FedEx Cup ennui - nothing some gunplay wouldn't fix

When George W. Bush stood in front a group of veterans and told them that the main problem with the Vietnam War was that it wasn’t long enough, he did so with the confidence of knowing full well that his approval ratings were light years better than the FedEx Cup.

Yes, the FedEx Cup, currently doing its best impression of Bill Murray by careening drunkenly through Rye, New York, has done something many thought impossible - it has brought all sports fans together in agreement. Together America’s sports fans stand, one word emerging from their collective lips: “Huh?”

The negative press the FedEx Cup has received has truly been impressive. Even more impressive has been how literally millions of writers and bloggers have simultaneously come out with articles and posts titled, in one extent or another “The FedEx Cup. Meh.” At most, the best compliment the new playoff system has gotten has been a rousing - “Well, better than nothing” from the San Francisco Chronicle and a few other outlets.

But what should be said about a four-tournament playoff that couldn’t get Tiger Woods to exchange a pacifier for a putter in its debut tourney - The Barclays? Shouldn’t Tim Finchem get credit for, well, doing something?

Maybe, maybe not. It’s hard to recall, but I don’t quite remember golf fans staging violent protests over the fact that the end of the season wasn’t as exciting as they wished. The end of the golf season did tend to be anticlimactic, however, especially with Mr. Woods generally having any and all player-of-the-year wrapped up by March.

So now the FedEx cup exists, and let me tell you, the fine folks at Federal Express have to be thrilled at the ennui emanating from the event and must really be considering changing their motto to: “FedEx, when it absolutely, positively, oh, whatever.”

The big problem seems to be that the players themselves aren’t exactly overly excited about the whole deal. From Tiger blowing off The Barclays, to Ernie Els calling it a “thingy,” the FedEx Cup has gotten little respect from the PGA Tour’s top players, and once that ball got rolling, the media and fans have gladly kept it going. And surprisingly, the $10-million winner’s prize (apparently payable over 200 years in low-yield government bonds) has done little to add any excitement to the playoffs.

One idea, as proposed by Chris Baldwin - force the players to play in all the events. I’ll add to that - force them to play at gunpoint. The lack of excitement the FedEx Cup is creating is nothing a few stray bullets couldn’t fix. At least then they could get their approval ratings up to Bush’s numbers.

–WKW