There is a lot of bad news in the sports world. The NFL lockout drags on (What will we do on autumn Sundays without football? Yard work? Actually talk to our families? Spend our betting money on food and clothing?). I was not drafted by the NBA (and I played as many minutes of college basketball last year, zero, as the #3 overall draft choice, some guy from Turkey). The Phillie Phanatic was struck down (but not out) by a foul ball.
The lone feel-good story was Rory McIlroy's triumph in the US Open. The 22 year-old golfer from Northern Ireland dominated the field and was proclaimed as the Tiger Woods of the 2010s. Rory will have a tall bill to fill to match Tiger. After Tiger's US Open win ten years ago, his father said that he (Tiger) would change the world and that it "would be a better place to live in by virtue of his existence."
Tiger fell a bit short of the accomplishments of Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, and Gandhi, but maybe young Mr McIlroy can use golf as a means to improve the human condition. What if Rory uses the music of his countryman Van Morrison as background when he is on the links? The wealthy crowd of investment bankers and hedge fund traders that follows him around can't help but be transported back to their carefree (and less tight-fisted) college days by the sounds of "Brown-Eyed Girl" or "Gloria".
"What was the name of that impoverished African country that we should maybe give a loan to? Sounds like... G-A-M-B-I-A. Gambia! I'm gonna shout all night. Gambia! Let's give them the loan."
It may not change the world, but more exposure to Van Morrison's music will definitely make it a better place to live. Go, Rory!
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