I’ve always had Johnny Miller on my list of must-watch analysts. By that I mean, if Miller is doing analysis of the Springfield Putt-Putt Championship, I’m watching.
He’s going through Lincoln’s hat? You’ve got to be kidding me.
However, after more than 20 years of Miller being the voice of golf for NBC, I’m sensing some fatigue. People are starting to grow tired of his act.
John Strege of Golfdigest.com did a post Saturday noting some negative comments about Miller via Twitter. Here’s a passage:
NBC’s Johnny Miller was eviscerated in the Twitter world throughout the telecast of the third round, criticism coming from all quarters — fans, players, counterparts, even a player’s wife.
“How does Johnny Miller have a job when he speaks such nonsense???” Geoff Ogilvy’s wife Juli wrote on Twitter.
Peter Kostis, a CBS analyst, posted this when Miller called Graeme McDowell “a driving genius,” who then drove it into the trees: “He’s a driving genius! Whack, club hits ball, whack, ball hits tree, oops.”
Colt Knost, who missed the cut, weighed in: “According to Johnny miller every bad shot is BC of nerves!! There is such a thing as a bad swing. Sorry for being human”
Then this from Tommy Biershenk, who must have missed Chris Berman’s inane play on his name the day before, something to do with beer and shank: “Am I the only one that can do without Johnny Miller? #Mr.Negative.”
I found these anti-Miller Tweets from Sunday.
griffin_flesch8 JohnnyMiller could shoot -18 around Olympic right now from the tips if he wanted to
DanLevyThinks “You have no idea how good that feels, folks.” JohnnyMiller ONCE AGAIN makes it about him.
KegsnEggs JohnnyMiller on winning the US Open: “I’d tell you how good it feels, but you peasants wouldn’t understand.”
@jenny_suh JohnnyMiller is such a great commentator ~ said nobody, EVER!BKleinGolfweek JohnnyMiller picks on a teen to criticize, taking Beau Hossler to task for over-reaching his goals. Nice going on Fathers Day, Johnny.
Joe Posnanski
@JPosnanski Nobody ever seems to make the one JohnnyMiller calls “an easy putt.”
Not sure what to make of the reaction other than people simply get tired of hearing the same voice for so many years. In the eyes of his critics, Miller has veered off the road of being refreshingly candid.
I’m still in his camp. I love his candor and his unpredictable say-anything nature.
Here’s Johnny from yesterday’s telecast:
“Phil and Tiger look like they’ve turned back the clock to when they were about five (years old).” On the struggles of Mickelson and Woods.
“That is so dead. That is incredibly dead. That is the end of his chances.” On Padraig Harrington’s approach shot on 18, which landed buried in a bunker left of the green. Harrington was +2 at the time.
“I don’t know what the heck he is reading there.” On Graeme McDowell’s final putt on 18 which would have tied him with Webb Simpson and forced a playoff.
“He just fell apart is what it amounts to, at 42 years old and wanting it so badly…You’ve got to feel for him. He sure deserves to win because he works so hard in every aspect.” On Jim Furyk’s approach shot on No. 18 that went into the left bunker.
It still works for me.
The bottom line for Miller is that he turned 65 in April. I don’t see him doing this job forever. He has other interests.
So we also should enjoy Miller while we can. There never will be another like him.
Miller is the only one who goes right after Eldrick when it is merited. He set up all viewers excellently on Saturday when he noted that Mr. Woods has a history of failure to adjust to changing course conditions. Sure enough, dude made a mess out of everything by never realizing the relative softness of the course. He was always a half-club off. His putting was uniformly much too cautious.
The real problem with NBC coverage is that every analyst strives to show us all how smart they are. They constantly step over each other with their observations,many of which are duplicative. My favorite was when Maltbie took us to break noting that the course was the winner. We come right back to Costas whose essay was all about Olympic being the true winner.
I counted at least 10 times when MIller made an observation which was immediately parroted by another analyst. Do they not listen to each other? They most certainly do on CBS. Why are three talent routinely commenting on a given shot/situation anyway? Often, there were four or even five contributors.
It all comes off as a bunch of know-it-alls one-upping and it is unseemly. The inescapable takeaway is that there is resentment of Miller amongst the crew. NBC has made it clear, for good or ill, that JM is the MAN. They WANT him to be the center of the telecast, unlike at CBS and Disney productions where the lead analyst lays low for periods of time.
Having worked golf tournaments back in the day, and seeing the massive egos of talent and producers, along with the glaring insecurities of many of these folks, this new whisper campaign against JM was inevitable and, to me, remarkably late in coming.
Miller is a rare gem who attempts to take the viewer far past the obvious. Sometimes he overbakes, but he is peerless and the best ever at calling trends within a player’s round.
Things I’ve learned from Johnny Miller: a) When players get nervous, they tend to get quick with their putter and pull putts left. b) When players get nervous, they tend to get “handsy” with their stroke and push putts right. c) When players get nervous, they tend to focus on the line of putts and leave them short. d) When players get nervous, they tend to grip the putter too tightly, causing them to hit putts too hard. You too can be Johnny Miller – diagnose any missed putt with a, b, c or d above!