Sunday, April 10, 2011

The Masters Tournament Is Enough To Make Us Root For Tiger Woods (Well, Just This Once)

It is roughly as easy to root for Tiger Woods these days as it is to take Ben Roethlisberger's wedding (or Ben's nod to religious values in explaining the chaste nature of his current relationship) seriously.

But American golf, still too much the game of inherited privilege (especially at the tournament level), has erred in making its crown jewel the Masters tournament, whose setting and record reeks of racism, sexism, corporate excess and other obnoxious forms of unearned elitism.

So we're finding ourselves pulling for Tiger Woods this afternoon.

UPDATE: A couple of objections to assertedly unfair treatment of the Masters prompted some research, which ended with an encounter with this statement from Masters co-founder (and Augusta National Chairman In Memoriam) Clifford Roberts: "As long as I'm alive, golfers will be white and caddies will be black." Roberts committed suicide two years after Lee Elder, who had achieved automatic eligibility for the Masters field by winning a PGA tournament, became the first black to compete in a Masters tournament. While Roberts was alive, no black competed in the Masters tournament by invitation.

UPPERDATE: Why rely exclusively on historical research when current events are so vivid that one need not be Einstein to get the message?

Infytune: Substitute, The Who (introduced by Eric Burdon)

9 comments:

friendly advice said...

Reader suggestion--more on Pittsburgh politics, less this stuff. And the pro abortion anti religion thing has already gotten old. Seriously, when you dig into Grant Street, you're the best there is but this other stuff is boring. All meant in a positive way from am every day reader and fan.

friendly advice said...

should have been an every day reader

Can you make it so comments can be edited?

James said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
James said...

If you are logged in via Google or OpenID (LJ, Wordpress, TypePad, AIM), you can delete your comment and retype it, But it leaves a message saying someone deleted a message (see above).

JenEngland said...

I guess opinions vary, because I like the occasional diversion. I agree Infy is unmatched on the grant street insider stuff, but the post on Abortion Rights was one of the best I've seen in a while.

Anonymous said...

Another vote for keeping on keeping on

Anonymous said...

I love the Pittsburgh stuff. Stay local please.

JenEngland said...

And then there's this! I'm surprised you missed it. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375718/Augusta-National-apologises-female-reporter-barred-Masters-locker-room.html

Anonymous said...

Augusta National is a private club.