I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a pre-National Football League season with so much controversy and so many questions.
We can start with the New York Jets. Will their new quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, perform as well as he did when he was quarterback for the Green Bay Packers?
The running back for the New York Giants, Saquon Barkley, hasn’t decided if he’ll sign a contract for a raise that the Giants have offered. He could just sit out the season.
Then, there’s our quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins. Can he carry a team for an entire season?
All questions that will be answered soon enough.
I WATCHED THE Senate subcommittee meeting on the ownership of professional golf.
The Saudis’ Public Investment Fund (which owns LIV Golf) and the PGA are talking about a merger. That’s what came out of the whole “tell the truth and nothing but the truth” hearing: The two golf tours are talking about merging and that’s all that is happening, talking.
If they join, the Saudis will pay $1 billion to make the new golf group secure and the PGA will be in charge. That’s what happens when you have an unlimited amount of cash. You can buy whatever you want, but you still can’t run it. If that happens.
This brings up the next possibilities. If the Saudis can buy a controlling interest in golf, what about the NHL, the NBA, the NFL? Money talks. If you have enough of it, can you buy whatever you want? Some day will the Saudis own all of our sports? It’s a frightening thought, isn’t it?
Nothing came out of the subcommittee meeting. It would have been an excellent place for PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan to make a grand entrance from his illness to once again take charge of the PGA. Instead, his two interim replacements — Jimmy Dunne, the independent director of the PGA, and Ron Price, the chief operating officer of the PGA — said nothing would happen without the players’ approval.
The subcommittee hearing included several speakers and is chaired by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal. The vice chairman is Republican Sen. Ron Johnson.
The Republicans were against the hearing from the get-go, and said so. Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, said he didn’t think the Senate should be involved in the game of golf, and that he saw illegitimacy in discussing it.
Blumenthal pointed out that Tiger Woods turned down millions that were offered for him to join LIV.
He later said that he thought the Saudis would spend $3 billion a year on a new agreement.
Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican, asked who’s losing on the merger. Dunne said only the lawyers would lose.
“They took our players,” said Dunne. “That’s been LIV’s goal all along.”
Dunne also pointed out that the two sides had only agreed to get an agreement; that there was no merger already in place.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican, wanted to talk about the PGA’s involvement with China, but got no takers.
Sen. Tom Carper, a Democrat, said he was concerned that Saudi Arabia would hide its record on human rights behind the PGA.
And so it went on. Lots of questions, very few answers.
