Category: Sports

When Rory McIlroy Crashes and Burns…

DP World Tour Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic

Rory McIlroy

After getting a break on 17, McIlroy hits an awesome drive down the 18 hole, at the Emirates Golf Club, Majlis Golf Course, on the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic.

In the clubhouse is veteran Richard Bland and golf phenom Viktor Hovland sitting at a comfortable -12 under par and waiting to either, go on a playoff or the airport.

McIlroy was -12 under par with over 260 yards into the par 5. A birdie would have done the trick at best, and at worst, a par would have taken him into a playoff with Bland and Hovland.

Unfortunately for him, none of those two scenarios came to fruition. He bogeyed 18 after spraying his second shot into the water and missing a par putt.

What what was he thinking? Did his caddie, Harry Diamond, told him what was going on? Did he knew all he needed was a birdie to win outright or a par to join the playoff?

In typical McIlroy fashion, he went out in flames. I felt sorry for the guy, after all, I am a golfer and I have played at the Emirates Club many times. I know how difficult is to clear that water, and at over 260 yards is even tougher.

I know the player is responsible for making the shot, but I put a lot of the blame on his caddie. I would have insisted on the layup and dealt with the ass-chewing after the victory champagne.

This was one of the worst decisions I have witnessed. A heartbreaker for sure.

Personally, I think is time for Rory McIlroy to hire a real caddie. I am sure is fun to have your best buddy in your bag, but when millions, and legacy, are on the line, always go with a professional.

At the end, Viktor Hovland raised the trophy by defeating Richard Bland after birding the first playoff hole.

Is The Australian Government Suffering from Foot in The Mouth Disease?

Australia’s Diplomatic Nightmare

#1 Tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic Picture courtesy of Sky Sports

One thing is to hold your citizens hostage and treat them as third-class citizens, but when you treat the #1 ranked tennis player in the world in such a manner, is going to get the world’s attention.

Australia claims Novak Djokovic is facing deportation because despite of having been cleared to enter the country by medical authorities, the Australian Border Forces moved to refuse him entry into the country.

Australia has been making worldwide headlines with their handling of the Covid-19 virus.  Australia has become a floating gulag while the Covid-19 infections have continued to rise even though they have imposed the most restrictive, and draconian, mandates on their population.

With the Australian Open tennis tournament coming up and Djokovic’s opportunity to break the all-time Grand Slam record, the Australian government has decided to engage in a diplomatic spat with Serbia and the millions of Djokovic fans around the world.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, has gone out of his way to sound tough even threatening to put Djokovic “on the first plane home.”

If Morrison thought the world was going to get behind him, he thought wrong. Djokovic is one of the most beloved sport figures in the world, and for the Australian government to treat him this way, over a vaccine exemption, is ludicrous and classless.

I, for one, hope Djokovic packs his bags and leaves as soon as he can. If the Australian people wish to live their lives under those tyrannical conditions, so be it, but the rest of the world won’t.

Who knows, perhaps Australia should become, once again, a penal colony.

The Australian government has definitively put both feet deep inside their diplomatic mouth.

Game, Set, Match, Djokovic!

The Hypocrisy of the United States Government and Olympic Committee

Time to Boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

A shameful institution!

As much as American athletes love to lecture the common folk, they rarely put their money where their mouth is.

Some of them love to hate the United States, badmouth the country about how horrible it is, but they don’t have second thoughts about taking money so they can enjoy international and national competitions at our expense.

I am not surprised one bit. This is the type of society in which we live, the type of United States wokeness and social media have created.

The upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing are a clear example of American hypocrisy. Our government runs their mouth criticizing China, and rightly so, but hasn’t done a thing about the United States position.

Sure, a meaningless diplomatic boycott gives the Biden administration headlines, but it doesn’t affect the outcome. China will still enjoy, and reap, the benefits of having United States athletes participating at the Olympics.

Not only has the United States team been outfitted with Ralph Lauren gear, which is mostly made in, you guessed it, China, but the United States Olympic Committee has remained silent about China and has refused to criticize China’s horrific record on human rights abuses.

The list of abuses is endless. From Uyghur ‘concentration camps’ in Xinyang to the inexplicable disappearance of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai and Beijing’s cover up.

The Biden administration has done nothing to hold China accountable, on the contrary, under Joe Biden, the Chinese Communist Party seems to enjoy a level of moral immunity never seen before.

Why hasn’t the United States pulled the plug on the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics? Why is the United States rewarding an oppressive regime with the presence and prestige of United States athletes?

The United States Olympic Committee and the Biden administration should be ashamed of themselves.

How dare we claim the moral highroad while at the same time we won’t condemn the Chinese Communist Party human rights abuses?

The government says the athletes should not be punished, is not their fault. Well, these athletes are representing not only our country, but they represent every single one of us.

I don’t approve of a communist regime who starve its people, place people in concentration camps because of their religious beliefs, threaten its neighbors with invasion, and intimidate our country with vile threats.

To say President Carter had more ‘cojones’ than Joe Biden by leading the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics says a lot about our current state of affairs in this country.

The United States needs to lead again. The United States needs to send a clear message to Beijing and completely boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in the name of human rights and what the United States stands for.

I won’t be watching!

Resources:

https://www.amnesty.org/en/search/china/?sort=relevance-desc

Unequal Rights for Women

Lia Thomas and the Penn State Women’s Swimming Team

What’s wrong with this picture? Lots!!!! Photo courtesy of newyorklatestnews.com

The case of Lia Thomas, a biological male who identifies as a woman has shaken the collegiate swimming world while shattering women’s swimming records in the process.

Lia Thomas, swam for Penn State, NCAA Division 1, male swimming team for three years , before switching to the women’s team.

How Penn State allowed this to happen is beyond me. All I can think of is ‘winning by all means’ is still alive and well in America, regardless of the consequences.

Lia Thomas has gone on to break the 1,650 Freestyle record, 500 yard freestyle U.S. record, and the establishing the fastest women’s U.S. record for the 200 yard freestyle by seven seconds faster than the next woman competitor.

Thomas is unapologetic for her success, despite the fact she is a biological man, who obviously has physical advantages over women, given to her by the nature of being a man.

More egregious to me is the fact Penn State has allowed this to take place and has prohibited the women’s team members from speaking to the press.

What happened to the women’s movement? Where’s Hillary Clinton, Sheryl Sandberg, the Pussyhat Project, and the rest of the powerful women in the United States who claim to be for women’s rights?

It is amazing to me how 0.58% have so much influence in the United States, in essence, eliminating the meaning of being a woman in society.

I am in the camp of live and let live, but this goes beyond that. The women in the Penn State swimming team have competed as biological women since they were kids.

Their parents have sacrificed a lot for these ladies to succeed and in a matter of seconds, records are shattered, not by a hard working equal, but by a biological male who found out it was more profitable to switch sides.

So what’s the future of Title IX? Title IX was enacted in 1972 as part of the Education Amendments and prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools or education programs who receive federal funding.

After all, there are two scientifically recognized sexes; male and female. You would think that the majority party of ‘trust the science’, the Democratic Party, would be in the forefront fighting for women’s rights and enacting legislation to prevent this from happening.

I have a feeling the courts are going to be pretty busy in the near future. Parents around the country are catching up to these injustices and are ready to stand up for the rights of their own children.

What does this mean for women’s sports? What would prevent a program from replacing their women athletes with biological males who identify themselves as women? We will have to wait and see, but if this keeps going on without challenge, it won’t end well for women’s sports.

I wonder what pioneering women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and the stalwarts of the suffrage movement in the United States would think of what’s happening to the women’s movement today.

I don’t think they would approve.

Additional sources:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/transgender-population-by-state

https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/sex-discrimination/title-ix-education-amendments/index.html

LPGA Tour Confidential

Korda Sisters: Sour Grapes or Pure Ignorance?

The Korda Sisters Photo courtesy of knews.uk

The Korda sisters must love the attention. This time they are complaining about an LPGA Tour rule that require players to play a minimum of 70 rounds or 70 percent of tournament rounds to qualify for the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average on tour.

Nelly Korda claimed she learned of the rule recently on a chat room, going to the extend of calling the rule, “weird.”

Seriously? She has been on tour for quite some time and do not know her employer’s rules?

But their comments at the Pelican Women’s Championship is what got me thinking and made me write about them. Some of the answers to the questions went like this.

Nelly Korda: “I mean, I would say Jin Young has had an amazing past couple of events. If she was to win, she deserves to win it. I would say the same for me. It kind of sucks that that’s just how it is. Yeah, that’s all I have to say.”

Jessica Korda went on to say: “is just that the person who’s now in the running, is it consider an asterisk or- I don’t know. It’s just a weird rule when you’re No.1 and 2 player in the world.”

Nelly Korda: “And 3, right?

Jessica Korda: “And 3 player- is it 1,2, and 3 aren’t eligible? So it’s just weird.”

There’s nothing weird about a rule that has been around for a long time Jessica.

Note to Jessica Korda, if you are going to complain about another player, in this case Lydia Ko, do not be a coward. Everyone knows Lydia Ko is the next in line for the award, so if you are going to call out a multiple Major winner out, do it by name.

Lydia Ko is much more than an asterisk, she is a class act and very talented player. The comment was a low punch and classless.

When asked if the rule should be changed, Jessica was quick to say, “One-hundred percent.”  But when asked if they would alter their playing schedule, Nelly was quick to say, “No.”

Well, it sounds like a Korda problem, not an LPGA problem and they should not change the rule to accommodate any one player.

Perhaps instead of crying and insulting their fellow LPGA players, the Korda’s should learn the rules and requirements of their employer.

Awards are earned, not given.

Disclaimer: Quotes were verbatim. Any grammar or syntax issues should be brought up with the Korda’s publicist.