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LPGA says all players must learn English

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Seahawk, Aug 26, 2008.

  1. Italian_Stallion

    Italian_Stallion Active Member

    You'd have to provide some examples. I don't know where you got this notion.
     
  2. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    1. If you have a history of not making racist statements/jokes, you can get away with it (because the joke will be obvious to everyone).

    2. If you have a history of making racist statements/jokes, you likely will get flamed (because it will be viewed as the racist views of a racist).

    Liberal/conservative, the issue is not.
     
  3. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I understand the LPGA needs sponsors and that the pro-am is an important part of each week's schedule, but this thing reeks. I can only imagine what the U.S. press would say if Tiger Woods wasn't allowed to play in Dubai or other US athletes weren't allowed to play in foreign countries because they didn't speak English.
     
  4. Beaker

    Beaker Active Member

    It definitely reeks. It would be nice if they did speak English, but to mandate it? Bad stuff.
     
  5. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    Well done, sir.
     
  6. Oggiedoggie

    Oggiedoggie Well-Known Member

    They need to hire voice actors to interpret what they're saying and then play it back with a sound track that barely matches the motions of their lips.

    Then the golfers need to put on giant crepe paper suits and stomp on all the TV satellite trucks.

    Oh, wait, I guess that will only work with the Japanese.

    I'm not sure what jingoistic stereotype to slap the Koreans with.
     
  7. tapintoamerica

    tapintoamerica Well-Known Member

    Seems to me that those who decline to learn the language are already paying a price of their own choosing: loss of endorsements in English-speaking countries. To punish them further is a bit much.
     
  8. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    Funny you should say that. I remember watching a Real Sports report on the LPGA/lesbian issue and the interview the reporter did with the guy who runs the LPGA was one of the most unintentionally funny things I've ever seen. It could have been a segment on Nightstand with Dick Deitrich.
     
  9. hondo

    hondo Well-Known Member

    The lesbian issue has never really amounted to much because the ones everyone suspects (only a couple of players have ever "come out" publicly) are pretty good players, good with the media and fans and good with the sponsors. I read a story in one of the golf magazines a few years ago and they interviewed a couple of honchos from big corporate LPGA sponsors who said an LPGA player may or may not be of that persuasion but they didn't care much because that Tour didn't have a loose cannon like John Daly or assholes like Vijay Singh.
     
  10. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Yeah, except maybe the LPGA NEEDs a loose cannon like Daly. It's pretty boring group of women.

    Lorne Rubinstein weighs in.

    http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080826.wsptrube26/GSStory/GlobeSportsGolf/home

    It makes sense that players who don't speak English should try to learn the language. Most players do try, and the LPGA makes the Rosetta Stone language-training program available to its members. But it can take a long time to get comfortable in a foreign language. My wife taught college English for nearly 30 years, often to people for whom English was a second or third language. A certain percentage of these students never became fluent in English, no matter how hard they worked. Canada and the United States are full of immigrants who can't speak English after years of taking lessons.

    Smacking a two-year time period on golfers to learn English, then, smacks of xenophobia in the extreme. The idea is offensive, and its implementation is sure to generate hostility and anxiety.
     
  11. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    I'd say Michelle Wie comes close to fulfilling the Daly role.

    Can shoot 67 or 82 at any event . . . can WD at any time, just because . . . can be DQd at any time . . . parents' role . . . playing with the men . . . performance in no way approaches hype . . . always a draw (or curiosity) for TV or spectators.

    All she has to do is start smoking, get fat and get into a bunch of dysfunctional relationships with men, and she'll have it down pat.

    And win a tournament every now and then, too.
     
  12. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    Daly won the 1991 PGA and 1995 British.

    He absolutely has the cred ability-wise.

    That, primarily, is where that comparison falls apart.

    Plus, Daly has always been a flawed sort that many, many people can relate to.

    Wie is some kid manipulated by her father into awful choices/brat.
     
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