As many of you know, yesterday I went to town on Camilo Villegas for his Tweet bemoaning the supposed lack of an off-season in golf.  The support for the post and the sentiment behind it has been almost universal.  People have voiced their opinion with a comment here, a blog post at their own space, or even a private message.  Suffice it to say that there were a lot of nodding heads yesterday. 

Villegas has come out swinging on his Twitter feed since the negative reaction to his 140 characters of malignment were published.  He went after another journalist (which I am not, officially) on his Twitter.

[T]he truth is that I just laugh about comments like that... They tend to come from the "real" looser (sic).

Hold up the bus.  Waggle Room - first and foremost - is about having fun while talking about golf.  I don't like going off on rants.  I don't do it all that often.  In fact, I only play the Rant Card when someone or something is so off base & out of touch that a special comment has to be made.  This is one of those times.

For starters, yes, Camilo, I am jealous of you.  I am jealous of your six-pack abs, golf talent superior to mine, and your millions of dollars.  But, hey, you took advantage of what you were given, worked at it to get to this point, and have cashed in for all its worth.  Good on you for doing it.

You are in a very blessed position compared to 99.9% of people on this planet, much less the thousands of professional golfers scrapping by in a most likely feeble attempt to get where you are.  Over the stretch of the last two months, you've had an opportunity to play for some $46 million in prize money.  It has been optional.  (Although you would be a fool NOT to play in these events.)

Then, when you're done, you get to fly to the next event, or home, or to Mars on a chartered jet.  If you fly home, you're going to what is probably a really nice house - better than the houses that millions of people are being foreclosed upon on a daily basis.  These are homes that people bought with their life savings, or made a risky loan gamble to buy so that they could have one smidge of America that is theirs.  Hundreds of thousands of other Americans are nowhere near their bed.  They're serving our country in war torn places that endanger their lives on a minute-to-minute basis.  It cannot hurt to be cognizant of these things when you're on your Learjet, sending some Tweet about how taxing it is to be you.

And don't get me wrong, I'm sure you put in a lot of time into your job.  I've seen the picture of you posing with some kind of weight belt while shirtless.  That seemed like exercise to me.  You practice.  You fulfill obligations to sponsors and media.  I'm not saying your job is easy, but by comparison to just about every profession on Earth, it is easy.

Camilo, you donate $5,000 for every eagle that you make on Tour to St. Jude Children's Hospital.  That is fantastic.  But you must remember that you can actually afford to do that at a minor expense because you were playing for $46 million in the past two months.  That sum is good enough to pay every American without health care insurance exactly one dollar.  Thank goodness for our national community health center network that Americans without the certainty of even so much as a routine checkup can get quality medical care for next to nothing.

Someone might say that I shouldn't bring the money into the equation.  Maybe I should point the finger at PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem for the size of the purses.  While I wish that he would reduce purses as a sign of good faith to sponsors and middle-class fans everywhere, it is his job to try to grow purses.  And he's doing it so that you can earn it.  I won't blame Finchem for doing his job as long as there are companies willing to pony up the cash to slap their name on a tournament that will allow you to practice your craft.

Your complaint, too, is a slap in the face of the hard working people at the PGA Tour.  A lot of people work hard on your behalf each week so that you can golf on a freakin' amazing lawn for a boatload of cash.  And they do a really good job, too.  I may disagree with some things that the Tour does, but they are good, capable people who love golf and what they do.  And they don't complain that they had to go to six tournaments in eight weeks, fly coach between each place, and eat modest media center catering for their diet on the road.  And they don't stay at a Ritz Carlton either.

The populist reaction to what I initially wrote is a whole lot deeper than the admittedly cheap shots that I took at you. That reaction is real to me and others in these very terms that I'm spouting out now.

Honestly, that rant was intended to make people laugh at the absurdity of what you wrote.  But, it was a mask for the frustration and anger that a lot of people - golfers and non-golfers alike - feel about the sentiment behind your Tweet.

The general public struggles mightily.  The average American has a negative savings rate.  About -0.5% per year, to be exact.  (Not to say that the average person is without blame for spending more than they make.)  Millions are uninsured.  Unemployment in this country is the highest in 25 years.  Yet your job is in no danger, and you are earning more money this year than last.  Well, at least you can.  You are a part of the upper crust of our society that is profiting while us underlings are grasping at straws and hoping they're currency.  Like it or not, you are lumped in with the executives at so many major corporations - failing or not - because you're doing fine while we suffer.  That has to resonate somewhere with you and all of the players on the PGA Tour.  I'm sure it does with a great number of them. 

I don't want your pity, or a handout.  I just want you to know what's going on here.  The millions of people that come to see you and your brethren are largely not doing ok.  They're seeing you play as an escape from the crappy reality they face when the final putt is holed.

There is just so much bad happening in the world to seemingly everyone but you.  For you to passively lament that golf doesn't have an off-season just really confirms that you're out of touch with reality.  And, just like it is optional for you to play six touranments in eight weeks for $46 million, it is also optional for you to give a damn about what is happening to anyone but yourself.

Just know, though, that if you don't have enough courtesy and respect for the plight of millions of people in this country to not say what you did, then there is an awfully good chance that people will stop giving a damn about you.  And if they do, along with the sponsors that want to connect their name with your personal brand and the PGA Tour, then that $46 million won't be there for very long. 

It is a vicious cycle, but it's one that millions in this country have been surviving in for years now.  That's why it doesn't matter if golf has an off-season - because life doesn't.