Fred Couples naming Michael Jordan Presidents Cup assistant as shameful as John Daly using Jon Gruden as his caddie

Remember when John Daly pulled Tampa Bay Bucs coach Jon Gruden out of the beer tent to be his caddie and was rightly largely crucified for it? How PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem who is the only one in sports who is even more discipline wimpy than Cowboys owner Jerry Jones brought in Daly to talk about his penchant for making a mockery of the game?

Well, Fred Couples is threatening to one up Daly with a move that’s even more ridiculous - and amazingly apparently thought out. Making it even worse, Couples is doing it after being put in a leadership position in golf.

In one of his first appearances as the 2009 U.S. President’s Cup captain, Couples came out and named Michael Jordan as an assistant captain. Yes, the basketball legend Jordan who fooled the public into believing he was a good guy even while he punched teammates like Steve Kerr and intimidated the NBA’s pathetic referees for years with his star presence. This is the man Couples decides will help the U.S. team win the first big international competition since the Ryder Cup.

Sure, Jordan is a golf nut who can actually get Tiger Woods on the phone (unlike Finchem). And His Airness turned himself into something of a silly mascot at the Ryder Cup, rubbing European captain Nick Faldo’s shoulders at one point to the delight of the TNT cameras who couldn’t get enough of it - or stop showing it. But what qualifications does he have exactly to give Boo Weekley and Co. advice on golf?

None more than what Gruden had to lug around Daly’s bag during an official PGA Tour round.

This would be the equivalent of Dodgers manager Joe Torre bringing in Bill Russell to sit in the LA dugout during the playoffs and stare at the Phillies (though considering how that series worked out, maybe Torre should have considered it).

The only good thing about Couples making a mockery of golf by giving a celebrity hanger on official status is it shows just how ridiculous and overrated these captain positions in the Ryder and Presidents Cup are. There is no coaching job in sport that has such little effect on the competition. Again, Paul Azinger’s role in that Ryder Cup win couldn’t have been more overplayed or exaggerated by a fawning media looking for the easy story.

You don’t have to be the brightest bulb in the pack to captain a Ryder or Presidents Cup team.

Couples proved that more than he ever knows with his blatant Michael Jordan idol worship. If you’re going to go this far and spit on the game to get your kicks, why not just name Angelina Jolie as the U.S. squad’s official morale booster too and get her to parade around San Francisco’s Harding Park in a skin tight cat suit during the event?

Only in golf, do guys like Freddie Couples show such little respect for the game. Not that you should be happy in you’re a Charlotte Bobcats fan either. Last I heard, Jordan was still screwing up another NBA team’s roster with his part-time, commuting approach to being a GM.