Bubba Watson at The French Open

[senorchipotle]

Quote:

Anyway, how many people in France are familiar with war memorials Americans hold sacred?.

i can guaran damn tee you that if you dropped the avg. frenchman off in america, they would be able to identify iwo jima, the vietnam wall, arlington national cemetery, and probably many more. i'm not saying that the french are inherently smarter than americans, but the avg frenchman is a hell of a lot more informed than his american counterpart.

btw, comparing this to my previous post about ricky is pretty silly.

[newtogolf]

You might have something here....maybe the fact that Bubba's dad was a Green Beret and Vietnam Veteran fostered a biased opinion of France given their inconsistent support of US military operations in the past.

Originally Posted by senorchipotle

bubba claims to love the military so much, well that arch is also a memorial for every single french soldier who fought and died since france became a unified country. hence the name, arc de TRIOMPHE. that means triumph in french.

[clubchamp]

I find it amazing that people in didn't know Bubba's personality isn't the best. Pretty much everything said in this thread has been echoed by pga tour players over the years.

[Plox]

Personal? Nope. I couldn't give a monkey's about him, quite honestly. But I do get angry when I see such blatant cockbaggery.

[Tiger Spuds]

Originally Posted by Shorty

But as long as he plays the military, charity and Christian cards, he's got a guaranteed couple of million gullible devotees.

Amen .

More people need to see it like this, and Bubba isn't the only one who plays those cards, for sure.

I find Zach Johnson to be the worst type of hypocrite. He's all about his christianity, but he couldn't be happy for Rory and his great display during the U.S. Open. Everytime he was asked about it he got very defensive and short. You could tell it annoyed him that the attention was on someone else. Apart from that, he just doesn't seem to be that nice a guy, to me at least. Never looks happy, always complaining about something. And that comment about Jesus 'walking the fairways' of Augusta with him after he won the Masters made me feel ill. Such an ignorant, egotistical and above all, stupid thing to say. Far too many people (Americans especially) are too easily impressed by this half hearted, shallow, faux-spiritualism that's present on Tour at the moment. It's a crock.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by senorchipotle

i can guaran damn tee you that if you dropped the avg. frenchman off in america, they would be able to identify iwo jima, the vietnam wall, arlington national cemetery, and probably many more. i'm not saying that the french are inherently smarter than americans, but the avg frenchman is a hell of a lot more informed than his american counterpart.

btw, comparing this to my previous post about ricky is pretty silly.

So you're saying the average French person is more informed about the US than his or her American counterpart is about France?  That would be my guess as well.  So why the hate for Bubba then?

PS. RE: the RB reference. How about whenever someone paints every poster with a different opinion with the same insulting brush, or calls some innocent person a racist or a POS, I'll  just post the "poo" icon and you'll know what I mean.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Anyway, how many people in France are familiar with war memorials Americans hold sacred?.

I've been saying Bubba Watson is a phony and an overexposed douchebag for a while now. Maybe that's why I'm cutting him some slack here. I have extremely low expectations of Bubba Watson. There's no stupid thing he can say or do that isn't completely consistent with what I already thought of him. This is one small piece (very very very small - not worthy of debate) of his portfolio of douchebaggery.

Fair points.  I'm done with the subject :)

[turtleback]

Originally Posted by senorchipotle

wow! the willful ignorance of some of my compatriots on this site is ASTOUNDING. i won't call you out, but you know who you are. "that archway" is where the tomb of the unknown french soldier resides, where charles de gaulle gave his speech proclaiming that paris was free. bubba claims to love the military so much, well that arch is also a memorial for every single french soldier who fought and died since france became a unified country. hence the name, arc de TRIOMPHE. that means triumph in french.

I wonder how much the Molinari brothers, or Rory, knew about Gettysburg the first time they came to the US?

[Shorty]

Originally Posted by turtleback

I wonder how much the Molinari brothers, or Rory, knew about Gettysburg the first time they came to the US?

You could probably assume that they'd recognise the Gettysburg address if they heard it. And they'd certainly recognise a photo of Abraham Lincoln if they saw one. If they did  a Bubba  and said  "we went to New York and saw this big green statue thing on a little island and when we went to San Francisco (i think that's what it's called)  there was this massive bridge or something" you'd accuse them of being ignorant and stupid.

Bubba Watson would probably not be able to point to Italy or France on a map.  And I'd bet money he couldn't point to Iraq or Afghanistan on a map. But that won't stop him thanking the military "for their service", whatever that means as long as there's a camera on him. The guy is a complete moron and a buffoon.

[senorchipotle]

look... all i'm saying is. i'm a member of the french american youth chamber of commerce here in dallas. and i know french people who've been here for only a year or so who care more about keeping up with american politics and have visited more states than many of the natives i know. so, draw your own conclusions.

i'm hating on bubba because he just sounded like a prima donna pompous jerk on tv. plus i used to live in france, and i love the culture and the people, and it bothers me that so many americans expect things to be on their terms when they're in foreign countries. if you've lived in or even visited another country and encountered american tourists you'd know exactly what i'm talking about, and it's damn embarrassing.

and i'm not sure how much the italians or rory knew about gettysburg before coming, but like grandma says, ''it's better to look like a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt.''

yeah, so i might make a rash judgement call here and there. so what, that's life, people do it, get over it. besides, i've never called anybody a racist.

[deasy55]

I read in 2 newspapers this morning that Nicolas Colsaerts' caddie gave Bubba a bit of 'advice' when he was leaving the clubhouse after missing the cut. Probably told him to f off and show some respect.

His playing partner Raphael Jacquelin for the first 2 rounds was also surprised with his demeanor and attitude and said that he to be looking for any excuse other than himself for his poor play.

I don't know how people can still claim Bubba did nothing wrong here when there's 2 players, a few former players and the golf media all saying the same thing. Perhaps its the culture difference.

[topspin4hand]

Just listening to Bubba's comments yesterday, I was a little embarrassed for Bubba as an American. All of this is not to be taken too far, but his comments fit squarely within the stereotype many Euro Tour fans have of PGA players and their attitudes ... also, many believe that PGA players would routinely fare as Bubba did over there this week.

I don't discount Bubba's account of the French Open tournament administration and lack of certain player considerations but it didn't look good the way Bubba chose to explain it all.  To top it all off, he let the reporter goad him down the road of cultural ignoramus towards the end.

[deasy55]

Stuart Appleby, Gmac and Christina Kim have all made rather humorous tweets about the whole situation. Appleby saying that Bubba should get surgery in order to make his mouth smaller so his foot won't get stuck in it was the highlight. He also said that it was unacceptable to go to another tour and show a lack of respect, and to then do it on more than one occasion. Kim said he is a "spoiled prima donna that gives Americans a bad name" and that she has been saying it for years.

[AmazingWhacker]

Bubba needs a handler.  Just because he can swing a golf club doesn't make him a well educated classy dude. The one thing that stands out to me about this whole incident is how everybody in the golf world is ready to get so upset over any little thing.

So a guy named Bubba, most recently seen jumping around on YouTube in overalls and bare feet, behaved in an uncouth manner.  Wow - I could never have seen that coming.  As for all the Twit-wits who feel like they need to express an opinion about everything . .well . .they don't.

Bubba should release a statement next week to the effect that he is sorry if certain statements were misinterpreted, that he loves Europe and especially France and can't wait to return.  And then never do this again without a handler to keep him from saying stupid things at the wrong times.  It's just golf.  To me this is a non-event.

[GolfBear]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

When Luke Donald plays at Hilton Head, is he asked any questions that require local knowledge? What about GMac or Poulter who live in the US? I've never heard McIlroy or any other European player asked a question about anything but their golf. Not about their stay, their travel, or their opinion on the local tourist hot spots.

I wouldn't expect Ian Poulter or Rory McIlroy to know what the Lincoln memorial is but I would expect them to recognize the statue of liberty.

That said, none of us know Bubba Watson.  None of us know what's going on with him or with his life.    There could be innumberable issues going on behind the scenes that we're totally unaware of.   His behavior did come off poorly but we don't know what the reasons might be.   These guys live their lives in front of the camera where every move is scrutinized.    I'm not excusing his behavior but I don't think he needs to be crucified either.

[MrElculver2424]

I've never cared for Bubba since watching that video of him yelling at Elkington a while ago. I know Steve shouldn't have been walking while Bubba was hitting his shot, but Bubba's attitude was a little over the top. And then just this week, I lost any respect I had for him.

[Paradox]

I could give a rats tail about what kind of cultural knowledge ANY golfer knows.  To get insulted by it is ridiculous and petty.

If Rory called the statue of liberty.."that tall woman with a torch"...I'd probably chuckle at the comment and then say "he's not from America..why should he know it off the top of his head?"

Some people just look for ANY reason to trash another.  You don't have to like Bubba but to say all the things that are being said about him...pretty sad.

The only thing that gets to me is the damn "Americans don't give a crap" attitude or that we don't care about the rest of the world.  If there were ever a pot meet kettle statement..that is it.

[senorchipotle]

Originally Posted by Paradox

The only thing that gets to me is the damn "Americans don't give a crap" attitude or that we don't care about the rest of the world.  If there were ever a pot meet kettle statement..that is it.

it's not so much bubba, he's just the personification of why americans get upset with other americans. the sandtrap is a global community. as such, we respect each other regardless of country of origin. so yes, bubba doing what he did on international t.v. does make us look foolish. and as it stands, most americans i know couldn't care less about knowing what's going on in the rest of the world, and most of the europeans et al do.