FATHERS DAY, GOLF, AND NBC

Jim Furyk just won the U.S. Open Golf Championship. His final-round score of 72 put the 33-year-old Furyk at 8-under par for the prestigious tournament, tying the record for the lowest total score in U.S. Open history. But itís not Furykís record-tying performance that lands him on the Beli-Blog. Rather, itís NBCís over-the-top commentary in trying to make Furykís win some sort of a gift to his dad on Fatherís Day thatís got me burning.

To hear NBCís golf commentators, Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller, tell it ñ repeatedly throughout the televised event -- Furykís only thought on this record-tying day was his father (as if they would even know, sitting half a golf course away in their comfy 18th hole commentators booth). Every chance they got, Hicks and Miller told the TV viewing audience all about Furykís special relationship with his father and how nothing quite matches the bond shared by father and son. And of course, for each televised image of Furyk striking the ball, there were an equal number of images of the golferís father walking the course with his wife and cheering his son along.

Now donít get me wrong, Iím all in favor of traditional family values, but not when theyíre shoved down my throat, which is exactly how it felt watching the telecast. Thatís why I was particularly delighted to see Furyk simply give his father a handshake and a light kiss on the cheek after sinking his putt on the final hole. It wasnít the huge emotional embrace that Hicks and Miller had built the audience up for. Rather, Furyk seemed more excited to hug and kiss wife and hold his one-year-old daughter than go in for the Fatherís Day bear hug weíd all been led to believe would happen. Whatever the relationship between Furyk and his father, itís their relationship to have and cherish, not NBCís.