Megan Giles Cooney | Columnist
We watch a lot of live sports in our house, particularly college football, the NFL, any tennis match and of course, golf. And, for the most part, civility rules; athletes, teams, and fans adhere to accepted athletic norms of gracious wins and losses.
It was with sincere disappointment that I then witnessed the downright rude behavior – that went well beyond a rowdy crowd – of American fans play out in real time at the Ryder Cup held in Long Island, NY, recently. The match play golf competition, between the best golfers in Europe and the U.S., is held every two and traditionally triggers patriotism. But patriotism is not cursing and hurling insults against European golfers and their families.
In case you somehow missed it, the whole thing began badly with the PGA hired emcee, comedian, Heather McMahan, yelling on a megaphone at European golfer, Rory McIlroy, urging the partisan crowd to chant, “F— you, Rory.” McMahan was sacked shortly after, but – unfortunately – the tone was set.
American fans continued to agitate and hurl foul language at European players throughout the match, and one even had the nerve to launch a beer at a player’s wife.
Americans, how low must we stoop? Why do we accept aggressive negative behavior in our public life? Ultimately and embarrassingly, New York State Troopers were brought in by the tournament to line the greens so players could play through.
This was a global bad look. And, as the week began, half-hearted apologies stacked up from the Ryder Cup American captain, Keegan Bradley, to PGA President Don Rea, who mumbled through excuses while in an interview with BBC Sport, saying, “Things like that are going to happen, you can go to a youth soccer game and hear people yelling the wrong things.”
Rea missed the point. Yelling the wrong things can’t and should not become the permanent norm. We can’t accept this. I was left wondering if US PGA golf executives were going to hope this ugly episode away.
However, finally, in a demonstration of actual leadership, the PGA CEO, Derek Sprague spoke up midweek and recognized the ugliness for what it was: “I don’t condone this type of behavior. This is not good for the game of golf. It’s not good for the Ryder Cup. It’s not good for any of the professional athletes and we will do better.
We all can do better, and we must try. Otherwise, the label of “ugly American” used to describe travelers who fail to adapt to the cultural norms of other nations when they travel will become a permanent moniker; if we are not very careful that label will stick and define American culture everywhere.
Megan Giles Cooney is a columnist for the Traverse City (MI) Record-Eagle. Reach her at megan.cooney1@gmail.com.
