The Asterisk "Debate"

by Mulligan Stu on Jul 16, 2008 2:17 PM EDT

courtgolf beat me to it this morning with his FanPost titled, "Tired of asterisk talk?" What we're referring to, of course, is the talk in some circles that perhaps the winner of this Open Championship should be saddled with an asterisk to denote that Tiger Woods wasn't there.

courtgolf ascribes this chatter to journalistic imcompetence. My guess is that it's more likely journalistic boredom. Meaning, the writers who are writing about the asterisk aren't doing so because they actually believe an asterisk would be appropriate, but because they are just trying to stir the pot (which might, itself, be a form a journalistic malpractice). I don't think anyone actually believes it, in other words.

But I could be wrong. I have to admit that I've made a point of not reading any articles about asterisks, because they are so annoying. Perhaps if I read a few, I'd be forced to conclude that some people are serious about it.

Whatever, any talk about asterisks is absurd. If there's an asterisk for this British Open winner, then there'll have to asterisks added to the names of the champions of every tournament Tiger Woods hasn't played during his career.

And what about the tournaments Tiger played, but didn't play well? If someone can suggest, "Tiger's not playing, the winner didn't have to beat Tiger, therefore the winner deserves an asterisk," then why doesn't "Tiger wasn't playing well, the winner didn't have to contend with Tiger, therefore the winner deserves an asterisk" carry just as much weight?

Woods has won "only" 27 percent of the PGA Tour events he's played, after all. Nearly three-quarters of the time, he loses.

If we're handing out asterisks, how about giving asterisks to everyone who won a PGA Tour event between about 1987 and 1996? There was no dominant player, after all. Those winners didn't have to beat Tiger or Tom Watson to win.

How about giving Jack Nicklaus a bunch of asterisks? In none of his major championship wins was Ben Hogan a major factor. How about giving Hogan some asterisks? Young Tom Morris didn't play one single major that Ben Hogan won!

The only asterisk that needs to be handed out is next to the byline of anyone who seriously proposes an asterisk for the British Open. And down at the bottom of the article, in little type, would appear this: *This writer is not very bright.

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You’re definitely right calling it “boredom” and “malpractice”. These days, when “journalists” live in this bizarro world where they think they are supposed to “change the world”, we’re stuck reading these “stir the pot” articles instead of articles with some sort of integrity.

I chose the word “imcompetence” because of dealings with these nits who think their job is to shake things up or make changes instead of REPORTING THE NEWS. The bonehead from The New York Post you linked in the “from the British Open wire” section above is one of these guys who I consider to be incompetent to cover golf. (no wonder people don’t like New Yorkers) :-)

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jul 17, 2008 8:45 AM EDT reply actions