Rivaldo Rebukes Rio Olympics Attendance

With less than three months before the XXXI Summer Olympics are set to begin in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian soccer star Rivaldo warned fans against attending because of unchecked violence on the streets.



This is not the only logistical and public relations challenge Rio has needed to overcome in hosting the Olympics.  Rio was awarded the Summer Olympics in 2009 and had reason to ramp up the infrastructure hosting the Catholic World Youth Day in 2013 and the 2014 World Cup.  Yet in March, only 90-95 percent of the infrastructure was complete.  Rio organizing officials held a press conference to announce that they were ahead of schedule a couple of days after two workers were killed when a coastal bike path associated with green transportation between Olympic venues.

Of course, racing to complete infrastructure is nothing new for Olympic host cities.  What is more rarified is that the state government is broke so it failed to pay public workers like policemen, firefighters, doctors and nurses.  Thus a half million of them went on strike which shut down hospitals across the state.

Pollution still mires the Rio Olympics.  Last year, there was a study which revealed that Guanabara Bay are so polluted with fecal matter and other contaminants that  water Olympic athletes risked becoming ill rowing and sailing around the Copacabana.  It is dubious if the bankrupt state government can achieve what they have promised to fix for years.

Then there is the risk of the Zika virus from mosquito bites, especially to pregnant women and their unborn children. Some public health doctors have advised that the Olympics ought to be moved to protect the 16,000 athletes and expected 600,000 sports fans. Since that is unlikely, people will need to mitigate their feared risks.  The US Olympic committee has advised athletes that if they are concerned for their own health, they ought to skip the Rio games.  US Womens soccer star Hope Solo has publicly proclaimed that she won't go to Rio unless the situation changes. Several prominent pro golfers are also dropping out of competing in the Rio Games, but most cite a hectic summer PGA tour schedule  .

 South Korean athletes will wear tracksuits infused with insect repellent and will wear long pants and blazers for the opening and closing ceremonies to minimize Zika infections.

Ticket sales have been less than robust for the Rio games.  In early April, only 50% of the Olympic tickets have been sold, and just 12% of the Paralympic events.  The government has suggested that it might buy unsold tickets and distribute them to school children to fill the seats. 

Walter Hagen on Second Place

On Leaders, Liars and Links

As Anthony Anderson intimated on Late Night with Seth Meyers, it is not unexpected that golf course Landlords get better lies. Yet Trump thinks that it has something to do with his...hands.




You know what they say about guys who cheat at golf.

Obama Tosses a Pick When Greeting Patriots on the White House South Lawn

President Obama, fresh off a Florida photo-op in the Everglades for Earth Day, resumed his role as Celebrity in Chief by greeting the New England Patriots on the White House South Lawn in honor of their Super Bowl victory.  Mr. Obama must have been warming up for the Nerd Prom (a.k.a. the White House correspondence dinner) as he tried a few jokes that fell flat.  

It certainly is friendly banter to wish that Beantown would allow the Windy City to win a championship or two.  Joking that Gronk should keep his shirt on seemed like a hip towel snap. But making a Deflate-gate joke falls flat.  This photo op was supposed to honor the victory of the Patriots, yet Mr. Obama threw a pick and forced his guests to react nervously.

Jon Stewart is leaving the Daily Show in August.  Perhaps Mr. Obama ought to audition for that role.  At least he might get better writers. But doing the Daily Show might be difficult for President Obama  to squeeze in between rounds of golf.

On Golf and the Tax Code

Mac O'Grady on Augusta National

Ben Hogan on the Masters

Sam Snead on The Masters

Nick Faldo on Augusta National

China's War on Golf

Last week, the Chinese Central government began a crackdown on golf by shutting down 66 "illegal" golf courses, which is 10% of the nation's fairways.  While  Beijing has be officially forbidden the construction of new golf courses since 1984, they have proliferated in the PRC. Between 2004 and 2009, 400 new golf courses were created despite the ban (tripling the number of links). But as the Chinese maxim goes, the mountain is high and the emperor is far away.

Aside from being good for generating yuan for their communities by catering to elites, foreign tourism and sparking ancillary business opportunities, golf courses were a great way to gain graft.
The local officials would line their pockets from the construction (as they expropriate peasants' land and profit from the sale to the golf industry) and they are can be surreptitiously sanctioned as being "ecological restorations".  How conveniently corrupt.

The day after the golf course crackdown occurred, a Commerce Ministry official was investigated (effectively being found guilty) for participating in a golf event, which violated one of Chinese President Xi Jinping's eight rules against extravagance by government officials. From a political perspective, it makes sense for a fledgling government to embrace the game.

Despite the burgeoning number of golf courses in China, it is considered "the millionaires game". Mao Zedong banned golf in 1949 as bourgeois "green opium".  Today, a round of golf can cost $150, in a nation where the average daily salary is $5. So it still remains "the rich man's game".

From a political perspective, it makes sense for a fledgling government not to be seen embracing the game of golf.  Gordon Chang has been warning for years that the Chinese economy is on a precipice and a severe world financial downturn which results in a weak demand for cheap Chinese labor could spark a downfall in the current polity in Beijing.  So a public crackdown from the Beijing government  on golf appeals to the have nots to  quell any clamoring for revolution while President Xi Jinping re-establishes central control over wayward provincial politicos engaged in crony capitalism.

Yet it is unlikely that China's War on Golf will actually forbid the game.  Beijing has been spending serious capital on grooming a team to qualify for the Rio de Jainero Olympics in 2016.  It's a tension between domestic tranquility and international glory.

Dan Washburn, the author of  "The Forbidden Game" (2014) considers Chinese Golf to be apt allegory for the corruption, land grabs, environmental issues and escalating economic disparity that have become hallmarks of New China.




Washburn is ambivalent as to what will result from the war on golf.  Washburn's metric is how the seized fairways are used in five years. Considering China's dismal track record on environmental issues, it is dubious if the seized courses will end up as actual "ecological restorations".

Will they be re-appropriated like the Shanghai Golf and Country Club in Hongqoai Park, which was converted into the Shanghai Zoo in 1954?  Or will the seized courses go the way of Wonderland, a Chinese rip off of Disneyland, which is rotting away due to lack of business and uncertain legalities.  China has a series of ghost cities, which are colossal waste of investment that temporarily pump up the GDP and esteem of a local official while saddling the area with a white elephant and a mountain of debt.

h/t: Dan Washburn 

Post Scriptus 04/10/2016: The Communist Party in China has now declared that teeing off is no longer a crime in China

Obama Unsteady After Golf Junket

It was near record cold and windy day  for the end of March in the District of Calamity.  But this did not deter the Celebrity in Chief President Barack Obama from hitting the links. He hopped on Air Force One to Palm City, Florida with Houston Astros owner Jim Crane and partial owner of the Boston Celtics Glenn Hutchins to play the private Florida National Golf Club. Coincidentally, half of the foursome had close connections to the energy industry (including one from the much maligned Halliburton Corp.).

The Press Pool assessed that this was not a working trip as one wag reported: "You can tell this is a non work trip ... someone forward of the press cabin ordered 3 beers at 9:26 a.m.".   Hmm.  There were no reports on how Mr. Obama golfed on his 222nd round since assuming the Oval Office, as the Press Pool was relegated to maintenance shed at the Florida National Golf Club.

However, as President Obama returned to DC at Joint Base Andrews, in Landover, Maryland, President Obama was unsteady as he walked the ramp deplaning from Air Force One.

So what difference does it make how he handled his handicap if he had a good good time?  Well, for taxpayers, the junket was estimated to cost $850,000 just for flight (which will be reimbursed for a fraction of the cost).  But at least there was not a beheading in close proximity to the golf excursion as with ISIS execution of James Foley.

Peter Alliss on the Ryder Cup

Peter Dobereiner on the Ryder Cup

Samuel Ryder on the Ryder Cup

Jack Nicklaus on Gleneagles

Rory McIlroy on Winning

Rory McIlroy did not test himself in Hoylake this year .  The 25 year old Ulster golfer lead throughout the 2014  British Open, closing with a final round of 71, finishing 17 under par, which was two strokes ahead of Rickie Fowler and  Sergio Garcia.

McIlroy joins Tiger Woods and Jack Nicholas to have won three of four major titles by the time they are 25 years old.

With his British Open victory, McIlroy won the Claret Jug and a check for  970,000 Pounds Sterling.

Sporting a Green Jacket to Celebrate at Waffle House?

For the second time in three years, Bubba Watson is wearing a Green Jacket after winning the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta Georgia.  Watson finished his final round nine under par.  But since Bubba shot so well in previous rounds, Watson speculated that he could shoot a 90 (par at August is 72) and he would still be triumphant.

After Watson clutched the victory on the 18th hole, Bubba was met by his wife Angie and his baby boy Caleb.  Watson celebrated at Augusta National by giving  high fives as many well wishers as he could on the 18th green while holding his son.



After all of the pomp and ceremony of being awarded the green jacket and a ceremonial $1.62 million check for winning the Masters, Bubba Watson took his family and some friends to the Waffle House at 1:30 am to celebrate.  It is unclear from the selfie picture as to whether Bubba was still wearing his green jacket while enjoying his grilled cheese and hash browns.

Bubba Watson has long shown a special affinity for the southern breakfast institution.  After Watson won his first Masters in 2012, he considered serving Waffle House fare for the Championship Dinner at Augusta the next year, but did not follow through with this velleity.  Nonetheless, Pat Warner, the Waffle House Vice President of Culture, noted that Bubba was a regular at Waffle House. Warner stated:


 It's a testament to Bubba's character that even though he has two green jackets, he still comes to us for his grilled cheese and hash browns. All of the Waffle House Nation is proud today."


Watson believes that he was able to come back and win again at Augusta because he changed his attitude by becoming a father and striving to be a role model for his son.  Bubba displayed that by celebrating his big victory at Waffle House.  Bubba is the same guy that he always has been, except he choose to sport two green jackets when dining at his favorite all-night eatery.

Billy Casper on the Masters

Gary Player on Augusta National

Tom Weiskopf on the 1986 Masters

Despite reports that Jack Nicklaus career was dead in 1986, "the Bear" came out of hibernation and won the Masters.