Congratulations to Phil Mickelson for making GQ’s list of the “10 Most Hated Athletes” in the February issue, now on the newsstands. Way to go, we’re proud of you, Lefty! After years of trying, you finally won a major tournament. And now you’ve been exposed as a phony in a major magazine.
Phil was named the eighth biggest jerk in sports, and what makes the accomplishment really noteworthy is the select group of certified schmucks he joins, among them: 1) Terrell Owens, 2) Barry Bonds, 5) Kobe Bryant, 7) Bonzi Wells, and 10) Lleyton Hewitt.
The article says Phil doesn’t have a single friend among the players on the PGA Tour, and yet he’s one of the most popular players with the fans. How can we explain the contradiction?
To understand in the most efficient way, I went back to Jennifer Mario’s column on author John Feinstein. The author of “A Good Walk Spoiled” nails Phil’s personality with two words: Eddie Haskell.
Readers of a certain age will recall that in the late 1950s and early 60s, Eddie was a supporting character in the popular TV series “Leave it to Beaver.” Eddie was the funniest character on the show, probably because he was an archetype that everyone in the television audience instantly recognized from their own lives. He was that snooty little brat we all loved to hate. An unctuous brown-noser when the parents were around, he showed his true self – sarcastic, mean, conniving and self-congratulatory – when only kids were present.
Eddie was so vivid in his phoniness that Ken Osmond, the actor who played Eddie, never had much of a career after the series was canceled and ended up working as a cop. Nobody could look at the guy without thinking of Eddie Haskell. By the time he’d reached middle age Osmond was consigned to autograph shows and B-movies like “Dead Women in Lingerie” (1991). Hope nothing like that happens to Phil.
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I always wondered how Mickelson could be stupid enough to believe that Sorenstam would finish 20th at the Colonial, which was his prediction. If he's as unctuous, PC, image-conscious and phony as the article indicates, however, it explains the pronouncement.
I knew when Tiger said that everyone on the tour knew how Phil was, a smart-a$$, that there was alot of merit to it. He plays the head knodding Eddie Haskell role in front of the cameras.
But to some people the image of their sports heros is more important than the substance.
Compare him to a lot of others in major sports today and he looks pretty good.
He is a great ambassador for the game and I'm just not interested in this hear-say about his private life or how he's not really sincere. And whatever takes place in his private life is his own business and not ours.
He represents this great sport with honor and I don't think you can ask anymore than that.