I would again like to mention the way we treat celebrities. I am not a follower of pop entertainers or TV stars, nor do I follow a lot of sports, but, as I have written, I do watch professional golf. The recent Masters triggered this post.
Jordan Speith is currently the number 2 ranked player in the World. At the age of 22, he has 7 wins, 2 of them majors. In his last 5 majors, he has 2 wins, 2 seconds, and a 4th. That is far better than most golfers do in their entire careers.
Since he came on the scene, he has been the focus of way too much attention and since his 1st Masters win, it has gotten out of hand. Yes, he is a brilliant young golfer but the key word is young. He is still learning the game. His accomplishments are great, but he likely will get better. But, he will not be brilliant on every shot, in every round, in every tournament. Yet, analysts seem to grow hysterical when he flubs a shot.
Being young, he has not yet learned to say 'no.' He seems to be available for every possible interview, has hustled around to countless TV appearances, and has kept up an unsustainable schedule of play. He has to learn that he does not have to accommodate everyone. All of us, even 22 year-olds, need some rest and time to ourselves. Add to a hectic schedule, the pressure to not just play well, but to play brilliantly and win everything. and something has to give. At the recent Masters, it did.
During a week when he was not at his best, Jordan was pushed and interrogated by the media. He managed to stay in the lead by sheer determination, until finally, on the 12th hole of the last round, the wheels fell off. He looked burnt out and showed it by making a bad choice on the tee and chunking his next shot. It happens to everyone, but, the media seemed to go into near weeping hysteria at the turn of events. Now, Jordan will be pushed to be brilliant his next time out, or all will bemoan his fall from golfing greatness.
Speith seems to be a very decent, down to Earth young man, but, if he is not careful, he could be eaten up by the celebrity machine of the media. To them, he is a commodity, and if they think he has fallen off his game, they will dump him. That would not be a bad thing. In fact, it may be the best thing that could happen to him, because the pressure would be off, but some people fall in love with fame and react very badly when it diminishes. Hopefully, Speith can remain level headed.
The golf media wants another Tiger Woods and they will not get one, not for a long time if ever. He was that good and how he stood up to the pressure and stayed that consistent is beyond me. The current lot of young players, Jordan, Ricky Fowler, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy and the rest are fine players but none is Tiger. Yet watch the golf announcers. Whoever wins is suddenly heralded as the next greatest ever, until they have bad week, the they laud someone else. All of that is symptomatic of the publics lust for celebrities. It is a cultural disease and the players need to find a way to keep centered and opt out of the celebrity game. Our culture eats celebrities alive and spits out the remains when the next hot thing comes along.
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