Posted on 08/29/2003 10:42:38 AM PDT by robjna
The following is forwarded not to offend tennis, basketball, football or soccer fans. It is, rather, an attempt to put everything in its proper perspective.
Ever wonder why golf is growing in popularity and people who don't even play, go to tournaments or watch it on TV?
These truisms may shed some light.
Golf is an honorable game, with the overwhelming majority of players being honorable people who don't need referees.
Golfers don't have some of their players in jail every week.
Golfers don't scratch their privates on the golf course.
Golfers don't kick dirt on, or throw bottles at, other people.
Professional golfers are compensated in direct proportion to how well they play.
Golfers don't get per diem and two seats on a charter flight when they travel between tournaments.
Golfers don't hold out for more money, or demand new contracts, because of another player's deal.
Professional golfers don't demand that the taxpayers pay for the courses on which they play.
When golfers make a mistake, nobody is there to cover for them or back them up.
The PGA Tour raises more money for charity in one year than the National Football League does in two.
You can watch the best golfers in the world up close, at any tournament, including the majors, all day, every day for $25 or $30.
The cost for a seat in the nosebleed section at the Super Bowl will cost around $300 U.S. or more.
You can bring a picnic lunch to the tournament golf course, watch the best in the world and not spend a small fortune on food and drink. Try that at one of the taxpayer funded baseball or football stadiums. I brought a Coke into Oriole Park at Camden Yard last year, and an usher came to my seat and told me I had to dispose of it, or I would not be allowed to stay in the stadium.
In golf you cannot fail 70% of the time and make $9 million a season, like the best baseball hitters(.300 batting average) do.
Golf doesn't change its rules to attract Fans.
Golfers have to adapt to an entirely new playing area each week.
Golfers keep their clothes on while they are being interviewed.
Golf doesn't have free agency.
In their prime, Greg Norman, Arnold Palmer and other stars, would shake your hand and say they were happy to meet you. In his prime, Jose Canseco wore T-shirts that read 'Leave Me Alone'.
You can hear birds chirping on the golf course during a tournament.
Ladies are welcome players.
At a golf tournament, (unlike at taxpayer-funded sports stadiums and arenas) you won't hear a steady stream of four letter words and nasty name calling while you're hoping that no one spills beer on you.
Tiger Woods can hit a golf ball almost three times as far as Barry Bonds can hit a baseball.
Golf Courses don't ruin the neighborhood.
Finally, here's a slice of golf history I thought
Why do full-length golf courses have 18 holes, and not 20, or 10 or an even dozen?
During a discussion among the club's membership board at the venerable St. Andrews in 1858, one of the members pointed out that it takes exactly 18 shots to polish off a fifth of Scotch. By limiting himself to only one shot of Scotch per hole, the Scot figured a round of golf was finished when the Scotch ran out.
Now you know!
If they were likely to, at least a handful would have. None have. And government has the one tool that private business doesnt. Force. They can just use eminent domain to get the land and keep their cost down.
In the end, that's the central argument regarding the construction of any major public structure like a stadium, Increased Tax Revenues v. Benefits to the City. Fortunately, more cities and teams are working out alternate deals when it comes to new stadium construction. Pacific Bell Park was financed privately, and the new baseball parks in St. Louis and Boston will be more privately financed than publically, which is definitely a step in the right direction. Any city that would 100% finance and build a stadium for a professional sports franchise is foolish.
I know, I can never find the beer cart when I want one. And that filing in one foursome every ten minutes delays the game quite a bit.
Well....that sort of goes without saying but, as the people of Seattle discovered, it's all but completely impossible to keep government out of the stadium business.
When the city was contemplating building the new Mariners stadium, the bond went up for public vote and the people of Seattle voted the bond down.
Then the State Legislature stepped in and issued the bond anyway...forcing a Seattle tax increase to pay for it.
And when the time came for a bond vote on the Seahawks Stadium, the issue was put on the State-wide ballot, instead of the County ballot.
Once again, King County/Seattle voted it down....but the rest of the State passed it.
And Seattle, once again, is paying for it.
Not to mention socialistic.
It took him 2 or 3 shots to do it. Even if not super long, it was a good publicity stunt for whatever he was hawking.
SD
Too bad they don't all vote as a block and unelect the socialists who forced it upon them. Then they should vote a state constitutional amendment to prevent their government from doing things beyond the scope of their true purpose.
You like warm beer?
SD
I hit it 500 yds all the time in three shots, sometimes in two. :^}
I think they should have the same sentence, zero. But that for a different thread.
SD
When people are being blackmailed they turn into socialists?
LOL, so are the trees I usually have to play my second shot from.
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