Baldwin: Johnny Miller deserves scorn for his kiss-up to Oakmont

Johnny Miller is usually one of the better announcers in TV sports. Usually. Not during the U.S. Open at Oakmont though.

Johnny Miller is usually one of the better announcers in TV sports. Usually. Not during the U.S. Open at Oakmont though.

The Johnny Miller who said Craig Parry's swing "would make Ben Hogan puke" is great. The Johnny Miller who blasted the U.S. Ryder Cup team even as his comments were being piped into the American locker room is hilarious.

That's not the Johnny Miller we got at Oakmont though. Instead Miller turned into a self genuflecting tool. How many times did he reference his 63 at Oakmont? If the college kids played a drinking game on that one, they would have been passed out by 2 every afternoon (and Miller only went on the air at one). Miller seemed touched that as he talked about (frequently), he was "finally" being embraced by the Oakmont members. Too touched.

Miller tiptoed around any talk about the course being ridiculously difficult. He often seemed like he was trying to validate his own place in history (by admitting how much tougher Oakmont was now, he would be knocking his own incredible 63 in some ways) rather than call a golf tournament. Miller was more off his game than Phil Mickelson last weekend.

Yet he's getting crazy praise for it. HBO's Real Sports featured him in a segment this week - which admittedly was taped along before Miller spit the bit at The Open. But even our usually reasonable (OK, sometimes reasonable) Tim McDonald waxes poetic about Johnny Miller's analysis at the U.S. Open in his column this week. The column's well written. It's just completely off.

What were you watching Tim? Johnny Miller was horrible by his usual high standards. Bad even by ordinary ones.

You cannot get Johnny Miller out of Oakmont and away from his 63 fast enough. It almost ruined him as a broadcoaster.

He's never been a Charles Barkley. Last week, he wasn't even Johnny Miller.

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