On Jargon...

n. The specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group.

That's the third definition of jargon according to answers.com. More about this coming up. But first I digress...

I don't want to labour the point too much but I really have enjoyed watching the golf coverage this week.

Scroll down three paragraphs if you have no interest on my comments of golf!

The scenery has been awesome; the play has been fantastic. Above all else though I have enjoyed the commentary. I always do. Most of the time the extensive BBC team stick to task but from time to time they digress to matters away from the televised action. Wayne Grady will often talk about a particular Australian golfer's family/residence/etc. or how about Australia's chances in the Ashes. Ken Brown will often muse about the beauty of nature or poetry.

However, it is the always entertaining commentary of the ineffable stalwart of the BBC's golf coverage team, Peter Alliss, really is one of the main reasons for watching the golf on TV - whether it be the disbelief of the BBC letting him make his possibly sexist but probably well-meaning remarks about women's golf, the exaggerated and borderline homoerotic comments on players' shots and the swings that produce them, or his encyclopaedic knowledge of the game's history, often through personal experience (such as his recollection today about spending time on the course with Harry Vardon, who was winning majors at the turn of the 20th Century!)

I was especially amused by his comment today about a lucky hop Tom Watson had off a grassy knoll en route to landing his ball on the 17th green: 'Ooh, Tom! The golfing gods are with you, Tom. Old Tom Morris looked down and said "Aye..." '

Hello if you've just joined me again.

My major point is that a lot of my enjoyment of the golf commentary is a reward for sticking with it when I first started watching years ago, taking the time to figure out what all of the jargon they were using meant, and researching just a little bit the basic history of the last 100 years of the sport. See, I reckon there is a close relationship between the amount you know about a particular sport, particularly its jargon, and the enjoyment you can get out of that sport, with critical points representing the ideal amount of jargon to know for both casual and avid armchair sports fans alike:(The graph doesn't go through the maximum negative enjoyment value because people can probably derive limited enjoyment from just the moving pictures)

Point in case? A close friend of mine used to find cricket boring and impenetrable until a cricketing buff mutual friend of ours took the time to explain some of the main ins and outs of the game to him (no pun intended). Now? Well... he at least finds cricket more tolerable and during some of the faster-paced games mildly enjoyable! He is represented by the first critical point. Another case study is my relationship with baseball. On the above graph, I used to be at about the first critical point. Again, a third party was involved to explain to be some of the finer points of the rules and some research into what all of the stats actually represented brought me up to the second critical point!

This principle probably doesn't just have to apply to sports commentary; it can apply to music, art or virtually anything! Discussions with my friends at uni about different subject areas we study has shown me that the more I know about the terms they are using, (and jargon is pretty much unavoidable with a lot degree level science and philosophy it seems,) the more likely I am to truly appreciate it and not just have to nod my head politely. A little bit of knowledge goes a long way (especially between the two critical points!) although it must be said (as just pointed out to me by that cricket-tolerating friend) that jargon is just one part of acquiring a deeper understanding of a sport, something that I think you can probably learn to some extent indirectly just learning the lingo. I have just isolated jargon as it is probably one of the most obtuse things about any particular sport a novice viewer encounters.

After all that I leave you with a wonderful photograph of Ailsa Craig, a granite Scottish island which forms part of the wonderful backdrop to this year's Open golf. (Picture taken by Paul Hart, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Licence)

On Golf...

I've never played golf. Well, the closest I've ever come to playing golf is the putting green in Stourport-on-Severn. (I'm not sure that counts!) It's not that I've never wanted to. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be a complete fish at it. As a juggler and a musician I think I probably have decent enough hand-eye co-ordination to give it a good go and I enjoy most other sports with the hit-ball-with-funny-shaped-stick theme.

The things holding me back are probably two-fold:

1. The concept of spending so much money (on clubs and club membership) just to hit a ball around some lawns probably goes against my subconscious instincts.
2. The fact that my mom seems so against golf in general, describing it as a "game for wimps". Could I dare take up a hobby which would lead to me being classed as a "wimp" my OWN mother?
   

You know, I really would like to find out whether or not the reputation for that pedantic and conservative "country club"ethos and mentality is actually justified and I do reckon it would be good fun but I suppose it's one thing I'll set aside until I get challenged by a future boss to a match. That way I'll be almost guaranteed to lose and, according to things I'm sure I've seen on TV but can't but can't fully recall, that's probably a positive thing for a healthy relationship with one's superiors.

As it stands, putting greens are as far as I (rarely) go. Having said that, I enjoy very much watching golf on TV, especially when whole days of BBC schedules are cleared to make way for coverage of The Open Championship. I am writing this blog post two days into the current championship. Following two rounds, Tom Watson, who turns 60 this year and has long retired from the full-time PGA tour, has shot a leading score of 135 or 5 under par. In comparison, Tiger Woods, athletic, powerful, skilful, undoubtedly deserving of his long-term status as world #1, and the massive pre-tournament favourite, has shot 145 or 5 over par, missing the cut. There is something just... nice... about the old guard showing the new breed how to play the game properly, winding back the clock for one last hurrah, something which applies just as well in any sport, but has particular resonance in golf where players aged 16 and 59 can legitimately (yet rarely) compete against each other at the highest level.

Good luck Tom Watson - I hope you continue to play well this week and maybe you can even outperform Greg Norman's 3rd place finish in last year's Open...

Of course, I cannot write a blog about golf without discussing what is one of my favourite traditions of all time and certainly one of my TV highlights of the year. This is the presentation of the Green Jacket and with it membership to one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the world to the winner of the year's Master tournament in the Augusta National Golf Club's "historic" Butler Cabin. Oh what fun it would be when good old American Southern boy-turned-bigwig Hootie Johnson used to introduce the champion to the worldwide audience and, of course, his "good friend" Jim Nantz to ask the new chamion questions about his day's fine play. Alas, Hootie Johnson retired as Chairman of the club before the 2008 ceremony but 2009's presentation brought back memories of those awkward introductions of yesteryear which had been missing in 2008.

Here is 2006's presentation. You either "get" why this is funny or you don't. It can't be explained. I'm sorry if it's the latter...