Robservations: NCWO has bigger issues than Augusta
Until now, this whole “women at Augusta” thing hasn’t mattered a hill of beans to your friendly neighborhood sports columnist.
I mean, I’m not going to be playing a round at Augusta National, and neither are you, most likely — regardless of whether you’re a man or a woman. And none of us are very likely to sign up for a membership in the near future. So my opinion has been, why should I care who is allowed, or isn’t allowed, to join that club?
Yes, I’ve read all about Martha Burk, chairwoman of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, and her crusade against Augusta National. I’ve heard for months of her planned protests against the club during next month’s Masters, and I’ve seen and heard both sides of the argument go on at length.
I just haven’t cared.
But this most recent statement has me, frankly, a little chapped. And it caused me to get off my duff, get out my mouse, and find out just how much effort is being put toward Burk’s pet cause.
In an Associated Press article that ran Thursday across the country, Burk expresses her disgust — for the umpteenth time — at Augusta’s all-male membership policy, then goes on to say it’s “an insult to the nearly quarter million women in the U.S. armed forces.”
Her point, weak as it may be, is that women can go to war, but can’t join a snooty golf club in Georgia.
Before we go one paragraph further, let’s just talk about how pathetic it is that this woman has basically used the tragedy of war and the bravery of the women who have chosen to serve their nation to draw even more attention to her cause.
In fact, I’m giving a hearty pat on the back to Augusta’s Glenn Greenspan, who responded to Burk’s comment with a simple retort: “Shame on you.”
But thinking about the women who have unwittingly been drawn into Burk’s fight, while they’ve got their own fight to worry about, I’ve finally formed an opinion on the matter.
Do you think any of those “nearly quarter million women” give a flying FROG missile about whether or not they could join Augusta National? I’d be willing to wager they’re worried more about sandstorms than sand wedges, wouldn’t you?
And that’s got my mind wondering about all the other women’s issues that are likely much more important than golf course discrimination.
Things like child welfare, rape, abortion rights, domestic violence, unfair pay scales, breast cancer… sit down and think about it, and you can come up with several other issues that your average woman would be truly concerned with. And none of them have anything to do with a golf course.
But, oddly enough, when I got on my trusty Internet browser and went to the NCWO’s Web site (womensorganizations.org), I didn’t find very much new information on any of those issues.
Instead, of the nine items listed under the “What’s New” portion of the Web page, three of them — one third of all the updates for concerned parties — had to do with Augusta, and their scheduled protest.
Maybe I’m a chauvinist, and maybe I’m just a realist. But it seems to me that Burk and her organization have more important ways to spend their time — not to mention the donations they receive.
And somewhere, there’s a single mother who’s just lost her job, who doesn’t know where she’ll get the money to feed her baby next week, and doesn’t even know — or care — where this golf course is. And I’ll bet she agrees with me.