Sidelines
CASEY Martin is going to lose his leg. Know that. If nothing else, realize that someday, perhaps someday soon, Casey Martin is going to have to lie down on that operating table and get up from it changed forever. Martin’s case has
legs to stand onThis isn't a feel-good story. This isn't a Disney movie of the week about an inspirational young man showing courage in the face of all odds.
This is about a guy who's going to lose his leg. And wants to play golf for just a few rounds more before his daylight fades away.
This is about a professional sports association that wants to preserve the integrity of its game.
This is about a Supreme Court that just changed all the rules. And there are no winners here.
The Court's decision yesterday was not a happy ending. Casey Martin didn't have a dream come true yesterday.
Casey Martin's dream is to kick off his shoes and run barefoot in the grass. What he got was an oh so brief reprieve.
But should he have?
Yes, we all say, because who doesn't love Casey Martin, this scrappy underdog from the Disney script?
The Casey Martin I saw at the Nike Tour's 1998 Omaha Classic was a professional golfer, not a folk hero.
He was grumpy when reporters asked him about the cart. (Hey, he brought it up by suing the PGA.) He did his best to ignore, to tune out, to disregard the presence of the massive gallery that tromped along with him, making the standard bearer look like the leader of an ancient army.
He's a regular guy, not a fairy tale. And, at the elite level, he's a regular golfer, too. He's a star only because of his story.
Why did the PGA try to stop him from using a cart? Four simple words: Because it's the rules. To some that means nothing. To others, it means everything.
If you think Martin's story means more than the rulebook, you can't go against him. If you're more of a stickler than a sympathizer, you're shocked at the decision that is now the law of the land.
THE SUPREME COURT went with the story.
Justice John Paul Stevens said that even with a cart, Martin's medical condition already makes him more fatigued than a golfer who walks.
Sad. True. Irrelevant.
The rule isn't that you balance out everyone's fatigue.
The rule is you walk.
But Casey Martin can't participate under these rules of professional golf. His condition is that bad, and it gets worse every day.
Does the Americans with Disabilities Act say that everyone can participate in pro sports, even if it means changing the very cornerstone of competition? Apparently, it does.
The Supreme Court decided it was more important to let Casey play than follow the rules.
In dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that the majority "exercises a benevolent compassion that the law does not place it within our power to impose."
The PGA, which has let Martin use a cart these past few years, has been changed forever as a result.
But sports, by definition, aren't accommodating. Life isn't fair.
Nobody knows that cruel fact more than Martin himself.
Kalani Simpson's column runs Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
He can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com