Thursday, March 3, 2016

MJ Hawkeye Searches For Endorsements For The Presidency

An article in USA Today for Donald Trump popped up on my computer screen. "Wow", I thought, "John Daly has endorsed Donald Trump for President"! Is this the one(endorsement) that puts Trump over the top?

My quest for today is to search highways and byways of Dublin, Ohio along with the entire City of Columbus to garner as many endorsements for me as is humanly possible.

My first stop will take place across the street from where we live. The home owner is a friend so I will have no problem getting him to say yes. He was an All-American football player at Ohio State in 1958 and was drafted by the Cleveland Browns. In his prime he was a very respected brain surgeon. All I have to do, I'm sure, is to say, "Doc, would you endorse me"?. He might ask, "For what"?. It doesn't matter", I'd say, "Just endorse me". I was only kidding, though. Before I left I told him I was running for President of the United States.

My best buddy in the Columbus area was a fantastic basketball player at the Univ. of Detroit and performed under the tutelage of Dick Vitale of ESPN fame and played in the NCAA tournament three times.. His name is Jeff. He's a potential endorsement. Better yet, Jeff's a Black man so I've got that going for me.

I don't know many more influential citizens of the area. I introduced myself to the head golf pro at my new club yesterday. He seems like a nice guy. Maybe I'll ask him. He's of Italian heritage. It's always good to have La Cosa Nostra in a guy's corner.

Getting back to John Daly: This true story was relayed to me by my son-in-law. His brother is a former PGA golfer playing on the Tour in the 1980's. He graduated from the Univ. of Arkansas and was a teammate of John Daly.

Five years ago, my son-in-laws brother, let's call him Mike, had returned to Arkansas as their head golf coach. College golf, not being a major sport, is always in need of money so Mike got the idea of having a fundraiser. He called the musical group, Hootie and the Blowfish, to perform and they gave him a 'thumbs up'.

At the time Daly had a show on the Golf Channel called the Daly Planet. Mike called his buddy and ex-teammate to see if he'd get behind the Arkansas golf program by having his TV show onsite and he, too, agreed to attend.

A good time was had by all, right? Not exactly. After the fundraiser had concluded the Arkansas Athletic Director, Frank Broyles, a legendary figure, was strolling through the men's locker room and came upon this scene: John Daly in the showers with Mike's top three scholarship golfers. Mr. Daly had convinced other Arkansas scholars to join them. In this case there were four female coeds frolicking in the water. Has the word 'naked' entered your mind.

The result was that the three young men, all from Sweden, were unceremoniously kicked off the squad. My best wild guess is Mike, the next time, when looking for an endorsement might set some ground rules for acceptable behavior.

Mike resigned his position immediately. I'm not certain if Mike and Daly have ever spoken again.

Endorsements are tricky things. It used to be if you had the Pope's endorsement you were as good as gold. I'm not so certain anymore.

No comments: