O'Donnell: PGA-LIV alliance is a golf marriage fit for the hottest fires on Earth
THAT EERIE HAZE IN THE AMERICAN AIR - is it from wildfires in Canada or the decision of PGA Tour management to merge with the blood-washing LIV?
In the blink of a news release, domestic sports media has seldom been as united in revulsion at a conscious act as the decision of commissioner Jay Monahan and fellow tone-deafs to join together with the murderous Saudis.
As Brandel Chamblee of The Golf Channel said: "This is one of the saddest days in the history of professional golf."
Who this side of the Saudi capital Riyadh would argue?
Who inside of Riyadh could argue?
Of course it's money that fuels all. And it's the ceaseless American quest for bigger, more obnoxious personal vehicles that fuels so much of the oppressive Saudi money.
MONAHAN AND ASSOCIATES had no chance of winning a war centered on lucre with the $700B Saudi Public Investment Fund.
The PGA Tour was bleeding money out the front door with higher purse structures this season and out the backdoor via legal fees generated from lawsuits involving the interests of Phil Mickelson and other venal poseurs walking.
Still, those who delve in global fantasies thought that somehow such an improbable band of golf classicists as Tiger Woods, Rory McIroy, Jon Rahm and others of their fiber might maintain the high ground.
Instead, Monahan's stunning announcement.
THE PGA GAME IS forever soiled. And the Saudis now have license to prod and push toward other cynical new major sports conquests.
"Rich people with poor social skills have always found refuge on the links," David Von Drehle - deputy opinion editor of The Washington Post - wrote.
"It's where golfers can spend hours together without exchanging words more substantial than 'nice drive.'"
But what a statement about the eerie priorities and crippled morality of compartments of new-mill America.
Playing through a Canadian wildfire would be preferable.
STREET-BEATIN':
Scott Wehrli, Naperville's eager first-term mayor, has nothing to apologize for over meeting with Bears President Kevin Warren last week. Sure Wehrli was immediately sliced, diced and brandished as prized leveraging gruel by the team, but so what? At least he's got a new contact at Halas Hall. (Access code: 3-14 / 2022.) ...
Most prominent Naperville council member pushing back against Wehrli's freelancing, according to Kevin Schmit of The Daily Herald, was Ian Holzhauer. Yes, he's the brother of ramblin', gamblin' "Jeopardy!" champ James Holzhauer. ...
Gordon Beckham is getting better by the broadcast as a regular substitute for Steve Stone on White Sox telecasts. Beckham needs to be coached up on trimming some lengthy anecdotes but he sees the game from a very different point of view than Stone. Both greatly benefit from the All-Star presence of Jason Benetti. ...
Also on the fine fill-in front, Rick Sutcliffe has been periodically bringing some zing to the Cubs' color chair on Marquee Sports Network. Diest-hard Wrigley-ites will recall that it was 39 years ago next week when "The Red Baron" arrived in town and went 16-1 for Jim Frey's Cubs. Everything was coming up ivy until the October flounder in San Diego. ...
Chris Chelios is out as an NHL analyst at ESPN. The cut has nothing to do with his performance; the great "Cheli" is just part of the 7,000 jobs the wavering web is chopping as some very rough years loom. ...
Speaking of ESPN and housemate ABC, NBA Finals windbag Stephen A. Smith now appears to be summoning the spirit of Sherman Hemsley ("The Jeffersons") and borrowing from Howard Cosell with bobble-heading by Dick Vitale. All that's missing from the studio set is Weezy and Fred Williamson. ...
Steve Kashul is marking his 30th year as host of "The Golf Scene." The show started out on SportsChannel all those years ago and now airs on NBCSCH. The extremely talented Kashul also worked a star 18 years as Bulls radio reporter. His first season was Michael Jordan's "Last Dance" and the Maine South alum (Class of '78) has yet to violate any traveling confidentialities. ...
Young Grace Adee is bounding to Oxford after conquering Morningside Heights at New York's Columbia University. Beaming dad is Bill Adee, the guiding energy behind Vegas Stats and Info (vsin.com); proud mother is Joycelynn Winnecke, the managing editor of the Sun-Times during the paper's last golden run. ...
Indeed, Jason Sudeikis and "Ted Lasso" jumped the sports-themed treacly in its third and most likely last season. But at least the Apple TV+ sitcom didn't tank its finale as badly as "Seinfeld." ...
Lyle Zikes of Beverly Lanes is telling all who'll listen that his family would be very happy to move crosstown as the exclusive bowling-plus center of the possible Halas Village entertainment district at Arlington Park. "Bowl Bev" recently lost part of its back parking lot when the village of Arlington Heights reclaimed a "lost" block of West Campbell St. The pin-side pavement was assigned to father Les Zikes in 1963. ...
Dan Bell reports that the full FOX Sports promotional package to media for Saturday's Belmont included a bottle of bourbon, a replica of the 1973 track program starring Secretariat at The Big Sandy and a free bet. Bell, a South Side native, is back in town after a spectacular 23-year run at the network. ...
And rock 'n rinker Paul Carboni, on that melting Stanley Cup Finals between Las Vegas and Florida: "I thought 'The Guess Who' was Canadian-based."
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.