Celebrity Hackers
April 22, 1997

Popular CBS golf commentator Gary McCord has an interesting golf vocabulary. Gary calls a shot that is ugly and in the sand a "Yassir Arafat" and a shot that is hit fat a "Rosanne." These are just some of the things you can learn from Gary when you read his new book, "Just A Range Ball in A Box of Titleists."

The book is a series of essays, stories, fantasies , reminiscences—anything that came into his head(which can be scary) to write about golf and its world. One of my personal favorite chapters is "Celebrity Hackers." He talks about stars who have had a passion for the game. Gary says one of the best-ever movie stars to play the game is James Garner ("Rockford Files") and that one of his personal favorites is comedian Bill Murray who will go to great lengths to entertain a gallery. R.E.M. band member Mike Mills has a swing that should be on a motivational video according to Gary.

Gary has a unique way of looking at things and then saying them. He said the title of the book "Just A Range Ball in a Box of Titleists" was coined when he had to speak at a dinner and looked at the golf legends speaking before him and then looked at himself .

The entertaining golf commentator told me that he wrote the book while filming "Tin Cup." He served as technical director and appeared as himself in the golf movie. A lot of the stories that appear in his new book were written for the movie so that the folks working on the film would have a better feel for the game.

A television version of the movie "Tin Cup" may be coming to your home screen real soon. Gary said that the film’s director Ron Shelton is shopping a pilot to the networks and getting close to a deal. And, yes, Gary will be involved with the show to help keep the production staff honest about the game of golf.

Gary’s irreverence makes him loved by many, but also gets him into trouble. At the 1994 Masters Tournament , Gary uttered "these greens at Augusta are so fast, I don’t think they mow them. I think they bikini-wax them." In the book, he recounts the entire story about how these remarks outraged the people running the Masters Tournament so much that they banned him from the tournament forever!

As far as I am concerned , it’s the Masters Tournament’s loss because Gary has such a entertaining broadcast ( and writing) style. In a recent Golf Digest magazine poll of its readers, Gary was voted best commentator by a huge margin over the closest rival.

"Just a Range Ball in a Box of Titleists" is very fun to read. It’s the perfect book for the beach or Father’s Day present, and I promise you I am not being paid by the publisher. I just really enjoyed the book. There are not many professional athletes that join the media ranks that can communicate information about their sport as well as Gary does.

A Little of That and a Little of This…

If you wonder what some of the NFL players are doing during the off-season, well, some have caught the acting bug. Ricky Watters, running back of the Philadelphia Eagles and Eddie George, Offensive Rookie of the Year for the Houston Oilers will guest star on UPN’s "In The House" Monday, April 28th (8:00-8:30 p.m. ET/PT)…

There is a lot of buzz going around that super model Tyra Banks has been spending some time with not one but two athletes. Golf guru Tiger Woods and track star Michael Johnson are the lucky guys…I think I would pay money to see this--Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal, all 7-foot-1 and 300 pounds of him will sing "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" on an ABC-TV prime-time special "I Am Your Child" on April 28 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT …

This week’s Celebrity Scoreboard: Jason Priestley, star of FOX-TV’s "Beverly Hills 90210" finished 5th in the Stock SportsCar class at the Grand Prix of Atlanta. He and teammate Andy Pilgrim are leading in the point standings for the season in their division. Another speed maven, Craig T. Nelson, star of ABC’s "Coach" started 7th and finished 11th in the World SportsCar class at the Grand Prix of Atlanta.