Casey Martin has "turned down" an invitation to play in
the PGA Tour's Doral-Ryder Open March 5-8, because he has
already committed to play that week in the Nike Tour's
Greater Austin Open, according to the AP. Martin has also
"declined" a sponsor's slot at this week's Tucson Open
because "he doesn't believe his game is in top form" after
taking time off for the trial (AP/ESPN SportsZone, 2/15).
Martin has accepted an invitation to play in the Hillside
Skins Challenge, August 18 in Macedon, NY, and will join
host Joey Sindelar, Gary Player and Curtis Strange at the
annual charity event (DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, 2/13).
THE EDITORS SPEAK: Reaction to the Martin ruling
continued over the weekend. The CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
editorialized "whether Congress, when it enacted the [ADA],
intended for judges to be able to take over a professional
sport and rewrite its rules," and states that the ruling
"only underscores the need for another look at the ADA by
Congress" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 2/15). A N.Y. POST editorial:
"Maybe the takeover of sports by the affirmative-action
lobby will finally wake America up to the policy's
foolishness" (N.Y. POST, 2/14). In Las Vegas, the REVIEW-
JOURNAL said the ruling means pro sports "doesn't
necessarily have the right to set its own standards of
competition. The spread of that concept could eventually
lead to major changes in the world of sport" (REVIEW-
JOURNAL, 2/16). Attorney Joseph Hartzler, who suffers from
MS and was the attorney who prosecuted Timothy McVeigh,
wrote an op-ed piece for the N.Y. TIMES. He said during the
McVeigh trial he "did what Martin should do -- use a
wheelchair," so he'd have no advantage (N.Y. TIMES, 2/14).
MORE TO COME? In N.Y., Robert Lipsyte wrote that Martin
"may end up a far more lasting symbol than Tiger Woods," and
his case "will become an important one in the blooming field
of sports ethics." Lipsyte added that keeping Martin out is
an example of the "SportsWorld making, breaking and bending
rules for its own profit, often in defiance of the real
world's rules" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/15). CNN's Bob Fiscella:
"Already players with physical ailments are lining up to ask
the Tour for carts of their own, among them 44-year-old Ed
Fiori, who is hampered by a bad back" (CNN, 2/14).
MORE REAX: ABC Sports surveyed 50 players at last
weekend's Hawaiian Open and 76% felt that the judge had made
the wrong decision in the case. Also, 92% of the players
said that they would not use a cart if given the chance. Tom
Watson: "I think [it was] bad law, and a bad decision" (ABC,
2/14). On "The Sports Reporters," ESPN's Jimmy Roberts: "It
is absolutely ludicrous to think that by using a cart, Casey
Martin ... somehow enjoys an advantage on the golf course.
But for all the oh-so-superior moralists out there with
their self-righteous noise and indignant yapping, two words:
Shut Up" ("The Sports Reporters," ESPN, 2/16).
