Is Golf Back in the Stone Age?

Quite possibly.

Golf is undergoing an amazing transformation, or regression, from a game that many people are picking up and appealing to the newer generation back to the prissy gentlemen game with as much character as a piece of styrofoam ball. The ones you put in bean bags.

In fact, I don’t even know who won the stupid Fedex cup until just now when I googled it. 10 million. Apparently it went down the wire for Hunter Mahan, one of our Golf Boyz, but he choked (again) and a guy by the name of Bill Haas took the Fedex cup.

One. Big. Yawn.

I really hate to say it, and I might be the only one who feels this: but isn’t golf becoming more and more dreary to watch? Now, the world no 1 is Luke Donald. Nothing against that guy, but FOR SAKES, THIS GUY HAS NOT EVEN WON A FREAKING MAJOR!!! Vs a guy with 14 majors and like 97 professional wins? He even has a wiki dedicated to his wins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_career_achievements_by_Tiger_Woods

Before anyone shoots me again for being a rabid Tiger fan, here’s the thing: I love the game. You can see it from the way I write; and though my scores continually suck, I continually play the game….and frankly, without Tiger in the mix, it is just a torture to watch golf tournaments. In fact, I prefer watching the LPGA these days.

So until the President’s cup (or the Australian tournament with Tiger in it), and until the stupid NBA sort itself out, we’re left with only Football (and for some the rugby world cup, which is as confusing to me as reading Sanskrit):

1) Liverpool’s resurgence

I am not a pure Liverpool fan…I am by default since I am a Juventus fan, and serie A games are shown less, or either very early in the morning (AC vs Juve at 2 am!!). Liverpool just beat Everton 2-0, but seriously, they were quite crap until Gerrard came in. Gerrard is like 3 million times better than the next best Liverpudlian, who is probably Suarez, or Kenny Dalglish when he plays. But somehow they are still winning, but doubt they can challenge the Manchester teams and Chelsea.

2) Juve is top of the table. This has not happened since the Romans crossed the Rubicon. Savor it Juventini!

3) Messi

Anyone watching football has to be crazy to not like this fler. He’s scoring goals like playstation and it’s totally amazing to watch him….and he’s tiny! The question people ask is what if he played in England, with defenders who prefer to hack him down than to watch? It’s a debate that Ronaldo is actually a better player because he can excel in any league, where as Messi is Messi because he’s in the Spanish League. Anyway, who cares. He’s crazy good.

4) Tevez

Is he that good that he’s worth all the hoopla around him? I prefer Kun Aguero. BTW, I’m always a bit amazed at how they allow him to have his nickname on the back of his shirt. He’s named Kun because he resembles the character Kum Kum, which was his favourite tv series as a kid. (They have Japanese Anime in Argentina!)

Um, which part? Black hair, black eyes? Or just because he has his hands behind his head?

Man, some days, I wish Tiger would just come back and give us something more to write.

A Tale of Two Cities: Juve to Liverpool

Juventus crest The words "Liverpool Football Club" are in the centre of a pennant, with flames either side. The words "You'll Never Walk Alone" adorn the top of the emblem in a green design, "EST 1892" is at the bottom.

OK, nothing to do with Golf for once.

The football season has just ended, so that means many Saturday and Sunday nights of idleness and boredom for 90% of the male population in Malaysia and restful nights for my wife (we have a mamak opposite our place, so, yep, every goal is a nightmare to her). So after next week’s big game, we’ll be officially in the off season.

So anyways, I don’t know if it’s just me, but I find it so uncanny that Juventus has an almost mirror image in the Barclay’s in Liverpool. So much so, that this season, I have become a secondary Liverpool fan (since I can’t seem to catch Juve playing often!). I mean think about it:

1. Both Suck. At the moment.

2011 was tough for Juve. I mean, how the heck did the promise of 2010 (when they were 4th place), turn into such a nightmare as 2011. 4-1 to Parma?? 3-0 to Napoli?? 2-1 to Palermo?? And Liverpool? Exact opposites. 2010 was horrendous for them thanks to a certain coach. Who sucked. But they turned it arround in 2011. Where are we both? 7th and 6th place.

2. Legends at the Helm.

Liverpool has King Kenny. Now, Juve has King Conte. Ok, that’s probably a bad name but both are legends respectively.

3. Players Exchange

Liverpool to Juventus:Alberto Aquilani. Juventus to Liverpool: Christian Poulsen. Guess who got the better deal?

4. Rivalry with Champions

Juve hates Inter. Liverpool hates Manchester United. Ok, Inter isn’t the champion anymore, but who cares.

5. Crap results with crap team, good results with great teams.

It’s like a mirror image. Juve beats Inter. Liverpool thrashes Manchester United. Liverpool beats Chelsea–twice, Juve beats Lazio twice. Liverpool beats Man City, Juve beats AC Milan. Juve’s bogey team: Napoli. Liverpool’s: Spurs. Liverpool collected 14 points from the top 5 team, Juventus collected 17. That’s pretty impressive stuff.

6. Super Midfield Flops

Liverpool has Joe Cole this season. Juve had Diego last season.

7. Super Legend Captains

Liverpool has Gerrard. Juve has Del Piero. Both have spent their entire careers with ONE Club. Ah, loyalty.

8. Mirror Achievements

Liverpool was the most successful club in English Football (until last week), Juventus is the most successful club in Italy. Even by ranking, Juve and Liverpool both have 11 International club titles, both rank 6 in the world.

9. Derby with not so great clubs

Liverpool overshadows Everton. But Liverpool actually was birthed from Everton. Juventus overshadows Torino. But Torino was birthed from Juventus. But since Torino is in the toilet for some time, Juventus now picks fights with Fiorentina, for weird reasons. Strange.

10. History

Both are founded in 1890s due to splits with other clubs. Even their fanbase is similar, with locals in Liverpool preferring Everton (at least, that’s what I hear), and local Turin preferring Torino. Liverpool and Juve both have huge fanbase outside of their home cities.

And of course, Heysel 1985 forever linked these two clubs together. Like Forever.

So much for my football gilanalysis. Enough of that. Time for GOLF!