Demonstrators gather in San Francisco to protest China's 2008 Olympic injustices: like no golf

I have been very happy to see so many demonstrators protest during China’s Olympic Torch runnings in various cities in the world over the last few weeks.

It’s no secret that this year’s Summer Olympics are a lightning rod for controversy. Think about it: we’re now over a century into the modern Summer Games and golf is still not a medal sport.

The inhumanity of it all is enough to take it to the streets.

Golf is now a global game. Excluding soccer, maybe the global game (at least more so than Judo). Even the countries of the former Eastern Bloc are taking to it. China, though still communist, is building more golf courses than anywhere in the world, so it’s not like they wouldn’t be able to find a decent venue somewhere near Beijing.

Maybe at Athens in 1896, you could make a point that only a few countries could even field a golf team. Now you’ve got powerhouses not just in the USA and UK, but Sweden, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and plenty more.

The Olympics could desperately use a sport like golf that is void of any doping scandals. Golf could benefit from the international stage to further spread the game’s already tremendous global growth in emerging capitalist markets.

And if the best NBA players are willing to dedicate some pro bono time to the Games for the good of their country and development of the sport, the PGA Tour’s top players would no doubt follow suit.

TV ratings and ad revenue, which have dwindled in recent years would see a resurgence (how many companies want to advertise during prime time coverage of ping pong?) And NBC still holds the rights, so the world would have the pleasure of listening to the grizzled analysis of Johnny Miller.

The Summer Games have been void of golf for too long, and I’m glad to see protesters from Tibet to France and even Hippie-laden San Francisco finally can’t take it anymore.