Dining on Crow

The organization may have lost touch with the people,
but it put on a grand show two weeks ago!
by Charlie Leck

Mississippi, Politics, Social Justice, or other ranting and raving
Today's blog is about golf. If you've come here to read about Mississippi, politics, social justice or any of my other rantings and ravings, please scroll down or go to the archive index at the left! I occasionally slip in a blog about golf, an activity with which I'm entirely enthralled. You'll just have to forgive me for this. If you're not interested, take a day off.

Tech Problems! Blog down morning of 25 June 2008…
I've received a number of emails this morning from readers who could not bring up my blog site; that is, it wouldn't load! This happens occasionally and, fortunately, quite rarely. I use Google's 'Blogger' service and it does sometimes crash for a few moments. It's rarely longer than that, so try again in a few minutes and you'll probably find it working.

Serve it up! Without the feathers if you don't mind! And make it a bit on the well-done side. Oh yes, may I have a heap of ketchup on the side?

I wrote some nasty things a couple of weeks ago about the USGA (the United States Golf Association) and how it seems to have ruined the U.S. Open Golf Championship [see blog of 12 June 2008]. I used some impolite terminology about the idiots at the top of the organization and ranted on about how these snobs just don't get it. Well, somehow, in this year's Open Championship at Torrey Pines, they managed to pull off something special. I expect it was quite accidental and by shear chance and thoroughly through the herculean efforts of one, Tiger Woods.

Now, in honesty, I must give Mike Davis some credit, too. He gets it about course set-up and this year's Open was just fine. The course was remarkably difficult, but fair at the same time. Congratulations, Mr. Davis, you saved the rump portion of the USGA.

Praise for the Open was pretty universal, though often reluctant. The organization is liked by the people of golf about as you like the big kid at your child's school who is always pushing around and banging the heads of other children (including your own kids). The USGA was once a praise-worthy organization. Of late it's gotten into the big money business and runs itself and its golf championships like the big oil companies run the nation.

Yet, in spite of all of this, it was a great U.S. Open Championship. The Rock versus the wounded, angry, hungry Tiger! You can't write fiction as perfectly exciting and compelling as this championship.

Bring on that crow! I want to get it over with!

By the way, the conservative estimate on the street is that the USGA made about 50 million on this year's Open after a gross of about 100 million, so they certainly aren't going to miss my annual dues.

How great was this Open? Plenty of pundits and top-notch commentators were comparing it to the 1913 Open Championship at which the shy, demure amateur, Francis Ouimet, knocked off the greatest professional players in the world – an Open made famous as The Greatest Game Ever Played by Mark Frost.

This was, indeed, a U.S. Open for the ages! A marvelous Father's Day!