Golf- The Great American Sport?

I was watching the U.S. Open coverage this past weekend, and I realized a few things. One, golf is really boring to watch. Have you ever noticed how many random stories commentators tell or random videos they show during a golf tournament? This is to save viewers from having to focus on how mind- blowingly painful a golf tournament is to watch on television. My brother was a golfer in high school, and I went to his tournaments often. These were not boring to me, but I had a personal connection to a golfer. I have no personal connection to the golfers in the tournament, and as I watched a few holes’ worth of coverage, I realized that I could not watch a round of golf unless the only thing else on television was The Notebook. The second thing I noticed was professional golfers are not as popular as other professional athletes. My wife came in while I was watching television and asked me who was in the lead. When I told her, she was like, “Who? Where’s Tiger Woods?” It was then that I realized that most people do not keep up with professional golf, and golfers do not get the respect and recognition that baseball, football, or basketball players get. My wife can rattle off the names of hundreds of famous baseball players, recognizes all the major football players, and watched the NBA draft right alongside me, but when it comes to professional golf, she is at a loss if the conversation drifts from Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods. Why do professional golfers seem so lost in a sea of professional athletes? The only other sport that I believe has the same complaint would be soccer. If it was not for the World Cup going on right now, most Americans could not tell you the last time they watched a soccer game (http://www.pubclub.com/bartender/worldcup.htm). I do think soccer has a redeeming grace in that is it a renowned international sport, so even though Americans do not know much about soccer past conversations of David Beckham, it has its prestige elsewhere. Poor golf seems to be the forgotten sport across continents. I do not know what could change this. It is not like golfers can go on strike to garner attention to their cause. That would be a bigger joke than the NHL strike of 2004 (http://www.cbc.ca/sports/indepth/cba/features/chronology.html). I think people see sports that go on strike as ungrateful people who feel entitled to more than what they already have, which happens to be a much more privileged life than their fans will ever have. Because of this, golfers striking might gain attention, but it would be negative attention. So, what can golfers do? The truth is, I do not have a clue. I really thought that Tiger Woods was the redeeming grace of the golf world, but it turns out that he was more of an anti-Christ to the sport rather than the second-coming of Arnold Palmer (http://www.golfweek.com/news/2009/nov/30/experts-debate-hit-tigers-marketability/). I really think that golf may not have a redeeming factor. It is simply not going to be an exciting sport. Period. Men swing sticks, hit tiny balls, and pray they fall in a hole. No one speaks during the match, there are no loud unruly, drunken crowds, there is no Jumbotron, and none of this will ever exist in the world of golf. While on one hand this limits the popularity of golf, on the other hand, it prevents the sport from having the swarms of fair-weather fans that the other sports possess. Maybe golf is just a case of quality being more important that quantity, and if that is so, maybe it is one of the few aspects of America where bigger is not better-maybe the simple sport of golf if enough without the prestige. Maybe golf truly is the great American sport.