One of the few good things about Europe’s roll in yet another Ryder Cup is seeing Paul Casey step up and hit some incredible shots.

Casey is the Englishman who rightly said he “properly hates” the conceited American pros on the U.S. Ryder Cup team and finds U.S. fans “bloody annoying.” He took a lot of heat for this - Titleist pulled his endorsement contract, TravelGolf.com’s own Tim McDonald waged a personal war against him that seemed to last for several eons.

When all Casey did was show his disdain for an opponent, the fuel that powers winning teams. Casey wasn’t ripping on all Americans like some crackpot Canadian going off on foreign policy. He was ripping on a specific group of Americans: mega millionaire superstar golfers - Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to name two.

There’s a big difference. And Casey’s showing how hating your opponent pays off on the big stage. His walk-off ace that ended one of the European routs on Saturday was a thing of beauty.

Passion makes sports. If Tiger Woods hated his European opponents as much as he does Phil, Vijay, Ernie and anyone else who gets in his way in a major, there would be no stopping him.

Casey can find plenty of examples in all U.S. Sports. Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis vowed to a group of Fighting Irish boosters that ND would never lose to Michigan State again while he was coach. This came after the Spartans planted a flag in the Irish’s field after an upset in South Bend last September.

On Saturday night, Weis somehow stayed true to his word even though Notre Dame trailed by 17 points throughout most of the rematch. You can bet plenty of hate fueled Notre Dame’s 19-0 fourth quarter blitz.

And I went to Michigan State. You just cannot stop the power of hate in sports. Ask Casey.

Permalink 6 comments

Bookmark/Search this post with: