Speaking of harassing, what do you think of this?:
Personally, I believe since Augusta is a private club, it's their decision to make, not Jackson, Burk or the KKK. It should remain as it has been.
Burk, KKK Both Want Same
Thing -- Lots of Attention
By JOHN FEINSTEIN
AOL Exclusive
Let us pause for a moment to consider exactly what the issue is that is likely to bring Martha Burk, Jesse Jackson, The Ku Klux Klan and God knows who else to Augusta, Ga. next month: one rich woman playing golf.
Actually, that's not completely accurate. Rich women can already play golf at Augusta National Golf Club, they just can't do so as members. So what it's really about is getting a rich woman into a green jacket.
There are no innocents in this sordid affair. Hootie Johnson, the chairman of Augusta National, has put on a clinic of how to throw gasoline onto a lit flame. Burk has revealed herself to be little more than a publicity hound and she is now being followed down that path by both Jackson and the Klan. More will surely follow.
The Klan's entrance into this arena takes all of this to a new level. What was shaping up as a circus could now become a real debacle. No group inflames more people than the Klan. The Klan stands for one thing and one thing only: hatred.
While there are some who will see the Klan's application for a permit to picket as a victory for Burk because it would appear to lump the club in with the Klan, the fact is that everybody loses when the KKK comes to any town or gets involved in any issue.
Again, let's remember what all of this is about: one green jacket for one rich woman.
Oh sure, Burk and others will claim it is symbolic. In fact, Burk keeps claiming the issue is a moral one.
Wrong.
It is a political issue, pure and simple and Burk is a politician. She has played a political game and, unfortunately, Johnson has played right into her hands on more than one occasion.
Clearly, Burk is feeling her oats right now. Recently, she added her two cents to the WNBA's ongoing battle over player salaries, claiming that it was unfair that the women who play in that league make so much less money than the men who play in the NBA.
We already know Burk knows nothing about golf -- one of her early suggestions was that The Masters be moved to another club -- and now she is proving that she knows less about basketball.
The WNBA is barely breathing these days. Franchises are folding, being moved -- one to a casino for crying out loud -- and Martha Burk is beating the drum for higher salaries in a sport she probably never heard of until someone told her there might be some publicity to be gained from it.
Last week, she was going after CBS again. Unfortunately for Burk, CBS Sports president Sean McManus has handled her exactly the way Johnson should have in the first place.
When she wrote her letter demanding that CBS not televise The Masters, McManus responded (within minutes) with a polite, carefully worded response noting that CBS had an obligation to its viewers -- male and female -- to live up to its commitment to televise one of the premier events in sports. Whether Burk likes it or not, that's what The Masters is, regardless of how you feel about the people running it.
In its own incompetent way, the NCAA is a far more corrupt organization than Augusta National can ever hope to be. Should CBS not televise the Final Four? How about Major League Baseball owners? Are they on anyone's list of the world's greatest people? Under the Burk plan, the World Series doesn't make TV this fall because George Steinbrenner and Jerry Reinsdorf have been accused (often correctly) of being bad guys. Let's not even get into the NFL because ultimately that would lead us to Dan Snyder.
Having gotten nowhere with McManus, Burk is now demanding a meeting with CBS president Leslie Moonves. Again, she knows this is nothing more than a PR move. The only way Moonves would ever overrule McManus would be if he were foolish enough to give into Burk on any level. That wouldn't be an overrule though, it would be a firing.
The sad irony in all this was pointed out last fall by Paul Goydos, one of the more thoughtful players on the PGA Tour.
"Augusta can't win this fight," he said. "Someday, they're going to let a woman into the club. It can be tomorrow, next year or in 10 years. Whenever that day comes, Martha Burk is going to declare victory, whether the club was planning on admitting a woman before she got involved or not."
All indications are that discussions had gone on within the club about admitting women before Burk injected herself into the situation last June. Exactly when a woman would have been admitted is hard to say but it is likely that Burk's yammering has stagnated the process at best, slowed it or even brought it to a complete halt -- at least for the moment.
Beyond that, her decision to picket the club during The Masters has brought groups who, in reality, have absolutely no interest in a female member being accepted at Augusta, but they all know a free media opportunity when they see one.
No one loves a camera more than Jackson, except perhaps the Klan. But that's where we are right now, Burk, Jackson and the Klan coming to Augusta, elbowing each other for camera time, all of them hoping to be dragged off by the police.
The best-case scenario here is for SOMEONE to come to his or her senses. In a perfect world, that person would be Johnson. Jesse Jackson and the KKK are in this only to make trouble and get their faces on TV. It may seem less apparent, but that's all Martha Burk is in this for too. The fact that she says she'll go away -- no doubt to seek equality for WNBA players -- if Augusta National invites one woman to join the club is proof that this is nothing more than a PR campaign.
Breaking down barriers isn't about tokenism and true equality has little to do with a millionaire -- male, female, black, white, Hispanic, Jewish, Catholic or Hindu -- being admitted to a country club.
It is remarkable that with Title IX, arguably the most important piece of legislation ever passed in this country involving women's rights, under attack that Burk is spending all this time, money and attention on a rich man's golf club that isn't even close to being the most restrictive in the country where women are concerned.
Burk, who loves to go around accusing Augusta National of immorality, is clearly amoral: she believes only in getting herself attention. That is her one true cause.
So, it comes down to Johnson. As Goydos points out, there is going to come a day when the club admits a woman. It won't change the club, it won't change The Masters and it won't change society. And, regardless of when that day comes, Burk will claim victory.
So, for the greater good of all, Johnson should put a woman in a green jacket the week of The Masters. It can be Nancy Lopez or Sandra Day O'Connor or Barbara Nicklaus. (Why not the wife of the all-time leading winner at The Masters?)
Whoever it is, Johnson can simply say this: "We were going to admit a woman at some point; that was always in our plans. While we are disgusted by Ms. Burk's publicity grab and the maneuverings of others to inject themselves into this situation, we want the focus this week and in the future at our club to be on golf and on The Masters. This whole thing has gone much too far and we at the club decided to end it this way. If Ms. Burk wants to declare victory, so be it. She can have her victory. But her 15 minutes are over. Augusta National and The Masters will continue to be an important part of the golf world for years to come."
It would be a public relations coup. Everyone would have to go home -- Burk, Jackson, the KKK and all those TV cameras sent to cover demonstrations and potential arrests.
Then the focus would be on whether Tiger Woods can become the first player to win three consecutive Masters. Sure, Johnson would have to swallow a little bit of pride, but he would prove himself ultimately the best person among the men and women wrapped up in this mess.
It makes absolute sense.
And it will never happen. |
