Jan 07

Rory Sabbatini goes baby man with media boycott at Hawaii's Mercedes Championship

Rory Sabbatini straddles the fine line between being the most compelling golfer in the world not named Tiger Woods and being a punk.

Well, Sabbatini went and took another dip into punkhood at the PGA Tour’s season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship by conducting a media boycott.

That’s right, the man who has something to say about everything (including Tiger) refused to talk to reporters at all the entire tournament week. Which suddenly makes Sabbatini just another athlete who’s come to the conclusion that he should blame that all-powerful mysterious media for his own issues. Sabbatini is better than this. Really, he is. The guy’s smart, engaging and often fearless.

But now he’s acting like your average 3-year-old in a sandbox.

It’s the golf writers fault that Sabbatini bolted Tiger’s tournament a day early to get to Hawaii and had his agent give that lame “shin splints” excuse after the fact? Isn’t Sabbatini supposed to have guts? He should have stood up in Hawaii by standing by his Tiger flight. He should have went apologetic about how if it hadn’t been a tournament run by Tiger Woods, he never would have taken so much flak. He should have railed into all the golfers who sucked up to Tiger by going after him.

Instead, he showed the spineless courage of a commissioner or CEO. He tried to make something go away by simply dodging it.

That’s so beneath Sabbatini, so not what he claims to be about.

Sabbatini’s great when he’s tweaking Tiger, refusing to act like the world’s greatest golfer is this celestial being who cannot be approached. He’s a punk when he’s leaving Ben Crane behind on the green and boycots the media that helped make him such a recognizable golfer (quick, what major has Sabbatini won again?)

And what kind of stand did he think he was making in Kapalua anywhere? There are maybe 10 legit golf writers ever at this Maui event and that estimate is on the high side. This year, it was probably closer to five. It’s not like Sabbatini was going to find himself swarmed. For all his sometimes robotic answers, Tiger never goes an entire tournament without having a single press conference.

Sabbatini should have kept his own streak intact. Instead, he kicked himself in the rear by zipping his lips.

« Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman owes her career to Tiger Woods for accepting apology

Tiger Woods sits courtside at NBA game on eve of PGA Tour season: Take that Finchem? »

9 comments

§ Alex said on : 2008-01-07 @ 08:57
Chris,

Be very careful when referring to any man as a "punk."

Do you have any idea of the etymology and the connotation of the word "punk?"

Maybe you were raised in a very different envirnment from me. I was raised on the north side of Chicago in what most people would consider a tough neighborhood.

I a guy would ever refer to another as a "punk", even in jest, that guy had better be prepared to engage in some serious fisticuffs.
§ BV said on : 2008-01-07 @ 13:27
I would just like to say to "Alex" - wow, we have this thing called the "internet" now...it really makes it SIMPLE to look a word's etymology, and even their 'connotations'. Below is what the online Merriam-Webster dictionary has to say regaring the word "punk"....offered for your edification:

Main Entry: punk
Pronunciation: \ˈpə©¯k\
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1596

1archaic : prostitute
2[probably partly from punk] : nonsense foolishness
3 a: a young inexperienced person : beginner novice; especially : a young man b: a usually petty gangster, hoodlum, or ruffian (see slang) c: a young man used as a homosexual partner especially in a prison
4 a: punk rock b: a punk rock musician c: one who affects punk styles

I'm just guessing, but the 'connotation' availed of by the North Side Chicagoans was 3c. ;)

Regardless, Rory is still a punk. Nice post Bald One!
§ Wendy (UK) said on : 2008-01-07 @ 14:00
Alex - I assure you that 3c is not in my Chambers Dictionary - tweaking is one thing, that is quite another. Wendy
§ Alex said on : 2008-01-07 @ 14:35
Sorry, Wendy, but BV's research nailed it.

3c is it.

That's why it was and is considered such a derogatory term.

BV, one need not be brave at all to call Rory such an insulting name from the anonymity of a keyboard.

I've never met the man personally, but several people have said he is quite a personable guy in private.
§ Wendy (UK) said on : 2008-01-07 @ 14:52
OK - Stroppy AND crestfallen, but before you get on your high horse too much you know full well that Chris was not using the term as per 3c. Who is being combative for the sake of it? How about a nice (competitive) game of chess by the lake instead? I'll let you win (the chess game, that is) if you say you accept my apology?
§ Alex said on : 2008-01-07 @ 15:04
All right, Wendy, for the sake of world peace I'll reluctantly accept your apology. (I'm not quite sure for what.)

As for what Chris(and also BV) meant by the the term "punk", neither has made clear what is meant. I don't not know full well what was actually meant.

If Chris thinks that Rory behaved in the manner of a spoiled child or a miffed teenage girl he could say as much. He didn't.
§ Wendy (UK) said on : 2008-01-07 @ 16:06
"Average 3-year old in a sandbox".

Now, don't sulk.
§ david benson said on : 2008-01-08 @ 16:32
i want to hear your take on Kelly Tilghman.
§ Shanks® said on : 2008-01-09 @ 08:21
Where I come from, also a rough neighborhood, punk was used as meaning "much less than a man" but without the homosexual connotation. You know, the kind of guy who would sucker-punch somebody, pick on the weak or bring a weapon to a fistfight. Now, however, that word is fully loaded like in 3c.