April 13, 2010--Phil Mickelson's "Win for the Family"
As Phil Mickelson strode up to the 18th green in Augusta, with his ball safely on the green and a two stroke lead, he was about to claim his third Green Jacket. CBS's sports anchor, Jim Nance, couldn't restrain himself from gushing, "It's a win for the family." (See linked New York Times article.)
He couldn't have been clearer in pointing out the contrast between Phil-the-family-man and Tiger Woods (who finished tied for 4th) the philanderer.
Thus, the sacred grounds of this temple of golf was in the process of being resanctified.
Even casual followers of golf know how hard things have been for Phil's family. His wife Amy and his mother have both been battling breast cancer. To acknowledge that, on his cap, Mickelson wears emblazoned a pink ribbon almost as prominently as the KPMG and Barclay's Bank logos.
His wife and mother are apparently doing as well as one could hope, but it has been a very trying and emotional time. With victory in hand, when he walked off the 18th green, he embraced Amy, who though weakened by her chemotherapy treatments managed to be there. With tears flowing in high definition, and surrounded by his three daughters, it was a moving family scene indeed. It couldn't have happened to apparently nicer people.
Jim Nance and his colleagues hardly needed to point out that Elin Woods and her and Tiger's two children were nowhere in sight.
Nor did any of them point out that Jim Nance himself recently had had some family "issues" of his own. I would be loath to mention these if Good Jim had managed to restrain himself with the win-for-the-family business. And if, politically, he wasn't such a conservative, family-values fanatic. So much so that he's a regular on the Rush Limbaugh Comedy Hour. And is known to be considering a political run of his own--maybe for the Senate, seeking to represent Connecticut. But there is more about Jim, as you will see in a moment.
This was the culmination of the hypocritical piling on. A day or two before they teed off, Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne publicly chastised Tiger Woods, saying, "It is not simply the degree of his conduct that is so egregious here; it is the fact that he disappointed all of us and, more importantly, our kids and our grand kids. Our hero did not live up to the expectations we saw for our children.”
Neither he nor his predecessors ever spoke equivalent words about golf legend and legendary womanizer (that was the euphemism used back in the day) Arnold Palmer. And make no mistake, everyone close to the game knew what Arnie was up to between rounds.
In his book, Arnie & Jack, though Ian O'Connor skates lightly over Palmer’s considerable reputation as a ladies’ man, he leaves the last word on that to Arnie himself who, in a quasi non-acknowledgment acknowledgement, says: “I knew a lot of ladies, but I didn’t, I wasn’t one to. ... That was more the talk than it was an action. It was a myth. ... I think I knew a lot of people and I was nice to them and that’s how this all got construed.”
And let us recall that the fabled Augusta National Golf Course itself is not worthy of declaring itself a national course. It has only 300 members, mainly rich and semi-famous white men. Actually, only men. And about all but one white.
Women have been systematically excluded from membership from the beginning, including being deflected from ever thinking about joining the likes of Bill Gates, Jack Welch, and Warren Buffett in the smoking lounge. These noted humanitarians raised not a peep when this was put to the test a few years ago, much less even contemplated resigning in protest. It must be those tacky green jacket that only members and Masters Tournament winners are allowed to possess.
A final word about Phil Mickelson. He is probably the straightest arrow in town. This may be facilitated by the fact that his wife, prior to her illness, followed him to ever tournament in which he played. To celebrate his accomplishments and perhaps to keep an eye on him.
But then again, until the Enquirer broke the news about Tiger, everyone thought that he too was a great family man. So let's hold off either anointing Mickelson as husband of the year or being unduly cynical about what might or might not be the truth about his fidelity.
And, yes, a final work about Mr. Nance. I can't get him out of my mind. Mr. Family Values get tangled up in a messy public divorce a couple of years ago. At 51, he was caught cheating by his wife of 26 years. His playmate at the time was about 23 years old. Nothing wrong with May-September romances but they are best confined to unmarried men. Especially those who are so eager to make snide comments about other's peccadilloes.
Maybe what Rush's best friend was up to was some preemptive philandering. Why wait to get into the Senate before getting in on the action.
He couldn't have been clearer in pointing out the contrast between Phil-the-family-man and Tiger Woods (who finished tied for 4th) the philanderer.
Thus, the sacred grounds of this temple of golf was in the process of being resanctified.
Even casual followers of golf know how hard things have been for Phil's family. His wife Amy and his mother have both been battling breast cancer. To acknowledge that, on his cap, Mickelson wears emblazoned a pink ribbon almost as prominently as the KPMG and Barclay's Bank logos.
His wife and mother are apparently doing as well as one could hope, but it has been a very trying and emotional time. With victory in hand, when he walked off the 18th green, he embraced Amy, who though weakened by her chemotherapy treatments managed to be there. With tears flowing in high definition, and surrounded by his three daughters, it was a moving family scene indeed. It couldn't have happened to apparently nicer people.
Jim Nance and his colleagues hardly needed to point out that Elin Woods and her and Tiger's two children were nowhere in sight.
Nor did any of them point out that Jim Nance himself recently had had some family "issues" of his own. I would be loath to mention these if Good Jim had managed to restrain himself with the win-for-the-family business. And if, politically, he wasn't such a conservative, family-values fanatic. So much so that he's a regular on the Rush Limbaugh Comedy Hour. And is known to be considering a political run of his own--maybe for the Senate, seeking to represent Connecticut. But there is more about Jim, as you will see in a moment.
This was the culmination of the hypocritical piling on. A day or two before they teed off, Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne publicly chastised Tiger Woods, saying, "It is not simply the degree of his conduct that is so egregious here; it is the fact that he disappointed all of us and, more importantly, our kids and our grand kids. Our hero did not live up to the expectations we saw for our children.”
Neither he nor his predecessors ever spoke equivalent words about golf legend and legendary womanizer (that was the euphemism used back in the day) Arnold Palmer. And make no mistake, everyone close to the game knew what Arnie was up to between rounds.
In his book, Arnie & Jack, though Ian O'Connor skates lightly over Palmer’s considerable reputation as a ladies’ man, he leaves the last word on that to Arnie himself who, in a quasi non-acknowledgment acknowledgement, says: “I knew a lot of ladies, but I didn’t, I wasn’t one to. ... That was more the talk than it was an action. It was a myth. ... I think I knew a lot of people and I was nice to them and that’s how this all got construed.”
And let us recall that the fabled Augusta National Golf Course itself is not worthy of declaring itself a national course. It has only 300 members, mainly rich and semi-famous white men. Actually, only men. And about all but one white.
Women have been systematically excluded from membership from the beginning, including being deflected from ever thinking about joining the likes of Bill Gates, Jack Welch, and Warren Buffett in the smoking lounge. These noted humanitarians raised not a peep when this was put to the test a few years ago, much less even contemplated resigning in protest. It must be those tacky green jacket that only members and Masters Tournament winners are allowed to possess.
A final word about Phil Mickelson. He is probably the straightest arrow in town. This may be facilitated by the fact that his wife, prior to her illness, followed him to ever tournament in which he played. To celebrate his accomplishments and perhaps to keep an eye on him.
But then again, until the Enquirer broke the news about Tiger, everyone thought that he too was a great family man. So let's hold off either anointing Mickelson as husband of the year or being unduly cynical about what might or might not be the truth about his fidelity.
And, yes, a final work about Mr. Nance. I can't get him out of my mind. Mr. Family Values get tangled up in a messy public divorce a couple of years ago. At 51, he was caught cheating by his wife of 26 years. His playmate at the time was about 23 years old. Nothing wrong with May-September romances but they are best confined to unmarried men. Especially those who are so eager to make snide comments about other's peccadilloes.
Maybe what Rush's best friend was up to was some preemptive philandering. Why wait to get into the Senate before getting in on the action.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
5:45 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home