I Hope Matt Every Wins The Damn Sony Open!

[cheffdiddy_45]

INSERT RANT -

My GF and I were sitting down to dinner, watching live coverage of the Sony Open.  They flip to the player interview of the guy leading the tournament, a guy I had never heard anything about.   Matt Every.  As Kelly starts interviewing him, I told my GF that this guy must have a social anxiety disorder or something, because he acted very uncomfortable even talking about the most basic of things (He didn't even know what he shot on the back 9).

What followed was simply jaw dropping.  Kelly should have noticed that Matt was uncomfortable, so why she saw that as an oppurtunity to drudge up his past, is beyond me.  Look, I know we all have to answer for our shortcomings, but really?  On national television?  When you are leading a world class golf tournament?  When no one knows anything about you, other than you are currently leading a golf tournament?  When you just want to talk about the fantastic round of golf you just played?

Kelly Tilghman and Golf Channel should be ashamed of themselves.  I know Matt Every isn't Tiger, Phil, Ernie, Vijay or Rory, but my God, give him a little respect.  And that's another thing.  Matt Every is a new player on tour, a no name hoping to stick.  He obviously doesn't have the communications camp that a Tiger Woods has, so he IS going to have to handle himself better in interviews.  But not under those circumstances.  That was bush league of Kelly.

I took to Twitter to voice my displeasure with Kelly and The Golf Channel team.  Not because I condone what Every did or how he handled the interview, but because he shouldn't have been treated that way.  What does him getting busted for pot two years ago have to do with him leading a tournament?  I didn't get to see any of his shots, putts, anything.  Instead I had to watch a poor guy get ambushed for a simple mistake almost everyone in life has made or will make.

I don't know Matt Every.  Never heard him.  But I hope he goes out there and wins this tournament.  And then gets to go on Golf Channel and talk about what really matters.  His golf game and how he won this tournament!

[cheffdiddy_45]

For those that haven't seen.

[beamjb7917]

Hey, thank you for writing this. Saw the interview. Couldn't agree with you more.

[Mr. Desmond]

He's had two years to prepare for this interview.

He handled the questions poorly.

All he had to say, "I smoked pot and it was a mistake. It's not only against the law, my sport screens for it. I take responsibility. Next question."

I thought, "Holy smokes, what an idiot. After two years, he doesn't know how to answer this question in a positive way."

If your sport that you play professionally screens for drugs and you still use a banned substance, I'd say you have some personal issues. I looked at the guy and thought, "He needs counseling" because even if he took responsibility, he did not know how to answer the question and move on.

[cheffdiddy_45]

On what, the Nationwide Tour?  The local paper?

[cheffdiddy_45]

Like I said, I am not dismissing how the guy handled the interview.  But I equate how Kelly and GC handled it to, your best man standing up and giving his toast and casually mentioning the pro you hooked up with in Vegas.  Or getting handed to college degree and reminded of the all night kegger you got arrested at.  I mean, if you want to do a hard hitting Q and A with the guy, get at the least, a comfortable enviroment for him to answer your questions in.  Sit him down with Rosie.

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by cheffdiddy_45

On what, the Nationwide Tour?  The local paper?

Don't you think you should have an answer for your behavior when asked? And when asked, don't you think you should handle it in a positive manner? And if you can't formulate a good answer, shouldn't you go to someone who can assist you, especially when you play professionally on a tour where there is a good possibility you might appear on tv if you play well, and in a sport where only a couple of guys have been punished for such behavior?

The questions should have been expected. During the interview, he says he's been asked about it all the time. If so, was moving around uncomfortably in your seat and hemming and hawing the best way to answer the question?

The player did not have to go into detail, but he could have said, "Look Kelly, I smoked pot. It was a mistake, I don't do it any longer. I take responsibility for my behavior."

Pretty simple.

[cheffdiddy_45]

That's why I say, I wonder if he has a social anxiety disorder.  It appears to me that he does and as someone that has the same problems, sometimes it isn't as simple as saying, "Yeah, blah blah blah".  Whether he should have been prepared or not, it was tasteless of GC and Kelly to turn his good round of golf into an attack on his past.  Maybe Matt should have brought up that whole Kelly/Tiger thing and seen how Kelly handled it.

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by cheffdiddy_45

That's why I say, I wonder if he has a social anxiety disorder.  It appears to me that he does and as someone that has the same problems, sometimes it isn't as simple as saying, "Yeah, blah blah blah".  Whether he should have been prepared or not, it was tasteless of GC and Kelly to turn his good round of golf into an attack on his past.  Maybe Matt should have brought up that whole Kelly/Tiger thing and seen how Kelly handled it.

It's not as simple as "yeah, blah, blah, blah."

It's an internal process and act of maturity to accept responsibility and recognize your fault. I don't know what Matt thinks or has done about his issue. I'm sure a lot of guys blow it off, saying, "Hey, it was dope, no big deal. The law is stupid, as is the ban for pot." That rationalization will bite you in the butt again. It takes a lot of thought to accept what happened, be accountable to yourself, and form a simple, positive story. Why? Because the excuses get in our way of the simple reality of "I smoked pot, I'm a professional, it's against the rules and the law, and I screwed up."

[deasy55]

Matt Every has gained a fan in me and I have lost any of the remaining respect I had for Kelly Tilghman.

I wonder the next time Tiger is leading will she bring up Thanksgiving 2009? Or if Vijay is leading will she bring up the cheating stories from the Asian Tour in the 80s? Dustin Johnson's DUI? Phil Mickelson rumours of his illegitimate child in Ohio? The list goes on.

[joekelly]

From the NYTimes today this : " Every, who carded a six-under-par 64, was perhaps best known for a three-month tour suspension he received in 2010 for conduct unbecoming a professional after he was arrested during a tournament in July on a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession. All charges were later dropped."

So Matt  Every was not smoking dope.  The almighty PGA did not like one of their  underlings even hanging around dope smokers so they slammed him for 3 months.  And you know that if he moans and groans about the penalty too loudly, they will slam him again.  Just like the Chinese authorities do  when folks there speak out against injustice.  I did not read that the PGA did any drug test on Every, only took the initial word of the Moline Illinois police report (or something like that) from the Quad Cities open.  Remember those lacrosse players from Duke and the poor little dancing girl, then one year later the  local and very creepy District Attorney was disbarred for totally falsifying the reports because he did not like the 'rich Duke boys'.  So the power structure of sports  heavily favors the rich status, and let's face it, the white folks with the bucks.

[joekelly]

Yeah, and i'm with you CliffDiddly--45.  I too hope Matt Every wins the Sony Open.  Go Matt.  Every, every day  better than Tebow.

[deasy55]

From the Golf Channel:

“I don’t do drugs. It was a crappy deal, man,” Every said. “Wrong place, wrong time, perfect storm. And you know, I got three months out of it. It’s over with. I’m not mad at the tour. They did what they had to do. I totally understand it. But it’s over with.”

Every said he is not a “party animal.”

“I still hang out with the same people,” he said. “I have great friends, man. If one of my friends likes to smoke marijuana every now and then, I’m not going to say, `Well, you can’t be my friend anymore.’ Honestly, man, I know more people who smoke marijuana than who don’t smoke marijuana. I know that’s probably not the politically correct thing to say, but it’s the truth.”

[WWBDD]

It takes a lot of thought to accept what happened, be accountable to yourself, and form a simple, positive story.

Like "I found God"?

Tilghman's a joke.

[The_Pharaoh]

Talk about digging for a story that's simply not there. I don't blame Tilghman, she's did what she was told to do by the Golf Channel. You could tell as she was nervous just asking the question. Every was horrible and I agree with others that he has had the time to come up with a better reply.

[Mr. Desmond]

I agree in that it was a story in 2010 -- but to bring it up now?

Is Matt Every running for political office?

I wonder if they gave him any warning.... didn't seem like it. So it was an amateurish ambush by the Golf Channel. Still, you wished he had a better response.

[Jmdmbike]

Matt Every has gained a fan in me and I have lost any of the remaining respect I had for Kelly Tilghman.

I wonder the next time Tiger is leading will she bring up Thanksgiving 2009? Or if Vijay is leading will she bring up the cheating stories from the Asian Tour in the 80s? Dustin Johnson's DUI? Phil Mickelson rumours of his illegitimate child in Ohio? The list goes on.

Absolutely right. The issue to me is that the GC seemed to ambush the guy and talk about something he wasn't obviously ready to discuss and detracted from what should have been an important moment for him. I would expect that if they wanted to go there, the least they could do is give the guy a heads up, as I'm sure they would give Tiger, Phil, DJ or any of the big name stars. GC screwed up, plain and simple.

[The_Pharaoh]

Originally Posted by Jmdmbike

Absolutely right. The issue to me is that the GC seemed to ambush the guy and talk about something he wasn't obviously ready to discuss and detracted from what should have been an important moment for him. I would expect that if they wanted to go there, the least they could do is give the guy a heads up, as I'm sure they would give Tiger, Phil, DJ or any of the big name stars. GC screwed up, plain and simple.

A heads up would have been the professional thing to do, but Every has had two years to practice saying, "Yeah, I broke the rules and I shouldn't have done it. Fortunately, the incident has made me a stronger person and that has only been good for my golf game as today's score proves".