TEMPER TANTRUM

TEMPER TANTRUM

 

I just watched a clip of a young professional baseball player throwing an in-the-dugout tantrum after a bad pitching outing.  It made me think of Tiger Woods and his little immature outbursts every time he doesn’t hit a perfect shot or make every putt.  There is no excuse for these silly outbursts.  As professionals, these cretins should learn how to deal with failure as much as they accept their successes.

Then I remember the young Cranky.  The young Cranky was not always a lot of fun on the golf course. 

It was not unusual for the young Cranky to throw a golf club after a bad shot.  I broke more than a couple of shafts banging the club head into the turf and threw many a ball into a water hazard in disgust…

And I sucked!! 

I had very little expectation of success and yet I could not handle failure.

I don’t think my brothers were much better.  We used to refer to it as the “Hagy Disease.”  We were never bad sports in team events, but in individual endeavors my family has a propensity for emotional outbursts.

My oldest brother, Jim, was not a club thrower, but he could be verbally abusive toward himself on a golf course.  I seem to recall my brother Chris being a pretty good club thrower though no one could throw a club as far and as straight as the young Cranky.

If you watch a TV golf match today, someone always yells out after every drive, “Baba Booey,” “mashed potatoes,” “you da man,” or “get in the hole.”  In my family, the after drive-yell was always “dammit.”

“Dammit Jim!”

“Dammit Chris!”

“Dammit Joe!”

This yell was often followed by a club thrown further than the ball was hit.

I am pleased to announce, as I realize how dumb these outbursts are, that I have not thrown a golf club in years. 

I have not seen my brother throw a club or show any real sign of frustration other than the “dammit Chris,” since I don’t know when. 

I believe Jim quit the game in favor of sailing where I am quite sure he never lost his temper.  I did hear him once say “Oh shit,” but that was when he realized the boat sprung a serious leak through the propeller shaft.  He then went on to calmly remedy the problem and kept the boat afloat.

I wonder, is it maturity, or is it just when you lose the exuberance of youth, you gain the realization that greatness has escaped you and there is no reason for self-flagellation?

I guess you realize that you are what you are.

Of course some people never gain that level of maturity (see Geezer Golf http://joeh-crankyoldman.blogspot.com/2011/04/geezer-golf.html. )

I am just glam glade glsd “DAMMIT JOE!” glad that I am no longer afflicted with this desease disese “SHIT!” disease of immaturity.

 

 

Friggin stupid keyboard!