Shut Up And Talk Golf

This whole nonsense about the words Kelly Tilghman used to deliver the punchline to Nick Faldo's joke is making me crazy(er). That The Golf Channel has chosen to kiss Al Sharpton's big behind and hand Kelly over to the Political Corrections Dept is infuriating.

This morning I read a piece by Scoop Jackson on espn.com. He's blasting Tiger for not making a big stink about this. I'm sure Scoop never said anything that would fail the standard for political correctness. Of course, when he's writing, he's got a backspace key, not that he ever needs it- being perfect and all.

This really is under my skin. It probably goes a long way back, probably at least to high school. I went to school with one of the great black athletes of our time, Archie Griffin. He had a great father, like Earl Woods, and every one of his kids that I knew (Larry, Darryl and Archie- the younger ones- Ray, Keith & Duncan came after my time) were guys you'd love to have for a friend. There were others though, particularly those whose older brothers had gotten into the Black Panthers (not uncommon in my town at that time) that took offense if you dared to look at them. They were punks and bullies and it took standing up to them to create a relatively safe and peaceful school.

I imagine you'd want to be careful how you looked at Scoop Jackson if you worked at ESPN headquarters.

What's in the water over there anyway? You got your famous ESPN alumni Keith Olberman- this years poster child for Bush Derangement Syndrome. I've heard Dan Patrick and Colin Cowherd get political, and they sound like little Olbermans.

I think the biggest reason this bothers me so much though, is that it reminds me of some of the ridiculous rules of engagement that our soldiers and marines have been under. Not a few have had to defend themselves in military courts for taking actions they deemed necessary to protect their men. My son was in charge of a convoy security gun truck on his second deployment to Iraq, and was "fired" because they fired at a threat without going through the protocol of "shine, shout, shove, show, shoot".

Kelly got her two week suspension. Sgt TF Boggs had another incident where his punishment was to write a 2,000 word essay on Anger Management, complete with PowerPoint presentation. I kid you not! In the midst of a frikkin war; in theater.

Which brings me to Tiger. Tiger, we love you and could hardly have more respect for you. Great opportunity here to be a Man, and a Gentleman, and tell the frat boys running The Golf Channel that what Kelly said was not a big deal, that you forgive her even though you don't think there's anything there to forgive, and as a favor to you, you'd like them to rescind their suspension. And while they're at it, give her a raise. And also, please pull their lips off Sharpton's butt. And to tell their friends at ESPN to stick to sports and leave their left-wing social politics to the universities.