39th Ryder Cup

[Double Down]

I actually like the idea that you can't repeat captains. It's like you constantly have to have someone in the farm system to be your guy, and you get one shot. There is a finality and a weight to it. That loss will live with DLIII forever because he'll never get another chance. And that's part of what gives the whole event added gravity. There are no do-overs.

 

[Small Town Guy]

Word, DD & Junkie. This is part of what makes the Ryder Cup special.

So I ended up getting one of those little radios to listen to the calls as I roamed the course. Enhanced my enjoyment of the event 1000%. The commericals on the U.S. feed were making me crazy. The radio had the option of the BBC feed, which had zero commericals (only the occasional English Premier League score-- Darby beat Nottingham Forest 1-nil, y'all), and I must tell you the BBC coverage was BALLS!!!! It was so witty and descriptive.. it's all the reasons you love Peter Alliss times the 10 reporters they had on the course. I'll never go back to NBC again if I can help it.

As for the Cup... FUUUUUCk!!!!

People I blame:

1) Tiger Woods. He's our top-ranked player. I believe he was the reason Stricker was put on the team. He ****ed up, royally.
2) DL3. Where to begin? His captain's choices sucked. He boxed himself into a corner by declaring (1) everybody would sit a round and (2) everybody will keep the same pairings. Let's not even talk about asking the fans to wear red, then they players show up in some blue/white striped jobbies. I mean, W. T. F.
3) Steve Stricker. C'mon, man.
4) Celebrity culture. I think it's time to stop letting Michael Phelps, Barbara Bush, Michael Jordan and all the various entourages inside the ropes during the Ryder Freakin' Cup. Let's get serious, folks, and keep Justin Timberlake out of it.

My next choice for captain is to bring back Tom Watson because Watson's amazing and he loves Scotland. Two years later, I would like for Phil/Amy to captain on U.S. soil. If he's playing well enough at that point, Phil can player/captain.

Only good thing about the loss is that now I can tell Michael Jordan fans that at least Kobe Bryant has never been on a team that collapsed and disgraced the entire country.

 

[Lugnuts]

I actually like the idea that you can't repeat captains. It's like you constantly have to have someone in the farm system to be your guy, and you get one shot. There is a finality and a weight to it. That loss will live with DLIII forever because he'll never get another chance. And that's part of what gives the whole event added gravity. There are no do-overs.

But the history of the Ryder Cup captaincy is full of do-overs. At this point for the U.S., I think it needs to be about winning. Tom Watson still feels relevant, and he's the last guy to captain the U.S. to a win on European soil.

 

[User 11148]

Sheeeeeesh ... step away from the ledge. It's the Ryder Cup, for heaven's sake. I like the Ryder Cup because it's fun watching those guys play match play, whether in singles, foursomes or four-balls. Match play doesn't lend itself to TV as a general rule, but it works great in the Ryder Cup/Presidents Cup. But all this talk about finding a captain because "it's about winning"? About the entire country being "disgraced"? IT IS AN EXHIBITION!

 

[Norrin Radd]

This is supposed to be, an EXHIBITION!!

You understand?

EXHIBITION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Versatile]

Doc Q, maybe it's an exhibition by definition, but it's the greatest competitionn in golf, if not all of sports, at least to the Euros.

I'll ignore the part "if not all sports," because no one in Europe would rather win the Ryder Cup than the World Cup. That said, do you think any of the European players really would rather have a Ryder Cup than a Claret Jug? They've won seven of the past nine. I can't imagine why a player would view it that way. Humans are inherently selfish.

 

[trifectarich]

You've got Funk and Kenny Perry, and in another six years you can insert Furyk and Couples and Mickelson into the talk about being captain. There's no shortage of people who can do this; it's not rocket science.

I give all the credit in the world to Europe. I would have thought Kaymer and Hanson would go out and lose in 12 holes, one thing would lead to another and the whole thing would be over at 3 o'clock.

That was one awesome day.

 

[JC]

I wonder what Mcilroy's BAC is today.

 

[Gator]

I wonder what Mcilroy's BAC is today.

If Caroline Wozniack announces she's taking a leave because she's due in July 2013, we'll know why.

 

[User 11148]

Just a bit of statistical perspective: If you assume that each Ryder Cup is a 50/50 coin toss, there's about a 9% chance of a run like this (one team winning two or fewer in a series of nine competitions). So it's not like this is just some earth-shattering stretch.

 

[Versatile]

Not the greatest sporting event, Vers. The geatest competition. Although to me the World Cup is perhaps the most boring thing invented by mankind, I get that it's a big deal to a lot of people. But the Ryder Cup is vastly different. So much of it is one-v-one. In soccer, if one guy totally sucks, his team can overcome that. (Which, by the way, is why so many American parents love soccer -- the sucky kids never stand out like they do in other sports. *Ducking*) In the Ryder Cup, when you suck like Stricker did, it's hard for the rest of the squad to get over.

That's another debate for another day. But for European golfers, Ryder Cup or Claret Jug?

 

[trifectarich]

This Ian Poulter thing puzzles me. For the next 103 weeks he's going to be nothing more than decent, and then for three days he's going to unbelievable. Paging Bob Rotella.

 

[old_tony]

Is there any more absurd tiebreaker in sports than the Ryder Cup's? Imagine if we stopped baseball games after nine innings and gave the win to the team that won the previous meeting? Think about how fast tennis matches would end. College basketball would be robbed of its marathon games.

I love the uniqueness of the way the Ryder Cup determines their winner if tied. You want to get the cup back, win the damn thing.

I’m not sure why anybody would want to change the format, the Ryder Cup is great the way it is. Who cares how other sports use their tiebreakers.

This board loves to tinker, and it gets amped up 5x if the event has extends beyond the US borders.

It doesn't need a tiebreaker. If you want the Cup, you have to outplay the defending champs! What's the problem with that?

So games won in overtime, extra innings and playoffs aren't actually won? Golf decides its majors with playoffs. Why is the Ryder Cup exempt?

The playoff could be really cool, potentially. Sudden death, captain's choice, changing players on each hole if they want.

Every player on each team tees off at the same time on holes 1-12. Aggregate total. If it's tied after that, do it again.

 

[JC]

or you can simply leave it as it is. Are we having this conversation if the Americans won yesterday?

 

[Norrin Radd]

or you can simply leave it as it is. Are we having this conversation if the Americans won yesterday?

Any and all international sporting competitions must be tweaked so Americans will have a better chance to win, and also so Americans will watch.

 

[Double Down]

I just don't know that I buy the Euros "want" it more than the US players. "Want to" is an easy thing to point to because it's impossible to measure so no one can say your wrong. I think the Americans want it really bad and that showed the first two days. I think there might be some truth to the idea that The American upbringing of a professional athlete ecourages a personality that's focused on individualism. But we've made considerable strides in the team competition in recent years. it wasn't that the Euros wanted it less the first few days. It was that they got outplayed, out-thought, and a little intimidated by the crowd.

Tiger is kind of the elephant in the room. I think he wants to win a Ryder Cup badly, he just doesn't know how to trust people other than himself, and that lone wolf thing creates a weird tension. The Disaster in Oakland Hills still bugs me a little, because he clearly HATED the idea of playing with Mickelson and sulked his way through that round. That was bull****. Even though Mickelson played like **** that day, he was at least up for it when Sutton asked. He went out and practiced with Tiger's brand of ball to try and make it work. (Asking Tiger to play with a Callaway was too much to ask, I guess.)

What the US needs now is consistency from some of their young guys so that the old guys aren't dragging stuff down two years from now, especially if Tiger and Mickelson fade. Think about 2008. It looked like we were in great shape with guys like Anthony Kim and J.B. Holmes and Mahan.
Only Mahan made it in 2010 and none made it this year.

Kim became a drunk, Holmes couldn't stay healthy and lost his game and Mahan let his game get away from him a little this year. Fowler made it in 2010 but couldn't make it in 2012. What if Keegan Bradley disappears like Kim or Holmes? What if Webb Simpson becomes Chad Campbell? We need those guys and Dustin Johnson to be the guys who become our new Furyk and Mickelson, at least in terms of always making the team and being a threat to win every time out.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Any and all international sporting competitions must be tweaked so Americans will have a better chance to win, and also so Americans will watch.

Well, we did help start it, US TV money bankrolls it to a large degree, and we did save it from obscurity in 1979 by opening it up to all of Europe instead of just the UK. So yes, maybe we should have some say in how it's formatted, no?

And how does tweaknng it to include a playoff aspect if it's 14-14 help the Americans win? This rule would apply to both teams.

 

[User 11148]

What if Keegan Bradley disappears like Kim or Holmes?

If I have to watch him standing over chips, backing off, standing over, flipping the effing wedge, backing off, starting forward, hesitating, starting forward again, flipping the effing wedge ... his disappearance would cause me no end of pain.

 

[LongTimeListener]

This whole "change to a tiebreaker" thing -- is this just us jacking off here or is this an actual point of discussion among people who would be able to do something about it?

 

[User 11148]

If I could do anything about it, I'd do away with the ties in the individual matches. They would be played to completion no matter what.