Author Archives: paulryden

If you’re going to dream, dream big. I took that advice literally back in 1984 when I was a feature reporter for The Coors Sports Page on TBS. While craning my neck to interview behemoths like 7’4″ Mark Eaton of the Utah Jazz, I fantasized what it would be like if I, like him, had […]

For those of you tuning in because you saw my name on Tyler Stanton’s blog, welcome. That’s not me in the picture to the left. Furthermore, I am not, as Tyler would have you believe, the real Ron Burgundy. I did, however, start my television career five years before young Tyler was born, a time […]

Do you ever watch a newscast on TV—assuming anyone watches them anymore—and say to yourself, “That was stupid. They didn’t have anything better to cover than that?” Well, that was sort of my niche when I worked in local news back in the day, the “day” being the late 70’s and early 80’s. I was […]

Check the leader board of any major—like this weekend’s PGA Championship—and you’ll see the obvious international influence. England, South Africa, Australia, Korea. But Cuba? Probably not in our lifetime. But just because someone has lived under an oppressive regime, cut off from the joys of the free world their whole life, doesn’t mean they can’t […]

I would love to play St. Andrews. What golf fan wouldn’t? The only thing stopping me (besides money—lots of it) is that I would have to play with a caddie. Obviously, I’d appreciate the course knowledge that only a Scottish caddie could bring to the ordeal, but who wants to embarrass themselves on such sacred […]

Sorry, golf fans. It had to happen. The last major of the year is finally upon us, the PGA Championship. All that’s left to look forward to now is the Ryder Cup, the Tour Championship, hibernation, and Christmas. Knowing that golf is on the front burner of sports news this week, I thought I’d drag […]

If ever there were a contest I could win, it was the one organized by the PGA Tour and Golf Digest Magazine in 1985. It was the “Worst Avid Golfer” contest held at the TPC course at Sawgrass, site of the Players Championship every spring. Only I wasn’t signed up to play in it; I […]