NiceBallz - Play Ballzy

The Super Bowl is just a short time away now (yeeehawww) and yet the ads have already begun to air.

Well, the banned ads anyway.  One of course makes the obligatory white-dudes-that-play-golf-have-their-head’s-up-their-rears reference. 

According to a post at mediabistro, KGB didn’t create the ad expecting it to be booted.  What do you think?  Offensive?  Funny?  Both?

As a side, is the blonde in the video Heather from Real Women Golf or just her doppelganger?

We dig golf marketing. 

Not because it’s good. Oh no, usually it’s dreadful, unless you have erectile dysfunction issues – then you are likely well informed of a wealth of options available to you.

But sometimes we find something that is interesting for all the right, or even wrong reasons. 

This may not be new to you but it was called out to us by a reader and we thought we’d share the ‘Amazing’ video from Callaway golf.

So what do you think?  Does it belong in the golf marketing Hall of Fame or Hall of Shame?

There are arguments to be made for both:

Pros – The ‘I’m not even sure I got it all!’ line is chuckle-worthy and it’s refreshing to see a golf related ad that features a couple in bed instead of bathtubs.

Cons – Where’s the love for the ladies?  In a perfect world there would be a version of the video featuring a female golfer. Natalie Gulbis gets our casting nod please.  Also, a tad stereotypical ‘bigger, longer’ etc. Why stop at the (not so) subtle comparisons between driving length and, um other things and just make the driver into a giant phallus?

Let us know what you think in comments on if it’s Fame or Shame worthy.

A couple of clips for your viewing pleasure courtesy of @GolferWriterGuy who battled pushy wire service photographers to get some great shots of M.J. Hur’s winning putt and her press conference.

Golfweek’s Beth Ann Baldry (who regardless of what you may think of her as a writer, impressed me by possibly being the only traditional media reporter who readily was on the course viewing play) had this to say about Hur’s win and subsequent press conference.

Give a look and listen and see if you agree with Baldry’s take.

Photo & video credit: NiceBallz

Pettersen misses.  Hur makes & wins.

Hur post round press conference

Check out what Natalie Gulbis had to say about her second round at the LPGA Safeway Classic today. Or if you prefer just put your speakers on mute and watch, kind of a no lose situation for many of us.

Tomorrow is shaping up to potentially be a fun final day here at Pumpkin Ridge.  You can pretty much forget any chance of Wie making history with her first win given she is (as of the writing of this article) +2 on the day.

But it’s still a pretty compelling leaderboard with the likes of Miyazato, Nordqvist, Gulbis and others all within range of making a run for the lead. 

Familiar with Seon Hwa Lee?  If not, you’re probably going to get your chance to see her in action during the whopping two hours of ESPN coverage tomorrow of the final round of the LPGA Safeway Classic.

Until then, here’s a brief recap of her round today that currently (as of 4pm Pacific) has her tied for 2nd place.

Think of this as an amuse-bouche from us.  Just a lil something to get your taste buds dancing in advance of regular play kicking off at the Safeway Classic today.

Christina Kim

First up, a quick clip from @TheChristinaKim and a mea culpa on my part – due to user error technical difficulties I only got a portion of my interview with her captured. Yes…I know…and trust me, you can’t say anything about me on this subject that I haven’t already said at myself, thank you.

In the clip I salvaged Christina speaks about some of the criticism she got for her reactions during the Solheim Cup:

What was screwed up by me lost on the editing room floor, was her comment/request to fans to please ‘don’t tweet me’ about their criticisms of her behavior. 

On one hand I get it. For her (and likely other players), Twitter is a fun venue to get some interaction and, let’s be honest, fan adoration. So unwanted criticism can put a damper on that mood.

Practically though, it is not realistic.  As we’ve said before, people are people and social media services like Twitter are about interaction.  All kinds of interaction - good/bad/indifferent. And in doing searches of @TheChristinaKim messages an overwhelming number of them are incredibly supportive and positive. 

So is it just a matter of an athlete with thin skin?  Maybe. Or it could arguably be more naïveté around what is to be expected from the general public interaction that happens via social media.  One thing is for sure, Kim gets a lot of attention, and not just on Twitter. Fans were regularly stopping her asking for a hug, a photo and complimenting her on her performance at the Solheim. If (and that is likely a big ‘if’) she’s suffered any loss of fan support from her actions at the Solheim Cup it isn’t reflected at Portland this week.

Junior Looper

Junior Seau has a future as an LPGA caddy if he decides to (finally) hang up his football cleats.  Thursday, Seau caddied for Natalie Gulbis during a ProAm at The Safeway Classic and here is a clip of him talking about what it’s like to carry the bag for Gulbis (note - the ‘Greg’ Seau calls out is Gulbis’ caddy and he said “They’ve (other caddies) been after my job for six years.”:

Seau only carried the bag for 9 holes (such a candy-ass) and afterwards some EMT’s were kind enough to give him the medical treatment he needed by rushing oxygen onto the 9th green – in jest, I think…at least I’m pretty sure it was a joke.

Look for photos from the Safeway in our Gallery and further updates over the next several days.

I think these clips may highlight why we don’t always win the tournaments we enter (we actually have won one and at times have been ‘in the money’ in others). 

Regardless of the outcome we have fun.  And yes, I do have a potty mouth.  I learned from Tiger.  So there’s that.

I try to help Corey get his confidence going.

We went for the win on 17 and…um, well…you see…what happened was…

We found our own phantom farter a la David Feherty.

Editorial note: Ok that was not Corey in that last clip making the extra sound effects. Nor I.  It was the iPhone app.  Honest.  I swear. Or it may have been the dog.