Chrysler, Mercedes Benz and the PGA Tour

Charles Bukowski wrote that love is a dog from hell. The Barfly knew what he was talking about. Ask the people who work for Chrysler.

It turns out that the current dog from hell is Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., the private American company that just bought Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler AG for a lot less money than that German company paid for it nine years ago. Its first order of business likely will be to downsize the considerable prices it pays auto workers and their pensions and health care, if you believe the news stories.

Let’s take a second, though. Did no one else take a Latin class? I haven’t heard any mention of the probably-not-coincidental fact that Cerberus also is the name of the three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades - the original dog from hell. Not that this means anything other than it bothers me when people either don’t do their homework or are generally dumb when it comes to classic knowledge.

What’s this have to do with golf? Well, first, what will this company do with its sponsorships of golf tournaments? Will it still be called the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic at the first of the year? What about Daimler and its commitment to golf? The company also makes Mercedes Benz, which is the namesake of the PGA Tour’s first tournament of the year. Scroll down through the names of tournaments on the various professional tours and note the title sponsors. Cars, medical concerns and insurance companies make the biggest splash. Am I crazy or are these hot buttons in current society?

Maybe we could ask the 73rd Secretary of the Treasury of the United States of America, John Snow. Oh, wait. He is now the chairman of Cerberus. Of course, GWB hired him away from being the chairman and CEO of the CSX Corporation. So he knows something about trains, anyway.