Posted on 09/27/2021 6:23:11 AM PDT by Red Badger
The Ryder Cup, a biennial competition between the twelve best golfers from America and Europe, was won by the United States yesterday. It was a dominant and historic win, with the U.S. scoring an unprecedented nineteen points; a remarkable performance by the most likeable group of golfers we’ve seen in ages.
But before we get to their brilliance as athletes – and yes, they are not only athletic, they are extraordinarily so – let’s review some other aspects of our 2021 Ryder Cup Team for which we should all be proud. And as we do so, consider some of the comparisons that could be made to American athletes in other sports and sports leagues, such as those in the NFL, NBA, and MLB.
They were motivated by what’s important
There are financial incentives for golfers to earn a spot on the Ryder Cup Team, but they are, in fact, not paid to golf. The Ryder Cup does not pay its participants. Sponsors offer huge incentives to golfers to make the team, and the subsequent increase in popularity that a player enjoys will yield inevitable financial benefits, but the players do not receive a salary or purse money for competing. So, what’s the driver (no pun intended) behind making the team and competing? Patriotism and love of country.
Ask any American golfer who has ever had the honor to play in a Ryder Cup, ‘What’s the most pressure you’ve ever felt on a golf course?’ and the answer is likely to involve a Ryder Cup performance. The reason why players feel so much pressure is because they view the prospect of failure as not only letting down themselves and their teammates, but their country as well. They care about succeeding at the Ryder Cup perhaps more so than at any other competition. Has Colin Kaepernick ever cared about anyone other than himself during a football game? Is Megan Rapinoe more concerned with her team and country winning a soccer game when she’s on the field, or is she looking to draw attention to herself and her pet causes?
They ‘look like America’
The left is always focused on identity politics, and they like to cite their expectation that every group of people should ‘look like America,’ which is code for ‘don’t have too many white guys.’ Having diversity for diversity’s sake is much more important than something as trivial as competence. We can be proud that our Ryder Cup Team was indeed diverse, but not because the left was able to wield influence over its make-up. Our Ryder Cup Team was diverse because it just so happened that the identities of the twelve best American players happened to be diverse.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 72% of Americans are ‘white.’ Our Ryder Cup Team this year was almost perfectly aligned with that demographic, with nine of the twelve players (75%) being white, and three of the twelve (25%) being non-white (Collin Morikawa, Tony Finau, and Xander Schauffele), or as a woke leftist might say, ‘BIPOC.’ And it’s worth pointing out, none of those three players were named Tiger Woods, who suffered severe injuries in a car crash earlier this year. Are any other prominent sports teams/leagues so closely aligned to our national demographics? Do any of them look more ‘like America?’ Also, please note: there was zero diversity on the European Team. They didn’t have a single non-white/BIPOC player.
They’re young
The oldest player on the U.S. Team was Dustin Johnson at just 37 years old, and the average age of the U.S. player is 29 years old. America has now won two of the last three Ryder Cups, after having struggled mightily for the previous 2+ decades, and the youth of our team is cause for real optimism. We’re young, we’re good, and our future is bright, and along with that youth comes exuberance.
Not only was the U.S. team fun to watch because of their mastery of the game, they were enjoyable because of the amount of fun they had. That excitement and sheer joy that we saw can’t help but warm your heart. We witnessed wonderful things with this year’s team, and we can expect similar sights in the coming years.
They embody American Exceptionalism
That term is a dirty word for the left. “We’re not great, we were never great,” to paraphrase Andrew Cuomo. But yes… we are great. We are the greatest country that has ever existed, and our 2021 Ryder Cup Team is indicative of that exceptionalism.
Is that an overreaction? It is just golf, after all. You might think the statement is overly dramatic, but it’s not. When we compete at the Ryder Cup, we compete as a country; a nation. You must come from the United States to play on our team. Yet, we’re competing against a team from a continent, not a country. This year’s European Team had competitors from Ireland, Great Britain, Spain, Norway, and Austria, and in years past they’ve had members from a variety of other countries, including Denmark, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, and Sweden. It’s not ‘Us against the world,’ but it’s not far off. And not only do we compete, we compete well; and this past weekend we utterly dominated.
Conclusion
Even if you don’t enjoy golf, if you missed this weekend’s Ryder Cup competition you missed a marvelous spectacle, and you missed an opportunity to observe true American greatness. We had a great bunch of young men play their hearts out and win the coveted Ryder Cup for their country. We witnessed fans chanting “USA, USA,” and players urging on those chants. There was no kneeling or turning their backs on their flag, like we saw certain Olympians do. There was no one casting shame on our country or pointing out how bad we are for things that happened 156 years ago.
There was fist-raising, but it wasn’t in protest, it was in in jubilation.
There is much about modern American athletics to be disgusted by. The NBA’s coddling of their gravy train known as China. The NFL’s promotion of having two separate national anthems based on your melanin levels. And MLB’s kowtowing to ridiculous leftist opposition to improving election integrity. And many of the athletes in those sports don’t just accept the nonsense, they propel it. But our 2021 Ryder Cup Team gave us an opportunity to forget about those absurdities and focus on America as it should be. Unified, happy, and unparalleled. God bless the 2021 U.S. Ryder Cup Team.
Yep, Great win for the USA. The chants of USA, the patriotic singing, the sea of American Flags. Golf is the last bastion of American Sport.
Enjoy it while you can.
Yep, it's almost inevitable that a player will kneel or some such nonsense. Most players or a lot are good God fearing people. They'll fend it off as long as they can but the Godless socialists will eventually get a player than can use for political purposes.
No kidding.
The Left will find a problem with this. Not enough blacks, hispanics, homo, trans, etc. the Left is a virus that is never satisfied.
Heck, the Left complained that there was one white player on the Olympic Basketball team.
Yep. They sure did.
You wouldn’t know that by turning on the television ——
Or looking at the artwork in the Philadelphia Int Airport. I’m here now and don’t see a single artwork of a white.
Eh, they were all privileged to be playing golf as intensely as they had to at a young age. And 2.5 Asians out of 12 total players (20% Asian, 0% black or Hispanic) is hardly representative of the millennial demographic, which is 44% minority and moreso with young males than females.
And is it really significant that they are paid directly by the sponsors rather than having it cycled through a third party?
Man, the crowd shouting U.S.A. was great and the tens of thousands there also was fan tastic.
Still fans shouting F-you Joe Biden at college football games was also a nice touch.
DJ was phenomenal. All of them played great.
The post-match press conference was hilarious. DJ was smashed, and Justin Thomas made Bryson and Koepka hug and make up.
Did a single one of them stand up and protest when the PGA canceled an upcoming major tournament at one of Trump’s courses?
I used to never miss an important tournament but I haven’t seen one since.
What a snoozer tell me when the LPGA is on so I can check out the Korean girls. 😴
A stupid college graduate relative of mine could not believe or understand why the European Ryder Cup team had any players on it from Great Britain, and no matter the rules (he had no idea what the rules were) he thought it was not right that some Brits were on the team. He thought and believes after Brexit Brits should not be part of a “European” team.
Of course his college educated mind equates the EU and Europe as synonyms, because what a college education does today, if nothing else, is to train a student to think in Leftist political terms, always.
If he can’t wrap his mind around this particular competition/exhibition, and its history, then I’m sure there are many, many, many other things he can’t comprehend as well.
I watch PGA golf tournaments, more than NFL. NBA or MLB games for many reasons but one most of all - its about the sport, not egos, not politics, not ethnic identities, not bad manners, not lack of sportsmanship, not showing off your bragging rights either in spite of many great accomplishments. I like golf more than other sports because more than other sports I enjoy and like most all the players, as persons.
I have a hard time finding personal fault with any of the players whether they are top ranked or not. There are far too many players in all the other major sports I cannot say that about.
With one exception. Michael Jordan, of NBA fame.
Michael is a real gentleman, and golfer, an avid PGA follower, knows and has played with many well known PGA golfers, attends many PGA Tournaments and has attended most President’s Cup and Ryder Cup tournaments for years, rooting for his country’s team. There he was again this year at the Ryder Cup, rooting for his country’s team and supporting the many players he knows personally.
“Paid by their sponsors”??
That’s correct, if what you mean is the sponsors for a tournament. PGA tournaments from the least to the top have one or more corporate sponsors of the tournament and many major tournaments are also sponsoring a charity as well.
And players who qualify for and play in a tournament are paid according to how their final score in the tournament ranked:
Sponsors of PGA tournaments pay on the supposition that it is good advertising for their company, and good public relations as well when the tournaments is also donating to a charity.
“Enjoy it while you can” and “Yep, it’s inevitable........”
I do not think it is inevitable for the PGA.
The next generation of players just now entering college is very diverse, ethnically, and if you watch them on the college & amateur circuit you see them continuing the PGA culture not imbuing it with their own politics.
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