Don't Believe the Hype
I really don't take joy in watching people or ideas flop, but sometimes you just have to sit back and have a laugh. And sometimes, you just have to think, what are people thinking (or smoking) when they set such lofty expectations.
Chicago Cubs fans know exactly what I'm talking about. Chicago Cubs fans, can also laugh at Dave Kingman-- who signed a contract in 1978 that included a bonus if he set the team record for Runs Batted In (RBIs).
The Cubs team record for RBIs, also happens to be the Major League Record: 190 by Hack Wilson in 1930. Kingman topped out at 115 RBI in 1979, though his 131 strikeouts were closer to the MLB record in that category (then 189- Bobby Bonds, 1970)... and probably the team record at that time.
Thanks for playing, Dave.
With that in mind, I have how dumb some of us can be to believe something we've heard, instead of looking for fact.
Why is Michelle Wie participating in PGA events?
I do not intend this as a sexist comment. Far from it. I have no doubt in my mind that women, given proper opportunity-- and within reason-- can be just as good as men in what they do. My argument is: Who is Michelle Wie? What has she done to impress us so much. She is the Anna Kounakova of golf.
Wie is not even competitive against women, and sponsors are giving her exemptions to their events. She's become a sideshow, and that is not fair to the other competitors-- male, female, and transvestite-- that she is getting this free ride without proving she can compete.
Annika Sorenstam had pretty much dominated the LPGA before she was given an opportunity to compete in a PGA event. She earned it. And yet, Wie is placed in PGA events with a resume that includes no LPGA victories. It is a joke for her to be out there and not be competitive.
At least Danica Patrick is a threat to win an IndyCar race... and Sorenstam held her own against the boys.
Allowing Wie to participate in some of these events is no more of joke than if I were pulled off my job as a cameraman for the Omaha Roayls, and immediately get a callup to start in Kansas City that night... though the result probabaly wouldn't change for the Royals.
Even major leaguers like Bob Feller and Dave Winfield-- who spent no time in the minors before making their major league debuts-- had established themselves prior to being thrust into the spotlight.
And this hype is not limited to sports. Anybody remember World War II? Was that not "the war to end all wars"? Then why are we still fighting? Can't we all just get along?
Even weathermen get into the act. Hundred-years storms. Predicting record heat, or record snowfall. Oh, really? Are you sure you're not being paid off to boost sales of weather-related products?
There is no need to hype anything. Things are what they are, and that's all they're ever gonna be. Nothing is that predictable. Let nature take its course, and if it happens to be the best or worst of something-- good for it.
Maybe it is the best thing since sliced bread-- is that the best we can do? Sliced bread? Unsliced bread is good on it's own merits.
OK, maybe it will be all that and a bag of chips-- who comes up with these? If it's all that AND a bag of chips... doesn't that give me more of something I don't need? Hey, that works for hype-- don't need it... wouldn't know what to do with it anyways.
Is reality such a bad place to live?
posted by Sam @ 12:39 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
check the LPGA rules for eligibility. I believe she can only play in 9 events on the LPGA due to her age. That and sponsors wanting her on ESPN/NBC, etc. are probably why she is playing out on the PGA.
Mark
Not to come off as an ass, but I really have no interest in the rules of the LPGA-- but if there is something there, brilliant.
Still, the sponsors have bit on the hype... and they, like Wie need to learn a nice little phrase: "Drive for show, putt for dough." Who cares if she hits a ball 300+ yards off the tee? She is in over her head.
It is a travesty to those who work their tails off to get where they are, while others are handed opportunity after opportunity without proving they can handle the situation.
She might be able to hit 300 yards off a tee--that doesn't mean she's able to do it, and land in the fairway %96 of the time, or that she can get on a green in regulation, then putt a consistent birdie-par. If I were her adviser, and I'm not saying I'm the greatest adviser in the world, I'd be telling her to work on her game first. You never saw Tiger Woods at 15 playing PGA events--at least dude went a couple of years at Stanford before stepping up to play with the big boys.
And by the way, that isn't limited to Michelle Wie, either. If anyone remembers Ty Tryon--the kid that had a bunch of handlers telling him he was the next Tiger, only to flop out and never be heard from again (and that was about tow or three years ago)--look at that guy for perfect reference. Wie ought to be building up her game to be better than Annika Sorenstam, not finishing 103rd to Lefty, Tigher, and Vijay.
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