Solheim Madness

I'm hoping the Solheim Cup acts as a kind of gateway drug this week for people who aren't already fans of the LPGA, but the title of this post doesn't just allude to Reefer Madness; it also refers to a little experiment I'm going to be conducting over the next few days, as well. 

You see, contrary to Steve Elling 's view that the NFL and Fed Ex Cup finale will trump the Solheim Cup for most Americans, it's actually my union's delegate assembly in Albany tomorrow and Saturday that's going to be forcing me to utilize the newfangled technology of the DVR to catch up on the live action that I'll be missing.  So what's the experiment?  Without actively seeking to find out what happened before I fire up the DVR Saturday night--that is, no web surfing or newspaper scanning, no Golf Channel peeking, no highlights-seeking--I'm going to wait and see how much information about it comes to me "on its own," so to speak.  Who, in other words, is not only watching the extensive coverage of the Solheim Cup that Bill Jempty and Ruthless Mike are so excited about, and is not only more passionate about it than other options like Jeff Skinner, but is also willing to talk about it to other people?  What kind and quality of information can I get about the Solheim Cup simply by waiting for word of mouth to make its way to me?

So, farewell, gentle readers, until after I catch up with all the Cup coverage (probably sometime in the wee hours of Monday morning if I'm lucky).  I'll leave you with the links to my own preview as well as those by others such as Hound Dog, Brent Kelley, Ron Sirak, Beth Ann Baldry, Ryan Ballengee, Emily Kay, Shane Bacon.

Oh, and even if I still favor my own idea of getting all 4 major women's golf tours together to play the Solheim (U.S. and Europe) and Pinx/Kyoraku Cups (Japan vs. Korea) in odd-numbered years and have the winners and losers face off in even-numbered years, I wouldn't mind seeing just about any kind of showcasing of a wider range of the best women's players on the planet in a team-golf match-play format, such as:

• the return of the Lexus Cup, which was modelled after the President's Cup format of the US vs. the world;
• the addition to the Solheim Cup of a Team Asia that would play this year's loser next year for the privilege of facing this year's winner in 2013;
• the addition to the Solheim Cup of a Team Asia (Korea, China, Thailand, India, and probably Taiwan for political reasons) and a Team Pacific (Japan, Australia, Mexico, Colombia, Philippines, etc.) that would compete in 2012 to decide who faces this year's Solheim Cup winner and loser in 2013;
• the creation of a totally new international competition modelled after soccer's World Cup, where every nation that can field a 6-member team gets to attempt qualifying in their own region for the privilege of competing in the cup itself.

Feel free to discuss while I'm away from golfoblogaramaville!