Fore!

I have a question.  Actually, I have a lot of questions, but there is one on my mind today, and it concerns golf.

Everyone is all up in arms (another question: where do we get THAT expression?) because at the British Open golf game on Sunday, someone hollered while Tiger Woods was swinging his golf club to hit a golf ball.

Here's the video of the crime scene:

I have watched it 129 times now and I still don't get it. Athletes will tell you that they thrive by focusing on the task at hand: catching a football with 2 people and 4 arms all up in your face, catching a fly ball while wondering if you are about to run into an unpadded outfield wall at full tilt, sinking a free throw to win a basketball game, standing in the batter's box while a man 60' 6" inches away throws a ball at you at a speed of around 98 miles an hour and attempting to hit said ball.

I will share with you some of the irate tweets that irate tweeters twittered:

JL@Bewm24

Whoever yelled during Tiger’s backswing on the 18th tee basically just declared war on America

1:31 PM - Jul 22, 2018

And we see people doing all these things all the time at games everywhere, from little kids to big professionals, with success and great acclaim.

Ben Marsh@b_marshy_

Yelling in the backswing of Tiger Woods is absolutely blasphemous and that guy should go to jail

1:23 PM - Jul 22, 2018

blas·phe·my

ˈblasfəmē/

noun

1. the act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things

So, here is your chance to explain to me why there must be absolute silence while people play golf (not to mention tennis, where the shibboleth against uttering anything louder than a meek sigh is enforced by a strike force of security guards wearing polo shirts and shorts). I mean, Tiger Woods is the one who decides when to swing at the consarned golf ball. He's not waiting for someone to throw something at him; he's the one to swing when he wants to, and he should be focusing on hitting the ball, not worried about what someone is hollering. And this is not just a Tiger thing; every golfer expects surgical quiet.

I've seen grocery cashiers, police officers, firefighters, teachers, truck drivers, and people in dozens of other occupations perform their work quite well with all manner of hollering, screaming, things being thrown at them, and a myriad of other distractions, and it's part of the game.

1. 1. jeremy skeens‏ @tr1gun 17h17 hours ago

      Replying to @_MarcusD2_

      that person should be banned from golf FOREVER

      0 replies0 retweets4 likes

       

       

       
2. 1. Gary L. Hinton‏ @Coach_Hinton 18h18 hours ago

      Replying to @_MarcusD2_

      Who ever screamed is a real horses' ass. This man has been working to overcome a lot. Rooting for him or against people need to respect the effort. Enough said.

      0 replies0 retweets3 likes

       

       

       

I know I will hear from golfers, tennis players and their fans to tell me why speaking out loud at these events is as awful as hollering "Baba Booey!" during a church service. Please tell me the difference between a golfer addressing a ball and a baseball player swinging at a ball with 45,000 fans howling and an organ playing and people doing The Wave.