Sport's Illustrated takes a divot

I got my copy of the annual SI 'Sportsman of the Year' last week, and I feel Brett Farve was the popular...but (and is usually the case) not the correct choice. Farve has had a great year, but he has had a better career...and I think that's where SI misses the mark. I would vote for Farve hand-down as a sportsman of the decade...but for this year?

Me thinks not.

My vote would have been for Lorena Ochoa, the number one woman golfer...in any language.

Winner of 8 Tournaments last year, she has become both Ayn Rand and Savior for her genders' golf, by successfully taking the hand-off from previous top cat Annika Sorenstam.
For women's golf, this was an important transition, because the golfer that was Annika's heir apparent...Michelle Wie, was too busy destroying her golf career...and was poised to do the same to the future of women's golf, had not this University of Arizona wunderkind stepped in with a wonderful rendition of the Mexican Hat Dance (Jarabe Tapatío) to save the future world of women's golf.

Because of Lorena Ochoa I dare say that women's golf has a better product going forward than men's golf.

Golf's version of the Mexican Revolution has just begun.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Playing baseball or basketball is much more strenuous than playing golf. But people continue going at the golf galaxy only because it is a relaxing sport. And unlike hockey or lacrosse, there is not a lot of running around.

Hey Dad...umm...ever hear of Michelle Wie?

This video, on the surface, is awesome. A little kid that's got all the mechanics and interest for golf...and he's good to boot!

I'd love to have a video of his Dad taking the video of his son...I'm sure he's super-proud, chest puffed-out, ready to tell anyone that his son is the next big thing in golf.

Hey, it's his party...I don't want to rain on it....

But there is a danger lurking...not just for this Dad, but for all Dad's. It's called great expectations. And it has the ability to destroy relationships. It's what happened to Michelle Wie...Ty Tryon...Josh Hamilton, and every young person overachieving in sport for the sake of Dad's vanity. Sports Illustrated has dossiers on kids like these...file cabinets full.

We're all guilty of it...hey, I'm psyched coaching T-ball...and my kid's four! Heck...I didn't know a baseball from popcorn until I was 7. Yet here I am...oiling my sons made-in-China glove...telling him to "keep your elbow up to hit down on the ball."....Good grief. Is what I'm teaching him now going to stick? It's doubtful...is it worthy of trying? Absolutely.

Let's not get our own vanity get in the way of our kids. God has a humorous way of humbling us. For instance, let's take this kid in the video...and let's flash-forward 12 years. What if he has a bolt in his tongue, matching studs in his ears, and a tattoo on his back that would make Paris Hilton blush, and likes playing in the virtual Second Life rather than in the real present one? Will his Dad love him just as much? Sure he would. But does he love him as much as if he were a PGA pro playing in his first Masters with Dad on the bag? Doubt it.

Not every kid is going to be Tiger...not every kid will have tattoos over their body. Our job as Dads, is to expose them to as many positive experiences as possible...then step-back, cross the fingers, and hope we've succeeded.

And let's keep our great expectations at a distance.

Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Michelle Wie...meet John Daly

About a year ago, I wrote about the coming problems for Michelle Wie.

Well, as of last Thursday they've officially arrived.

As has been well documented with her WD last Thursday at The Ginn Tribute in North Carolina due to a "wrist injury" right before "Rule 88" was to be christened upon her...as well as the events leading up to this weekend's LPGA Championship, Wie's lack of class and professionalism have suddenly enabled her to become the new bad-boy(ess) on the golf circuit.

Maybe this is her way of getting street cred.

Last Saturday, she missed the commencement at her high school in Honolulu. How did she miss that? Her Blackberry had to have had a big X marked through the weekend? Surely she'd have made the time to be with her graduating class for that momentous occasion?

No, she was practicing at the Bulle Rock Golf Course...in Maryland...on the other side of the world from Hawaii...with nary an ice-pack or an Ace bandage.

Can you say "Let's have a Luau Hawaii-style?" I'm thinking pig roast...with Wie in the pit. To make it really sexy, let's have Sorenstam fit her mouth with the apple.

Okay...so she missed one of the most important days of her life...she obviously feels bad that she mailed-it-in with a "bad wing" just to collect an appearance fee at The Ginn...and wants to make it up to the Golf Gods by grinding it out a couple days early to really start the LPGA Championship with a bang.

So she plays Monday in the pro-am...and...her playing partners file a complaint on her.

Talk about buzzkill.

Michelle Wie was a marketing phenom....nothing more, nothing less, but she is well on her way to becoming a media-induced toxic blend of Anna Kournakova and John Daly.

She's lost respect for her elders as evidenced over the last 2 weeks. And her crutch of being "a young teenager going through a hard time" doesn't hold water anymore. She's old news because she's not "the new kid" on the scene anymore. If your not fresh...your trash in the media-world. Wie is 2-week old stale bread.
I'll be surprised if she's making half of what she earned in endorsements next year.

The LPGA Championship is in a little town called Harve de Grace...it means "harbor of grace".
If Michelle Wie cares anything about her career in the future, she needs to be a harbor of grace...

...but unfortunately, I think her ships have sailed.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Girls just wanna have fu-un.

Girls, mark your calendars for June 2nd through the 9th, as American Express and PlayGolfAmerica.com have teamed-up to bring the softer gender closer to the great game of golf.
AMEX cardmembers can participate in free golf lessons from over 100 golf courses throughout the country when the better half plays and pays with their card. In addition to the free golf lessons, ya'll will get 20% off the rate of play.

So pull out your finest pink-laced polos, stuff a sleeve or two of pink Ice Noodles in your Coach-appointed golf bag, and head on over to American Express Women's Golf Week to see where the closest participating golf course is for you!



JFB

Want to learn more about credit
cards? There's all kind of benefits like the ones mentioned
here for AMEX members, and visa
cards tend to have benefits too. There is a lot to learn
about credit so take your time and make sure to review all
the fine print about low
interest credit cards and don't get stuck in credit
trouble.

A Year Behind the Scenes of the PGA Tour

So begins the subtitle to the latest golf-read to hit the bookshelves.

The Scorecard Always Lies- written by Chris Lewis, forecaddies its readers through the 2006 PGA Tour season.



Written in a similar-tone to the venerable tome A Good Walk Spoiled, Chris Lewis seamlessly blends the season into 14 don't-bother-me-son,-can't-you-see-I'm-reading-here chapters that encompass everything you didn't know-but wanted too, about the golfers that comprise the PGA Tour.

There is cart-path cred to backup Chris Lewis, as he has been covering golf for over 10 years, and now contributes the majority of his work for Sports illustrated.

The Scorecard Always Lies hurries the reader past all the stats and final round numbers...shuffles you past the brightly lit pressroom of sterile soundbites...and puts you right next to a fly.

That's right...a fly on the wall, as you are given an exclusive behind-the-ropes- look (with pictures!) at some of the Tours best-of's in 2006.


Thanks to the good folks at Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read such a fantastic biography of one year in the history of The Tour. The timing to read it was fantastic, as I finished the book in my wife's room...delivery room that is...

Being just like a fly on the wall. :-)


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Tween bling

Golf's $20,000,000 girl

Ahhh, 3 subjects that would catch any guy's attention: golf, a dollar sign followed buy a lot of zeros, and a girl.
But to have all three? A veritable tri-fecta? A cornicopic combination? A three-fer?

Well, if you read the November issue of Golf Digest: "What people in golf make", you will see that this is not hyperbole. She, in fact, has a bag tag.

Her name is Michelle Wie.

Yes, the same Wie that I've sided and chided over the past year, as have countless others.
She has put herself first on the front lines of cannon-fodder-prone media-types whom have directly or indirectly created such a hype for her, that she rivals Tiger Woods as the most important person in golf for our era.

She has the perfect recipe for a girl that has never seen a home ec room: challenge the status-quo, mix in a generous helping of media, and top it all off with advertisers want to be the candles on the cake.

And she thanks you...um...all the way to the bank.

What we all need to realize, is that it doesn't matter what we think about her decisions. Last I checked, my bank account has not had any deposits in it from the things-I-think-about-Wie-department....

...but hers has. Let's count it up:

$19.5 million: endorsements and appearances.
Just under $1 million in prize money...so far in 2006.

That is $20 million in one-year's wages...and she is only 17!

Did you know that you'd have to save $3,000/month for 37 years at a 9% rate of return (with 3% inflation) just to end up with half of we she just made this year?!

So the next time I "challenge" her decisions, I'm going to remember one thing:

Compound interest.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

The bugs in Michelle Wie's bonnet

One of the options of summertime, is that we can open the windows of our house and let the fresh air circulate throughout the rooms, blowing out the stuffiness. After awhile though, the fresh air in the home becomes populated with bugs of all sorts....houseflies, bees, or even worse wasps, and we run to shut the windows.
Is the brief time we keep windows open worth the time we spend shooing-out those bugs? I guess it depends on who you listen to.

Michelle Wie (right now) has the world in the palm of her hand. She jets to and fro', nary a worry, as she conquers her own "world golf tour". Through her oversized rose-colored sunglasses....she does not see gender...she sees golf tournaments. The media has exhulted her, and let her open the windows of her "house". She is awash in the fresh air.

But houseflies are coming.

Wie needs to realize that next year is it for her to try and make the cut in a PGA event. It is crucial for someone in her posse to advise her of this. Otherwise, irreperable damage will be done to her brand.
Wie is exposing herself to being relegated to a sideshow antic...and she doesn't see it. To be fair, most great athletes don't. They always have a burning desire that they can compete at a higher level....even though they can't because their personal window of opportunity has closed (hello Evander Holyfield). The result is an unfortunate crash-and-burn...the debris left over is swept into the history books as a solitary statistic. Michelle Wie is on this path.

Why has this timetable of making a PGA cut been restricted to one-and-done?

Because of Tiger Woods.

His dominant display at Medinah, coupled with his voiced opinion that "it's just more fun to compete in majors", single-handidly advanced the timetable for Wie.

Tiger made a statement. The statement is: to be the greatest, you have to dominate great tournaments.

Michelle Wie is doing neither. She needs to focus on one thing right now: to dominate her field. Her field needs to be the LPGA. So what if she makes the cut in a men's event? Where will that take her? Not to the next level...which is actually to win a men's event.

In one fell swoop, Tiger Woods made Joe Public, and Jimmy Media Machine stand up and take notice...that sideshow antics are short-term...but dominance is where the long-term attraction really is.

Ms Wie: Are you listening? That sound ain't the switchgrass in the backyard.

Them's bugs.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB

Wie, Gulbis are even-keeled superstars

People look at a sailboat and say "the sail is making the boat go forward". Most are unaware that it's what we don't see (the keel underneath the boat) that is actually causing the drag required to make the boat go forward.

Such is the case of Natalie Gulbis and Michelle Wie.

Both took punches in the solar-plexis this week as Wie succumed to bugs, heat-exhaustion, and critical remarks by Jason Gore, in missing this weeks cut in the PGA John Deere Classic. Gulbis, who hasn't won in her 5 years on tour, narrowly missed victory, losing in a playoff at the LPGA Jamie Farr Classic.

Main stream media (MSM) is already sharpening their skeweres to denounce these superstars by claiming Wie should give up her making a men's cut fantasy, while those focusing on Gulbis are declaring her the next Kournikova.

Like people watching a sailboat....we will believe what we see.
However, if we go beneath the surface, there is a whole 'nother story we're missing.

In the case of Wie, her stated goal from day one was to make the cut in a sanctioned PGA event. This passion to reach her goal is not going to disappear until she does it. Bugs, heat, and Gore are perfect metaphors for this kids' unique ability to have an unwavering focus on her intended goal. Do you know that if Wie were solely in it for the money, she could happily dedicate her time to the LPGA and make a healthy living (before this week's LPGA event...she would have been higher than Gulbis on the money list!).
What we forget is she's running full throttle. She has logged more miles than Air Force One, kept a training regimen that would make an Ironman weep, she's keeping her demanding sponsors happy, all this and her number one disappointment this week? " I hope I didn't upset my fans.".
Meanwhile Jason Gore's disappointment: "she's sitting on her bag....it's unprofessional.".
Hey Jason, make more than 50% of your cuts this year and we'll be more sympathetic to your cry.
Folks, she's got a goal, she has the game to reach her goal....MSM (and the folks that buy into it) can get bent.

Gulbis is moving in the same direction, only tacking differently. Now a career LPGA top 10 finisher in her short five years on tour, she is unquestioningly the most popular player on the LPGA circuit. Thanks to an incredible marketing team, she makes more money doing appearances that she does on tour. Her number one goal? To win an LPGA tournament.
This goal too is unwavering. She didn't re-tool her swing with Butch Harmon because it'll help how she looks in a swimsuit, no, she's doing it because she wants to win. Like Wie, she has the game, and it will happen.
Both of these superstars are well within their limits of reaching their stated goals.

In a society that's driven by a prove-it now mentality, we are focused on immediate results. This results in a media backlash when the results don't happen. So goes the MSM, so goes public opinion. It wasn't too long ago when the media was all over Mickelson and labeled him the best player never to win a major. Mickelson has since gone on to prove the MSM and those followers wrong, effectively telling them "get bent".

So why does this critical-doubting happen over-and-over again? For the MSM, it's obvious...it sells. But why does Joe Public buy into it?

Because they refuse to look underneath the sailboat.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,


JFB

Little-covered slices of the Wie-open Qualifier

There were some nice US Open qualifier storylines other than the one the media-hounds have decided to cover, and...like Jimmy Hoffa's bones, are equally hard to dig up. But here's a small slice of them:

28 year-old Canadian Tour pro Brad Fritsch will go mano-a-....uh...wo-mano with Michelle Wie on June 5th at Canoe Brook, outside of Summit N.J. For a chance to make the US Open field.
He played with her in a Canadian Tour event when she was 13.
For the record, he also thinks she doesn't stand a chance (he must be grooming his opinions for the PGA Tour).
Hey Brad.....I hope she beats you six-ways to Sunday (but that's just my opinion).

14 year-old Ian Bangor from PA missed advancing to the next qualifier by shooting an 85.
Only 13 contestants from over 8,200 entries worldwide were 14 or younger. Gee, where was the media coverage on those kids?
His playing partner, Joe Nieporte, a golf teaching pro, shot an 83.....uh, Joe.....you barely beat by a kid who's never seen an Advil bottle.

This week, Wie received an invitation to play in a European Men's Tour event.
Wie was quoted: "My father and I have been joking that I'll basically play on all tours this year," Wie added with a smile."I have played the Japan Tour, the Korean Tour, the LPGA Tour, the PGA Tour and the Asian Tour. Now I've got the European Tour to come. I am honoured to play in my first European Tour event."

Whether or not she has the skill to play on these tours, make no mistake, it is about the money....but not the money she's making....rather the money others are making off of her.

The money goes with the path of least resistance (the more controversy = the least resistance for money to follow), and Wie is en-fuego. That is why all these tours are lining up to offer her exemptions. They know the money is flowing, and they want a piece of her actions.

That said, my take on Wie is that we are lucky to watch her sports-life unfold. Anytime I see a kid trying I'm excited. Be it a boy or girl, black or white, American or Asian, talented or not....I want to see what I believe is the essence of trying. Kids try, because they feel a more urgent need to cast their lot in life, rather than later as an adult.

That to me, is more fun to watch. I hope Michelle (the kid) advances to play in the US Open.


Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,


JFB

Wie will be OK.

Last night I watched the Sony highlights...or should I say the Wie highlights...of the first round golf event in Hawaii. Of course, the media focused on the missed putts and a sand shot that, all totaled, will most likely keep her out of weekend play.

But I saw something different.

I saw a fluid shot-maker that just didn't get the breaks going her way. Sure she looked a little pressed with her putting as her eyes seemed to be directly over the ball (you want your forehead to be over the ball). But I was blown away by her form.
Remember we talked about posture, and how you want to press your shoulder blades together for correct posture? Well...she is the blueprint. Every move she makes start with the foundation of correct posture.

The next time you are on the course, think of how she walks, addresses the ball for every shot, and emulate her posture.

Thanks for reading, keep it in the short grass.


JFB