Legal Commentary

Where Have You Gone Arnold Palmer?

By Big Tent Democrat

From Bill Simmons' Mailbag:

Q: With the Woods mess in the news, I am reminded of how I feel about him -- amazed at his skill, but not a fan. He has modeled his life and career after his hero, Michael Jordan, and I felt the same way about him. It got me to thinking about what Jordan has created, the mega-sports star with huge endorsement clout that we marvel at but don't necessarily like. At the very least we are indifferent to many of sports' biggest stars. Think about this list: Jordan, Woods, Kobe, Federer, Jimmie Johnson, Beckham. All worldwide money machines, but how do we really feel about them? Indifferent. Arnold Palmer was the first modern-day mega-star and paved the way in the endorsement business for an athlete who was real AND likeable. Who is today's Arnie? Do we have one? -- Matt, Phoenix

SG: Well, LeBron isn't quite ready yet. I think it will be him soon. But for now … right now … I mean … this kills me to say it … but isn't it Peyton Manning?

(Emphasis supplied.) Simmons is wrong about LeBron. He is the newest version of Jordan. Manning is likeable but Arnold Palmer "root for him" likeable? Nah. Palmer was from Latrobe, Pennsylvania and projected a working class image that made him a natural to root for against the "country club" types. Derek Jeter is our version of Joe DiMaggio. The closest we came to a Palmer type was Brett Favre -- before he left the Packers. He was our Arnold Palmer - projecting "realness" and "every guyness" and people all over rooted for him. More . . .

The funny thing is the POPULAR playboy athlete of all time, imo, was Joe Namath. People forget how big Namath was. He was much bigger than Joe Montana (and while Montana may have been a playboy he was not famous for being one.)

In a way, I think Tiger's mess gives Phil Mickleson, already as Palmeresque a character as there is in golf, a chance to become really like Palmer. But he has to beat Tiger in some majors.

As Simmons writes, the 2010 Masters will be huge. but what would make it the biggest sports event of the year would be a duel down the stretch between Tiger and Mickleson. It would be interesting if Woods embraced the black hat. Obviously, Mickleson, who took time off from golf to be with his breast cancer stricken wife (as opposed to why Tiger is taking time off) would be the white hat.

In the final analysis though, I do not know if it is possible for a "new Arnold Palmer" to emerge in American sports. We know too much about them now. And the NFL, our biggest sport, paradoxically makes the players too anonymous (it's the warrior gear.) The rest of the sports, or even celebrity, world, is just too diffuse. There are no more real instances of nationally shared cultural experiences.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on December 13, 2009 (boomark / email).