Mike Steiner
Sports Editor
For those of you who had…(pause to look up his name)…Charl Schwartzel winning in your Masters pool, congratulations on pulling last pick for the pool. If anyone claims that that’s not how they ended up with Schwartzel, you’re lying.
As surprising as his win was though, that’s not what this column is about.
When I was young, I used to be blown away by how my father could sit and watch golf for hours at a time. When I was mature enough to realize that not every TV show needed cartoons I grew onto another complaint about it: golf is so slow. There’s no contact, there’s no running, there’s no passing. It’s just a slow, leisurely game.
So why is it so popular? It’s nothing like any of the other four largest sports in America (I’m not counting NASCAR because…well it’s not a sport).
That’s exactly why people love golf. Aside from being completely different from anything else (variety is the spice of life, that’s why UFC got so hot so fast), it gives sports fans a chance to relax.
Watching basketball, baseball, hockey, and football are stressful for die-hard sports fans. Every play is a huge deal and could cost a team a game. When that happens, it’s not a pretty sight. It’s exhausting caring about a team as much as I, and most fans, do.
Golf presents a perfect counter-balance to that passion.
That’s not to say there is no pressure in golf. In fact, most people agree that with the combination of mental and physical difficulties, golf is the most difficult sport to play. All I’m saying is that fans can sit back and relax when they watch golf.
People who watch more than one event a year have favorite golfers, but it’s different than having a favorite team in a way.
First of all, teams have city affiliations. I love the Celtics because they represent the city I have affiliations with. In addition to being my favorite team, there comes bragging rights against other cities. If the Red Sox lose to the Yankees (surely that won’t happen this year…oh wait…) not only did their team beat my team, but in a way, that city is theoretically better than my city for that period of time.
If your favorite golfer doesn’t win, it’s not the end of the world. Chances are you have multiple golfers that you like and hope do well.
This is another huge difference between golf and other sports. If you come in anywhere from second to tenth place, it’s still a very successful say. If you come in 10th place on the season in any other sport, you’ve got some serious team renovating to do and will more than likely have your coach’s head on the chopping block.
The biggest thing about golf for me is that I can just sit back with a beer and calmly enjoy it. I’m not on the edge of my seat every couple minutes, but there are still plays that blow my mind and excite me.
Plus, the beautiful thing about golf is that the way the cuts are set up, the last day of a tournament is only the people in contention. Barring a freak occurrence (say, Rory Mcilroy choking on the last 15 holes of the masters) every single shot could win or lose the event.
“Mike, you just said you enjoy golf because of the low pressure environment!” Yeah yeah, well here’s the thing. In a four-day tournament, days one through three are like an appetizer. They matter because you have to shoot well enough to make the cut of course, but you won’t (officially) win a tournament on any of those days. Not until the final day does everything get put on the line. It gives the viewers time to prepare.
The final thing that I love about golf is that, more so than any other sport in my opinion, any given player can win any given tournament.
Everyone pretty much knows the Sox and Yanks are going to be fighting it out for the AL title when the season ends. Everyone pretty much knows the Lakers and Celtics are going to do pretty well. The Colts and Patriots will more than likely faceoff at some point with everything on the line. No one saw McIlroy being the leader going into day four, and that’s what made it interesting. There is no predicting in golf. Sure, we can assume Phil and Tiger won’t finish in last place, but no one can accurately predict the top ten finishers consistently, at least not as accurately as other sports.
So enjoy golf because of how different it is. It’s the perfect balance of being crazy about sports but possibly needing a weekend break from the high intensity of other sports. Just don’t try to play it, because chances are it will bring all the stresses of sports back, only a thousand times worse. Trust me, I know.
Mike Steiner can be contacted at msteiner@keeneequinox.com
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