Mean-spirited comments too often are par for
the course
By Steve Kelley
The Seattle Times
(KRT)
SEATTLE - This is exactly what Tiger Woods deals with every
day on the golf tour.
The unfunny quips from the good ol' boys. The whispers around
the putting green, on the practice tee and on the course as he
walks through the gallery from green to tee.
The disingenuous greetings from the officials on the tour's
weekly stops. The lukewarm reception he receives from many of
his fellow pros.
Inflammatory ethnic slurs, like those delivered by Fuzzy Zoeller
in a taped interview with CNN at the Masters, are the kinds of
comments Tiger Woods hears all the time.
Only because of his skin color, only because of his race, Woods
is subjected to these pressures every time he tees off. Every
round he plays, there are people, a lot of people, rooting against
him because he isn't white.
At Augusta, the whitest place on Earth, Zoeller called Woods
a "little boy." He said he hoped Woods wouldn't put
fried chicken and collard greens on the menu at next year's Champions
Dinner. The defending champion is in charge of the menu.
Zoeller's defense? He said he's a jokester. You tell me what's
funny about such mean-spiritedness. You tell me if Tiger Woods,
or any person of color, laughed when he heard Zoeller's remarks.
Woods hears such "jokes" all the time. He hears them
from the other side of the locker stalls. He hears them from the
next table at dinner.
The day after Woods had won one of his U.S. Amateur titles,
an African-American sportswriter was in the locker room at the
Seniors Tour event. He heard the golfers talking disgustedly about
"the boy's little dance" after Woods had won.
That "dance" was no different than the celebrations
of Tom Watson or Jack Nicklaus or any other great golfer after
a dramatic championship victory. But because Woods was a golfer
of color, these pros were offended.
That same sportswriter was stopped the same day by a security
guard at the clubhouse door even though he was wearing the proper
credentials. White journalists with the same credentials were
coming and going without question.
This is what people of color deal with in the white world of
sports.
This is supposed to be a time of heightened enlightenment,
but earlier this year, New Jersey Nets coach John Calipari referred
to a reporter as "a Mexican idiot." And Miami Heat broadcaster
David Halberstam wondered what kind of basketball team Thomas
Jefferson's slaves could have produced.
Money punishes. Both Calipari and Halberstam were fined by
the NBA.
Acting quickly and correctly, Kmart dropped Zoeller as its
golf spokesman this week. Zoeller's ignorance eventually will
cost him hundreds of thousands of endorsement dollars.
The message is simple and direct: "If you are going to
make remarks that are obviously offensive, you have to pay the
price." Such thoughtlessness has become an occupational hazard
for public figures like Zoeller.
But this utterance was just the one that went public. Who knows
how many thousands of such jokes have been directed at Woods,
Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder, Jim Thorpe, the golfers of color.
Augusta National banned CBS commentator Gary McCord from covering
the Masters after McCord made disparaging remarks about the speed
of the greens. But do you think Augusta will act to punish Zoeller?
Ban him from the Masters? Exclude him from the Champions Dinner?
Zoeller pulled out of this week's Greater Greensboro Open,
saying, "I have to make things right with Tiger before anything
else."
Woods accepted Zoeller's apology Thursday without accepting
Zoeller's ignorance.
"At first I was shocked," Woods said. "His attempt
at humor was out of bounds, and I was disappointed by it."
These quips that Zoeller thought were harmless are the ones
people of color hear whispered, like background music, all the
time. And now it will be up to Fuzzy the Jokester to spread the
word to his fellow golfers that the jokes and the whispers must
end.
(Steve Kelley is a sports columnist for the Seattle Times.
Write to him at: Seattle Times, 1120 John Street, Seattle, Wash.
98109.)
(c) 1997, The Seattle Times.
Visit The Seattle Times Extra on the World Wide Web at http://www.seatimes.com/
Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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