This blogging thing. There’s always something else to say. For instance…
From what I’m reading in the blogosphere, golf’s chances for Olympic acceptance are in trouble because the suits that hand out the gold think that golfers don’t rank medals over majors. The pros have to prove that playing for one’s country is a bigger deal than winning an Open. To do that, the Tour honchos behind golf’s Olympic odyssey have enlisted two of the game’s brightest lights (and, I notice, examples of American minorities) to do a little convincing (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/07/sports/AP-OLY-IOC-Rdp.html). I can see how an LPGA player might actually believe that the Olympics trumps a tournament with McDonald’s, Kraft-Nabisco, or Ricoh in its name. But the U.S. Open? Wie are not amused!
And speaking of the LPGA, ESPN The Magazine’s “The Body Issue” just arrived. It’s fascinating in many ways and there is much I will be reading. And some of the photographs of athletes with very little (or no) clothing on are beautiful, striking, painful, or just art. But for all the excitement that someone tried to drum up regarding the photo (and it’s just one, by the way) of LPGAers Christina Kim, Sandra Gal, and Anna Grzebien cart-naked, it’s one of the dullest in the book. (And is it just me or did no one else know that the two players with Kim are also on the ladies’ tour?)
It also seems to prove my point that ESPN’s printed product cares little about golf. Other than the rare article, there’s usually nothing more than a one- or two-sentence mention of the game and precious little analysis. Why do they even bother? If it isn’t one of the big sports (football—pro and college; hoops—same; hockey; baseball) plus guys (and one gal) driving really quickly in circles, playing poker, or doing something really dumb in a totally fabricated series of events called X Games, a sport can’t get much respect. I guess even ESPN has trouble making golf sound cool. My subscription is about to lapse and I’m not going to renew, but I am glad it included The Body Issue, if only for the amazing photograph of Torry Holt’s left hand: It’s about as bent as the Lone Cypress, which is about as close as the magazine gets to something with true golf significance.
