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At the Intersection of Sports and Culture

Photo Credit for Header: Alex Foucre-Stimes

Porn or Sports: Tiger Surges and Sharapova Shrieks

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While most Americans wait impatiently for these two weeks to pass before Super Bowl XLVI, the sports world continues to turn in places like Abu Dhabi and Australia. Who could have ever believed that this weekend all eyes will be focused on the same place where they set Sex and the City 2, one of the most unenlightened pieces of cinema since perhaps Birth of a Nation. But with Tiger Woods surging in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship a lot of people will be getting up with the rooster to see if Woods can stay even with the likes of Rory McIlroy and Matteo Manassero.

If golf doesn’t tickle your fancy, maybe you’ll be interested in an early morning trip down to Oz for the Australian Open men’s and women’s finals. While most of the intrigue surrounds Nadal/Djokovic, the later having just survived an epic 5 set/5hour semifinal match over Britain’s own Andy Murray, don’t overlook the stronger sex as Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka fight for not just the first major tennis championship of the year but the #1 ranking as well. And if that’s not enough to draw you into the telly, the women’s final also promises to deliver an arousingly high number of grunting and shrieking.

American Eyes Weep for Padraig Harrington

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Breaking news out of Abu Dhabi. Three time major golf champion Padraig Harrington has been disqualified from the HSBC golf championship.  This is the second time in the last three weeks, Camilo Villegas in Hawaii, that a professional golfer has been DQ’d for a rules violation.  And here’s the kicker, in both cases the players themselves did not realize that they had committed the infraction but were rather “tattled on” by a television viewer.

Obviously, we could argue for days about whether it is a fair system that allows for fans at home to call/email officials and alert them to apparent rules violations. But I have a slightly different approach to this issue. For starters, how exactly does one go about getting in touch with a golf official during a tour event?  Is there a a published “tips hotline” that you can call anytime?  Wouldn’t this lead to more pranks than actual useful intel?  And who is answering these emails and phone messages? Do the PGA and European Tours both employ referees whose sole responsibility is to wait for viewers to call in with information?

Secondly, what if other major sports conducted their officiating in a similar manner?  Could you imagine what the NFL switchboard would look like on any given Sunday? Fans would be lining up to call in and point out that Hines Ward did not maintain control of the ball as he fell out of bounds.  Or, picture the NBA accepting emails from fans indicating that Dwight Howard just committed another 3 second violation. Would the league office go to the video, confirm the infraction and alert the officiating crew that a change needed to be made?

Maybe it’s just a golf thing. When you think about it, what sort of person has the time to call/email a tour official and tell them that a professional golfer made a mistake? In the words of Judge Smails, “Don’t you people have homes?”.

view of the Bob Hope Classic courtesy of @BobHopeClassic