Fichem goes for the gold!

Tim Finchem is doing what any respectable commissioner of a professional sport does these days - go for the gold. Gold in the form of greenbacks that is. Finchem's latest accomplishment is a $10 million prize for the winner of next year's season ending, 4 tournament finale. As if Tiger, VJ or any of the other 'usual suspects' won't have earned enough already.

So what's wrong with upping the purses? That's what pro sports is, isn't it. It's about money, and more money. As if somehow money is going to fix everything. As if more money for the pros is going to increase the number of average Joes and Jane's who play golf. Just look at other sports if you want to see the future.

It seems to me that the more pro sports focus on bucks, the more quality and integrity decline. Just pick up any sports page on any day of the week and read about the doping scandals. I'm not suggesting that pro golf has to worry about steroids, but I do believe golf, like all sports, is susceptible to attacks on the integrity of the game because of dollar lust.

We already have the long ball problem. The golf bureaucracy's ignoring of the technology addiction will deteriorate the sport just as steroids has done for baseball. Golf is more than a game, it's a microcosm of life. Anyone who has played a single round knows the ability of the game to expose the psyche. And that, dear reader, is the ultimate allure of the game.

There are plenty of people willing to be pro golfers and compete for the dollars such as they are. It's not like the sport can't put together a competitive field. What the dollars have done is up the stakes enough that pros now have personal trainers, nutritionists, sport psychologists, swing coaches, business managers, agents and who knows what else. Why do we all long for simpler times when men and women were willing to risk it all and bare their souls to the public just for the chance to do what they love. It's a dream we all have, but few of us ever achieve. We're stuck at our 9-5's, and get our vicarious thrills watching our heroes - whether they're musicians, athletes or artists - pursue a life we can only dream about.

Now the Daddy Warbucks commissioners are taking that from us. And in turn they have unleashed the monster of greed to destroy the last of our pleasures, while we watch helplessly from the sidelines.