Augusta National admits two women members

[hondo]

Are you freakin' serious? You're talking about the same guys who don't allow any writers inside the ropes? THESE are the people who are so wonderful and accommodating? Riiiiiiiight.

Seems like you're the type of whining sportswriter that gives the rest of us a bad rep.

No, just someone who would like one of the modern-day basics to help me do my job. It's not a lot to ask.

I never got why writers just had to be inside the ropes. I covered several Tour events and never once went inside the ropes even though I was allowed to. Once, at the PGA in Palm Beach Gardens, I was walking with one of those feature groupings (I know Nicklaus and Palmer were in it, and I think Watson was the third). I was standing right up against the ropes. Along comes a fellow scribe inside the ropes. Once he kneeled down, we had exactly the same vantage point. The only difference was that everyone else didn't know I was a member of the media.

Also, in my experience, by Sunday at Augusta anybody really covering the Masters is inside watching on the monitors.

If there are 6-7 players in the mix and they're spread out, I would catch as much of the front nine as I could, maybe fight the crowds at Amen Corner for the last twosome, then hightail it to the media center for the finish. Really, no other way to to do it and catch as much of what you need to see.

 

[hondo]

I've somehow never covered an event in Georgia, but if I ever do, here's my ranking of Georgia sports venues I'd like to visit:

1. Sanford Stadium
2. Bobby Dodd Stadium
3. Turner Field
4. Georgia Dome
5. Philips Arena
6. Alexander Fieldhouse
7. Road Atlanta
8. Atlanta Motor Speedway
9. Stegeman Coliseum
10. Paulson Stadium
11. Foley Field
12. Russ Chandler Stadium
13. East Lake Golf Club
14. Random high school football game, perhaps in Valdosta, Ga.
15. Random minor league baseball game involving any of Georgia's affiliated teams.
16. Random Georgia State athletic event
17. Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (I know it's gone, but I could just sit there and pretend there's a game going on. Phil Niekro is starting for the Braves. Hank Aaron, Dale Murphy, David Justice ... look out. Steve Bartkowski throwing to Alfred Jenkins? The Falcons playing outside? Yes please.)
18. Random Mercer University athletic event.
19. Random Albany State athletic event.
20. The Omni (see Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, only replace "Phil Niekro" and "Hank Aaron" references with "John Drew" and "Spud Webb")
21. Atlanta Silverbacks match
22. Random Kennesaw State athletic event.
23. Random Morehouse College athletic event.
24. Muni softball game in Dalton, Ga.
25. Nerf football sandlot game in Cordele, Ga.
26. Gwinnett ECHL game.
27. Duck, Duck, Goose in Columbus, Ga.
28. Atlanta Rollergirls roller hockey
29. Illegal street hot rod race in Waycross, Ga.
30. Random Savannah State University event.

And then after a gazillion other things.

Gazillion. Augusta National

Why so many media members continue to genuflect to this arcane place is beyond me. I hate the double-standard of calling them out for their Neanderthal ways, yet, slobbering all over their bullshirt traditions which are rooted in those very same Neanderthal ways.

fork 'em and the cornpone CBS dulcet tones soundtrack they rode in on.

As we already known, there are many traditions about Augusta that weren't so good. But there are far more that are part of what makes the Masters a great event.

 

[hondo]

Maybe now Martha Burk can turn her attention to getting wireless Internet in the media center so the club can join the rest of the planet in the modern world.

Every seat is hard-wired to an ethernet cable. We do just fine.

That's great until you're the fourth guy of an organization with two seats and you have to stand in the aisles in order to borrow a connection so you can send something out of the building. With all the technology that's available, it's just inexcusable not to have the convenience. It's not as though it's overly costly to get it done.

You are the first person I've ever heard complain about what Augusta National does for the media in terms of doing our job, aside from the day in 2008 when the wireless internet went down several times -- and then they called in dozens of techies to hard-wire every seat overnight. These guys wrote the book on assisting the media in the day to day job of reporting on a golf tournament.

Are you freakin' serious? You're talking about the same guys who don't allow any writers inside the ropes? THESE are the people who are so wonderful and accommodating? Riiiiiiiight.

They don't allow anyone except players and caddies inside the ropes because they want the fairways and greens to be uncluttered with cameramen, sound technicians, walking scorekeepers, standard bearers and media. It's nothing against the media, per se. It's what they've always done. THere are enough hills, etc. to get good vantage points and they have media-only stands between 9 and 18 greens.
You're barking up the wrong tree here. When it comes to covering the tournament, strictly birdies and bogeys, no one helps the media more than those guys. They're not going to give out copies of the members handbook or a list of members or the key to the wine cellar but when it comes to just golf, they're great.
Seems like you're the type of whining sportswriter that gives the rest of us a bad rep.

No, just someone who would like one of the modern-day basics to help me do my job. It's not a lot to ask.

And I'm telling you from experience that they provide far, far more than the modern-day basics. Start with the computers at each station where you can watch every interview, indoors or outdoors, live. Then the coverage on every single hole on the back nine, again, live. They get transcripts out for everything, even quick interviews on the rope line, in record time. The parking situation is tons better than any major (still within walking distance, but they take you in on golf carts anyway).
Just because they don't let us inside the ropes is not a big deal. Again, they let no one inside the ropes, not even CBS.

 

[doctorquant]

And I'm telling you from experience that they provide far, far more than the modern-day basics. Start with the computers at each station where you can watch every interview, indoors or outdoors, live. Then the coverage on every single hole on the back nine, again, live. They get transcripts out for everything, even quick interviews on the rope line, in record time. The parking situation is tons better than any major (still within walking distance, but they take you in on golf carts anyway).
Just because they don't let us inside the ropes is not a big deal. Again, they let no one inside the ropes, not even CBS.

Back in my days covering the Masters (before they redid the media center), our seats were up in the second tier. Up there they had binoculars chained to the desks so writers could see the scores being posted way down there on that big scoreboard. Definitely felt as if you were stepping back in time.

 

[heyabbott]

If Cindy Sheehan had only kept her mouth shut, we'd have been out of Iraq in 2004.

If only George H.W. pulled out of Babs a little earlier ...

 

[BTExpress]

The internet has allowed you to spew your vile beliefs in a forum where people are happy to call you out.

You have the benefit of being told how disgusting your beliefs are. This gives you the opportunity and the responsibility to examine your beliefs. You have a chance to remove the black stain from your soul.

You can reject the hate you have embraced and you can change, and become a better person.

There was a guideline at one of the first boards I frequented (way more than a decade ago), and it's still a pretty good one.

"Respond to the post, not to the poster."

In other words, respond to something posted ON THIS THREAD. Don't sidetrack the thread by calling someone a disgusting human being based on something he may have posted on another thread 3 months ago. What purpose does that serve? Have there been some "vile beliefs" posted in this discussion? Then why bring the subject up?