A Wie bit early
Sorry, SJ-R, for stealing a potential headline. I know how you guys like your cheesy puns.
I don’t really understand the hubbub about the deal with Michelle Wie being disqualified from the Rail Panther Creek Charity Golf Classic tournament this past weekend. Bipolar Chicago sports columnist Mike Nadel, who is often the first to rag on ANY pro athlete for ANY mistake they make, picks up a proverbial sword and defends young Miss Wie to the bitter end in today’s paper.
Folks, it’s got nothing to do with making mistakes. Yes, Bald Boy, everyone makes mistakes, especially us loser newspaper readers (and members of gaggles of nerds). Even pro athletes, who make exorbitantly obscenely insultingly large amounts of money for playing a sport/game/leisure activity (depending on where you fall in that whole argument) make mistakes. Although for the money they make, you’d like to think they wouldn’t, but they are only human. Just grossly overpaid humans.
This particular “mistake” she made this weekend was not signing her score card. I’ve heard people say “it’s not fair” and offer up all these various reasons as to why Miss Wie shouldn’t have been disqualified. Look, folks, rules are rules. Break them, you get disqualified. That’s the way it is. I don’t really get the whole “it’s not fair” thing. Having to follow the rules isn’t fair? Get over it. She knew the rule, she knew where the little “don’t leave here without signing your score card” area was, she did, she was disqualified. Life sucks sometimes. I know she didn’t purposely attempt to circumvent the rules, but she did break the rules and was disqualified for it, justly and fairly. Lack of intent is irrelevant, folks.
No, it’s not about making mistakes. It’s about maturity. Don’t get me wrong here, folks- it is a bummer, especially considering how good Wie was playing Saturday. And I honestly was impressed with how she stood (well, actually, she sat) and stared down all the bottom-feeding vermin reporters and said, “yeah, I made a mistake”. She didn’t try to blame her caddy, or some LPGA or Panther Creek official, or the residents of Springfield, or President Bush, or anyone else- she owned up to it. That is maturity.
But, here’s the problem I have. She has been on the golf scene for a couple of years now. She has yet to win an LPGA event. She has yet to qualify for a PGA event (but bravo to her for trying). She finds new and inventive (and, quite frankly, stupid) ways of getting herself disqualified from events. Do you think just maybe she’s not yet ready to be a professional golfer (that phrase still cracks me up)? Yes, she is only 18. But that’s my point- she was thrust into the pro circuit at the age of 16, being crowned as the female Tiger Woods, so already, there is a certain level of expectation on her as it is. I’m simply saying that maybe either the pressure is still too much for her, and she needs to mature a little more, or that she’s simply not quite the golfer she was made out to be. Or some combination of both. Personally, I hope it is a matter of just not being mature enough yet.
Whatever the reason, Wie has really turned out to be a big disappointment thus far. And yes, she could kick my ass all over a golf course- even if she were blindfolded, tranquilized, and forced to play left-handed and on one leg. But that’s not really saying much; my three-year-old could probably kick my ass all over a golf course. I’m not saying she’s not a good golfer. But as much hype as she has been given, you’d think she’d have a little more to show for it by now. Hell, you’d think she’d have something to show for it by now.
Basically, we’ll see in a few years. The maturity thing will eventually kick in, and then once it does, if she still can’t win a tournament, then we’ll know that maybe she isn’t the golfer we’d been led to believe she is. But please- don’t sit there and feel sorry for her for being disqualified for not following the rules.
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What? Someone taking responsibility for their actions? Unheard of!
Exactly.
I don’t pay much attention to pro golf, virtually no attention to women’s pro golf. I didn’t know that was in Spfld, but good for her for owning up to it. Tiger would have signed his scorecard if he had turned pro at 18…I think he took some time to grow up a little. But he still throws fits…Burns me up, that damn Danica Patrick. Every time she makes the news it’s because she’s in some fight with another driver. Who cares? What’s more important is that she sucks. She breaks no barriers whatsoever, including the speed barrier…
Well, I must admit that I somewhat “root” for Danica Patrick, same as I did for Sarah Fisher and Lyn St. James before her. But, I have to both agree and disagree at least somewhat with you about Danica. I think it was huge- and a major “barrier breaker”- for her to win that race in Japan, but you’re right- she’s usually only in the news when she’s throwing a hissy.
And I also think that she gets somewhat of a “pass” in that regard since she is… how do I say this tactfully… more easily marketable. I’m not saying at all that I think Michelle Wie is “ugly”, but let’s face it- attractive people get certain advantages that less attractive people don’t.
Still, getting back to point, I also think Tiger was far more “mature” at 18 than Wie is, or at least than she has demonstrated thus far. As I said, time will tell if Wie’s potential will come out once she does kind of grow up a little more. But I stand firm that she should have signed her scorecard, and it was a dumb mistake.
I don’t know, not that it has anything to do with your post, but especially in something like auto racing, where the playing field (outside of any politics or the business of racing off the track is perceived, or conveyed–mostly by men, granted) is pretty level, when most of your records, position, and overall achievements, but not all of them, get stated with the added clause of “for a female” at the end, it’s a wash…and somewhat of a false record, as far as I can tell. As much coverage as she gets simply because she’s this spunky hottie on the race scene, I would like to think some woman who looks like Richard Petty with boobs finishing race after race with respectable results and not throwing a tantrum in front of other race teams after causing accidents in the pit lane to still get pretty decent, in your face coverage.
Well, I’ve long thought that about the whole “for a woman” or especially “for a black” tag at the end and how it pretty much takes a giant dump on the speaker’s point.
Remember the Colts-Bears Super Bowl and how people kept making such a huge deal about it being the first SB with a black head coach- let alone two? Every comment was “… black head coaches” this and “…black head coach” that. Okay, it WAS the first time a black coach took a team to the Super Bowl, but it’s like the media were putting some sort of an asterisk on it, a la the Steroid Era in baseball. They got their teams to the Super Bowl because they are good coaches. Being black had no effect on it, positive or negative. Nobody calls Bill Belichick a great white head coach; they call him a great coach. Why, then, don’t they just call Dungy and Smith great coaches as well? What possible reason is there for adding “black”? To me, it cheapens their accomplishments. Especially Dungy. I think ol’ Lovie has a little more to prove, but that’s got nothing to do with being black. It’s mainly got to do with finding a decent QB and a quality RB.
And most of the time people {on the NFL shows} can’t talk about Donovan McNabb without calling him a good black quarterback. As though it is some huge surprise that a black guy could be a good quarterback or something. The fact that he’s black has nothing to do with it; why make it an issue? I’m neither pro-McNabb or anti-McNabb, but that’s ALWAYS bugged me.
Sorry, small digression. Anyway, you’re right- if Danica wasn’t featured in Maxim every other month, maybe people might be a little less blind to the fact that she has some sort of meltdown like a 15-year-old who got dumped the night before prom every time you turn on ESPN, which, from what I hear, is soon to be renamed AYRSATT (All Yankees-Red Sox All The Time).
Um, wait… what the hell are we talking about again?
Good observation…And it’s pretty much the same with her, in my opinion. A black QB or RB or coach cannot make his stats look any better simply because he’s black…But the same should be said for a black race car driver…, it shouldn’t be the case for a female race car driver (and it seems like she’s able to stand behind how great of a driver she is based on a lot of irrelevent placings), nor should it be the case for a black, female race car driver. And it seems like that’s what’s going on when she is talked about, concerning what she’s actually supposed to be doing out there, which is race.