The comedian Will Durst is one of the two bloggers at the official Masters.org blog. He is assuming the role of the "non-golf focused, regular guy" point of view of the tournament.
I think that this can be a valid and an interesting way of covering a golf tournament, but the choice of Durst by the extraordinarily traditional and staid Masters members is very surprising to me. Durst is known as a national political satirist who tends to bash both sides of the political aisle, and at least in the above YouTube clip of his one man show, completely skewers the sitting President of the United States. Some folks don't care for that sort of talk.
Already in his Masters blog he has called the tournament "The Big Kahuna of the Dimpled Ball" and referred to Augusta as "Chlorophyll city" for how green everything is.
I can't fathom anyone thinking that his Masters blog is particularly funny, but more importantly, that the Masters members would think its tone is appropriate.
Famously, announcer Gary McCord was removed from the CBS Masters announcing team after the 1994 broadcast because he referred said that the course "used bikini wax" on the greens and indicated that the mounds on the course looked "suspiciously like body bags."
If the Masters cares about this sort of decorum from outside announcers, it is hard to think that they would appreciate a bunch of silly, trite observations about their course from a political satirist who is putting this on their official website.
I know it's hard sometimes to blog on deadline and try to be funny, but I believe the number one rule of blogging is not to anger the people who are giving you a forum, especially if they are touchy.
It's not like they hired Tucker Max to blog for them, (though that would certainly be an unusual view of the Masters, I must say), but I can't think of too many comedians, satirists or humorists who could write a haha blog for the Masters while maintaining the decorum they expect of its members,
So do you think that Durst make it through the entire Masters, or someone pulls the plug on this experiment?
Of course, if they need regular person to blog for them in the future, I would be willing to do it for free, and keep my references to the course Big Kahuna-free.
ADVERTISEMENT
_thumbnail.jpg "NASCAR Cowboy Hats")
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. This guy may not be funny but we don't need your opinion about whether or not the public appreciates his Bush bashing, as discerned by you. Your job is to report on sports and not play kiss ass republican. If you want to give your political opinions, suggest you apply for a job at Fox News.
Posted at 11:05PM on Apr 8th 2008 by bridgehome
2. @1 bridgehome-
Uh, I didn't make any sort of political statement or judgment in this post. I write about sports to try to avoid politics.
I was just saying that the stodgy conservative members of Augusta might not appreciate this wacky little blog from a guy who is a political satirist.
I did give an opinion about whether I thought his blog was funny. It isn't.
Thanks for reading and commenting,
Steph
Posted at 11:08PM on Apr 8th 2008 by Stephanie Stradley
3. Bridgehome, chill out.
Masters and Augusta national has always taken the highroad, or better yet, their own road not to subscribe to drama and politics,,it has always been just about the golf and i respect them for that,,they dont sell out, so it seems stupid to have any official blogger with ANY type of affiliations..Augusta does care that you hate bush.
Posted at 9:41AM on Apr 9th 2008 by ruusta
4. Wow. Stephanie.
You're right. That guy's brutal. And I'm about as liberal as they come.
Posted at 10:26AM on Apr 9th 2008 by petejayhawk
5. Someone please tell Fornelli about rule number one of blogging.
Posted at 12:38PM on Apr 9th 2008 by JCN
6. @5 Actual LOL.
Posted at 12:39PM on Apr 9th 2008 by Stephanie Stradley
7. If you are anti-Bush you are dumb. And I'm black!
-Jacolby
Posted at 7:55PM on Apr 9th 2008 by Jacolby Russell
8. "Chlorophyll city"? More like "Boreophyll city!"
Posted at 11:13AM on Apr 10th 2008 by Hawkeye State
9. jacolby,
WoW, I must be dumb as I cannot stand George Bush,I have an MA of politcal science,i must be an idiot.
Your comment is unwarrented and irresponsible, it does not matter what race you are, George W. Bush still executes the most ridiculous policies i have ever seen.
Posted at 11:49AM on Apr 10th 2008 by devin
10. I applaud CBS\Masters for taking a "punt" on a comedian as blogger. Golf is a dreadfully boring often elitist game.
I wish that the PGA would allow people to make noise during competitions in particular in the middle of a backswing.
The fact that Will Durst skewers all politicians I find funny.
There's politics in all sports and if Will Durst cares to tee off on the rodeo clown we currently have as a president, then more power to him.
Posted at 3:48PM on Apr 11th 2008 by stephen
11. Will Durst is a comedy legend. He's not just a legendary comedian, his political views are cherished by hordes of followers.
Posted at 9:01AM on Apr 29th 2008 by Comedian