[William Clark, ***@nospammatsceng.ohio-state.edu]
[Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:56:08 -0400]
:
: In article <***@news-europe.giganews.com>,
: Antonio Veranos <***@thanksverymuch.com> wrote:
:
: > [kenpitts, ***@gmail.com]
: > [Sun, 17 Jul 2011 08:27:14 -0700 (PDT)]
: >
: > : On Jul 17, 9:40 am, Antonio Veranos <***@thanksverymuch.com> wrote:
: > : > Perhaps now the media will calm down a bit with regard to a player who,
: > : > while popular, has thusfar won one major tournament in his 5-year career
: > : > as a professional.
: > : >
: > : > In a way, I think it might actually be good for McIlroy that he didn't
: > : > get much closer to winning this week's British Open... the media crush
: > : > was already ridiculous, as if he was something he's clearly not.
: >
: > : If you ever go over there, don't call it the British Open. It is the
: > : Open Championship.
: >
: > I live over here, and it's the British Open. The insistence of some to
: > refer to it as "THE Open" is cute and all, but that's about it. The
: > inferiority complex here with regard to non-European golf - and in
: > particular American golf - is really rather sad. The commentators on
: > the BBC pretty nakedly root against American players and begin drooling
: > whenever any European is in the lead, openly cheering for him.
: >
: > As for the name, to be honest I don't care that much, and it's true that
: > Scotland is the home of golf so if any part of the world is entitled to
: > call their tournament "The Open", it's the R&A. Having said that, the
: > bitter insistence of the media here, to the point that they refer to the
: > Masters as "The U.S. Masters" (which no one else does)... is just cute.
: >
: > : It's too early to make any pronouncement on Rory. I like what I've
: > : seen so far though.
: >
: > Your first sentence sums it up perfectly; the British media don't get
: > it, though... they've been heaping the pressure on the kid so much it's
: > been sickening to watch.
:
: BS, it is "The Open Championship". And reference to "British" is simply
: to placate the Americans who haven't learnt their history. And as for
: the "inferiority complex" - where have the last four majors gone? Where
: is the Ryder Cup? Who is in the top ten in the World Rankings? This is
: 2011, and the world is changing and so is golf.
You should look up the term "sample size". Golf may well be changing as
it spreads around the world, but any sort of European hegemony at the
top of the leaderboard is not on the horizon.
: The fact is that the Europeans love to beat the Americans because they
: tend to exhibit the same kind of superior attitude that you are here.
: There is nothing better than taking that down a peg. I worry that the
: European tour is now getting so lucrative that these guys will lose that
: edge, and play as complacently as the Americans seem to in major
: competitions.
The fact is that Europeans love to beat the Americans because the
Americans have been dominant without having to brag about it as if it's
some major accomplishment to be better than another nationality. The
Ryder Cup has stirred up a lot of bitterness over the years,
particularly embodied by the likes of the fat git Colin Montgomerie.
As for "There is nothing better than taking that down a peg.", that's
just plain sad. One, there is no "that". Two, if the imagined reaction
of someone else to a victory is more important than the victory
itself... sad.
: I also assume that you didn't listen to ESPN's US coverage today
I didn't listen to ESPN, no, as I live here in the UK. I doubt the
veracity of your report, though, as I've watched hundreds of tournaments
on US television and am happy that nationality is not as stressed there
as it is on British television.
: And as for your hysteria over the British press's reaction to Rory, were
: you not awake when a certain Tiger Woods came through? You would have
: thought he did everything including walk on water to listen to that
: fawning in the US media.
You may have noticed that Tiger Woods won a Hell of a lot more than,
well anyone really, and way more than young Rory McIlroy by this point.
In any case, my point about the drooling over McIlroy is that it's all a
bit much and dramatically unfair to him.
: Now, if you are going to go on living in the UK, I think you need to
: relax a little, take a broader view of how things are on BOTH sides of
: the Atlantic, and lose the condescending attitude :-)
I am taking quite a broad view; pointing out the foibles of the British
media doesn't change that one bit.
--
Antonio Veranos
<insert witty comment here>