Day 0: LPGA Safeway Classic
Think of this as an amuse-bouche from us. Just a lil something to get your taste buds dancing in advance of regular play kicking off at the Safeway Classic today.
Christina Kim
First up, a quick clip from @TheChristinaKim and a mea culpa on my part – due to user error technical difficulties I only got a portion of my interview with her captured. Yes…I know…and trust me, you can’t say anything about me on this subject that I haven’t already said at myself, thank you.
In the clip I salvaged Christina speaks about some of the criticism she got for her reactions during the Solheim Cup:
What was screwed up by me lost on the editing room floor, was her comment/request to fans to please ‘don’t tweet me’ about their criticisms of her behavior.
On one hand I get it. For her (and likely other players), Twitter is a fun venue to get some interaction and, let’s be honest, fan adoration. So unwanted criticism can put a damper on that mood.
Practically though, it is not realistic. As we’ve said before, people are people and social media services like Twitter are about interaction. All kinds of interaction - good/bad/indifferent. And in doing searches of @TheChristinaKim messages an overwhelming number of them are incredibly supportive and positive.
So is it just a matter of an athlete with thin skin? Maybe. Or it could arguably be more naïveté around what is to be expected from the general public interaction that happens via social media. One thing is for sure, Kim gets a lot of attention, and not just on Twitter. Fans were regularly stopping her asking for a hug, a photo and complimenting her on her performance at the Solheim. If (and that is likely a big ‘if’) she’s suffered any loss of fan support from her actions at the Solheim Cup it isn’t reflected at Portland this week.
Junior Looper
Junior Seau has a future as an LPGA caddy if he decides to (finally) hang up his football cleats. Thursday, Seau caddied for Natalie Gulbis during a ProAm at The Safeway Classic and here is a clip of him talking about what it’s like to carry the bag for Gulbis (note - the ‘Greg’ Seau calls out is Gulbis’ caddy and he said “They’ve (other caddies) been after my job for six years.”:
Seau only carried the bag for 9 holes (such a candy-ass) and afterwards some EMT’s were kind enough to give him the medical treatment he needed by rushing oxygen onto the 9th green – in jest, I think…at least I’m pretty sure it was a joke.
Look for photos from the Safeway in our Gallery and further updates over the next several days.
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You need to send that golf shoe picture to Patrcia at Golf Girl’s Diary ! She’ll be looking for a pair.
About Christina Kim – CK – you can’t scream “free speech” then complain that you don’t like what is being said.
Personally, I don’t reproach Cristina Kim one bit for her reaction. Basically what she’s saying is that criticizing her for her “over-enthusiastic Solheim behavior”… or pointing out posts by others that are criticizing said behavior … is a waste of time because she “is who she is”, and she’s not going to change.
The tone of your piece paints Ms. Kim as someone who’s basically on Twitter for adoration and can’t handle negativity because it ruins the fun. And that just isn’t true. She handles negativity plenty well. I’ve been following CKim’s Tweets since she got on the service and I’ve seen her respond, in an amazingly good-natured way, to some real idiots who’ve who’ve made ridiculous statements about everything from her weight to her clothes to her breast size. I know I wouldn’t have been nearly so tolerant with those stupid/arrogant/useless men…oh, I mean “people” there might be some women involved (yeah right). Frankly I don’t think most of us have would have been so tolerant. It was simply regarding the on-course behavior issue that she was letting people know that it was not something that she was going to change, so filling up her Twitter feed with thousands of references was …yes just a waste of time… did she expect the comments to stop, no of course she didn’t, maybe die down a bit though. And I be they probably will too.
That brings me to my second point, your piece also appears to paint Cristina Kim as someone who’s “naïveté around what is to be expected from the general public interaction that happens via social media” may have caused her to be shocked by the negative Twitter reactions to her Solheim behavior. I absolutely don’t think Cristina Kim is naïve…about social media or anything else media-related. She’s been out the getting all sorts of attention – mostly positive, but definitely ample negative – for much longer than Twitter has. And she’s always handled it in keeping with who she is.
Now, though I don’t agree with your take on this issue, I think it’s great that you expressed your thoughts on it. I totally agree that bloggers and the blogosphere should not “become the cheer leading section” for the “athlete du jour” and that dissenting opinions should be expressed as loudly as popular ones. (Thankfully we have Court as a roll model for that) ;o)
wow – I wonder if that defense has been tried in court.
P – when she says she doesn’t want negative comments – that means she doesn’t handle it very well. Here in Atlanta, we had to put up with Michael Vick’s lack of ability to handle negative comments. (speaking just in the football arena – not the dog issue) He even came out once and told people that they should praise him, not boo him because he threw for 200 yards in one game. he could do it all and nobody should boo him. You take the good with the bad – especially when you are as boisterous as CK.
There is definitely on-course behaviour which is unacceptable to the majority, e.g. Sergio spitting in a cup (sorry, Patricia – it was the first example which came to mind – it’s not picking on your dear one in general), and then there is behaviour which is simply not to one’s (my)taste. CK’s voluble enthusiasm falls into the latter category IMO. I also find some of the face-painting, shrieks, jumping up and down, etc, rather childish (or childlike to be kinder). It may be that I am an uptight Brit., it’s a generation thing, or it’s simply alien to my nature, but I recognise and accept that many other people see this behaviour quite differently and love it.
PS I am still trying to grow out of slamming my clubs into the ground after a duff shot and/or expletives – hubby is the only witness to these reprehensible antics of course.