Sep 24

Bring in Jack Nicklaus as Ryder Cup captain

It’s time to bring in Jack Nicklaus as the Ryder Cup captain. As much as I dislike the man personally, he alone can make a difference in the defensive, namby-pamby way the Americans play and maybe stop this national embarrassment.

Tom Lehman can make the Americans sing all the college fight songs he wants. He can try to manufacture all the phony camaraderie he wants, but team spirit isn’t going to do it. The Europeans grow up playing silly games as schoolboys. They grow up hoisting pints together in pubs from the time they reach the legal drinking age of six.

The Americans aren’t going to build team spirit by drinking Guinness in pubs, unless they sign on Guinness as a corporate sponsor. The Americans aren’t going to build team spirit, period.

The American strong suits are their talent and competitiveness, and they just haven’t shown it since Europe started dominating the event.

They need somebody to light a fire under their butts and stop molly-coddling them. They don’t need a sports psychiatrist and they don’t need a captain telling them how great they are when they choke on the 18th green and fold like lambs being led to slaughter.

Nicklaus alone has the stature to bring back that ass-kicking mentality. These pampered millionaires won’t listen to anybody else.

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11 comments

Comment from: Alex [Visitor]

Tim, Do you know Jack personally? I met him on a very casual basis once about ten years ago. From that brief encounter, he seemed like a stand-up guy. I've not heard anything derogatory about Jack. Why would you have reason to dislike him? By the way, I don't think that Jack or the reincarnation of Houdini could bring the Ryder Cup back to this side of the pond. It will take much better match play.

09/24/06 @ 13:00

Comment from: JRC [Visitor]

Tim you're absolutely right...to hell with this good sportsmanship drivel...if a $10M winner’s check rode on this thing you bet your butt our guys would've gone after it with a little more killer instinct. OK, maybe that's an asinine, but dammit it’s not OK to lose (I mean have our head handed to us) as our ream reports it.

Look. It’s simple…George C. Scott’s opening monologue from PATTON was on the mark, American’s love a winner, and they could give a tinker’s damn about a loser…we admire the champion heavyweight boxer, etc, etc….

Damn it someone needed to kick these guys in the teeth…tell them to play the way the rest of the world and your fellow Americans demands you play, to hell with pats on the back and little pep talks. Get out there, win the damn match, or hang your head in shame…SLACKER!

God…I guess I’ll be watching the European PGA, those guys are really good.

09/24/06 @ 18:37

Comment from: Tim McDonald [Member]

Alex, yes I have met Nicklaus personally, back when I was a sportswriter and covered a lot of golf. I also witnessed some incidents in which he treated lesser beings very badly. I have heard many other people say the same. He's an arrogant, thoroughly uninteresting person off the course.

09/24/06 @ 19:53

Comment from: tommy [Visitor]

i love that you hate jack as much as i do. i know personally through golf related contacts at a high level that jack and arnie are both the biggest egomaniacs this world has ever seen(osama bin laden excluded of course).

09/24/06 @ 22:42

Comment from: Jimbo18436 [Visitor]

Maybe if they left Tiger and Phil sit
home for a competition, they might get a
fire lit under their butts and play better.
A captain can't play the match for his
players so he has to be a butt kicker and
a name taker. Haven't seen any of those
lately.

09/25/06 @ 09:31

Comment from: bill [Visitor]

One solution, and only one...

Michelle Wie!!!

She is the American savior!!!

09/25/06 @ 09:47

Comment from: Laughing out loud [Visitor]

Jimbo--Tiger was responsible for half the entire teams outright victories, he along with Scott Verplank were the two lone bright spots in an otherwise abysmal US performance. Mickelson on the other hand has not strung together two decent shots in succession since the U.S. Open and would have been better served staying at home.

09/25/06 @ 10:41

Comment from: Ron [Visitor]

Please.....bring in anyone you want as
Captain, it won't matter, the Euros are
not only a better team, they are a
dominant team, the US won 6 matches out
of 28, total domination. Let's face it
the US are not World Champions in any
sport unless maybe the NFL, The Euros and
other countries are better in Basketball, both both men's and women's, soccer, baseball
and now golf. Americans need to face the
facts, we are no longer the best in
sports, even at the professional level.
The European team was fun to watch, the
American team was like watching paint dry

09/25/06 @ 11:24

Comment from: John Fischer [Visitor]

Bring on Jack and sign him up for the next three Ryder Cups. Make him our Tony Jacklin to whip these guys tgether. Hal Sutton and Tom Lehman? Nice guys, but you need leadership that's respected. The captaincy shouldn't be a reward for hanging on. Who would ever name Hal or Tom as one of our great international players? Jack has too much pride to let things slide by. Get some consistent leadership.

09/25/06 @ 13:32

Comment from: Jack [Visitor]

I have met Jack Nicklaus and have found him to be a very polite and patient man. I am sorry that the author has a different point of view. Regarding Phil Mickelson, he clearly played badly for the third straight cup. He will all most certaintly be on the next team and we need him to play well. What I suggest is that he needs to earn the right to play five matches if he is not on the top of his game (or even the middle.) In 1991, when America took back the cup, they had a very fiery spirit, led by such players as Wadkins, Azinger, Pavin and Stewart. They need to bring back that spirt. Hiring Nicklaus would be fine. If not Jack, then Paul Azinger would also be a good choice. The next Ryder Cup in on American soil and if we are going to win the cup it will more likely happen at home.

09/25/06 @ 15:39

Comment from: Judge Smails [Visitor]

Well, if Nicklaus treats "lesser beings" very badly, it certainly explains why Timmie doesn't like him.

09/25/06 @ 21:24

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