964. He has served on the PGA of Ontario and PGA of Canada boards of directors, including president of the PGA of Ontario. The past recipient of the Ontario Club Professional of the Year Award is retired and living in Durham, Ontario, with his wife Diane.