Johnny Miller, Rocco Mediate and the US Open

I had the privilege recently to take my younger son, David, to the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego.  When we purchased the tickets one year ago, there was no way to know that the tournament would turn out to be an epic battle for the ages. 

We combined the trip with a family vacation through southern California; and our itinerary called for us to attend the tournament on Friday and Saturday.  We therefore did not see the final round on Sunday or the Monday playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate.

On Friday, a huge throng of fans followed Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.  The crowd was packed and intense.  At one point when we attempted to walk against the direction of foot traffic through this particular pack of spectators, it was almost eerily reminiscent of the stampede scenes associated with European soccer.

We saw Rocco up close as we sat in the stands.  I had never even heard of him, but it was clear that he was very popular with the fans.  He was among the top tier in the tournament at that point.  The fans shouted to him as he walked toward the green, hoping to elicit a reaction, "Aaaay Rocco, how's it going?"  They knew he had been doing well.  And he looked toward them with a smile and a shrug, causing everyone to laugh. He was the only golfer who communicated with the fans in such a light-hearted manner.

A couple of days later, we were watching the TV highlights of the Open from our hotel room, and saw NBC commentator Johnny Miller speak of Mediate.  The tournament had been reduced to a competition between Mediate and Tiger Woods.

The local sports columnists were describing it as a Rocky Balboa/ Apollo Creed duel-- and I am certain this theme must have been repeated throughout the country.  But for Miller, the match-up was absurd.  Why?  Because someone named Rocco simply could not win the US Open.  After all, he looked like someone who should be cleaning Tiger Woods' swimming pool.  He was entirely serious when he made the statements.

When I heard him say those words, I was a bit flabbergasted, and wondered if anyone else noted the implications.

It turns out the national Sons of Italy organization, to which I belong, did.  They issued a statement:

Washington, DC-- June 19, 2008 The Commission for Social Justice (CSJ), the anti- defamation arm of the Order Sons of Italy in America, the nation's biggest Italian American organization, is demanding an on-air apology and the suspension of NBC's lead golf analyst Johnny Miller after discriminatory statements about Rocco Mediate he broadcast during the U.S. Open on Sunday, June 15.

Referring to Mediate, who was a finalist in the competition, Miller said, "Mediate looks like the guy who cleans Tiger's swimming pool," and "Guys with the name of Rocco don't get on the trophy, do they?" They were aired nationally and then spread worldwide via the Internet.

"If Johnny Miller had made a similar remark about Tiger Woods, he would have been fired," says Anthony Baratta, national president of the Sons of Italy CSJ. "In 1998, Fuzzy Zoeller lost millions of dollars in endorsements after he jokingly asked Woods, who had just won the Master's, to request "fried chicken and collard greens" on the next year's tournament menu.

"And I would remind Mr. Miller that a considerable number of Italian Americans have distinguished themselves in golf, including Gene Sarazen (Eugenio Saraceni), Johnny Revolta, Vic Ghezzi, Donna Caponi, Fred Couples (Coppola) and Ken Venturi," he says.

Baratta also cites an incident involving broadcaster Kelly Tilghman, reported in the New York Times January 11 article, When an Apology Is Not Enough, which states, "that when Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman said that one way for young golfers to stop Woods is to 'lynch him in a back alley' . . . her words earned her a two-week, unpaid suspension."

The article also mentions, "Tilghman now belongs to a group of experienced broadcasters who have paid for their missteps about race, religion or gender, including Don Imus, Michael Irvin, Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder, Steve Lyons, Rush Limbaugh and Ben Wright."

Baratta and the CSJ have written NBC asking for the same justice, "NBC should suspend Johnny Miller immediately and demand a retraction of his statements as well as an on-air apology to this nation's estimated 20 million Italian Americans," he said.

It was an interesting episode.  I wondered whether there would be drumbeat media coverage calculated to force Miller to resign, as we had seen in so many other instances, but it never came-- as far as I can tell.  Notice, however, that Don Imus is in the news this week.

I have previously developed the theory that there are certain Sanctioned Victim Groups Worthy of the Protection of the Left (SVGWPL).  We all know which groups fall in this category.

Americans of Italian descent have never been among these groups.   So there is no widely disseminated outrage, or overwhelming media pressure, when folks like Rocco Mediate are made the object of stupid, prejudiced statements.  According to the prevailing mindset, what Johnny Miller said was entirely acceptable because the target group does not merit protection.  Victim status has never been fully established.

The media charade, in some respects, is like a sports contest.  As long as we accept the ground rules, there will be no misunderstandings.

Comments

[Bill Knight]

Rocco Mediate won the Greensboro tournament in the early 2000's, and is a fan favorite here. I think he has made a tentative commitment to play here in August at the Wyndham Championship.

Johnny Miller is pretty opinionated and unworthy of a lot of attention.

Kelly Tilghman (Duke graduate) is a class act and made an unfortunate mistake. I don't think she belongs in the company of the individuals you mentioned.

I too was at Torre Pines for the U. S. Open and saw a lot of world class golf. It was an experience I won't soon forget.

Regards.

[Bubba]

"Rocco Mediate won the Greensboro tournament in the early 2000's, and is a fan favorite here. I think he has made a tentative commitment to play here in August at the Wyndham Championship."

2002, to be exact.

I hope Rocco does make it here, particularly after his great effort at the Open.

[Joe Guarino]

Bubba and Bill, as you can tell, I have not been a huge golf fan (my son is). But I look forward to Rocco's appearance in Greensboro, if he plays here.

But even I remember Johnny Miller as one of professional golf's golden boys of the 1970's. And it appears he is entirely off the hook for his remarks.

Bill, sorry we did not connect at Torrey Pines.

[Everest]

Joe - saw Johnny's remarks, and I've got to respectfully disagree with you. While I wouldn't have chosen the same phrase he did, his explanation was that his phrase had nothing to do with Rocco's heritage, but rather with his "everyman" status. Rocco is clearly a fan favorite, at least in part, because he appears to be a regular guy (and I think Rocco genuinely is.) Why would you connect Johnny's comment about his "pool cleaning" and Rocco's Italian heritage...that's what I don't follow.

Dan Hicks (Johnny's sidekick) looked at Camillo Villegas (another young good golfer) who was dressed ALL in white and suggested he looked like he ought to be painting houses - did he say that because Villegas is Hispanic...? Or was it simply because of the way he was dressed? I think it was the latter, if I had to guess, and Hicks deserves the benefit of the doubt.

I would disagree with Bill, in that Kelly's comments were much more direct - you simply can't discuss "lynching" when talking about a black golfer...that's pretty clear. And while I would agree that she is a class act, going to Duke is not exactly the end-all and be-all of insuring racial sensitivity...

There's probably not a day that goes by that someone doesn't say something that any of us could find offensive, in a host of ways...we have simply GOT to get past that. It's a design of the liberal left to make everyone feel like victims, and we can't fall prey to that. I'm not minimizing how you felt - that's not for me or anyone else to decide - but we ought to give people the benefit of the doubt, and not immediately throw them overboard when they make comments we may find objectionable....my two cents.

[Steve Edwards]

Joe,

I agree with Everest on most every point, with the possible exception of the reference to Kelly Tilghman's remarks. While ill advised, I have no doubt that her remarks were not made with race in mind. The term "lynch" is often used without regard to race. How many old western movies have lynch mobs?

I totaly agree with Everest; we have simply got to get beyond this.

[Dr. Mary Johnson]

I think Joe's point kind of is that "geting beyond this" is not going to happen as long as different "rules" for "victimhood" apply to different groups of people.

Compare and contrast the behavior of many of the victims of Katrina with that of the victims of this year's monster-floods/storms in the Midwest. Compare and contrast the news coverage.

[Joe Guarino]

Precisely, Mary, and the storm coverage is an apt illustration.

Steve and Everest, I agree with much of what you have to say. I don't think Americans of Italian descent should aspire to victim status even though there is prejudice out there. And Mediate handled this with grace. You are right-- we need to get beyond this type of thing. I was merely illustrating a media double standard.

But I disagree on the intent of Miller's remarks. My feeling is that they were based on ethnicity-- or based on preconceptions where ethnicity, appearance and social class are intermingled. Objections to "a guy named Rocco" winning the tournament?

If we wanted to be charitable, we could say that Miller's remarks were, at best, horribly elitist.

[Bill Knight]

Point of clarification. I didn't attend Duke, I'm certainly not a liberal, and I hope I'm far from being politically correct. Call me what you will, but please, not a liberal!