11/05/24
March 01, 2004
Woods wins another match-play title ...: and 'lil Orphan Leaney is ticked. Stephen Leaney, who finished third at the Matchplay Championship this weekend, blasted the U.S. media for paying no attention to anyone but Tiger Woods. Unfortunately, someone did pay attention to Davis Love III during the finals, and apparently all of society is going to hell for it. Do the media and the fans help Tiger be Tiger?
PS: Because of Tiger, my interest in watching him play and the media focus on him, your check for the week's activites was 3 or 5 or 10 times larger than what it would have been. Every check you get, you should think about this. PPS: I was kinda rooting for your this weekend, but now I'm rooting against you every chance I get. PPPS: You remind me of Justin Leonard and I loathe Justin Leonard.
posted by 86 at 09:22 AM on March 01, 2004
Dear 86, You're a terrible letter writer. Put your points in the main body, not in a collection of post-scripts. Love, Stephen Leaney P.S. I don't like Justin either.
posted by grum@work at 09:28 AM on March 01, 2004
If Tiger is in it, I'm watching. If Tiger is not in it, I'm not watching. Ditto 86, second tier golfers like this jackhole owe their prize money to Tiger.
posted by vito90 at 09:29 AM on March 01, 2004
Golf on TV is boring no matter who is swinging the clubs. When I need a nap on a Sunday afternoon, I put on golf. If I want excitment, I watch sports ;)
posted by scully at 09:53 AM on March 01, 2004
At least Davis Love III is using golf for its proper purpose: as a magnifying glass to expose flaws in society at large. Golf's about the only place I get reminded that women and people with different skin colors shouldn't be accepted as human beings.
posted by yerfatma at 09:56 AM on March 01, 2004
So with golf and tennis their concentration must be honed to a perfect edge but in every other sport it's okay to scream obscenities whenever you want? Never understood this.
posted by forksclovetofu at 11:35 AM on March 01, 2004
Leaney does have a very valid point about the american centrism when it comes to american athletes. Ever try to watch the Olympics in the U.S? The coverage is laughable. Or do american viewers only want to see american athletes? Some nationalistic flavor is nice, but I'd like to see the best competitions with the best athletes....but maybe that's just me. Not that I have a big bone to pick here, but to deny Leaney's criticism has merit is only to be blind to the symptom. With that said, I'd be pissed if I beat higher ranking players, twice, in match play no less, and not even get interviewed by the broadcaster. And to think I thought Weir was getting a tough shake down south.
posted by garfield at 12:03 PM on March 01, 2004
garfield: Weirsy gets enough love up North to make up for it, I think. He won last year's Lou Marsh award for Canadian athlete of the year. As for Love and Leaney, I'm amazed they perform as well as they do with their heads buried in their own asses.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 01:41 PM on March 01, 2004
Does anyone know Chad Campbell? Jonathan Kaye? Kenny Perry? Never heard of them? Ever read an article about them? Have they ever been interviewed? All three are ranked higher than Leaney in the World Rankings and I'd wager their press clippings are just as thin. And, they're American. Now, I certainly would never argue that American golf coverage is not slanted towards Americans, but I also find no fault in it. I imagine the Sydney papers covered Leaney's matches in full and I doubt they mentioned Duffy Waldorf or Ian Poulter. Why? Well, I doubt many people in Australia have much of a concern for Duffy, much like I could care less about Stephen Leaney. The media here does highlight Europeans or Fijians or South Africans or whatever, as is appropriate. So I think it's pretty clear that rather than say the coverage is slanted towards American's, we should say it's slanted towards the best players in the world. Currently, golf is dominated by those at the top. It's Tiger and whoever is challenging Tiger this weekend, be it Ernie, Phil, Vigay or Davis. My attention and the media's is focused on those players and anyone else will be left out. Maybe we should talk about whether it's important for the PGA to market the second tier players (cough) or not? The fact remains that until they get me interested in Chris DiMarco, Paul Casey, and Jerry Kelly, I gotta wonder why the media needs to print things about them or be chastised for not doing so. I wouldn't read about them, just the saem I would have skipped an article touting Leaney's fourth place finish.
posted by 86 at 01:44 PM on March 01, 2004
I agree with Leaney's point about him not even being interviewed after winning his two matches. That's pretty lame. The rest of it, though, is certainly not going to win him any friends in the golf press. I believe we might have a successor to the grumpy throne when the current king steps down.
posted by wfrazerjr at 01:51 PM on March 01, 2004
True, every nation favors its own. But the degree of that favoritism in America, unless compared with non-american experiences, is without reference. Believe me, with an outsider's perspective, it looks silly at times....and I'm a partial convert. Regardless, I attacked this issue from an irrelevant stand point. The pre-empting interviewees were a canuck and a brit.
posted by garfield at 02:09 PM on March 01, 2004
Davis Love III may have lost the match play championship, but he's still holding the title of America's whiniest millionaire. Thank you Davis for upholding the stereotype of golfers as the candy-asses of professional sport. Love the part about how President Bush is fighting for etiquette.
posted by rcade at 04:05 PM on March 01, 2004
Has anyone ever seen Tiger go to the ropes and demand his name-callers ejected? I'm guessing Tiger hears a lot more in the way of obscenities than someone yelling 'No Love!' I have some advice for DL3: Don't get mad, get better.
posted by pwilly at 04:31 PM on March 01, 2004
Love the part about how President Bush is fighting for etiquette. Is that what Bush is doing? I wonder if he'll be making the case to go to war on pro sports and their use of PEDs (performance enhacing drugs) at his proposed summit.(can't seem to find a link at the moment, but today a proposed summit was annouced to deal with drugs in sports. The NFL, MLB, NBA, & NHL were all invited. None of the leagues want to commit unless the others do.) google find.
posted by garfield at 04:42 PM on March 01, 2004
Leany - when you say "It doesn't really matter who finishes third or fourth", you're absolutely right (although I expect your bank manager might not agree). Who finished third when Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile? Who came in fourth when Nicklaus won the Masters at the age of 46? Who won the third/fourth place playoff in the 1966 World Cup? Who cares? Most pros complain that the interviews and time given up to the press interferes with their golf. If you WANT all that attention, go and spend all that time that you have to spare at the moment on the range and see if you can actually win something worth talking about, and then maybe someone will stick a microphone in your ugly face. As for Davis Love XXIVIM - grow up you choker. You HATE being in contention. When you get there all you do is look around for a reason to collapse, to the extent that a sparrow fart would disturb your precious backswing (which, by the way, is STILL too steep - and you're just going to keep hitting those high right puffy shots that finish forty feet short all day, mixed in with the occasional low, chasing hard-left shot until you fix it). The picture of contentment and happiness is Davis' face the moment he can no longer win the tournament. Never so graphically displayed as at last year's Open. You're rubbish. Tiger rocks. The rest of you can either practice like he does, train your body and your mind like he does, eat, sleep and think like he does, or you can get used to finishing fourth and being ignored. It's a brave new world Mr Leany - take up the challenge or shut up.
posted by JJ at 03:03 AM on March 02, 2004
Who would have thought golf would bring out such harsh criticism? Bravo! /quiet golf clap
posted by wfrazerjr at 10:12 AM on March 02, 2004
Dear Stephen, I tune into golf to watch Tiger Woods. When you're on, I turn the channel. Sorry buddy. Love Me.