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You
Da Man!
In 1995, immediately after the British Open, a discussion started on rec.sport.golf about the people who shout "You da man!" whenever anybody in general -- or John Daly in particular -- tees off. Here was my contribution to the discussion... In article <199509011627.AA33924@nc-17.ma02.bull.com>, ALISTAIR HUDSON HUDSONA - WEBS > >... I tend to think sometimes that we play the last civilized >sport in the world, and it saddens me to see cretins on TV like the one at >St Andrews shouting "You Da Man" every time Daly touched the ball. Prime >candidate for deportation there, I felt. Hundreds of years of history, an edge >of the seat final round with all the competitors battling the course rather >than murdering it as in so many tour events, and what's the best this retard >can manage? "You Da Man". Daly could have done golf a favour by wrapping his >Invex round this cretin's head. It saddens me that this twat has no doubt >already bought his Ryder Cup tickets. No no no! You got it all wrong. You missed the point altogether. In all likelihood, the "cretin" was not British nor American nor a cretin, but a knowledgeable continental European golf fan. Actually... For centuries, the Dutch had fumed that the Scots and then the English had "stolen" the game they invented, "kolven", and claimed it as their own. The only place in Europe where top-notch golf was played was the British Isles. Then in the 1920s, an amazing Dutch golfer appeared on the scene, Ulrich DeMaan (affectionately known as "U" to his countrymen). A prodigious ball striker, his driving average exceeded 255 yards every year during his professional career -- by far the longest in the game at the time. The continental Europeans in general, and the Dutch in particular, hoped that he would bring some respect to European golf. Alas, his short game was as bad as his ball-striking was excellent; as a result he never won a professional tournament outside the continent. Indeed, he died at the tender age of 36, of a stroke suffered when his putt lipped out -- a putt that, had it fallen, would have given him his first victory in Scotland. And it wasn't until decades later that the European Tour and the expansion of the Ryder Cup broke Britain's stranglehold on the game. To this day, knowledgable (and especially European) golf fans show their appreciation for outstanding ball-striking by invoking the memory of their historic hero with a rousing "U DeMaan". :-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-) Cheers! Dave |
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