“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.”
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming” Teddy Roosevelt, 1910
When reading David Lord’s article, Adam Scott follows in Shark’s faltering footsteps, these words were ringing through my head like church bells on a Sunday morning.
Obviously they are an anathema to all journalists and by me critiquing David I am the man in the stands now.
But in this case, the focus on Scott’s shortcomings rather than his achievements got me thinking. What kind of supporter is Australia?
Are we a result-driven machine? Do we love the game like school children on the first evening of daylight savings? Or do we occupy a happy middle ground?
I would bet that we wish we were the kids kicking the football around at eight o’clock at night, but when you constantly hear the bashing of players it’s hard not to see yourself in back to back meetings, being strangled by a tie, hunched over a spreadsheet.
Having watched Adam Scott’s last 36 holes it was clear that he was running out of gas, such is the nature of the sport.
Momentum is either your best friend or your worst enemy. 62, 68, 71, 76 is nearly a perfect gradient. If he had made a couple of puts in the last round he would have run away with it, as Al Pacino said “The inches we need are everywhere around us”.
When you hit a two-inch ball 400+ yards aiming for a coffee cup, drama is bound to happen.
It’s unfair to question the mental aptitude of our best athlete in the only world game we are any good at anymore, when he finished third in a world-class event.
Why aren’t we reading articles about how this is the first time Australia has had two players in the top five? How Jason Day is racing the clock to make the Masters after finishing third and second in his last two starts.
Or more subjectively, how, after Scott lost he stayed signing autographs and taking photos in the car park when most players are out the back door.
Australia has always been a nation that loves the under-dog; we are fast becoming the nation that kicks the dog when it is down. Our tough and honest approach is morphing into cynicism.
Let’s get behind our athletes; otherwise we have no business enjoying the spoils of their wins!
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