Had the stream on in the living room last night when the girlfriend came over for dinner. Told her it was the world championships being broadcast live, and had the volume just loud enough to hear it in the kitchen while I was wrapping things up. She kinda did a slight eyeroll when I mentioned it was worlds.
She doesn't hate on dg, but I think still kinda scoffs at the thought of "pro dg". Had explained the dynamic of Covid, decreased supply, increased demand, social media increase of pros during lockdown…kinda how it was a perfect storm of things. I still thing a big part of dg picking up steam comes from when pretty much all major sports were non existent about a year ago. All the YouTube challenge videos, stuff like that…was something to watch when there were pretty much no live sports. Anyway, I think she was just skeptical of what people throwing frisbees for money entailed.
We were sitting at the table eating and the tv audio goes berserk. She gives me a wtf was that look and I go "uh oh, sounds like the hippie's are getting rowdy, something big just happened". We were pretty much finished eating so hopped on the couch to see what went down. I'd mentioned before how McBeth landed the 10 year deal, and how JC left sponsors at the beginning of this season. Many props to the gallery setup on 18, seeing that shot on video and the eruption after was pretty epic. Immediately could see her gain some interest…there's no way anybody could watch that clip and not get excited about it, even if you've never seen or heard of dg before.
So of course we watch the playoff hole, which was awesome as well with the mountain backdrop, gallery, and downhill island shot. Mentioned that JC aced it a couple days prior and told her he was probably gonna swing it wide over the tree again. Talked a bit about the ladies earlier and how Cat came up short and hit the wall and how it's there to block off the island and for a playoff hole it's insane because of the nerves and spectators. Took a minute after Paul went OB to explain the drop zone and why it was pretty much over as soon as he hit the water.
Ha, so I think after a bunch of words, the point I'm trying to make is…both finishes were nail biters. Even though there was some flack thrown out there over the driving range and OB markings put down mid tournament, I think the way holes 16 and 18 were set up for spectators and drama needs it's deserved praise. The environment itself definitely contributed to the overall electric vibe of those finishes.
I'm not sure who has the rights to use what pieces of that footage yesterday, but somebody is a complete dummy if they don't use it to crank out some killer promotional material or commercials. The PDGA commercials are so cringe worthy…DG is growing…give us your money and join today. Pretty poor attempt at selling somebody on the idea of why they need you.
Back to the footage though, first thing my girlfriend asked as they were interviewing JC was what the weirdos were doing sitting in the lake in the background. My brain immediately went to Oakley at Lake Eureka
