thelesterlee
It’s difficult to stop my eyes from rolling out of my skull when a community known for excluding people they perceive to be less than, is crying about injustices. Since the inception of LIV Golf, golf geeks have been complaining about the league funded by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund which is primarily run by the Saudi government—the same Saudi funds that paid for the 9/11 attacks.
Since being founded in 2021, LIV Golf has picked off top golfers from the PGA Tour offering them far more money than they would’ve gotten elsewhere. Phil Mickelson was the face of ‘sure, they’re homophobic and they murder journalists but they treat golfers better than the alternative’ and turns out, he was right.
But plenty of golfers stayed in the Tour claiming they didn’t want Saudi blood money. Guys like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy stuck around on principle anddddd now LIV Golf is lowkey their bosses.
As I write this I am struggling to care about any of the parties involved. Of course, we should be dubious of Saudi Arabia’s intentions. Their government is trying to pay into American sports leagues and make themselves major players in the world. It’s the attempt to wash away their sins by funding culture and partnering with rich Americans.
But I refuse to stand on my soapbox and call out another country’s government for its historic wrongdoings while actively living and participating in a country built off the same nonsense. Oh, is Saudi Arabia homophobic? Minimum wage Target employees are being threatened because their store sells Pride Month clothes. America isn’t the haven of equality either.
And typically, I’m okay with having these conversations. I’ve typed thousands of words on these topics. But I cannot have these conversations with fucking GOLFERS. There isn’t a country club in America where my black ass could casually walk in without either being escorted out or being shown to the kitchen to clock in for a shift.
After signing with LIV, Brooks Koepka claimed the new Saudi league would help grow the game. Laugh out loud. These people don’t want to grow the game. Country clubs have historically and proudly been built off superiority and exclusion.
There’s a lot more to question about the ongoing merger plans than the shifting from one set of owners to another, as Mikhail Solodovnikov states in a long, detailed post on the various ups and downs that have played out behind the negotiation of the merger. Given that the relationship between PGA Golf and LIV Golf has never been particularly sunny, and there’s no clear avenue for integrating LIV players into the PGA Tour, it’s going to be a long while before this knot gets untangled regardless.
You are not going to get me to participate in this weird, not-so-subtle xenophobia. Every single sport is funded by the worst humans on the planet. These owners have made the nastiest moves in order to acquire and/or maintain their wealth. I still watch because I understand the removal of one evil billionaire will only lead to another evil billionaire taking their place. I just watch to see guys hit homers, catch touchdowns and shoot 3’s.
NONE of my energy will be used pretending to be outraged online about a new evil owner joining a sports league. Especially a sports league that never wanted me to engage with them to begin with.
I’m sure there’s a battle to be had in the golf world but like, who cares? Hopefully, this merger gets all the golfers paid more. The labor needs to benefit most from this. But as far as the Saudi stuff goes—eh.
The people involved in the PGA Tour LIV golf merger don’t even care that much.
Businessman Jimmy Dunne, who helped put together the PGA Tour-LIV deal, lost 66 of his colleagues on 9/11:
“The people I’m dealing with had nothing to do with it… if someone can find someone that unequivocally was involved with it I’ll kill them myself.” pic.twitter.com/kjMIn7tROH
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 8, 2023
This man LOST HIS COWORKERS IN 9/11 and even he is shilling for Saudi Arabia because everyone’s getting rich off this shit.
No, no. You won’t get me outraged over this. Bring more brown faces into golf and maaaaaybe I’ll start paying attention. Until then, all money is blood money and golf is boring as hell.
Should we be concerned about Saudi Arabia slowly sneaking into American sports? Reach out and share your thoughts if you actually follow all this golf stuff. Educate me. Leave a comment below. Respond on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee.
