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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
Bad read made Wie’s
weekend a nightmareA midsummer night's (bad) dream:
>> They did it. Someone actually turned a major professional sporting event into "My dad can beat up your dad."
>> How old would Danielle Ammaccapane's father have to be? Did he shake his cane at the Wies in a menacing fashion? Did he use the word "gonfunit"?
>> When Mr. Wie went running to the press he misread the situation worse than he ever did any distance or green. Talk about pulling out the wrong club ...
He certainly was expecting a different result when he made his stand, that's for sure.
>> Then when he had what sounds like a more legitimate complaint, with Psycho Dad (wasn't that the name of Al Bundy's favorite TV show?), he'd already cried wolf.
>> It was only five minutes ago we all thought Mr. Wie knew it all.
>> I have a different take on this. Everyone is saying B.J. Wie needs to step away from professional golf. I say maybe Michelle does.
It was only a day or two before "the incident" that Michelle was asked if she was too young, if maybe she wasn't ready for all of this. Well, her much-publicized teenage-ese answer was along the lines of, Like, she's 13 now and she knows what she can handle and she knows what she's getting into. Duh!
Of course, it's now painfully obvious that she's 13, and she has no idea what she can handle and no idea what she's getting into. Duh.
Maybe this would be a good opportunity to take a step back. Or at least slow down.
Just because you can smack it 300 yards doesn't mean you're ready to be a pro (and that's what she's effectively been this summer, paycheck or no paycheck).
>> If she's that good, she'll get there eventually.
>> Annika Sorenstam has said that when she was Michelle's age she was just a schoolgirl, dreaming about cute boys. She didn't golf seriously until a year or a few later. And we can see how that held back her progress. SHE ONLY GREW UP TO BE ANNIKA SORENSTAM.
>> Say what you want about Venus and Serena's dad -- and the man is clearly insane -- but he kept them out of pro events for as long as he could. And we can see how that held back their progress.
>> If you're an optimist -- and if you're still reading today's column you'd have to be -- you must say the bright side is that this happened on the mainland. With the combustible combination of attention, talent and, apparently, a brazen lack of golf etiquette, a Wie backlash was almost inevitable, sooner or later. It's good that something like this didn't boil over on home soil, where the principals have to live with each other for years to come. Where somebody local ends up forever painted with a bad-guy brush.
And now the big blowup is over with, and out of the way.
There shouldn't be another.
>> Well, thanks to this incident Danielle will probably be forever known as the queen (word that starts with a B) of the LPGA Tour. But it kind of sounds like she made that life decision a long time ago.
>> Seriously, that must have been the world's most intimidating 65-year-old man.
>> To steal a line from ESPN's Jay Bilas (and it has to be the first time anyone has said that), Michelle better not step in John Daly's line.
>> Mr. Wie said the whole episode was so tough because Michelle "had never been harassed by anyone" before. Really? And she's 13? Wow, that Punahou really is a good school.
>> With the life Michelle Wie is about to live -- and as she's already promised, it's not going to be a normal one -- it might not have been a bad thing for her to get a big reality check early in her career. Even if it hurt a little at the time.
>> Of course that's easy for me to say. I'm not her father, watching his little girl feel that hurt.
But then, that's why -- no matter how old their daughters get -- dads don't always make the best fans or caddies. Too emotional. Too loving. Too close.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com