Boom Baby, It's Ryder Cup Time!

This week in sports, there has been only one topic people should be talking about: The Ryder Cup. Okay, maybe the replacement refs in the NFL can be mentioned as Bubba Watson did poignantly in a tweet Monday night.  The Ryder Cup is one of the few times in golf that athletes can perform as a team, which brings out some of the best in them. Though they are competing against each other every week on tour, many of these golfers are quite good friends, as seen in this hilarious music video with Hunter Mahan, Bubba Watson, Ricky Fowler, and Ben Crane. We never get to see them doing anything but competing against each other. We learn to accept these men as just individuals, because so much of the time that is how we see them. However we watch the NBA, NFL, and MLB in part to see the camaraderie and teamwork between the athletes. The Ryder Cup shows us the best in the sport working side by side to side as teammates, playing for their country.

 It is not often that athletes have the opportunity to perform for their country. Every two years we meet new athletes that are competing for their country in the Olympics, but often these are unfamiliar names and faces that are forgotten once the Games end. In the Ryder Cup we see the worlds best golfers, who we watch each week all year long, playing for their country, something that cannot be said for most other sports. Playing for an entire nation(or continent in the Europeans case) alongside your countrymen brings out a new pressure of not letting down your country or teammates. This creates a great amount of drama and has every golfer (and fan) on their toes for each shot; of their own and their teammates. 

At the 2010 Ryder Cup, we had one of the most dramatic finishes in the events history, with Europe winning 13 1/2 to 12 1/2 over the United States. The match came down to the final hole, with Graham McDowell sealing the victory for the Europeans. In recent years the Europeans have gotten the best of the US winning 4 out of 5 events. This year the Americans will be seeking revenge with a team loaded with fresh faces. Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner, Brandt Schnedeker, and Webb Simpson are all coming off impressive seasons and bring a lot of depth to the US side. The US also has the familiar faces of Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson, and Steve Stricker to anchor the squad. Rory McIlroy looks all but unstoppable and paired with Graham McDowell they should be a tough tandem to beat but I am looking for the US to pull out the overall victory by a score of 14-12.

By putting the best players on earth together, fighting for their team and country for four days, it brings out the best the game has to offer. We can only hope it will bring moments of emotion and excitement out of the golfers that we have waited two years to see. So take a break from football and the MLB playoff race this weekend, because Boom Baby, it's Ryder Cup time!