And Here It Is, The "Get Off My Lawn" Piece About #SB2K16 We Knew Was Coming
GS- Now that the social media swooning has quieted down from the four-day Snapchat and social media advertorial delivered by Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Smylie Kaufman and Justin Thomas, I’ll bite.
It wasn’t that cool.
At times, the behavior exhibited was boorish, unbecoming of pro athletes who do so much to inspire kids and reckless to their physical health.
Projecting a little, this hyped series of “Snapped” videos spoke to golf’s embarrassing desperation to be liked by a younger generation, fueled by corporations who want to reach demos that the sport has almost never delivered. As someone who has subscribed to the narrative about the next wave of stars—nicer, more social media friendly, more grounded—the “Snapped” antics were kind of cute on day one. But by day four of the drunken behavior, the celebration of the next gen’s legacy suggested a peculiar precedent has been set.
There it is! We knew it was coming. We knew a golf writer was going to step up and be the wet blanket of #SB2K16. It had to happen and it did. Geoff Shackelford come on down! The article reads exactly how you think an article like this would.
We even got a “Think of the children!” and a “They could’ve gotten hurt and jeopardized their sponsors!” within the first 100 words
At times, the behavior exhibited was boorish, unbecoming of pro athletes who do so much to inspire kids and reckless to their physical health.
So predictable that it’s almost sad. And make no mistake. Shackelford isn’t writing this because he believes a word of it. He doesn’t believe a single letter of what he wrote (or at least I hope he doesn’t). He views it as nothing but an opportunity. Every writer is always looking for a fresh take on something that seemingly has no fresh takes left. This #SB2K16 is a perfect example. Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY (myself included), was heaping praise all over Rickie, Spieth, Justin Thomas and Smylie Kaufman for their trip to the Bahamas. It was awesome and fun and we all covered it as an awesome and fun thing. All Geoff Shackelford did was look at the coverage landscape and realize no one had done the takedown article about these damn young kids and their rowdy tequila-fueled spring break yet. No one wants to read another article about how awesome these guys are so why not write one about how their behavior “wasn’t that cool” and get some cheap pageviews? That’s what’s happening here.
Then there’s this rant about, “Think of the Ryder Cup!” that is beyond bizarre
So let’s say this fall we have a player who is more of the loner, iconoclastic variety vying for a Ryder Cup captain’s pick. Say, a Patrick Reed or Bryson DeChambeau or, gasp, a non-youngster like Charley Hoffman. Or a hologram of a cranky-as-ever Ben Hogan (hey, anyone who can make putts!).
Will last week’s outpouring of love for the more “human” generation–of the appropriate demographic of course–force a captain’s hand to pick the conforming, social media fun-loving young “guy” who was hazed by his peers on social media over the player who doesn’t want to play by the modern media rules?
What the actual fuck is he even talking about? Pretty sure that won’t happen. I’m guessing the captain would pick the best player and whoever gives them the best chance to win. I REALLY hope he doesn’t believe anything in those two paragraphs and was just spinning shit to spin shit.
The good news? Articles like this are the heavy minority. Everybody with a pair of eyeballs and a working brain knows the truth about #SB2K16. It was fun. It was cool. Not just for the guys on the trip but for those of us watching along at home. So what if they were hammered drunk on tequila they shouted out on Snapchat in order to get free bottle? We would all do the same thing. It’s not like they killed anybody. Getting to see these guys outside the ropes and behaving like normal guys will go a long way into humanizing them and getting more people to pay attention to them and the game of golf. Everybody wins.
The comment section of the article is full of gems but this one was my favorite
We’re talking about the same Spieth, right? The guy who had one of the most historic seasons in all of golf last year and set up his family financially for life? Yeah Paul, I’m sure they’re super disappointed.