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Could someone ask Billy Payne to STFU?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by JR, Apr 7, 2010.

  1. TwoGloves

    TwoGloves Well-Known Member

    McCord also made a comment about needing "body bags" for an area where guys went through the green (or something like that).
     
  2. Lugnuts

    Lugnuts Well-Known Member

    Sonner with some breaking news...
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
  3. tapintoamerica

    tapintoamerica Well-Known Member

    To me, there's a huge difference between a quick answer to a question and a long-winded, crafted diatribe. I'm not sure why the diatribe was necessary.
    It's an invitational tournament. If they didn't want him, they could have pulled the invitation. Tiger could have then claimed he needed to skip the Masters to continue in his process of personal recovery. Augusta National could have resumed its normal, standoffish no-comment policy.
    But don't let him play and then douse him in mud.
     
  4. Sea Bass

    Sea Bass Well-Known Member

    I think he compared a few small hills in front of a green to body bags. Don't know if it was Augusta.
     
  5. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    He says he's a Cablanasian to reflect his mixed heritage. There is a box for other races on the form.
    As for some nut job asking him that in the press conference, no one who wanted to cover the event would've posed that question. In fact, there would have had no relevance.
     
  6. Oggiedoggie

    Oggiedoggie Well-Known Member

    This is a tiny part of a much larger story.

    Golf has the history of being a sport for the upper class. For decades golf was the pastime for well-to-do, mainly white, men. And that was fine with those guys.

    But for the PGA and the gold industry, that was a fairly small and stale fan base.

    Then, along comes Tiger. Everyone markets him as the sort of "every person's golden boy." If he could be jump to the head of the pack, anyone could. I remember the whole "I am Tiger Woods" campaign that said as much. He was more than just a golfer.

    And, while the PGA and the golf industry loved the widespread insurgence of fans, you have to know that some of the stiff shirts at the exclusive clubs had to be bristling a bit.

    SO, I guess the bigger question is: What is golf? Is it just the swatting of a ball in the grass? Or is it all that went with those fancy private clubs?

    And to say that Tiger Woods is just a golfer, and not accountable for anything besides his game, defies reality.
     
  7. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    I wonder if Billy is also disapointed with Jack Welch and Stever Spurrier - both Augusta members.
     
  8. novelist_wannabe

    novelist_wannabe Well-Known Member

    This.

    I tried golf and was really turned off by the elitist atmosphere, and this was at a podunk country club. It's not hard to imagine the powers that be at CCs across the country feeling a little vindicated with Tiger's troubles. It's sad, but it's easy to believe people think that way.
     
  9. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Caddy Shack was a pretty insightful window into the elitist nature of golf.
     
  10. Oz

    Oz Well-Known Member

    Whitlock summed up how I felt when I read the story and the comments ...

    http://www.kansascity.com/2010/04/07/1863838/augusta-national-chairman-lecturing.html

     
  11. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Is "Old style-southern people" code for "smug and entitled middle-aged white men who don't much like anyone outside their cozy private clubs"? Just wonderin'.

    What the hell is refreshing about his comments? He sounds like he's scolding the hired help like it was some modern version of "Upstairs/Downstairs". Oh, wait. It's Augusta AND the Masters. Upstairs /Downstairs is perfectly apt.

    Noblesse oblige, indeed.
     
  12. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    Jesse and Al would say its another case of a privileged white man chastising the black help for making a mistake. And what he said didn't sound too far from that reality.
     
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