MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / October 2, 1999

Thoughts to ponder while waiting out an instant replay review (in the length of time it’s taken for some reviews, you could read this newspaper)…It’s amazing the criticism the American Ryder Cup team is receiving for celebrating on the 17th green after Justin Leonard’s birdie putt. All thetime leading up to the matches, the U.S. team was criticized for notshowing any emotions. When they do celebrate, letting out the pressurethat had accumulated over the previous three days, they are ripped at home and abroad.

It’s bad enough to hear the Europeans cry about the final day. They werethe ones who put themselves in that position by failing to close out the American team. Jose Marie Olazabal loses a four-hole lead with seven toplay and then complains about the distraction the celebration caused before his chance to putt on the hole? And, oh, those cries of the celebration being unsportsmanlike. How sportsmanlike was it having aplayer (Padraig Harrington) walking off every one of his shots and making Mark O’Meara wait? What has been worse is hearing American fans say how ashamed they are of their team. What do they need to be ashamed of? For believing theycould rally from a four-point deficit on the final day and then going out and doing it? For celebrating the biggest comeback in Ryder Cup history? No, the ones that should be the ashamed are the “fans” that heckled Colin Montgomery throughout the event. Like him or not, he did not deserve to gothrough what he did. International or no, this was a sporting event.Hopefully, the fans and players can remember that in 2001.

Speaking of champions on the links, Juli Inkster earned a spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame with a victory at the Safeway LPGA Golf Championship Sunday. The victory may have been overshadowed by the Ryder Cup butnothing can overshadow the class Inkster has had and the class she has shown.

Baseball said goodbye to another gem of a ballpark Monday as Detroit’s Tiger Stadium played host to its final game. Makes you wonder that if theancient Romans had the same priorities that are prevalent in the sports world today, they would have tore down the Coliseum because it did not have enough royal boxes.

Some people just cannot handle success. Pedro Martinez is heralded as thebest pitcher in baseball and should be the American League Cy Young winner. So what does he do Monday? He nails Baltimore’s Brady Andersonin the back for crowding the plate and then is lackadaisical in covering the plate on a wild pitch because he does not want to risk getting run over by Anderson.

You think he would have done the same thing if the DH was not in place? Maybe Ricky Williams is just getting all his injuries out of the way early in his career.

With all these theme parks being opened, here’s an idea for a new ride – the NFL Topsy-Turvy. After three weeks, St. Louis, Detroit, Washington,and Indiana-polis are a combined 8-3. Last year, they finished a combined18-46.

On the other hand, Minnesota, Atlanta, Denver and the New York Jets were a combined 55-9 in 1998. This year, they are a combined 1-11 with theonly win that of the Vikings’ over the Falcons in week one. Please have thesafety bars in place, it should be a wild ride.

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