Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

Sore losers

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Dan Rosen

Throughout this past year, the game of golf has caught my attention and glued me to the television screen for more than the five seconds it used to have me for.

Golf, at least on the Sunday of a major tournament, is exciting to watch. You get to see greats in action like Tiger, Duval, O'Meara, Leonard and others who are too numerous to mention.

After watching Justin Leonard sink his improbable 40-foot putt Sunday, I too was in awe and in celebration, for the Americans had just done something amazing. Apparently their celebration tactics were not viewed as a great public display of emotion by the Europeans.

Tough!

Now, if the Europeans had won in that style they wouldn't have celebrated either, right?

Leonard and the rest of the Americans made history Sunday and because of that, they have every right to celebrate however they please. They can make noise, they can scream, yell and run through Jose Maria Olazabal's line. How can one possibly control his or her emotions at a time like that.

The Europeans have absolutely no right to complain and toss sour grapes the Americans' way because of this. If anything, that is being a poor sport.

Honestly, do you think they were upset because of the celebration or because they had just thrown away the Ryder Cup in the worst possible way?

What the Americans did is the same as what a basketball team does when it sinks a free throw or a three-pointer with just a few seconds left in the game to take the lead. The other team calls a time-out and they run on the floor celebrating. They celebrate even though the game hasn't been won yet.

When a guy hits a home run to go up in the top of the ninth, the team publicly displays their emotions and when a guy scores a touchdown or kicks a field goal to take the lead with less than two minutes to play, they celebrate in front of their opposition.

It even happens in bowling, so why not golf?

Granted, golf is a gentleman's game and it should be played as such, but when your team or player has a day like Sunday, all should be thrown out the window in an uproar of celebration.

A fan's emotions though, should not be displayed with gratuitous violence, as discussed by the Europeans yesterday. They should not taunt the father of one of the golfers nor spit on one of their wives.

The Europeans are gentlemen as well and should be treated as such. Instead of having a public outcry over the way the Americans displayed their emotion, they should have been congratulating them because they not only did something wonderful for their own country, but for the world-wide game of golf.