Baldwin demented -- appearance fees a fool's game

My young colleague Chris Baldwin is oh so typical of many of his generation: they’ve grown up being bombarded by commercials and are so brainwashed they have become oblivious tools of the vast marketing machine that has taken over America – yes, we are a nation of car salesmen.

Sure, it’s great to have Tiger, Phil and Vijay going head to head in a tournament, but do we really want them 24/7 at the exclusion of everyone else? Look at Doral: the final day coverage was a love-telecast of Mickelson and Woods – hey, there was some pretty good golf played that day by other golfers and we never saw any of it. Ever heard the word “overexposure"?

Professional golf is a unique sport in which even the coddled millionaires don’t get paid if they don’t perform. Tiger wins, he adds another million to his portfolio; he loses, and he gets zilch, just like the poor slob just up from the Nationwide Tour. You start paying these top guys obscene amounts of money just for showing up and you have polarization (there’s a word these young punks should have learned in sociology class) of the touring pros. Tiger in the penthouse, Fred Funderbunk sleeping in his car in the parking lot.

And hey, Baldwin, you really think $100,000 is going to get Tiger Woods to show up at the Acme Nut and Bolt Classic in some tricked-up cow pasture? That wouldn’t buy yo’ mama.