There is something strange about starting the golf season with half of the U.S. freezing and 49 percent just plain cold. The one percent not freezing is Kapalua, Hawaii; luckily that is where they are playing the SBS Championship.
Getting to tee it up the first week of the season is pretty special. The invites for the SBS Championship are tossed around like manhole covers; win and you’re in otherwise you’ll be forced to wait for the Sony Open just down the street at Waialae (why do all Hawaiian words have three As?). Geoff Ogilvy took the prize money last year and before that Stuart Appleby won it ten times in a row… Okay, it was three times, but seems like ten.
I’ve never played Kapalua, hell, I run out of As trying to spell it, but it appears to be one of those resort courses with wide fairways and greens the size of a Texas dancehall. I don’t know what the green fees are, but I expect it’s north of 300 bills, but that’s another story.
To get the year started off right, I’m here to complain about the length of the seasons, not the golf season, but sports seasons in general. There once was a time, not too long ago, when sports seasons sort of made sense. Baseball filled the days of summer and you strapped on the football pads when the air turned crisp. Hockey and basketball were cold weather sports and soccer and tennis were played when there was nothing good on TV.
Most of the early golf season was a warm up for Pebble Beach and the Masters. Everything made sense.
Now, here we are in the first week of the golf season and the football season is only half over. The World Series ran into November, the Super Bowl is being played in February, the NBA basketball playoffs will be going until May or June… what’s a sports fan to do?
I don’t know about you, but I’m still eating turkey sandwiches and in 30 days the Winter Olympics are starting and I’ll be growing my Apollo Ohno soul patch.
I’m from Texas so I have to be a football fan, but Football seems to be the worst season poacher. The Dallas Cowboys off-season workouts start the day after the Super Bowl. There are five pre-season games and there’s talk of adding two more games to the regular season. At this rate, they will be playing the Super Bowl during the Masters.
College is no better. The last BCS Bowl is January 7th. So much for the student athlete.
So, what is this season stretching all about? Why do good college football teams play 14 games and bad ones play less… don’t the bad ones need the practice more? Why is the NFL contemplating an 18 game season? While we’re at it, why did the PGA create the Players and FedEx Cup? For the fans, right; and if you believe that I’ve got some oceanfront property near downtown Dallas I’d like to show you.
The rich and powerful people and the ivy-covered academics that control sports need to check their fans as often as they check their checkbooks. Nobody except your CFO really wants the last BCS bowl on January 7th, or the Super Bowl in February, or the World Series in November. The golden goose has a pulled hamstring and the fans, even the crazy, fanatic fans are ODing.
… and golf guys, enough of the silly season already.
