It’s been 18 months here without cable television and I haven’t been able to comment like I used to on the big sporting event broadcasts. A lot of my real-time consumption of sports is via radio these days but the US Open golf major played out on free broadcast television this past weekend so I sat down for some of it on Saturday and Sunday nights.

This was the first big foot in golf’s door for FOX Sports. FOX broke the bank to land the US Open and other lesser USGA events for the next 12 years and you’d assume the network will take a crack at other tournaments when some of those TV rights come up for bid. The concern going in to this event was whether the sport’s stodgy but dedicated fandom would embrace coverage from a network known for its determination to put a unique tilt on its approach to a broadcast.

The back nine on Father’s Day was solidly high drama in prime time. A lot of viewers were locked in until the very end. Assuming the job held by Nick Faldo on CBS and Johnny Miller on NBC, Greg Norman was in a tough spot as FOX’s color man given the consistent ability by Faldo and Miller to interject strategy, history, rules and shot-making observations at proper moments.

Norman totally clammed up during riveting approach shots and putts by the final two twosomes on 18 to such an extent that you wondered if maybe Norman had up and left to go to the bathroom. Perhaps Norman was rattled by reaction to his bumbling attempts on Saturday to explain Jason Day’s vertigo. Did Norman think less was more down the stretch? That’s not what he told a media conference call the Friday before the tourney when he vowed not to shy away from speaking his mind. “When you are in the seat of the lead analyst, you have to give you opinion,” said Norman.

Joe Buck was on the main mike and did well enough given the circumstances. Perhaps he didn’t try to draw Norman out of his shell because he knew it wouldn’t go well. Those who walked the course say it was not at all fan-friendly. There were no trees. There were steep and slippery changes in walking paths between holes. No doubt it was a difficult event to obtain and transmit compelling live action pictures but that part of it went pretty well it seemed. I heard complaints about not seeing the ball but the shot-tracker took care of that most of the time. I don’t know. The west coast deserves a firm place in the Open rotation and why not the northwest?

The other glaring weakness of FOX’s broadcast played out repeatedly each day outside the scoring tent when Holly Sonders tested the golf course’s dress code and invited the tournament’s key players to look at their scorecards on a television monitor. Not sure what to say half the time, Sonders failed to isolate relevant specific moments from players’ rounds during her Q and A opportunities. Sonders was roundly mocked for her spot with Spieth shortly after he won the tournament and she failed to land an interview with Dustin Johnson after his excruciating three-putt on Sunday’s final hole. Heck, it probably wouldn’t have served Johnson well to confront an image of his scorecard at that juncture while listening to Sonders babble out a “how does it feel” generality.

Sonders got a pass from most of the established media writers who critiqued FOX’s coverage perhaps because she’s considered legit based on previous work at the Golf Channel. Richard Sandomir didn’t even mention her in his scathing piece on FOX’s coverage in Tuesday’s paper. Said Boomer Esiason on WFAN Monday morning after his partner Craig Carton claimed Sonders was “objectified” by FOX. “I was not insulted…I thought she came off wonderfully…They’ve (FOX) always been outside the box thinkers.”

I don’t remember any previous golf coverage capturing so well the real-time audio of conversations like the one between Johnson and Day on 18 as the two deliberated whether Day should play out. That was great. You also got good audio of Spieth and his caddy in advance of several big shots.

We’ll have to wait for Oakmont a year from now before measuring FOX’s progress from this go-around. As for Spieth, he’ll take an unusual pre-British Open path by skipping the big money tourneys the next two weeks. He’ll play the John Deere near Moline, IL the weekend before the Open likely to honor a commitment made it part to the fact he won that event two years ago.

-There’s a lot of consternation about what the Knicks will do at number four overall in the NBA draft Thursday night. Assuming Towns, Okafor and Russell go 1-2-3, the concern among Knickerbocker fans the last few days is that Phil may take a shot on Kristaps Porzingis with the fourth overall pick. Little is known here about Porzingis (at least up until the last few days) but Joe Beningo on WFAN said this morning the big Latvian will end up being Frederic Weiss if the Knicks take him and Dirk Nowitizki if they don’t.

-I went to the Punk Island event on Staten Island Sunday afternoon and only stuck around for a few performances including the solid set by Arson Welles. It was really hot out there and they weren’t serving beer so I left for a visit to the nearby Flagship Brewing Company. Located adjacent to the Tompkinsville railway station, the brewery’s tasting room is a big, fun and simple space. You buy $5 tokens to purchase pints of the product which is made on site. I tried the APA and the lager. Both were delish. The motto at Flagship is great: “Unforgettable Beer in the Forgotten Borough.”