Eric at Seoul Sisters reacted rather critically to Ron Sirak's attempt to join in on Hound Dog's LPGA Top 30 in 2008 meme. I give Sirak props for picking Na On Min and Karin Sjodin as his dark horse young 'uns to make the top 30, and Catriona Matthew as his dark horse vet to make the top 10, but everything else is pure conventional wisdom, with a bias toward the veterans on tour (unless they're Korean). Since I went in almost the complete opposite direction with my own picks, I'm in no position to offer an objective critique of his. So I'll just go with cockiness and save my "I told you so"s for the end of the season.
It's not that Sirak is incapable of writing well on the LPGA--his research on recent endorsement trends among LPGA stars is well-reported. You'd think, though, after dissing Stacy Prammanasudh last December, he'd have figured out how to spell her name by now. Her first name, that is. Yeesh.
[Update: The Florida Masochist points out two of the biggest mistakes Sirak made.]
[Update 2/8/08: Hound Dog offers Sirak a wager. I hope to see Sirak return the favor. And I hope to see Sirak among the Seoul Sisters PakPickers this season. The basement is calling out to him!]
[Update 2/11/08: Mulligan Stu lists Hound Dog's, Sirak's, and my top 30s--and adds his own. Check the comments there for the bet I'm trying to get him to take!]
[Update 2/14/08: Is it just me, or is Sirak improving? OK, he missed Mi-Hyun Kim missing the SBS, but otherwise not half bad, right? Still, IMHO, he has some way to go to catch Steve Elling.]
[Update 2/15/08: The Florida Masochist offers his top 30.]
5 comments:
Constructivist,
I can't believe you missed his leaving Hee Won off the list.
http://wizbangsports.com/2008/02/golf_worlds_ron_sirak_is_an_im.php
Bill
Bill, I thought I had it covered with my "(unless they're Korean)" tip of the hat to Eric's critique at Seoul Sisters, but just in case folks don't click on that link, I added yours. Thanks. I'm not convinced Sirak is racist, but his "cream of the crop" metaphor in his title is certainly not a good choice. It's no noose, that's for sure! I still think it's laziness, basically. Clearly he's never read or thought about any of our critiques of his previous or current work.
Constructivist,
I don't make the racist allegation lightly. However how many times are we to give Sirak the benefit of the doubt? One Korean in the top 10? Han totally forgotten? Jang misranked, the same with Seon Hwa. Not to mention his other 'gaffes' with Stacy Prammanasudh, Ayako Okamoto, Kim Saiki, Jeong Jang was an improbable major champion at the 2005 British Open and I go on. The more you read and critique Sirak, the more you got to wonder.
A little birdie(Not Craig Dolch) gave me Ron's email addressI emailed Ron this afternoon. No I didn't call him an imbecile or a Knucklehead in my email but went down the list of problems I have. Will be interesting to hear what Ron has to say, if he replies.
Bill
Wow, I can't wait to hear his response. I agree there's a long-term pattern in his writings of preferring Americans over Asians that even extends into a blindness toward Asian Americans. Whether this is that infamous unconscious bias that The Implicit Bias Test hopes to measure and document, something more conscious or calculated (to please white American readers), or just a case of his fandom overruling his common sense, I would really like to know. My suspicions would shoot up a lot if he gets really defensive or weird in response to your critiques. Although the august members of the mainstream media can get very weird in their dealings with bloggers and blogging, as I'm sure you've experienced first-hand.
Hey, Bill, noticed the irony that I'm likely way to the left of you politically yet looking for reasons not to pull the racism trigger? Talk about weird!
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