Alleging harassment and cyberstalking, among other malfeasance, the Golf Writers Association of America has formally asked the PGA Tour to suspend John Daly for his vengefully publishing a sports writer’s phone number and encouraging his fans to harass him.
Make no mistake, Daly is immature at best, dangerously anti-social and unhinged at worst. His conduct in encouraging fans to harass a writer who dared to show the truth – that Daly is constantly out of control – is actionable civilly and criminally. Daly didn’t like that the writer exposed Daly’s nearly running over an ATF agent at a checkpoint when late for a tee-time at the 2005 U.S. Open.
To all the simpering panderers and enablers falling all over themselves making excuses so fans won’t tune out his dismally vapid reality TV show, I say “Just because he can Whack-a-Ball doesn’t make him ALWAYS right.” It’s not what you do for a living that makes you great, it’s what you do for others.
Steve Elling beat me to the punch on the most salient points in his piece, slamming Daly as the reddest of the Tour’s red-light districts, but also condemning the Panderer-and-Enabler-in-Chief, Tour Commissioner Timid Finchem. From the article:
“In a dimwitted double-whammy, the organization that has been indirectly complicit in Daly’s actions over the years by allowing him to ply his trade has again elected to do what it does best — stand mute as he besmirches the sport. Unlike with Daly’s array of former wives, this is one marriage made in heaven….Once again, the tour’s disciplinary stance has rightly been called into question….As any parent knows, sometimes a child needs to be figuratively paddled in the public square for a point to be made and behavior to be modified, and the tour’s asinine policy of dealing with issues behind closed doors — PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem and his staff have the autonomy to levy fines according to a largely subjective measure — needs to be dynamited. It’s the hickory shaft of sports-league disciplinary codes. at some point, the tour must be held responsible for continuing to let this guy ply his trade and for failing to modify his behavior. The psychobabble term is that the tour is an enabler.
It needs to be a disabler.
The tour policy on discipline is an antiquated joke, the vestiges of a flawed philosophy that dates back to an earlier era. Tour players are, as a rule, a decent bunch, but as Daly and other prominent players have proved, these angels sometimes have dirty faces. Covering up the deeds of players is ripping off fans and sponsors, too. The tour is sometimes selling a tainted bill of goods..”
Still, Timid Finchem cares more about appearances and money than about doing the right thing. Tiger Woods bends Finchem to his will and he doesn’t even have to pay him $1,500 an hour, so why should Daly get any worse treatment. After all, casual eyeballs are down without Woods…***rolls eyes***
Your PGA Tour under Tim Finchem: there’s no record in the record books or any virtue of the game that’s not for sale.
