{"id":6304,"date":"2009-06-11T10:08:29","date_gmt":"2009-06-11T14:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/?p=6304"},"modified":"2009-06-11T11:56:20","modified_gmt":"2009-06-11T15:56:20","slug":"three_wishes_for_the_week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/thrash_talk\/three_wishes_for_the_week","title":{"rendered":"Three Wishes for The Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ThrashIn no particular order, I would like to see Kenny Perry stop saying things like he does in the linked<\/a> USA Today feature, Phil Mickelson to spend a little more time with his ailing wife before returning to competition, and Mr. John Daly to stop wearing Loudmouth Golf pants.
\n
\n@Daly<\/strong>
\nSince Daly is more than comfortable golfing in various stages of undress, I feel the need to say the following “John, remove the Loudmouths and put one of your rumpled pairs of khakis on. Even if they’re stained with the wings you inevitably ate at Hooters last night, put them on. Also, while you’re at it, don’t do any more shirtless interviews<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

There are, maybe, four pairs of pants on Loudmouth Golf<\/a>‘s entire website that I would not rank among the worst I have ever seen in my life. Even so, the real affront to good taste here is the terrible combination of John Daly’s corpulent figure with the trousers in question. The man is a clown, yet he shouldn’t have to be contractually obligated to look like one.<\/p>\n

Daly is not what we would call a slender or attractive man. However, even for the most trim specimen, I believe it is mostly an unwritten rule that you ought not wear eye-searing neon or patterns which look like they were lifted from a blacklight poster.<\/p>\n

The only thing more ridiculous than the pants is Daly’s tireless commitment to selling himself to the highest (any?) bidder and his continued inability to get his personal life in order so that he might actually make use of his talents. No self-respecting company would want this joke on their payroll, but he manages to secure sponsors. Well done, J.D.<\/p>\n

@Mickelson<\/strong>
\nBy my count, it’s been five weeks since Phil Mickelson announced he would be leaving the Tour indefinitely to spend time with his wife Amy, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. I don’t pretend to know the severity of her illness, and indeed, that information should remain private, but I do know this: Phil shouldn’t be “tuning up” for the U.S. Open at The St. Jude Classic this week: he should be at home.<\/p>\n

I understand Mickelson’s “need” for a sense of normalcy in a difficult time, however, it’s too much, to soon. There are fine divisions between ignoring a major illness, giving it the attention it deserves and shutting down to wallow in misery. And while the most effective method of coping is a personal matter, I don’t think this is the right way.<\/p>\n

There isn’t going to be a sense of normalcy this quickly. Normalcy will emerge eventually, but not a pleasant sort. Rather, the normalcy of life with a serious illness will emerge. <\/p>\n

Tiger played all throughout his father’s lengthy battle with cancer, but there’s an essential difference here. Mickelson shares a home with his wife, and further (whether we take the high or low view of marriage) has made a deep commitment to her well being and that of their relationship. I don’t think this is the appropriate way forward. <\/p>\n

Were I even more cynical and hard-hearted than I am, I would say that Phil took time off when his wife’s prospects were uncertain, but, having been given a promising diagnosis (high likelihood of survival, minimal treatment, simple or no surgery) he’s back in the saddle, playing for the big bucks, placing the big bets. Alas, I am not. I want to give Phil the benefit of the doubt here.<\/p>\n

The marrow of the issue, however, is that cancer, or serious illness, isn’t an unpleasant and temporary deviation from normal life. It is, for lack of a better term, an all-encompassing lifestyle. Phil loves his wife deeply and wants to act appropriately, but in ignoring this basic fact, he’s pursuing selfish interests away from the home rather than sharing his wife’s burden – which is, really, his as well.<\/p>\n

@Perry<\/strong>
\nMy objection to Kenny Perry’s recent indictment of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson<\/a> for not making more appearances at “minor” golf events is many-fold. I’ll focus on two specific disagreements I have with his assertion, though.<\/p>\n

\"Kenny<\/p>\n

Primarily, Perry (and others, including the Tour itself) should be seeking out ways to make themselves more marketable. How many more bland robots can the golfing public be expected to be entertained by? The most interesting thing Kenny Perry ever did was bring his overall-clad father to a tournament. It’s either that or the time he (potentially) broke the rules. Even when he’s winning a tournament, as a viewer, I’m not thinking “great drama,” but rather “that’s a big head,” or as during his collapse at Augusta, “nice offspring.”<\/p>\n

Secondarily, Woods and Mickelson have an obligation to the Tour, to be sure, but they don’t have an obligation to play every event, which is the extension (slippery slope, as it may be) of the “they need to play more” argument. Perhaps if five to six of the top golfers in the World Golf Ranking weren’t cyborgs, there would be a show worth seeing.<\/p>\n

Conversely, if our hero, John Daly, has proven anything, it’s that you don’t have to be a “top player” to attract large galleries and a devoted following. Sport is entertainment, to be sure. Kenny Perry looks like he’d be more comfortable on top of a John Deere than in a promotional ad or “on the big stage.” That’s more of a problem for the PGA Tour, in the long run, than Tiger skipping the John Deere Classic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Or, Kenny: Shut Up, Phil: Stay Home, John: Stop Wearing Those Pants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thrash_talk"],"yoast_head":"\nThree Wishes for The Week (Thrash Talk) - The Sand Trap .com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/thrash_talk\/three_wishes_for_the_week\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Three Wishes for The Week (Thrash Talk) - 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