Sep
15
Please, please, please, don't let Michelle Wie turn into a freak
Watching Michelle Wie shoot 5-over at the first round of the 84 Lumber Classic, I was reminded of Japanese television.
I lived in Japan for nearly four years, and was continually intrigued and repulsed by the way certain television shows reveled in showing people in uncomfortable, painful situations.
Drag a guy wearing a loin cloth on his ass along a gravel road behind a tractor to see how long he could hang on? Funny stuff. Throw darts into the butt-cheeks of another guy to see how many stick before he breaks down? Funny, funny stuff. Extreme close-ups of the crotches of overweight women while they work out? Hilarity of the highest order.
Not.
Well, not in my book, anyway.
One night on one of these shows, the host trotted out a four-year-old ping-pong prodigy. This kid could barely see over the edge of the table, but he absolutely hammered the ball. First they pitted him against another guest – an action film star – and the kid demolished the guy five straight points.
Then, the host, who turned out to be a bit of a ping-pong shark himself, took the paddle and proceeded to take five straight points from the pint-sized phenom.
By the second point, the kid cracked. Tears welled up in his tiny eyes as he lost point after point to the host. It was the most painful, abusive thing I’d ever seen on television. He was being emotionally dismantled before our very eyes. And the kicker was the boy’s father stood back, muttering military-style encouragements to the boy, putting the ball in the tyke’s shaking hand again and again.
His son, the freak.
I like Michelle Wie. I’ve spoken to her in person, and she’s engaging, brighter than she sounds in those interviews, and possessed of a peerlessly lovely golf swing. And I think that her foray into the PGA Tour wasn’t all bad. She was testing herself, and by now, she should have the answer.
But now I ask of everyone involved: Please, please, please, don’t let this gracious, graceful, talented teenager devolve into a freak. Every time she tees it up in the PGA Tour, she the event turns into a freakshow, and we all watch with a mixture of awe, fascination, pity, and disgust.
Don’t turn her into the Bearded Lady, or that fragile little Japanese boy, whom I still wonder and worry about some nights.
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36 comments
Comment from: tommy [Visitor]
whats done is done. if she were a male and doing this we would never hear of her again. fortunately for her she can go to the LPGA and save some face. although she won't have too many friends there to support her efforts either..
09/15/06 @ 11:39
Comment from: jaypee [Visitor]
Dear Michelle W
you have finished your homework, the report is in...bad.
If you want to go on, register for Q-School. If you can't make it choose a realistic path for your career. Good Night and Good Luck.
you have finished your homework, the report is in...bad.
If you want to go on, register for Q-School. If you can't make it choose a realistic path for your career. Good Night and Good Luck.
09/15/06 @ 12:08
Comment from: ToddCommish [Visitor]
This is the most thoughtful, considerate piece any of the bloggers on this site have written about Wie. It's not the misogynist ravings of Baldwin, nor is it the fawning adulation of Mario. It's not bashing some marketing whore, it's not genuflecting in front of the savior of golf. It's the genuine concern for a KID.
And that's what she is. If only her parents understood that...
And that's what she is. If only her parents understood that...
09/15/06 @ 12:32
Comment from: TW [Visitor]
I think it is time for the media to change it's tactic and start putting the the real people in the headlines instead of Michelle. Start putting her parents and Nike, Sony & Omega there and how they are exploting her instead of doing it to her personally. Everybody lays into her then makes a small reference to the other. I think is time to put the blame where if belongs. "No guts, no glory" if you don't.
09/15/06 @ 12:39
Comment from: Judge Smails [Visitor]
Hey, there's some good news for the Wiezeals. Bubbles is only twelve shots below the cut line and she has seven holes yet to play. Thus, all she need do is eagle the par five, birdie two of the other holes and hole out her approaches on four of the others.
C'mon, she can do it! Don't give up yet!
C'mon, she can do it! Don't give up yet!
09/15/06 @ 12:43
Comment from: Judge Smails [Visitor]
Oops, she only made a par on twelve. Well, all she has to do now is hole out on one more hole. Hey, what's one hole?
09/15/06 @ 12:46
Comment from: hc2 [Visitor]
Thanks God, it's officially the end of the road of MW in terms of playing the PGA tour. Dead last, and crying wolf at over 13 with six holes to go.
09/15/06 @ 13:12
Comment from: tommy [Visitor]
where's tim finchem? this guy is lame to let this chirade continue. where the hell is joe ogilvie? remember he compared her to tiger and actually said she was better than him straight up at the same age. what a freakin buffoon. i wonder what kind of treatment he gets from tiger.
if michelle wie plays in another PGA tour event in the near future, i will never buy another nike or sony product ever again.
if michelle wie plays in another PGA tour event in the near future, i will never buy another nike or sony product ever again.
09/15/06 @ 13:28
Comment from: stop! [Visitor]
"I am only 9 over through 15 for today. So if I play my game, I can ace the final three holes and,...go home!"
09/15/06 @ 13:35
Comment from: tommy [Visitor]
michelle wie's latest excuse:
michelle:
"i played really well today except for the first 18 holes. i just forgot i was playing golf and really wanted to learn from my walking experience today.i'm sorry i was so aloof to my walking partners and apologize for putting them on the clock again but i really feel good about my game and the walk i took and feel like i have a good round in me someday"
michelle:
"i played really well today except for the first 18 holes. i just forgot i was playing golf and really wanted to learn from my walking experience today.i'm sorry i was so aloof to my walking partners and apologize for putting them on the clock again but i really feel good about my game and the walk i took and feel like i have a good round in me someday"
09/15/06 @ 13:37
Comment from: Anthony Urquhart (PGA Punter) [Visitor]
Kiel, you refer to her lovely swing. An article I read after her Swiss disaster suggested playing with the men was actually ruining that swing because she was straining to hit the ball as hard as they did.
09/15/06 @ 15:03
Comment from: John Crime [Visitor]
As long as sponsers and her family can get more money by having her compete she will continue. When she eventually becomes a bore even to those diehard reality challenged fans then she won't be invited back,
09/15/06 @ 15:20
Comment from: Ghet Rheel [Visitor]
WAKE UP WILLIAM MORRIS !!!!! Ken Sunshine is asleep at the wheel!
Google "Michelle Wie" on Google News and this is the ugly headline that come up "above the fold":
"Please, please, please, don't let Michelle Wie turn into a freak"
Google is the PRIMARY news source for tens of millions readers. The Wie-Grinches are kicking Ken Sunshine's ass "all over the parking lot" in the one-sided battle over electronic news imaging.
Google "Michelle Wie" on Google News and this is the ugly headline that come up "above the fold":
"Please, please, please, don't let Michelle Wie turn into a freak"
Google is the PRIMARY news source for tens of millions readers. The Wie-Grinches are kicking Ken Sunshine's ass "all over the parking lot" in the one-sided battle over electronic news imaging.
09/15/06 @ 15:22
Comment from: Alex [Visitor]
Kiel, Michelle Wie has already become a sideshow, if not a freak. Yesterday the announcers on ESPN were gushing about how Miss Wie had by far the largest gallery on the course, how her fans were wildly cheering her every move. They waxed ecstatic about how she drew 20,000 more people to the event. If that last estimate is true, I'd ask if these additional folks were actually golf fans. I mean, what did these "fans" come to see? A lanky teenage girl stumble around the course and finish LAST in the field, meanwhile ignoring the leaders? If her admirers are only interested in seeing her play, and her father, mother, and handlers are only interested in making money, BJ should forget all the tours and sell tickets to watch his child play solo or perhaps with a marker. That way, she would have a good chance of finishing ahead of at least one player. Did anybody notice that when ESPN was covering Michelle's play, they never showed a single stroke by either of her playing partners, Veazey and Warren, focusing the camera instead on Miss Wie standing and talking to her caddie. Incidentally, Veazey and Warren both scored better than Wie in that round.
09/15/06 @ 15:26
Comment from: kevin [Visitor]
Don't let Michelle turn into a freak sideshow?
Too late. It's already happened.
Michelle's career is now in rehab mode at best after these last two tournaments. I pray the poor girl has SOMEONE in her camp to get her going in the right direction. This is getting really sad. Even Ledbetter and BJ are dropping thinly veiled hints that perhaps the time has come to end the madness.
Ghet Rheel states that this argument is becoming one sided. He's right, it is. But maybe the reasons why so many more people than before are calling for an end to this are because:
-She cannot compete at this level yet. Proven fact.
-She is seriously damaging her
psyche each time she gets her butt handed to her. You can see it in the poor girl's eyes and hear it in her voice each time Friday rolls around and she needs to clean out her locker and turn in the keys to her Buick.
Maybe people like you Rheel should stop blindly rooting for her to continue this suicide approach and support her mental wellbeing, which is getting her on the LPGA where she belongs at this stage in her career. She has proven she can hang at that level.
I think the bloggers here who are most outspokenly against her playing with the men have her best interests at heart a hell of alot more than those who blindly root her on no matter what the result.
Too late. It's already happened.
Michelle's career is now in rehab mode at best after these last two tournaments. I pray the poor girl has SOMEONE in her camp to get her going in the right direction. This is getting really sad. Even Ledbetter and BJ are dropping thinly veiled hints that perhaps the time has come to end the madness.
Ghet Rheel states that this argument is becoming one sided. He's right, it is. But maybe the reasons why so many more people than before are calling for an end to this are because:
-She cannot compete at this level yet. Proven fact.
-She is seriously damaging her
psyche each time she gets her butt handed to her. You can see it in the poor girl's eyes and hear it in her voice each time Friday rolls around and she needs to clean out her locker and turn in the keys to her Buick.
Maybe people like you Rheel should stop blindly rooting for her to continue this suicide approach and support her mental wellbeing, which is getting her on the LPGA where she belongs at this stage in her career. She has proven she can hang at that level.
I think the bloggers here who are most outspokenly against her playing with the men have her best interests at heart a hell of alot more than those who blindly root her on no matter what the result.
09/15/06 @ 16:22
Comment from: bad joke [Visitor]
I have a prediction that Nike will unveil a new line of Bikini Women's Golf attire for Michelle's 18th birthday.
Then all of Bubble's sponsors will pay off a whole tournament so Michelle actually can win something.
Then all of Bubble's sponsors will pay off a whole tournament so Michelle actually can win something.
09/15/06 @ 16:29
Comment from: Steph [Visitor]
Kiel, great and thoughtful points.
I'm not one of those people who ridicule a young person when she falls on her face like some posters on this blog, but I certainly question her parents' sanity when they push her into these men's events.
I recall that while Michelle was lifted into an ambulance at the John Deere, her father's appallingly comment was that he hoped John Deere tournament would invite his daughter back next year. Most parents would have been concerned about their daughter's well being instead of worrying about the following year's invitation. Is that normal parental behavior?
Michelle is still an underage kid and requires parental approvals whenever she travels to play in all of these tournaments, let alone sealing endorsement deals and packages. BJ and Bo Wie are not protecting Michelle as parents, but unfortunately as avaricious agents.
I'm not one of those people who ridicule a young person when she falls on her face like some posters on this blog, but I certainly question her parents' sanity when they push her into these men's events.
I recall that while Michelle was lifted into an ambulance at the John Deere, her father's appallingly comment was that he hoped John Deere tournament would invite his daughter back next year. Most parents would have been concerned about their daughter's well being instead of worrying about the following year's invitation. Is that normal parental behavior?
Michelle is still an underage kid and requires parental approvals whenever she travels to play in all of these tournaments, let alone sealing endorsement deals and packages. BJ and Bo Wie are not protecting Michelle as parents, but unfortunately as avaricious agents.
09/15/06 @ 16:59
Comment from: Wie Admirer [Visitor]
She's not a freak. I for one enjoy watching her. She didn't ask any of you, media, bloggers and fans to write about her or watch her.
Last I checked it's a free country, if somebody invites, she can accept an exemption to play with the men. What's wrong with that?
She's not deterred by failure and wants to try again.
What's wrong with that?
If a guy does it it's acceptable and if Michelle does it it's a freak show?
That's sooo silly.
A guy named Paul Stankowski finished 2nd to last. Are you calling him a freak show and telling him he shouldn't try again?
Last I checked it's a free country, if somebody invites, she can accept an exemption to play with the men. What's wrong with that?
She's not deterred by failure and wants to try again.
What's wrong with that?
If a guy does it it's acceptable and if Michelle does it it's a freak show?
That's sooo silly.
A guy named Paul Stankowski finished 2nd to last. Are you calling him a freak show and telling him he shouldn't try again?
09/15/06 @ 17:04
Comment from: Ghet Rheel [Visitor]
I had the privilege of water-skiing with a family of world class competitors. They applauded the best falls of the day by their siblings. People who never fell were a joke to them. Their theory was that if you are not taking falls, then you are not pushing the envelope; and the only way to excel is to be willing to take the falls required to perfect elite skills. I've witnessed the same attitude in elite gymnastic groups. Michelle has the courage and tenacity to get to the next level. It is great to watch the process.
Save your crocodile tears, Grinches... Michelle is doing just fine!
Save your crocodile tears, Grinches... Michelle is doing just fine!
09/15/06 @ 17:17
Comment from: InTheBunker [Visitor]
You guys just don't get it. MW is a child. The look on her face, the distress in her voice after these episodes is difficult to watch. There comes a time when her mental well being has to be the primary concern. She's coached to present a positive demeanor after these debacles--that doesn't mask the hurt and humiliation.
09/15/06 @ 17:35
Comment from: Drew [Visitor]
Ghet Rheel, have you seen ANY of the men's tournaments MW has played in?
You state that "It is great to watch the process"? So you like seeing her cry? You like seeing her almost make cuts in the beginning to now finishing dead last now because the pressure is too great?
I think you need her to succeed more than she needs to succeed for herself.
You state that "It is great to watch the process"? So you like seeing her cry? You like seeing her almost make cuts in the beginning to now finishing dead last now because the pressure is too great?
I think you need her to succeed more than she needs to succeed for herself.
09/15/06 @ 17:57
Comment from: hc2 [Visitor]
Guys, I don't think we will need to worry about seeing MW in the PGA tour anytime soon. In Asian culture, 'saving face' is embedded deep within, and the past three embarrassments by MW at the the John Deere, European tour and the 84 Lumber will drive it through MW's parents minds I am sure. Com'on BJ time to save face for the sake of your family, and women's golf.
09/15/06 @ 18:19
Comment from: Alex [Visitor]
Drew, Last week when I brought up Michelle's
tears and the distress in her voice, Ghet Rheel said that no such things occurred, that Bubbles was happy as a lark, that she thrives on major disappoinment just like all teenage girls.
tears and the distress in her voice, Ghet Rheel said that no such things occurred, that Bubbles was happy as a lark, that she thrives on major disappoinment just like all teenage girls.
09/15/06 @ 18:23
Comment from: Drew [Visitor]
Yeah, I can see that with Rheel's comments, living in total denial that she's hurting badly. Talking about families on water skis and gymnastics. Huh?
What the hell does that have to do with a teenager getting torn to pieces on an international stage?
$10 says Ghet Rheel is really Bo Wie.
What the hell does that have to do with a teenager getting torn to pieces on an international stage?
$10 says Ghet Rheel is really Bo Wie.
09/15/06 @ 18:29
Comment from: Jon [Visitor]
I, for one, does not think it is a freak show. Sure, the media could put the story in a caption on the third page and not on the cover of the sports section. Some folks just have unreal expectation of her and the media is blowing the story out of proportion to sell their papers/shows, like a boy crying wolf to get attention. Much ado about nothing.
09/15/06 @ 18:40
Comment from: Alex [Visitor]
Drew, Jon is also a Wie Warrior. Right now, the Wie-wee's are licking their wounds and re-grouping. They WILL be back as soon as they can think up some oddball reasons for Bubbles' poor play. Ghet has finally revealed his reason for his adamant defense of stage father BJ Wie. He has had experience with "elite gymnastics", the venue for the absolute worst in stage parents.
09/15/06 @ 18:54
Comment from: Hal [Visitor]
Why can't Wie be friends?
Aloha from Hawaii. I am not a MW fan. Just like Jasmine Trias of American Idol infamy, all of Hawaii is proud of MW. But she's making a mockery of the PGA, the press and any observers. She's not delusional when she says that she's improving and thinks she can take on the world with her 'spinned optimism'. What other words would Nike put into her mouth? It's clear that the mainstream press is afraid to ask her the tough questions. Then they wouldn't have the plum assignments to cover this charade. At least then men know that they have the weekend to themselves.
So I agree with many of the other entries here about the freak show and etc. And she may be laughing all the way to the bank. But her conscience and self esteem will catch up to her at some point. What a waste.
Aloha from Hawaii. I am not a MW fan. Just like Jasmine Trias of American Idol infamy, all of Hawaii is proud of MW. But she's making a mockery of the PGA, the press and any observers. She's not delusional when she says that she's improving and thinks she can take on the world with her 'spinned optimism'. What other words would Nike put into her mouth? It's clear that the mainstream press is afraid to ask her the tough questions. Then they wouldn't have the plum assignments to cover this charade. At least then men know that they have the weekend to themselves.
So I agree with many of the other entries here about the freak show and etc. And she may be laughing all the way to the bank. But her conscience and self esteem will catch up to her at some point. What a waste.
09/16/06 @ 01:55
Comment from: John [Visitor]
Her parents are letting her fulfill her dreams not forcing her to. Her mental fortitude is already so much tougher then most of us "grown men" sunday golfers - she can handle defeat, she continues to dream big and why shouldn't she? Without her dreams she wouldn't have a Nike or Omega contract or the opportunities that I guess all you Wie haters are just so jealous of.
09/17/06 @ 15:20
Comment from: Ghet Rheel [Visitor]
Please, please, please, don't let Kiel Christianson turn into a disingenuous phony !!
09/17/06 @ 17:10
Comment from: Alex [Visitor]
John, Can any kid with tough mental fortitude and the ability to accept defeat, contact the folks at Nike and Omega, inform them of his or her dreams, and wangle a big endorsement contract? Or does it take a boot-licking stage father and a mini-skirt? Apparently talent and the ability to win doesn't play any part in it.
09/17/06 @ 19:37
Comment from: Ghet Rheel [Visitor]
Hey John.. The Green-Eyed Grinches think Nike and SONY are handing out TEN MILLION DOLLAR DEALS to anyone in a short skirt with a stage father. Wow. Talk about delusional. They actually think they have more marketing savvy than Nike/SONY...
How damn dumb are those Grinches, anyway.
How damn dumb are those Grinches, anyway.
09/17/06 @ 22:12
Comment from: Merrin [Visitor]
Kiel, it's not that serious because whatever she does now can be a total afterthought in about 5 years. So if she's more freak show right now than respected amateur, her entire image can change when her play does.
09/18/06 @ 12:32
Comment from: money online [Visitor]
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01/16/11 @ 12:24
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