Ryder Cup

[dandan]

Europe 18 1/2 America 9 1/2

Golf is not exactly my favourite sport but it was still good to see this. How can America have most of the top players but roll over to the Europeans?

[rvs]

I guess we know how to hit it.

[Bram]

You know, before I actually started playing golf myself, I always thought the Ryder Cup had something to do with Winona's breast size.

[Magi]

Europe has won 4 of the last 5 Ryder Cups.

America just has 1 or 2 outstanding golfers.

Europe, in contrast, has a whole slew of well above average players.

Thus, in a head to head format like the Ryder Cup having lots of players, Europe has the best overall avg quality of golfer as opposed to America.

[Bram]

Padraig is my hero. It's just a shame Team Europe was captained by a german. On the other hand, Monty was apparently there which makes up for a lot.

I didn't catch any of it, which really sucks.

[dandan]

I saw lots of it as the bar in Turkey I frequented had 3 huge screens and only 2 showed live football when the Ryder Cup was on.

As far as America not having many good players, they have 3 out of the top 5 and 5 of the top 10. Europe has 0/5 and 2/10 respectively. America was at home which historically helps a lot (for example you can get your wives to jump all over the green before your opponents putt). The victory was sweet not because America has few good players but because they have lots of excellent players.

The Times suggested that the US of A has far less experience of international sport than Europe, with the most popular US sports being ones that almost nobody else plays. Can't say that I'd ever thought of it like that but it did appear that the Europeans were a team whereas the Yanks were 12 individuals and a captain. As for the German leading the team, Langer did a very efficient job and actually appeared to be supportive and keeping the Eurpean spirits high.

[TracerBullet]

There really was only one major coaching error... Putting Tiger and Els on the same team day 1 was suicide.


You also have to look at the fact that probably the greatest golfer to ever play the game was in a major slump, and Els had just changed his woods.  Those two guys could normally be counted on to 2-0 any matches they had, and this year, they blew.


So, how's 'bout we all remember the original Dream Team, and the 51 pt average margin of victory, huh?  Or the 1980 Olympic Hockey team?  Cause really, we Yanks haven't had much to celebrate this year...

[dandan]

Remembering the original Dream Team will only make you think of this year's Dream Team, which is a bad thing. At least your women were awesome at basketball.

I think you are better off thinking that Magic was invented by a Yank and get a warm and fuzzy feeling from that.

[Bram]

Exactly. We inveted golf, so it's only fair that we should pwn it.

[dandan]

If only the country that invented a sport pwned it, England wouldn't be so s**t at football (at least Sven always scores!).

[TracerBullet]

And last I checked, Scots weren't part of anything that had anything to do with Dutchieland... Every Scot I've ever known has had the decency and street smarts (I certainly wouldn't say intellegence... They are, after all, Scottish) to distance themselves from the Lowlands...

[Bram]

Well, for one thing, both Scotland and the Netherlands are part of Europe.

For another:

Everyone knows golf originated in Scotland, right?
 
Welllllllll ... yes and no.

It's definitely true that golf as we know it emerged in Scotland. The Scots were playing golf in its very basic form - take a club, swing it at a ball, move ball from starting point to finishing hole in as few strokes as possible - by at least the mid-15th Century.
(...)
But can it be said that the Scots "invented" golf? Not quite, because there's strong evidence that the Scots were influenced themselves by even earlier versions of games that were similar in nature.
(...)
Here's what the USGA Museum says about the issue: "While many Scots firmly maintain that golf evolved from a family of stick-and-ball games widely practiced throughout the British Isles during the Middle Ages, considerable evidence suggests that the game derived from stick-and-ball games that were played in France, Germany and the Low Countries."
(...)
Part of that evidence is the etymology of the word "golf" itself. "Golf" derives from the Old Scots terms "golve" or "goff," which themselves evolved from the medieval Dutch term "kolf." The medieval Dutch term "kolf" meant "club," and the Dutch were playing games (mostly on ice) at least by the 14th Century in which balls were struck by sticks that were curved at the bottom until they were moved from Point A to Point B. Sounds a lot like hockey, doesn't it? Except that it sort of sounds like golf, too (except for that ice part).

The Dutch and Scots were trading partners, and the fact that the word "golf" evolved after being transported by the Dutch to the Scots lends credence to the idea that the game itself may have been adapted by the Scots from the earlier Dutch game.

Something else that lends credence to that idea: Although the Scots played their game on parkland (rather than ice), they (or least some of them) were using balls they acquired in trade from ... Holland.

Thank you for your time.

[dandan]

Of course on a Dutch golf course someone will immediately landfill all the water hazards and sand bunkers and start growing tulips.

[rvs]

Of course on a Slovakian golf course, you're just aiming at potholes in the highway.

[dandan]

Where the hell did you find a highway in Slovakia?

(BTW the adjective is Slovak not Slovakian, although I must admit that the incorrect version is more common)

[Nameless]

WTF?!!  This is about golf?!?  Man...  Shit, I thought this was a tread about Winona Ryder's tits or something...  $#^%$#%&#$!!!

[kirdape3]

You mean those mosquito bites?  Nigga pls.

As for the real thread, we're just so used to pwning at everything we try (making money, conquering the planet, watching everyone else bow down to our utter stupidity, etc.) that the one time that we don't it makes headlines.

[Bram]

Ain't nothing wrong with Winona's rack.

http://www.rumela.com/albums/winona_ryder/winona_ryder02.jpg

http://www.celebrity-exchange.com/celebs/photos32/winona-ryder.jpg

http://jackperr.free.fr/winona_ryder_4.jpg

It's the perfect size. God, shoplifters are so hot.

[rvs]

It's the perfect size. God, shoplifters are so hot.

Maybe for a shop-lifting wasp.

[dandan]

You mean those mosquito bites?  Nigga pls.

As for the real thread, we're just so used to pwning at everything we try (making money, conquering the planet, watching everyone else bow down to our utter stupidity, etc.) that the one time that we don't it makes headlines.

The US also blew at finding WMD in the desert.
How did the Olympic 100m relay go?

I'm not even going to start on you guys about elections, democracy,etc because it is just sooooooooooooo easy.

I'll forgive you all as now Brits are not the most hated people in the world.

[waSP]

Since when do I shoplift?