Wie's appearance at the Boise Open as well as her Canadian Tour appearance earlier this summer truly opened people's eyes to Wie's current inability to compete against grown PGA professionals. Her unimpressive 78-76 showing in Boise showed just how overmatched she is even against second-tier male professionals.
Although she is only 13, Wie must understand that making such outrageous statements such as wanting to play in and win the Masters someday may be great for publicity now, but will probably come back to haunt her down the road. What people continue to forget is that Wie is not the first 13-year-old to dominate junior girls' golf. In fact, within the past 10 years, there have been at least two or three girls who have been more polished and developed golfers at the age of 13 than the long-driving Wie, specifically Aree and Naree Song as well as Morgan Pressel.
Because of the hoopla surrounding Tiger Woods, the media is willing to throw attention to anyone who even recalls the domination that Woods exacted on junior golf. Wie may be six feet tall and may hit the ball as far as grown men, but she is not the best female golfer under the age of 17 as Woods was when he was 13. She is barely in the top five in my opinion.
I wonder if Wie's father B.J. realizes just how destructive he may be. Wie's hopes and dreams are so outrageously high right now that she has no choice but to fall short in her conquests. I vaguely remember Richard Williams proclaiming that his girls would compete against men someday and, although they have dominated women's tennis, they have in no way showed signs of the ability to compete against men.
Don't misunderstand me, I'm all for Annika Sorenstam, the best female golfer in the world, competing against the men. Read the "Babbling Bostonian" from Feb. 5 if you don't believe me. In fact, I think she could potentially compete on the PGA Tour with the right preparation. Wie also may be able to compete on the PGA Tour someday, but not now. After two unimpressive performances this summer against second-tier men as well as in national women's tournaments, Wie needs to continue concentrating on her schoolwork and seal away her dreams of playing on the PGA Tour until she is old enough to drive. No pun intended.
Maddux's mastery
In case you missed it, which you more than likely did, Greg Maddux last week became the first pitcher in Major League Baseball history to win 15 games in 16 consecutive seasons. Previously, Maddux had shared the record with Cy Young, who recorded 15 consecutive 15-win seasons.
In the era of the live ball, where pitching records are almost unbreakable and hitting records are shattered each year, Maddux's accomplishment is all the more impressive. Maddux, one of the real "good guys" in sports, is one of the most revered and respected players in baseball and is considered not only a player, but also a student of the game.
Maddux has won four Cy Young Awards as the best pitcher in the National League and has received 13 gold gloves as the best fielding pitcher. With just 12 more wins, he will become only the 22nd player in history to record 300 wins in his career. Maddux is the epitome of consistency, only finishing with a losing record once since becoming a full-time starting pitcher in 1987.
The most amazing thing about Maddux's brilliance has been his ability to outthink the hitter. He doesn't have an amazing fastball to overpower hitters, so he uses his command and control to keep the hitter off balance. Fans often forget Maddux when discussing the most dominant pitchers of the last 20 years because they most often think of power pitchers like Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens. However, Maddux's statistics during his prime put all the other pitchers to shame.
How many people remember the strike-shortened season of 1994? Maddux's record was only 16-6, yet his ERA was an astounding 1.56! Or how about 1995, when Maddux finally received some run support and posted a 19-2 record with a 1.63 ERA. These are not numbers that are widely seen in major league baseball. These are numbers that are mind-boggling.
Greg Maddux is undoubtedly the best pitcher of the last 20 years. To all those Clemens fanatics, just look at the important numbers and the consistency of both and get back to me. Where that puts Maddux on the all-time list of best pitchers in baseball history is debatable. However, that is only because pitchers today just don't pitch as often as they did in the early 1900s.
So congratulations, Greg. You are both the best pitcher of the last 20 years and a great role model for young baseball players everywhere.