An 1847 piece by Charles Lees, High Museum of Art. Bet his models were quiet on the tee box. (From accessatlanta.com)
The hot topic bounced around the airwaves and cyberspace Monday.
Sports media types just had to comment about the big mouth now known as Mashed Potato Guy.
The topic roared again because so many members of that new breed of pro golf fans had roared this week at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, caught on the broadcasts of the PGA Tournament, the last golf of 2012.
As I noted here yesterday, during the final round Sunday, in-contention Jim Furyk turned and pointed at Mashed Potato Guy after a tee box bellow that just might have come a tad before Furyk hit his drive, not just-after as Mashed Potato Guy always plans.
I called the screamers silly fools. I said it was done merely to gain attention, whether they shout Rutabaga or Baba Booey or the old-school You the Man or slightly newer It’s in the Hole. (In fact, they remind of the folks who have to scream out their song requests at a concert between every song or at every quiet moment, no matter if the musician is talking to the crowd or concentrating on an acoustic solo.)
Hosts Scott Van Pelt and Colin Cowherd agreed in principle on ESPN radio. Both hedged their bets, though, adding that it’s currently within a golf spectator’s rights to behave like that.
Surprisingly to me, there are those among us who even side with Mashed Potato Guy. One caller said the tee box screams entertain him when he’s on the course watching a tournament. Another said if fans can yell at football games, why not at golf tournaments.
Good reply by Cowherd to that one: Do you scream in church? Not all behavior is appropriate in all places, Cowherd stressed. Golfers need to concentrate in a different way than football players. Somewhat different than the attention needed for proper praying, but I get his point.
On SI.com’s weekly PGA Tour Confidential roundtable, a couple of the panelists suggested tasering as a solution to the problem. Really? I won’t even try to get my cell phone in when I venture to Endicott, N.Y., this weekend to watch my friend Fred Funk play in the Champions Tour’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Open at En-Joie.
OK, I think they were kidding about the tasers.
But it is time for golf officials to take a stance on Mashed Potato Guy. Right now, the governing boards are the only ones silent on the issue.
Until then, I offer:
Become part of the Shut Up, Stupid movement. After Mashed Potato Guy bellows, everybody else at the tee box — golfers, caddies and marshals included — shout him down, in unison, fingers pointing at the lone screamer. Maybe peer pressure would work.
Mark Bialczak 
Does Mashed Potato guy scream like that at his partners when he’s out on the local muni on Sunday morning? I certainly hope not. He’s part of the “It’s all about me” generation that need to be heard and not seen. The only thing worse than yelling on a golf course is slapping the glass in a hockey rink when an opponent skates by. Have those yahoos ever seen a player stop skating because they are banging on the glass? The only people they annoy are the people sitting near them and the folks watching on TV. Enjoy the athletes folks and leave the commentary to Johnny Miller and Doc Emrick!
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The board-slapping is quite annoying, at the rink and on the flat screen, JJ. I so totally agree that you name a sport, and there are fans with complaints about some sort of silly behavior that’s sprung up in the last decade. JM mentioned laser lights in soccer players’ eyes. Egads. Stop.
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Mashed Potato guy has already succeeded in his quest to draw attention to himself as we discuss this on a national front. To me; this is just another example of the degradation of manners and respect in society. I completely agree with your observation on the gradual nature and length of the slide. History will show that we had worse behavior when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. It will also show the actions of the athletes has changed for the worse over the years. See Ron Artest.
In the end I believe sports are a mirror of society and when we look at society today many of us don’t like what we see.
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I don’t follow golf, but “fans” like this Mashed Potato clown are troubling nonetheless. He’s another schmuck drawing attention to himself when it should be on the golfers. We don’t need further decline in civility in sports or anywhere else in society … for example, those futbol “fans” who shine green laser beams at the eyes of opposing players while they attempt a corner kick. I won’t be surprised if that starts happening in other sports.
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Respect for the greater good is taking a beating from the look-at-me crowd, for sure. Makes me feel old, Jim. I’m sure our parents said the same thing, and their parents before them. I have a notion the slide has been more extended and gradual than we’d care to admit.
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