This is not politically correct and might get me into trouble but it's unavoidable: It breaks my heart when I see a woman cry.
No, I'm not talking about Doyel.
I'm talking about Michelle Wie.
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| Michelle Wie's mental toughness will be tested after this latest setback. (AP) |
In some ways, Wie should be admired. She's not flipping gang signs. She's not a raging drug abuser. When she takes a good walk, there aren't syringes hanging loosely from her rear end. The fact she isn't getting arrested every other Thursday or spotted in a strip club (hey, it happens) counts in a sports world full of wanna-be thugs and Sleestacks.
She also has demonstrated, at times, mental toughness. Wie has returned from embarrassing episodes with her head held high. Wie has been pulverized in the media with some of the artillery -- some -- clearly having a misogynistic taint and she hasn't slithered away or publicly blamed anyone else.
Just remember, she's only 18.
Eighteen, folks.
But back to the crying thing.
When Wie failed to sign her scorecard at the State Farm Classic after a solid weekend of golf, she was red-eyed, stunned and fighting back tears. Seeing that made me, well, sad. Go ahead and call me a cotton-candy-soft punk but if you witnessed her reaction and something didn't churn in your stomach then there's a slab of concrete where your heart should be.
"I don't know why or how it happened," Wie told the media.
To say Wie's career is over after such an admittedly boneheaded mistake is just plain stupid. She's too young, and despite what you might read, Wie has ability.
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| Aliens509: Even though I feel sorry for Wie, a rule is a rule and as a golfer, especially a professional golfer, signing your scorecard at the end of the round is an automatic thing to do especially when you're in the clubhouse or trailer or anywhere. It's like clocking out or signing out from your job. Like I said earlier, I hate to see it happen to her but I bet you she will learn from this and it would not happen again for the rest of her life. |
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| Mike Freeman: She has to take the heat, very true, for a bad mistake. I think this is bigger than just her forgetting what should be second nature. While it's wrong and silly to say the career of an 18-year-old is over there seems to be something very dysfunctional going on behind the scenes. She may understandably be just too immature to handle what must be a great deal of pressure. |
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Still I'm not so sure when Wie will recover from Scorecard-gate because in Wie it seems there's too much Curse of the Child Star.
She's not Todd Bridges or Lindsay Lohan bad; there are no arrests or drug binges or sudden shaving of heads. Nude photos of Wie aren't blazing across the Internet and she's certainly not Robert Blake. Yet there is something awfully Macaulay Culkin-like about Wie's career thus far.
You just get the feeling things are happening far too fast for her before a public all too eager to toast to her missteps.
Scorecard-gate isn't Wie's first breach of golf protocol. She was disqualified from a tournament for taking an improper drop. (By the way, anyone who completely understands all of golf's anal rules please advise.)
She brought this onto herself, you say. She tried to reach too far. She took on the dudes. Maybe, but like other child prodigies you have to wonder if she was ill-served by gullible or dream-chasing parents.
And what the hell is so bad about Wie being aggressive? We don't seem to blame young male golfers or other athletes for aiming high or being cocky. Mr. Pink Pants Ian Poulter is as cocky as Chad Johnson.
Wie shouldn't be blasphemed for trying but let's be fair. Forgetting to sign her scorecard is an indicator Wie's totally adrift and was far too young to take on this challenge.
Again, Wie's not going to end up like some of the more notorious kid stars like Dana Plato, River Phoenix or God forbid Michael "Mind If I Babysit Your Kid?" Jackson. She's not even The Two Coreys.
She's not Jamie Lynn Spears getting pregnant at 16, either.
There's just something eerily familiar about what we're witnessing with Wie and it's a very young person partially self-destructing right before our eyes. It's a crying shame.
Not sure whom I'd most not want to be right now. Michelle Wie ...
...or Gary Coleman.
