Rocco Mediate Forgives Johnny Miller; As Penitence, Miller to Serve as Tiger's Pool Boy

Just when you thought cuddly U.S. Open runner-up Rocco Mediate couldn't get any more lovable. One of the happiest guys on the planet told WJAR-TV that he's not upset by Johnny Miller's "[Rocco] looks like the guy who cleans Tiger's swimming pool" comments.

Mediate told WJAR-TV that Miller's comments had been blown out of proportion. "It doesn't bother me at all," he said. "He definitely didn't do it on purpose."

He called Miller "quite a good announcer" because he says what's on his mind. He said the analyst had left him a voicemail and he planned to call him back.

I have no idea if he made the comments on purpose, and although, based on FanHouse reader feedback (which is certainly representative of the country's feelings on the issue), a lot of people don't consider Miller "quite a good announcer," I tend to agree with Mediate. That said, this isn't the first time Miller's been called out for speaking his mind.

From a 2000 interview with Golf Digest's Tom Callahan:

[Miller] thinks now it may have been "a bit of a bogey, maybe a double bogey," to suggest Captain Ben Crenshaw should have left Justin Leonard home from the Ryder Cup. "I meant in the clubhouse just that day," Miller says, "not in Texas the entire week. Then, Jim Furyk was mad that I called him the underdog against Sergio."

To be fair, Leonard looked pretty bad before draining that "holy crap, it went in?!?!" putt against Jose Maria Olazabal, but I think it had more to do with Miller's tone than the sentiment. For the most part, though, he's very good -- and probably the best golf analyst on the teevees.

Yes, he could probably stand to lighten up on the "I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE TIGER WOODS!" angle, but I can still appreciate what he brings to the telecast.

"I'll make some bogeys, some doubles," [Miller] acknowledges, "but if you're accurate and do your homework and you're honest with yourself and the game, you can't care about that. I've become almost a journalist."

He's just like Frick and Frack, but the opposite.