Michelle Wie...
I originally intended my first post to be about why I felt Michelle Wie should turn pro. Now that she has turned pro, I can't use that material. But I will defend her decision, based on three simple facts...
1) She is good enough to play on the LPGA tour.
Not only is Wie good enough, she's in the top tier of LPGA players already... She made the cut in all the LPGA majors (a major feat) and finished in the top 25 of all of them. Since golf is a sport where your performance in the majors is a litmus test of how good you are relative to your peers, Wie's performances put her near the top of the heap. In fact, she placed second in the LPGA championship, third in the British, and was tied for the lead after the 3rd round of the US Women's Open. Long story short: she's not only good enough, she's way good enough. She's been among the best this year.
I'm a firm believer in the idea that if you're good enough to do something, you should probably be allowed to do it. And Wie has definitely shown that she's good enough to play women's golf. In fact, she's shown that she might be good enough to play men's golf in some capacity, which is sort of a scary thought. She will probably make a cut in a PGA Tour event at some point in her life.
2) She will win soon.
Mark my words, she will win something within the next year. We forget that she already won the LPGA Publinx tourney at the ripe age of 14, and she's come pretty close to winning on the big tour a number of times. (She's in contention this week...). The knock on Wie is that she hasn't won yet, and that she will need to win to "validate" herself. This argument is ridiculous because she a) has won, b) has contended numerous times at the highest level, and c) is only 16 years old. If she hasn't won something in the next three or four years, you can talk to me about "validation," but until then, she could have the right to live her life and work on her game. Her best years, may, believe it or not, be ahead of her.
Plus, she's in the hypothetical top ten on the women's money list. That's good anywhere.
3) $10 million in endorsements.
Q: What is the expected value of $0 in the future?
A: nothing.
Michelle Wie has lost money this year. And hey, she might as well get the bling. No, it's seriously retarded to let tournament hosters free-ride off of your appearances in their tournaments (increased tickets sales, better tv ratings for the LPGA tour) without getting duly compensated. You should get paid when you play well enough to win a check. Michelle has already lost about a million dollars by being an amateur this year. Do you want to lose a couple'a'mil? I doubt it. How much is her amateur status worth? How much is anyone's amateur status worth? The people that claim that amateurs are great for the game and should just play for the "love of the game" are generally people who aren't good enough to cash in on their respective athletic abilities. It's easy to take a ridiculous 'moral' stance when you have absolutely nothing at stake.
And Nike gets residual benefits from Wie wearing their apparel and using their goods and they should pay for those benefits. The Wies are well within their rights to make that grande-meal sized corporation pay. That's the best economic move, and Michelle Wie is simply maximizing her utility. That's something anyone should be happy about.
1) She is good enough to play on the LPGA tour.
Not only is Wie good enough, she's in the top tier of LPGA players already... She made the cut in all the LPGA majors (a major feat) and finished in the top 25 of all of them. Since golf is a sport where your performance in the majors is a litmus test of how good you are relative to your peers, Wie's performances put her near the top of the heap. In fact, she placed second in the LPGA championship, third in the British, and was tied for the lead after the 3rd round of the US Women's Open. Long story short: she's not only good enough, she's way good enough. She's been among the best this year.
I'm a firm believer in the idea that if you're good enough to do something, you should probably be allowed to do it. And Wie has definitely shown that she's good enough to play women's golf. In fact, she's shown that she might be good enough to play men's golf in some capacity, which is sort of a scary thought. She will probably make a cut in a PGA Tour event at some point in her life.
2) She will win soon.
Mark my words, she will win something within the next year. We forget that she already won the LPGA Publinx tourney at the ripe age of 14, and she's come pretty close to winning on the big tour a number of times. (She's in contention this week...). The knock on Wie is that she hasn't won yet, and that she will need to win to "validate" herself. This argument is ridiculous because she a) has won, b) has contended numerous times at the highest level, and c) is only 16 years old. If she hasn't won something in the next three or four years, you can talk to me about "validation," but until then, she could have the right to live her life and work on her game. Her best years, may, believe it or not, be ahead of her.
Plus, she's in the hypothetical top ten on the women's money list. That's good anywhere.
3) $10 million in endorsements.
Q: What is the expected value of $0 in the future?
A: nothing.
Michelle Wie has lost money this year. And hey, she might as well get the bling. No, it's seriously retarded to let tournament hosters free-ride off of your appearances in their tournaments (increased tickets sales, better tv ratings for the LPGA tour) without getting duly compensated. You should get paid when you play well enough to win a check. Michelle has already lost about a million dollars by being an amateur this year. Do you want to lose a couple'a'mil? I doubt it. How much is her amateur status worth? How much is anyone's amateur status worth? The people that claim that amateurs are great for the game and should just play for the "love of the game" are generally people who aren't good enough to cash in on their respective athletic abilities. It's easy to take a ridiculous 'moral' stance when you have absolutely nothing at stake.
And Nike gets residual benefits from Wie wearing their apparel and using their goods and they should pay for those benefits. The Wies are well within their rights to make that grande-meal sized corporation pay. That's the best economic move, and Michelle Wie is simply maximizing her utility. That's something anyone should be happy about.
posted by mike at 9:27 PM
7 Comments:
...disqualified.
'nuff said.
Yeah, gotta love the LPGA. Those people wouldn't be able to buy good publicity if it were the only thing in the store.
They should've looked the other way, but oh well. I like the fact that they let her finish, ensuring that people would watch on Sunday, before DQ'ing her. Gotta max that revenue.
It looked to me like she was disqualified by a reporter who wanted to sell more copies of SI. He waited until after she signed the scorecard to say anything. Either the officials didn’t catch the infraction because it was too small or they wanted to look the other way, but then couldn’t because a member of the press was involved. In any case, 3, 12, or 15 in means nothing in golf when you are far enough in the rough to loose the ball in the first place. That’s why the officials didn’t catch it and that is why Grant is wrong.
That was me by the way...
to be fair to grant, i'm not necessarily sure he was wrong... he was completing my sentence...
but i agree with suzanne, nonetheless.
Anonymous, I made a singular, accurate statement. If you are so fucking thick-headed that you can't comprehend the truth, then you should stick burning coals into your orifices and gouge your eyes out with a disease-laden hypodermic needle. BURN IN HELL MOTHERFUCKER.
Wait, that was Suzanne? Oh, nevermind.
oh, you got served!
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