A few weeks ago, with golf season unfortunately coming to an end as the cold weather comes on, I had the best round of golf in my life. Through 17 holes, I was shooting an 88 — perhaps nothing that would impress a frequent golfer, but a perfectly satisfying outing for a casual player like myself. It got too dark to play the last hole, but I'd like to imagine that I would have finished somewhere in the low 90s.
A week after that, I played again, but in colder and rainier conditions. Let's just say that I have no desire to head back out on the course until next spring. It was on the third hole that I got stuck in a particularly thick patch of rough after a drive went awry, and it took me not one, not two, not three... but, like, eight or nine hacks to get back on the fairway. I've never had such a meltdown. I never knew I was capable of having such a meltdown. I never knew that such intense frustration and rage could course through my veins, as I'm generally a pretty mild-mannered guy.
That's just the way golf is. It brings out the worst in people when things just aren't going as expected, and I'm living proof of that phenomenon. So too, it appears, is legendary sportscaster Al Michaels.
In Week 10's edition of ESPN2's ManningCast, with a matchup between the Rams and 49ers serving as the backdrop, Michaels joined the show as the first guest and was as entertaining as we would've hoped. Never mind the (very, very interesting) description of his golf game — the action-packed, albeit brief, highlight reel was the best part of his segment.
Yep... we've all been there. Michaels participated in the 2008 Pro Am Tournament at Pebble Beach, so this may not have been a first glance at his game for several viewers. But for a younger audience like myself, seeing Michaels do his best (and not as NSFW) Ari Gold impression out on the links was certainly an unexpected benefit of tuning into the ManningCast instead of the standard ESPN broadcast, and it's for reasons like this one that we keep coming back for more.
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