A big HooWah for Tony Finau, a man of color, who won the Northern Trust tourny. He's advanced to the Fed Ex Finals. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Finau is of Tongan and Samoan descent and the first of Pacific Island heritage to play golf at the highest level on the PGA tour.
It's not news that are few men of color playing professional golf on the PGA Tour. That goes for the Women's tour as well. But let's stay with men for the time being. Before Tiger Woods took the game to a new level, there were a few African American men who distinguished themselves: Lee Elder and Calvin Peete, for example. Today on tour there are two noteworthy black players on tour: Cameron Champ and Harold Varner III. It is understandable in a country that is so divided between the rich and poor. Golf is expensive to play and to learn. Similarly, so is tennis. Yesterday I saw two African Americans playing against each other in the first round of the U..S. Open. "Wow!" I said. However, when the camera panned into the stands I also noted there was very little racial diversity sitting watching. Ditto the fans watching golf at the National and the BMW. A sport has to be accessible to youngsters for them to catch the fever. Golf and tennis are not even in the same city let alone the same neighborhood.
STUFF:
What are the bookies saying about the odds that the 49ers two QB system will work?
Since defensive linemen in football in a punting situation by rule can release as soon as the ball is snapped, why the heck don't they sprint back to become blockers for the receiver rather than try to block the punt, an act of futility as far as I'm concerned.
There should be a rule in soccer that says once the ball crosses mid field, it can not come back, which it does so often I'm half asleep before there looks like a reasonable attack unfolding.
Another NFL question. Why do coaches keep their stars (the ones not coming off of injuries) from getting any real game time during exhibition season? Are they so certain that the vet will be game ready to play from the get-go? I guess we'll find out this season.
Lots of talk in our sports page about high school athletes leaving their district schools and enrolling in schools with more elite programs. This is a trend that has been going on now for at least the last 15 years. In basketball, for example, there are basketball academies for the extremely gifted that have their own schedules and play against each other and are scouted by the pros. If this trend continues and there doesn't seem any reason to believe it won't, it is time to consider the European model of school boy and girl sports. No sports in school. Sports clubs for athletics. I love the democracy of high school sports and would hate to see this happen, but it looks to me that sports in our country is fast becoming more of an oligarchy than a democracy.
Here's a fabulous poem about baseball written by Robert Hamlin from his neat poetry book, Keeping Score
A HERO FOR ALL SEASONS
Who raised the base on balls
to the level of art.
Who took batting practice
to practice not to hit.
Who once fouled off nineteen
third strikes to earn a walk.
Who persuaded kids too small
for football and too short
for basketball
that litt'uns could also be big'uns.
No comments:
Post a Comment