RORY HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
Easily Rory McIlroy's highlight of the year to date is this advert for the European Tour. Clearly Nike Golf needs to hire the writers for the European Tour promotional group (although Nike certainly gets some advertising in the video so they likely paid something). Either way, we've seen that not all Nike co-sponsored promotional efforts are a success. This one is good.
This is the best screen time for washing machines since either Uncle Buck professed his love for the appliance or the guy on YouTube threw a brick in one.
Is it me or does the twitching washing machine on the ground always remind you of the time ED-209 fell down the stairs.
Of course anytime you have a smart-ass computer up against the world's best (and the golfing robot had some good lines), the incomparable Ken Jennings comes to mind in his gracious and submissive loss to IBM's Watson on Jeopardy a couple years back.
If you wonder where the quip comes from, it is actually a reference to the meme started by newsman Kent Brockman on The Simpsons. The reference is even more obscure and originally comes from the lips of Joan Collins in H.G. Wells' Empire of the Ants (I actually recall watching this movie late at night as a kid).
TECHNOLOGY FOR THE GOOD OF HUMANKIND
In contrast to golfing robots, Conan O'Brien is using technology for good.
Creepy. I agree there is a bit of Paul Giamatti there but also some Fuzz Zoeller if I'm not mistaken.
WAIT ... WHAT? (AVIATION HISTORY EDITION)
Maybe I'm the only person who didn't know, but I was surprised to discover Arnold Palmer still holds the record for shortest time for circumnavigating the globe! This little promo piece by the PGA Tour is relatively tame until they casually mention that the Arnold still holds the time record for flying around this little spinning blue marble.
Imagine circling the world in record time (yes, it's the real deal) only being your third greatest accomplishment, behind golf and inventing the most refreshing summer drink ever. The King indeed.
PRETEND YOU'RE SITTING IN AN AIRPORT
Speaking of flying, remember when they used to show those Candid-Camera-esque bits on the screens at airports. They originated from the people who put on the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. We noticed this golf-related gag that was put on YouTube last week with a funny twist at the end.
MORE OLD SCHOOL MEETS NEW SCHOOL
There is something fun about the contrast between old-school Roger Cleveland talking wedges and an Auto-Tune mashup.
If you don't know what Auto-Tune is, it's the computer effect to help (or create) singing originally made famous by Cher 15 years ago in Believe. Of course, the first great Auto-Tune internet meme was Antoine Dodson's Bed Intruder song by the Gregory Brothers.
FLIPPING THE BIRD
The Korean LPGA players have been criticized at times for not making a big enough effort to understand American and Western culture; thus, making it difficult for fans here to relate to these players. Well at least on the men's side, Korean D.H. Lee is doing his best to bridge the gap in culture and understanding.
If anything, Lee should be angry with his stylist. That outfit was far more obscene than the gesture.
Anyway, we should utimately be proud of Lee. Athletes issuing the one-finger salute has has a long and storied tradition in America going back to 1886. Baseball has an intimate relationship with obscenity and if anything, a little video clip seems fleeting -- hell, it's even less permanent than examples provided by baseball guys named Billy (Martin and Ripkin).
The bird is not limited to America's pastime. It has been shown to be integral to:
Football (America's newer pasttime):
Hockey (Canada's pastime although the Stanley Cup is seemingly won exclusively by teams in America):
Both recreational driving (look in the mirror) and professional:
And of course politics:
The great American Homer Simpson has proven its charm.
Technically, Homer only has four digits per hand so he doesn't really have a middle finger in the traditional sense. Even so, I'd hate to leave GVOTW on an obscene or sour note, so we'll let Homer remind us of one of the real joys of golf.
Weekend challenge: try not to think of this the next time you are in a trap.
Douglas Han
@theteesheet
