Wie?s attitude a refreshing change of pace

Remember being 16 years old?

If you were at all like me, you were thinking about cars, girls, cars with girls in them and girls in cars.

You certainly weren?t thinking about your career, and you definitely weren?t thinking about trying to make the history books.

But you, and I, aren?t Michelle Wie.

The 16-year-old golf phenom is making her fifth start on the men?s tour this week, and trying once again to become the first woman since 1945 to make the cut at a PGA event.

You?d think there?d be pressure. You?d think she?d be lying awake in her hotel room, hoping with everything she has that she could accomplish that feat, and wondering all the while that if she does make the cut, what in the world she would do for an encore.

If it was you or I, we?d be pulling our hair out over every bad lie, and swearing under our breath at every putt that came up short.

But again, we?re not Michelle Wie. And we?re not 16 years old.

?I guess being from Hawaii, being very relaxed, I just have a ?whatever? mentality,? Wie told the media on Wednesday. ?I just have fun with it. I?m very grateful, and I feel very lucky that people like watching me play.?

That?s a refreshing sentiment, wouldn?t you agree? Especially in these days of ?robo-athletes? who?ve been groomed in their respective sports since they made the switch from Huggies to pull-ups.

In the 21st century, it?s common to see parents who shove their kids into a sport or activity and then drive it so deep into their brains, it goes from being a fun pastime to a full-time job.

Think about it, and I?ll bet you?ve heard something like this said about some talented local athlete.

?I don?t know what his problem is, but he was so good in (elementary school, Jaycee ball, little league, etc.), and then he just didn?t want to play for the high school. Must be those coaches.?

No, it very likely could be, and in several cases is, the fact that that talented young athlete is a premature victim of burnout. They?ve come to view heading to the ballfield the way grown-ups look at getting up and going to the factory.

When you want to do something, it?s fun. When you have to do it, it begins to lose its luster.

But that?s not the case with Michelle Wie. It?s obvious from watching her play ? which is difficult not to do since she?s been in the spotlight since age 13 ? that she loves the game of golf. And she loves it when she?s successful, as she has been so many times already on the women?s tour, as well as when she?s unsuccessful, like the previous four times she?s tried to make a PGA cut.

And she loves her sport because she?s a kid. She?s 16 years old, and that?s the way kids are supposed to act about a sport. They?re not supposed to be angry, they?re supposed to be having fun. And if they?re good at their sport, then that shouldn?t add pressure. It should only make it more fun.

Think about that the next time you watch an 8-year-old sling a helmet in a dugout, or see a sophomore lying on the field, beating his fists into the ground after giving up a big play. And remember the way Michelle Wie, even at age 16, looks at sports ? and life.

If you win, that?s great. If you make history? Wow, cool.

And if you should happen to lose? ?Whatever.?