Greetings from The Booth!

It’s finally here! A full Fall season of Shenandoah University Football begins this Saturday (9-4) when the Hornets take the field against a speedy and athletic Methodist Monarchs team coming off a 4-1 Spring campaign. The Hornets are coming off a 1-4 Spring, and are looking to take that next step from a perennial .500 team to the 7-3, 8-2 upper echelon of the ODAC. For a complete preview of the team and a look at Shenandoah’s opening opponent, go to the podcast section of this very website and go to Sports Dogs Podcast in the POdcast section. Air time is 12:30 Saturday afternoon on The River 95-3 with yours truly, Scott Musa, and broadcast newcomer DeShon Foxx.

OK, thanks to Bryson DeChambeau for supplying the fodder for this week’s VFB. DeChambeau (or DeCham-bogey as some call him) is one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour, if not the longest, and is, if nothing else, entertaining to watch. That being said, he’s probably the biggest “heel” on Tour. In my opinion, he cherishes this role. His feud with Brooks Koepka, another big bomber, is well documented. These two simply do not like each other, and it seems as though Koepka has the upper hand in this rivalry. DeChambeau seems to be bothered more by Koepka than the other way around.

Case in point, this past weekend’s Tour Event outside of Baltimore, the BMW Championship. The fans at Caves Valley, who probably start drinking in the parking lot at 8am, are about as raucous as golf fans get. Unlike most PGA Tour events, where polite golf claps are the norm, the “Ballimer” golf fans are quite vocal, and let their feelings be known about DeChambeau at about 120 decibels during Sunday’s final round, an incredible duel between Bryson and the cool, calm, and collected Patrick Cantlay, one of the most quiet and unassuming players on Tour. Shouts of “Brooksie!” among other things were shouted at DeChambeau, who eventually lost to Cantlay on the 6th playoff hole.

Since then, the PGA Tour has let it be known that shouting “Brooksie” will now get you thrown out of a Tour event. Really?!? Is this what we’ve come to? Is DeChambeau so thin-skinned that saying the name of another player gets one booted from the course? As long as it’s not done in a player’s backswing or while a golfer is standing over a putt, I don’t see the harm. Great players take a hostile crowd, feed off of the dark energy, and spit it right back at the fans. Note to DeChanbeau: great players also make 5-foot putts to win golf tournaments.

Truth be known, DeChambeau brings on a lot of this ire himself. After his missed putt Sunday gave Cantlay the victory, Bryson walked off the green, offering only a half-hearted handshake and no eye contact. This is not an isolated incident. DeChambeau is the center of drama week after week on the PGA Tour. Suffice it to say, he is not universally liked amongst his fellow competitors.

It was suggested to me this week by a golfing buddy (jokingly I think), that DeChambeau should be paired with Koepka at the upcoming Ryder Cup. While I think that would be a very bad idea, it certainly would be a train wreck we wouldn’t be able to turn away from. Besides, cheering for “Brooksie” in that twosome might get us thrown off the course.

Until the next visit, enjoy the SU game on Saturday, and GO HORNETS!

RW