American fans following the lead of their petulant golfer-in-chief
Don’t know much about golf. There’s a stick to hit a ball to get it near to a hole in the ground with another stick with a flag on it.
Have to be honest, it doesn’t look like a sport the Scots would invent. We seem drawn to kicky-ball, picky-up ball high speed sports. Things with a lot of dynamic movement going on and a fair amount of fury. Even curling gets a bit heated when the ladies get tore in about the ice with the brooms.
Of course, with these high energy games, audience tensions can run high. The possibility of someone getting walloped, flattened or panelled by a brush wielding maniac brings out the beast in the crowd. They like chanting rude things about the opposition and singing “Yes, sir, I can boogie” by Baccara, which is massively misleading since I’ve seen the Tartan Army tango and rhythm is not their strongest suit.
Golf doesn’t lend itself to pitch invasions and bad behaviour. Crowds of people usually just drift about behind the players, making “oooo” sounds when the stick whacks the ball and applauding politely when it lands very far away.
At least, that’s what I thought until I saw the Americans at the Ryder Cup. Good heavens, what has happened to our transatlantic cousins? Suddenly they’re behaving like 90s Millwall supporters, motto – “Nobody likes us and we don’t care”. The Americans were shouting, yelling, swearing and even hurling beer at Rory McIIroy’s wife. Well rude, amigos.
Some Americans suggested the fans had been drinking, and appear to be innocently horrified by this. Bless. One horrified gentleman said he thought people had been “drinking on the train”. As one, Scotland nods, yes, probably. Or on the coach, obviously. He went on to say, “How else could you get that drunk by 9am?” Clearly that man has never passed the Marksman Bar at 8am.
Well, looks like the Americans have discovered boorish behaviour in sport, starting with golf. Or perhaps they are following the lead of their petulant golfer-in-chief, a man not known for his good manners. He won’t be happy. They lost.