GOP, er, PGA Tour

You took the shot after Tyler's post, so it draws a natural conclusion.
And no, it doesn't reek of liberal superiority. That's a conclusion you draw. It reeks of someone who takes a different philosophical stance than the golfers. Yes, it does happen to be liberal. But would fits as superiority, not liberal or conservative. Flip the stances, it works either way.

 

I'm going to help Geoff and Jesper alleviate some of their fears. Their complaints of being ostracized among their peers and the press are as misplaced as Tim Robbins complaining at the top of his lungs, and frequently, that his free speech rights were being curtailed -- and no one could make him shut up about it.

First, the range and locker room problem. Golf Digest did a story in 1996 on the political leanings of Tour players. While they did indeed find a majority were Republicans, it was a majority among those who expressed a preference. In actuality, most players weren't registered to vote and didn't give a rat's ass who was in power, as long as their money train didn't get derailed. And players such as Billy Andrade and David Duval are avowed Democrats/liberals, and they're among the most popular guys among their peers. And I would remind Geoff and Jesper about the background of their commissioner, Tim Finchem: he's a lifelong Democrat who worked for Jimmy Carter and was the national campaign chairman for Walter Mondale when he ran against Reagan.

Second, the media. I can assure Geoff and Jesper and anyone else that the political bent of your average PGA Tour media center is about 75-25 Democrat. I've gotten into a few political discussions with my peers and I've been out-numbered every time.

I think the British writer of the piece was just looking for one more way to bash the U.S. Ryder Cup team. The British press was sniping all week about rich, spoiled U.S. golfers who choke in the Ryder Cup, forgetting, apparently, that guys like Sergio, Montgomerie and Olazabal make just as much money as the American guys, and that Paul Casey and Luke Donald have either American wives or girlfriends, went to college in the U.S. and have second homes in the U.S. in gated communities.

The whole thing is hypocritical.

 

Try being a conservative in a newsroom? Yeah, it will only get you promoted to an editor or publisher's position.

 

You must not know the editors and publishers I know.

 

Somehow, I'm missing the part where these guys became hypocrites.

It's OK to make a lot of money playing golf on the PGA Tour if you agree with all things America, including our brainless, spineless president?

But it's not OK to make a lot of money playing golf on the PGA Tour if you say you don't agree with the president and find the environment in the locker room increasingly hostile?

 

If they really thought this was a problem, they'd play elsewhere, where they would feel more "comfortable" because more people thought the same way they do.

But they certainly don't want to miss out on those big paychecks.

"American censorship," my ass. Nothing, evidently, is stopping Parnevik from saying anything he wants.

Again, though, I sympathize with him in a way, because being a conservative in most U.S. newsrooms isn't much different.

 

I think it was Azinger who said he didn't want to shake the hand of a draft dodger. (Although I don't remember Paulie ever signing up for miltary service.)

 

You must have not read my post. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. For one thing, Parnevik and Ogilvy are very popular among the players -- almost all of them. Jesper is lacking for buddies, who I don't know where the hell he's coming from, except he is a bit of a flake. They can make all the money in the world and have any political leaning they want, and no one is going to stop them. There is not a hostile atmosphere.

What's hypocritical is to portray yourself as a lone liberal among a conservative wolfpack, like a minimum wage used bookstore employee in birkenstocks who finds himself dropped into the middle of RNC cocktail party. Don't complain about being ostracized by rich Republic millionaires (which they ain't) when you're a rich Democratic millionaire.

 

yeah, but they don't choke at the ryder cup every two years

 

and if these guys didn't live in the u.s. (and pay income and property taxes in the u.s.), the same folk here would be calling them hypocrites because they don't pay taxes in the u.s.

can't win with some folks

 

Yeah, and a European player hasn't won a major since Paul Lawrie backed into the British Open in 1999, then promptly disappeared. Colin Montgomerie and Sergio Garcia are the post children for gagging in majors, now that Mickelson has won three. If these guys are so freaking good, how about winning a major?

European Ryder Cup team: two majors (both by Olazabal).
U.S. Ryder Cup team: 17 majors, among four players

Yeah, they play better as a team. That's obvious. But being a good Ryder Cup player has never, NEVER, gotten someone into the Hall of Fame. I've already documented this in another thread.

 

While liberals and moderates may make up the majority of the grunts in newsrooms, those who make the big decisions - financials, what gets covered and what doesn't, who gets hired and who gets fired, etc. - are more often of the conservative bent.

To try to get back to the original point of the thread, the '93 Ryder Cup team did visit Clinton. It was team captain Tom Watson, a staunch conservative himself, who headed off the White House boycott.
There probably isn't any higher a percentage of conservatives on the PGA Tour then there are in the NFL or the major leagues. I'd say it's because when you're a star athlete in high school or college, you become, consciously or otherwise, part of that institution's power structure, where conservatism is likely to hold sway.
Billy Andrade's a Democrat? Hey, he's from Rhode Island (although the Democrats who control our state party apparatus aren't so liberal).