There was quite a bit of excitement among golf fans when the International Olympic Committee announced that it would be adding golf to the program in Rio De Janeiro for the first time in 112 years.
According to Gary D'Amato of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, many of the world's best golfers are less than enthused, and many plan to skip the whole thing, many citing concerns over the mosquito-borne Zika virus.
Top-ranked Jason Day of Australia hasn't decided yet, but has reservations about going because he and his wife, Ellie, want to have more children and the virus can cause birth defects. American Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland also are weighing their options.
For some of the world's top golfers, D'Amato suggests, the virus may just be a convenient excuse. The Olympics kick off Aug. 5, and many golfers don't want to travel to Brazil right after playing in two grueling major championships -- the British Open and the PGA Championship are both next month -- and just before the FedEx Cup playoffs and the Ryder Cup begin.
D'Amato thinks that's just being short-sighted.
"The Olympic Games are bigger than all four major championships combined," D'Amato wrote. "Golfers think the Ryder Cup is a big deal? Rio will be the Ryder Cup times 10."
Especially for the golfer that wins the first Olympic gold medal in more than a century.
"Oh, that would be crazy," Stacy Lewis said. "My sponsors would go crazy with it."
The women are concerned about Zika, too, but not enough to use it as an excuse to stay home.
"The Zika stuff is a concern but we travel around the world," said Lewis, a former Arkansas Razorbacks All-American who is ranked No. 7 in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings. "In general we deal with it every week on the LPGA. We play places around the world where you can't drink the water and you've got to use bottled water to brush your teeth. That's a normal thing for us. A lot of this talk about things being bad in Rio, it's what we do every week."
And she's not alone.
"I'm crazy about going," Lexi Thompson, ranked No. 3 in the world, said. "I want to represent my country. There is nothing like being able to say you're an Olympian."
Maybe the men are right. Rio is pretty far away, and the prize money is terrible. Or course, the women are used to that, too.
Big Papi big prankster
David Ortiz spent the first six seasons of his major league career with the Minnesota Twins, and, according to Tom Powers of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, while he was there, Big Papi got pranked.
"There was a famous incident in Fort Myers (Fla.) when [former third baseman] Corey Koskie filled Ortiz's pants pockets with ice and then dumped gobs of peanut butter into his undershorts," Powers wrote. "After the game, Ortiz came hustling in because he had to rush off to an appointment. He showered and dressed quickly.
"Then he made a face and reached into his pants pockets and pulled out a couple of handfuls of ice. He started yelling at Koskie, always the likely culprit. Then the peanut butter kicked in. Ortiz stopped in mid-sentence and just froze. It looked as if his eyes were going to pop out of his head. Ortiz later got even by putting Atomic Balm in Koskie's shorts."
Ortiz returned to Minnesota this weekend for his final road games against the Twins, and the team presented him with a special gift, perhaps in honor of his time with the team -- a giant tub of peanut butter.
It's always nice to be remembered.
Sports quiz
Former major leaguer Corey Koskie was taken by the Minnesota Twins in the 26th round of the 1994 draft. When did he make his major league debut?
Answer
Sept. 9, 1998
Sports on 06/13/2016