WE Blog

Golf has long been a “white mans game” and there are a certain number of white golfers who resent the fact that a half black man can come on the golf course and give the old white guys a whuppin. While most of the old white men won’t say such things publicly, it is very obvious how they really feel. The same thing is going on in the race for President. The old white men feel that the Presidency has always been theirs but it has become painfully obvious to them that the next President is either going to be a white woman or a half black man. The days of the white male running everything are coming to a close and the country will be better off for it. Remember that they were even more upset when Jackie Robinson joined the major leagues but they got over it and baseball has thrived as a league with white, black and brown players all on the field. That is the way things should be.

The moral of the story is “Show the noose, get the ax.”

The original comment by Ms. Tilghman, which I heard live, was in a conversation with Nick Faldo and part of the usual Tiger worship that you hear on the Golf Channel. Ms. Tilghman was making a jockular point about Tiger’s superiority on the golf course. It was a poor choice of words. But no one thought that it was other than an innocent blunder.

Of course, anything that might make the world’s most popular athlete perturbed is looked at with great angst at the Golf Channel. And when race hustler Al Sharpton got involved to stir the pot, they decided to throw Ms. Tilghman to the the wolves. So they suspended her for a couple of weeks. But really, her career is probably shot.

Now, as for Golfweek magazine, I’m happy it got swatted, but not because of the noose on the cover. But rather because the editor is guilty of attempting to sensationalize the initial overblown reaction.

Heads are flying all of the place in our “looking for ways to be offended” world. Golf is no exception. A color blind society seems as far away as ever.

it isn’t nothing. It’s sad that you make so little of such a nasty comment outlander and taz.

Says a great deal about your character.

The statement was wrong, even in jest. It flat out was wrong, and she deserved a suspension for it…but not fired. I’m more offended by her words than the people reporting it. The noose was a strong image of her words really meant. Not funny to actually look at the noose, now is it? See what it represents.

I’m gathering that was the reporter’s point.
So I think the reporter should get his job back.

I’m a golfer I confess. Years ago befor political correctness you could say almost anything or write. Now it’s seems like it is shoved down your throat. The news media is looking for stuff like this, they like to bring people down. I’m sure glad they don’t follow me around the golf course.

Tiger Woods manager / publicist said of the Tligham statement that it was a non issue. She got suspended anyway.

George — I golf too, and I think TW gets way too much press. He’s a great golfer and big kid. Seems to have his head on straight, he’s rightfully arrogant about his golfing abilities but seemingly respectfully humble in most other realms — he has an awesome respect for the game and the folks that made him possible, appears to be a good family man. From a military family.

It gets to be a bit much when the Golf Channel devotes an entire week to him (ok - it’s December and no golf news), in broadcasts I notice in every tourney that when he blows a shot / putt commentators say it was a great effort from there, or he was robbed and for another competitor with the same misfortune will say “.. thats his biggest weakness”, or “.. what was he thinking …” Woody Austin was trying to make that point last year at the open.

Yes, the real old (my dads generstion) white guard were taken aback by his quick rise in the golf world (they shouldn’t have been - he did his first tv show when he was 3 hitting balls in the Merv Griffin show). They should have seen it coming when he entered Stanford. When he won his first Masters the old Southern Guard put on a brave bold face, but the look in their eyes was almost tearful.

I remember meeting Lee Elder at a KC senior event years ago, he was very pleasant in a gruff muni golfer sort of way — he had just made a public statement about the disappointment he felt for not being able to play in the Masters when he was younger. Didn’t Trevino boycott the Masters or refuse to use the locker room? Met Jim Thorpe at the airport last year coming in for the Senior Open — what a hoot, never stopped yakking — loved the attention — ever present cigar ……..

Will be interesting to see if anything comes of the new PGA steroid testing.

You would think that in 2007, folks would know better than to use images of lynching and a noose regarding a black man in any walk of life.

Regardless of your skin color, lynching is a sad chapter in our Nation’s history and nothing to be joked about.

It just isn’t funny - more than 4,000 black men and women have been lynched in this country, some for nothing more than looking at a white woman.

Enough is enough. Bad taste can be excuse, but the noose image went way beyond just bad taste.

So, a noose on the cover of a magazine, in reference to a black athlete was an ACCIDENT?

What, they just thought a noose was another club a golfer should have in their bag?

oops…the WORD nigger…