Double Standards

            People will soon forget Roseanne Barr’s unforgivable and repugnant tweets aimed at Valerie Jarrett.  She is history.  But the issue of people in the pubic eye making inappropriate comments is not going away.  Certainly not as long as Donald Trump spends his early-morning hours tweeting.  But there’s another aspect of this uniquely American phenomenon that calls for an examination of the responsibility of people who are in the position of imposing so-called standards applicable to comments made on social media by public figures.

            One of these is Bob Iger, Chief Officer and CEO of Walt Disney Company. Iger’s is an all-American success story. When I met him in 1988, he was a rising star for ABC, having negotiated what turned out to be a very lucrative contract for ABC to cover the Calgary Winter Olympics. He was then seen a rising star who would eventually become one of the most powerful executives in the entertainment industry. His biggest cheerleader was his dad, Arthur Iger, a good friend who managed my account for a New York advertising agency. We often talked about Bob’s career and his beautiful family.

            But then something happened. Maybe Bob Iger’s meteoric success came at a price. I remember how Art was devastated when his son divorced and moved to the West Coast to pursue his career. He quickly rose to the top and has been there ever since.

            I mention this because Bob Iger has been in the news as the person who approved Roseanne Barr’s firing. He has also inexplicably approved the reinstatement of Keith Olbermann with ESPN, one of Disney’s properties. There’s no question that Ms. Barr deserved to be fired. But Olbermann himself was booted a few years ago when he delivered vile rants laced with multiple F bombs against President Trump.

            If I could meet Bob Iger again, I would ask him, “If your dad were alive today, what do you think he would say about your standards, Bob?”

The 2018 Biggs Classic

            The 2018 Biggs Classic is history. The three-day golf tournament, played May 14-16 and hosted by Hertford’s Albemarle Plantation in conjunction with the GPro golf tour, fielded a full complement of 120 young professionals from all over the country and even one from as far away as South Africa. Monsoon-like rains flooded the Sound Golf Links on the eve of the tournament, but the weather for the next three days was nothing short of glorious.

            Closing ceremonies after the tournament saw a $12,000 check presented to the winner, David Gazzolo of Riverside, California, who shot a 65 on the final day and a total of 14 under par to edge out Drew Weaver by a single shot. Not only did Gazzolo win, he did it in the most spectacular fashion. Coming to the 18^th tee tied for the lead, he refused to play it safe and went for broke. Instead of laying up on the short 334-yard Par 4, he took advantage of a following wind and blasted his drive straight for the green. The ball landed on the putting surface and came to rest only 18 inches from the hole. Gazzolo tapped it in for an eagle, the greatest finish ever in the Biggs Classic’s five year run at the Sound Golf Links.

            In addition to the winner’s check, Gazzolo also earned an exemption to Web.com’s Rex Hospital Open the following week in Raleigh.

            Another check, this one for $2,500, was presented to Charley Hines, winner of this year’s Bruce Biggs scholarship awarded annually to a Perquimans High School senior planning to attend East Carolina University in the fall. Charley will earn another $2,500 upon completion of her freshman year with a 3.0 GPA or better.

            Yet another check, this one for $5,000, is going to the tournament’s designated charity, the Boys and Girls Club of America.

            According to Gary Haugh, president of the GPro golf tour, the Biggs Classic has become the standard for developmental tour golf. Not only is the tournament played on a superb golf course, it is supported by many local sponsors and by the Albemarle Plantation residents who treat players like family and volunteer their services throughout tournament week. 

           

Chasing a Dream

            I was privileged last week to host a young man with a movie-star name and movie-star looks who chose the Biggs Classic to make his debut as a golf professional.  Chase Knox is a natural athlete.  He was pretty good at tennis and even better as a baseball pitcher—until he hurt his arm.  But, true to his name, he chose to “chase” his dream in the highly competitive world of professional golf.  His ultimate goal, he says, is to make a fortune on the PTA tour to justify the nickname both he and his father were tagged with: “Fort” Knox.

            Chase, who hails from Alpharetta, Georgia, went to North Carolina State University where he earned a degree in electrical engineering last year.  But it wasn’t easy.  As an adolescent he developed narcolepsy, a rare disease that caused him to fall asleep suddenly at the worst possible times—like in class or behind the wheel.  It’s the reason it took him so long to get his degree.  It also kept him off the college’s’ golf team, even though he knew he was good enough. He proved it by putting off a career as an electrical engineer and entering several tournaments as an amateur and doing well enough to convince him to give golf a shot.

            Chase had never played the Sound Golf Links, a layout that places a premium on the precise placement of shots rather than on long bombs down the fairway. His lack of experience probably contributed to his missing the cut.  But he wasn’t the least bit discouraged as he headed off to Greensboro to play a qualifying round for the Web.com Rex Hospital Open. On the contrary, he was effusive about the tournament, the volunteers, and especially about the hospitality and friendliness of AP residents.  He is already looking forward to coming back next year.

            When Chase Knox knocked on my door last week, he brought with him a special bottle of wine he and his dad had picked out for me.  It was the perfect gesture from a gracious young man.  So was his parting gift, an autographed Titleist Pro V1 personalized with a single word: FORT.  I think I’ll keep it as I cheer him on to his ultimate goal.

A Playgournd for Adults

            “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” Remember hearing that when you were a kid? Name-calling is common on the playground, but adults should know better. Some don’t, as evidenced by the outrageous epithets launched by the Left at conservatives, capitalists, and freedom lovers.

            Take the brouhaha in Seattle. When the Seattle city council voted to impose a head tax on big business to fund measures to care for the homeless, Amazon and other corporations responsible for the job growth in that city reacted by declaring they would shelve plans for expansion or begin looking at relocation to places with a friendlier business climate. What was the reaction? The Left screamed “Extortion!” and accused the companies of using mob-like threats. “Housing is a right,” it said. But nobody demanded that Seattle re-examine its 475-page building code that makes it virtually impossible to build affordable housing in that city.

            “A terrorist organization…They have done everything they can to perpetuate a culture of violence that we have in this country.” Was Debbie Wasserman Schultz talking about ISIS, MS-13, Antifa, or the south side of Chicago? No. She was showing her contempt for the five million members of the NRA, not one of which has been guilty of rioting against free speech or shooting up schools

            When President Trump called members of the notorious MS-13 gang animals, the Left came to the defense of these murderers. It called the president a Nazi and a racist and compared him to slave traders. One Washington Post columnist blogged, “This is disgusting. And his evangelical sycophants will applaud his utter dehumanization of men, women, and children.” Sure. Why not attack religion while you’re at it?

            Of course, our thin-skinned president is not one to take offense lightly or quietly. Maybe the White House could build a playground outside the West Wing for him and his slanderers to fire insults at each other. Or maybe they should simply grow up.

The Importance of Thinking

             ‘Tis the season of mortarboards and tassels. This past weekend took me and my wife to Blacksburg, Virginia, to see our granddaughter Angela receive her Bachelor’s diploma from Virginia Tech. It was a grand occasion for all 13 of her family members who sat in the bleachers of Lane stadium applauding the 4,500 seniors who marched in escorted by Sir Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance and proceeded to sit in rows of chairs that just about covered the entire football field.

            I am not a big fan of academia these days, as more and more institutions of higher learning devolve into propagandists for progressive ideology. On this day there were some obligatory references by commencement speakers to favorite leftist shibboleths, like “diversity,” “global warming,” and “LGBTQ.” But mostly there was admiration for the accomplishments of the students and encouragement to meet the challenges ahead. The graduates—future doctors and veterinarians, scientists and engineers, teachers and philosophers—reciprocated with enthusiasm.

            The Virginia Polytechnic Institute, VT’s official name, is a great university with a reputation that attracts students from all over the world. In addition to the knowledge it imparts in the various disciplines, I like to think it also places an emphasis on teaching students how to think. I’ve always believed that learning how to think is more important than learning what to think. The ability to question, to discern, and to arrive at reasoned conclusions will overcome the temporary effects of indoctrination.

            I confess to a bias for conservative principles and I do agree with a quote attributed to many sages, including (falsely) to Winston Churchill: If you are not a liberal at 25 you have no heart; if you are not a conservative at 35, you have no brain. I was not quite 25 when I first voted in a presidential election…for Lyndon Johnson. (Gasp!)

Cookies, Anyone?

            Boys and girls are different. Shouldn’t that be obvious to everybody? Or maybe the differences shouldn’t matter. At least that’s what the 108-year old organization formerly called the Boy Scouts of America seems to be saying. No more Boy Scouts. Only Scouts. Girls are now welcome to join the new, all-inclusive club.

            It all started, I suppose, with the brouhaha over having gay scoutmasters. Then the battle over admitting transgenders. It was just a matter of time before any age-qualified person would be admitted, irrespective of gender identification, natural or preferred.

            I never joined the Boy Scouts, but my oldest son David did. I was never more than a sideline admirer of his achievements, except for the one time I joined him for a camping and canoeing outing. I remember getting up aching from having slept on the ground and then getting an awful sunburn from paddling down the Delaware River for two days in brilliant sunshine.

            My son passed on is love of the Scouts to his son Tyler who became an Eagle Scout last year. I attended the induction ceremony and was very proud to see his accomplishments celebrated. I don’t know how I would have felt if had he shared the stage with a girl.

            Is this latest development another phase in the war on “toxic masculinity”? Boys should not be boys anymore, lest their juvenile games of cowboys and Indians corrupt their imagination, and their fascination with toy guns potentially develop into a crazed attack on their neighborhood school. Fortunately, the inclusion of girls in the Scouts is sure cleanse the organization of any activity suggestive of incipient violence.

            The most vocal opponents to the inclusion of girls in the Scouts, believe or not, are the Girls Scouts who object to losing membership as a result. I have two granddaughters who were active in the Girl Scouts for many years. They supplied us, and many in our neighborhood, with our annual supply of Girl Scout cookies. They learned from selling cookies: they are now active in campaigns to solicit funds in the battle against cancer.

            Will the newly re-constituted Scouts earn a merit badge for selling cookies?