Hate Mail: I can't save Wales
Updated Sept. 2
It's hard to have an original idea anymore, but I had one on Tiger Woods: For the good of the team, he should turn down his Ryder Cup invitation. It was a risky position, one whose defense would require strong, intelligent arguments.
I poured my heart into that one, and I nailed it. Swatted that SOB out of the park.
And you guys missed it. You missed the whole thing. If you were football fans, I would swear you were from Arkansas. Yeah -- you were that lost.
But first, a Tiger e-mail from across the pond. You'll never guess who wrote me.
From: Terry Jackson
Tiger Woods is an international sportsman who has done golf a huge service worldwide. To decline an invitation to join the Ryder Cup team may be the best thing for the U.S. -- and that's arguable -- but it certainly wouldn't be the best thing he could do for Wales. You really shouldn't be quite so insular.
Kind regards,
Hang on. I should reconsider my Tiger Woods position out of concern for Wales tourism? I'll be damned. This is me, speechless.
From: Paul Bishop
I guess your job is to stir up folks, but your logic is so flawed. If we use your standards, then we must leave Phil Mickelson off the team as well. He played worse last week than Tiger.
What does my logic have to do with Phil? I said Tiger shouldn't play because (1) he's an unhealthy distraction; (2) he's still struggling to find his game; and (3) even at his best, he has been a subpar Ryder Cupper. Where you from, Paul -- Little Rock?
From: David Andrew
Are you on this planet man?!! Tiger Woods will be picked and of course he plays. Will it be better for the team? Damn right it will. He's the No. 1 golfer in the world. Just watch Tiger and Stricker light up Wales.
Hey, on that planet where you live, are trees made of chocolate?
From: D. Rufino
Tiger is going to play in the Ryder Cup, and play well. He may never be as dominant as he has been in the past, but he will pass Jack Nicklaus' major record -- and he'll set a new record for most PGA wins before he's done.
And do the rivers flow with beer?
From: Mark Levine
One of the dumbest things I've heard all year from any media outlet in any sport. Tiger Woods saves his year with a good performance and a U.S. win. If he plays bad, at least he tried.
This ain't 6-year-old soccer. We're not handing out orange wedges at halftime.
From: Art
I refuse to listen or watch CBS Sports broadcasts of any type, and I'm now convinced I should stay away from the network, period. Thanks for helping make my decision.
One column about Tiger Woods, and you want to boycott a whole network. Sad. Think about the impact that will have on the tourist industry of Wales!
From: Scott Olsen
You told readers to "pull your head out of your ass"??! And you say the Euro media has no couth or shame? Maybe you should move to England.
Nah. I have straight teeth and good breath. And the idea of kidney pie makes me want to barf.
From: David MacPherson
Nice article on Woods. If I ever see you in the street, you'll need a doctor to remove your head from your ass.
Oh goody! Is that a promise?
From: Rich
I read your column on the FIBA World Championships, and you're impossibly stupid. Veterans like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony have already served the national team four summers in their first five years, and D-Wade and Chris Bosh have served three summers the same span. So what is this, slavery?
That's exactly what it is. Slavery. When Abraham Lincoln championed the 13th Amendment in 1864, it was because he was tired of slaves earning just $20 million to play basketball for eight months a year.
From: Chuck Morris
Dude, apparently you've never played a team sport ever in your life. You play as a team and win as a team, and you always want the best team out there. Having Tiger on any team is always the right call.
Hang on. Your name isn't Chuck Norris, but Chuck MORRIS? If I were you, I'd go by Charles or Charlie. Chuck Morris? Seriously? Dude, your parents hated you.
From: Michael Shell
That's ridiculous. Anytime Tiger plays, it's good for the sport. Just ask the TV people.
I devoted an entire paragraph to the TV people. Let me guess. You scanned the headline and the first sentence or two, then fired off an e-mail about a story you essentially didn't read.
From: Bruce Garrow
What a venomous attitude. The best golfer on the planet in the past 10 years. If he don't go, I don't watch.
And in that paragraph on TV people, I wrote the following words about people just like you: "fair-weather golf fans ... the heck with those people."
From: Bryan S.
I dig the passion I've seen in your last few columns. Way to turn it around after the Clemens piece.
Way to turn it around? You make it sound as if I was Thelma or Louise -- about to drive over a cliff. In that scenario, is it OK if I'm Thelma? Louise has bug eyes.
From: Benjamin
I have a differing opinion on the column calling Houston Nutt a bad guy for over-signing recruits. When Nutt over-signed, he placed a lot of the students in local community colleges, where they could benefit from the education and grow as young men.
Dead wrong. Because of Houston Nutt, these recruits missed the chance to sign elsewhere in Division I, before all the scholarships were gone. Now they're stuck at junior college. Not sure how that makes Nutt a good guy.
From: Mike
No one cares about your opinion. Just because you hate Tennessee doesn't mean you can run bad press about us. Please do us all a favor and STFU.
I'm now getting Hate Mail on a story I didn't even write! I was quoted this week in this newspaper article in Chattanooga, Tenn. Must say, I'm a damn good quote.
From: Larry
You're way off base in this story on MLB pitchers' arms. Pitchers are babied and do not develop the arm strength necessary. It's a bunch of crap and baseball needs to stop babying pitchers and players and make them work.
I know you. You're that father whose answer to every ailment is to set down your Schlitz, scoop up a handful of sand and scream, "Rub dirt on it!"
From: Randy
I hope more coaches and parents realize the damage that can be done by pitching year-round. I live in Texas and there are some good pitchers that never make it past high school because they have been overused. I was one of them.
Sorry to hear that. We've now entered the phase where Hate Mail remembers some of the best years of our life.
From: Travis
Wish my dad had read your story many years ago. I was impacted by tendinitis by age 15 -- and 15 years later I still can't throw. It's a pretty steep price to pay for winning when you're 12.
I was all-state in baseball ...
From: Joe M.
A ruined arm can happen anywhere -- including New York, where I'm from. One year I started a game every three or four days and eventually hurt my shoulder and elbow. It hasn't been the same since, and I still get shooting pains. That was 13 years ago.
... and soccer.
From: Jon
I'm sure there are a few -- maybe more than a few -- backwoods rabid fans who wrote/called/emailed the radio station to demand that the reporter be fired. However, the vast majority of Razorbacks fans are not this way and don't even have the time to participate in such trivial matters. This does not license you to label all Razorback fans as raving fanatics.
I made it painfully clear in that story that I was referring ONLY to the "backwoods rabid fans" (your words, not mine) who wrote/called/e-mailed to demand she be fired. Either you're stupid, or you didn't read the story.
From: Logan Joyce
I think you reached your goal of bashing an entire fan base. Next time, though, aim your column at the small amount of people who actually deserve it.
Same goes for you. Either you're stupid, or you didn't read it.
From: Hogs2002
Way to label an entire fan base based on the actions of a few.
Did any of you knuckleheads actually read the story? Or are all of you stupid?
From: Shata Hari
So the losers are already whining about Caster Semenya, huh? Typical. Women always bitch when they cannot get what they want.
The 19th century called. They're afraid you got lost and aren't coming back.
From: Tom Taylor
Horses race against horses, donkeys against donkeys. Why is it so clear cut to you that donkeys have to accept mules in their races?
Are you calling Semenya a mixed breed? That last dude, Shata Hari, is from another century -- but you're subhuman.
From: Some guy
I've read a lot of sports articles over the years, but you definitely are an amateur. It's like reading a paper written by a high-schooler trying to sound intelligent.
How do you define "trying to sound intelligent"? By the pleasing rhythm of my sentences? By the way the right word is emphasized in every sentence, simply from where I place it? Son, I'm not "trying" to sound intelligent. A guy like me, I don't have to try.
