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I find it not only grossly unjust, but downright bizarre that not living up to some ludicrous fairly tale expectations dreamed up by starry-eyed hypesters should count against anyone. So Andre Agassi took a while to become a tennis juggernaut, and only for a couple years at a stretch. What of it? We need to come to grips with the fact that high expectatations never bring anything but crushing disappointment. So let’s just appreciate what we got, a’ight?
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Repeat after me: Tiger Woods was a fluke. Tiger Woods was a fluke. Tiger Woods was a fluke. (And Jack and Arnie being great at the same time was a superfluke.)
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If your beef is that Wie is drawing attention from other deserving golfers, I want names. And explain what it is about them that is so appealing. Heck, Ernie Els’ is nicknamed “Big Easy” he’s so relaxed and easygoing. We like that in a sportsman now?
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Uh…Anna Kournikova won three tournaments in doubles. And she almost certainly would’ve eventually cracked through in singles if she didn’t get hit by a gazillion injuries which forced her out in 2003. See, that’s the thing, the biggest reason they never won anything was that they weren’t around long enough. How long did it take John Elway to win a championship? Jerome Bettis? Clyde Drexler? Mark Messier?
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Okay, her early career was horribly mismanaged, but at least she got all the crap out of the way early. Now she can focus on what she’s good at. That’s usually how it works: Young phenom, rookie mistakes, initial embarrassments, learning, adjustments, becoming a legitimate pro.
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Seriously, what is it to you? You had a bet or something?
Not sure who you’re talking to, but since I was named in the OP I’ll jump in.
She wasn’t hyped as having great potential, she actually had great potential. Tiger Woods was not a fluke, that’s what happens when a talented youngster is forced to do nothing but practice, ala the Williams sisters. I’ve never heard of the imagined slight that she’s drawing attention from more deserving players; if people are saying that then they’re being silly. I’ve long argued that Kournikova was a very good player, and her not winning a singles tournament is nothing more than a statistical anomaly.
Your penultimate point is the only thing I’ve said all along, so it would appear we are in agreement. But I dispute your idea that it takes all promising young stars seven years to learn how to win. They usually start winning right out of the gate.
What is what to me? Am I not allowed to voice my opinion? I happen to think that when a phenomenal young talent gets her career derailed for seven years, that’s akin to a crime.
You are comparing team games with an individual game. They are unrelatable. Elway,Messier etc. had to be on a winning team. All she has to do is score lower than anyone else on a given weekend. She dopes not have to worry about poor ownership, bad managers and coaches, or team mates playing well enough.
Evidence? Cite? I have LOTS more to back up her wrist injury than anyone does to support this nebulous notion that playing prematurely against tough competition somehow “derailed” her.
I will admit that the girl who beat her today, Yani Tseng (3 majors already, and she’s only 1 year older than Michelle), has completely flown underneath the radar-hopefully this will be the start of a very intense rivalry for many years to come. And before someone goes “gotcha!”, I’ll point out her relative lack of press is more the media’s fault than anything else.
Where are you getting this “seven years” thing from? It was no more than about 3 years, from 2006 (when she went 3/5/3/26th in the 4 women’s majors) until her win last year-you realize she actually broke several bones in the wrist, right? The vast, VAST majority of golfers, even female, who often tend to mature earlier than men do (Alexis Thompson for ex., or even Yani) weren’t contending for majors at age 14. Yet somehow her failure to win any pro tourneys before her 20th birthday, when virtually no other female golfers in the history of the game ever did either, makes her a failure during that time. For a golfer, age 20 is “right out the gate”, in other words. That YOU don’t understand this saddens me, as does your appalling lack of compassion and complete unwillingness to give her the slightest benefit of the doubt. I guess you like to go make fun of little girl gymnasts when they can’t pull off a triple somersault on the balance beam right away.
Michelle Wie West - Wikipedia Here is a Wiki on Wie. It discusses her “wrist injury” and the controversy. It includes her WD when she was going to shoot over 88.
She qualified for a pro event at 12, made the cut at 13. She turned full time pro at 16. Morgan Pressell and Paula Creamer both won touneys at age 18. Michelle did not .
It may be she is finally getting it together. The Ladies tour could use her. They are losing sponsors, getting purses cut and not getting much TV time.
She’s been competing against professionals for seven years. The delusion is that a two-year wrist injury can explain the seven years of futility.
Mark Messier was on the Oilers when they won the Stanley Cup in 1984. He was 23 I think. Just a nitpick, really.
Unbelievable-so she was a “failure” because, as a 13-16 year old, she failed to win a pro tournament/major, despite 7 top tens in the majors she played during that time? You have a funny definition of “futility”; to me that’s an amazing performance for her age. At this point nothing more needs to be said-if you want to continue this line of sophistry, go right effin’ ahead. :rolleyes:
You miss the point. She was touted as the next coming. She was not just a very young girl playing, but one so good she would play with the men. It is not our fault the expectations were high. So she did not light up the tour. It was a disappointment. For a while she was terrible. She threatened to shoot 90 and missed a bunch of cuts. Sorry but that was not what was expected.It can not be ignored.
I think her growth spurt may have thrown a monkey wrench into her swing. It is a different plane you swing with at 5ft 5 instead of a foot taller.
Like I said, the LPGA needs her.I hope she cleans up next year. Then she ,may earn a shot at a weak mens tour.
MW’s weakness has always been on and around the greens. As a junior she could dominate largely on her distance, but as she competes at the highest levels, her shortcoming is more and more evident. The determining factor will be whether she develops a short game to go along with her length.
Tiger IS a freak, tho the extent he had the best long and short games around.