Lieu: More American Requirements for LPGA Players
August 27, 2008
Assemblymember Ted Lieu (current Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus) released a statement regarding the new English requirement titled “A Modest Proposal for the LPGA.”
AsianWeek would like to create a healthy forum and discussion regarding this issue. How do you feel about the LPGA’s new policy? How do you feel about Assemblyman Lieu’s statement? Please make respectable comments according to our policy stated below. Read more for Assemblyman Lieu’s statement.
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Statement by Ted W. Lieu, Chair, Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus
California State Legislature
A Modest Proposal for the LPGA
The new requirement by the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) that
players speak English within two years is intriguing, but way too limited a requirement.
Why stop at English? I have the following modest proposal. I think the LPGA should
require all of its players to pass a test of American History and be conversant in subjects
ranging from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to the Japanese American internment.
Women golf players should also be tested on their knowledge of physics, particularly in
how much force is needed to strike a little white ball and drive it hundreds of yards.
Because golfers are busy people, a multiple choice test would suffice.
The LPGA should also ban accents and direct players to achieve the “Stepford
Wives” look. Remember, it’s better to look good and sound good, rather than be good in
golf, which is of course a secondary consideration. To help its more disadvantaged
players, the LPGA can provide monetary grants for those who don’t have blond hair and
blue eyes to go through procedures that will change hair color and eye color. A little
plastic surgery might be helpful as well. I heartily commend the LPGA for taking
professional golfing to the next level, where how you talk and look matters more than
how well you play.
To help the LPGA achieve its lofty goals, I intend to ask the LPGA to institute the
full complement of reforms identified above by the end of this year. Otherwise, I will
bring a bill next legislative session banning LPGA tournaments from occurring in
California. After all, we can’t have people playing golf if they can’t say “fore” or “watch
your head” or says things in ads like “I prefer Bud Light.” (We’ll conveniently ignore
the fact that Bud Light will be owned by a Belgian company).
Assemblymember Ted Lieu represents the 53rd Assembly District, which includes El
Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Lomita, Marina
Del Rey, and portions of the City of Los Angeles.
Comments
14 Responses to “Lieu: More American Requirements for LPGA Players”
Got something to say?
Well said Ted,
While you are at it, may I also suggest you add ” all lpga members should be on 5ft.6in to 6ft height, slim, and preferably look like models”
You add some interesting ideas into the fray. It’s an American organization, based in America, where by God some day it will be mandated for all immigrants, and anyone that wants to be part of an American Based organization to speak, read and write english. These LPGA players make hordes of money, seems they can spend a little bit if it learning english. After all, if they don’t want to learn it, they can return to their homelands and play for minimum wages.
On a more serious note.
This is pure rubbish and the world does not need this.
The impression one gets is of changing goal poles when you cannot beat the opponents.
Once again rubblish!
You are being silly, Assemblymember Lieu. If sponsors spends big bucks to play in pro-am tournaments….and then can’t communicate with the a large percentage of the pros on some reasonable level, maybe next time they’ll spend their money elsewhere. You might counter that only, say 25% of the ladies don’t speak “sufficient” English. Well….think about losing 25% of the sponsor money. Without some change, money from sponsors will decrease….tournament payouts will decrease……and the tour will suffer. Then we’ll hear even more of the mantra “why don’t the women make just as much money as the men?”
I think it’s a great rule. It should be extended to the NBA, NFL, and NHL as well as other “real” sports. Oh wait a minute…half of the NBA players can’t speak English properly…there goes all them Nike endorsements. Yes, don’t forget tennis…..except for the hot chics…i mean lady players, most speekee Englesh I cant understand…then again, you don’t watch women tennis for the sports, it’s for the legs….a new rule, if you don’t have great legs….can’t play tennis. Endorsement has nothing to do with the actual sports/activities the person is involved with. But it’s good to know Tiger can shave and swing at the same time….
Peace out
Frank Eng - where’s your input on this subject, my brother? Like to hear your thoughts….
Peace Brother
To Bob M: America is becoming a land of many cultures, languages and mores. Maybe you fell asleep in your history class, but white people immigrated over here from Europe to get away from fascist conformist laws in England. If there were more people like you, America would become like the hated England of old. Maybe it seems like a radical idea to you, but I think America can survive and flourish with many languages. Come to Los Angeles and you’ll see something that doesn’t exist in many other cities in the U.S. or the world. We have signs in all different languages all over the place, but somehow we still get along. You don’t have France telling tennis players who come play in the French Open that they have to only speak Francais. Only backwards people from America think that way. I think the United States is the best country in the world, but the rest of the world is ahead of us when it comes to linguistic sophistication. Ted Lieu is an amazing champion for justice and equality. I think he should have been selected as Obama’s running mate.
Chang, if you are not happy in America, or the fact that I like almost all real Americans expect all immigrants to speak, read and write english, go live in another country.
I do think the LPGA is targeting on specific demographic with this policy — South Koreans.
However, I think the LPGA is just trying to avoid the inevitable…
If too many non-English speaking South Koreans become part of their tour, the ratings and the sponsors for LPGA tour events will suffer.
Why? Will “Joe” from middle America tune in to watch Sunday if the Leaderboard is a mix of “Kim’s” and “Lee’s”? Unfortunately, probably not.
Would Corning, Xerox, Safeway or any other large sponsor pour money into an event that won’t be well attended or watched? Unfortunately, probably not.
I don’t believe the English proficiency requirement will prevent the drain of dollars from sponsors. Though, it’s probably the only step the LPGA can take without being labeled racist.
The real answer is for a Ladies Asian Tour to step up and provide a place to play for Asian players. Then, that tour could create a proficiency requirement of their own.
However, going forward, I believe we’ll see a shift in how the LPGA tour sets up its golf courses for future events. To ensure a mix on the leaderboard, and since so few of the South Koreans are long drivers of the ball, we’ll see the courses become longer and longer.
I can’t say I agree or disagree with the rule. If the LPGA feels that it will help out with the sponsors then it is their prerogative. If the South Korean golfers find it racist then they should think of starting an Asian golf tour.
However, I don’t see how it really benefits the LPGA since they should probably also tap the worldwide market instead of just the American market. It would probably be beneficial for them to expand beyond the States (think David Stern, basketball used to be unknown in most parts of the world, now it’s a close second place to soccer as the world’s biggest sport).
Then again, this is probably why our economy is in such hot water nowadays. Most American companies and corporate leaders don’t see that there is a world to profit from beyond the States and that should take precedence over constantly trying to appeal to people who might not cheer for athletes that may look different than themselves.
You can throw as many bricks in the road as you want…the blond blue eyed players are not winning…the Asians will learn English …as well as they did golf and what will the next hurdle be for the LPGA to try to stop non caucasians from winning…?.perhaps Samsung,,Toyota,Nissan,should sponsor an Asian Tour…China is a growing Market…but you Blond Haired Blue eyed Americans better learn Mandarin and pass a conversational test or you won’t get in either…How Lame is this rule….it is not business…it is racist and bigotry and we don’t need that here…I am American…of Asian decsent…first the White folks threw rocks at us then called us names….now want to make English a reqirement..to play professional sport….go ahead…we have done it all and very well I must say…we Asians are in College in Business and speak more than one… language….watch out….whatever blocks you try to stop us from succeeding…only makes us more determined to jump over the hurdles and out do you in your own field…….silly …silly women…time to grow up…get…more Asian Sponsorship …too bad…so sad…..now I know where racism and bigotry have been in the LPGA…..
The implementation may not be perfect, but we also probably only have part of the story. Maybe there have been a lot of problems created by the multitude of languages. And not just for a big event, but week in and week out. Who’s providing the translators? What about rules during a round? Is there a translator for every situation that comes up? Does the tour player bring their own or is the LPGA supplying them? Is the LPGA translating every communication in every language? Have they had discussions with players about the problems over the last few years and hoped it would be resolved without intervention?
Yes, we have a multitude of languages throughout our country. Though the last 20 years are not the same as the last 100 years. Immigrants of the past usually learned English to get by while also passing on their native language to their children, becoming dual language families. But more recent immigrrants are not making the transition. They are not learning english. So now America produces drivers license tests, teaches school, web sites and has entire communities with non-english signs. There is a problem with that. It divides communities. The immigrants today that don’t learn english also don’t consider America their home. They send their dollars back ‘home’ resulting in a tremendous outflow of American dollars instead of strengthening our economy. Additionally, the multitude of languages has put a tremendous burden on society with mandatory medical, legal and educational services in every language. Is it OK to provide translation services at taxpayers costs to someone who arrives here when they are 20 for the next 50 years?
That may not all be relevant to the LPGA, but the LPGA is dealing with a microcosm of broader American issues. Maybe the burden of rules officials has gotten to largeAnd one last note, we don’t know what the “pass an oral evaluation of English skills” means exactly. After two years should a player know how to say ’scorecard ‘ or ‘unplayable lie’ in English?
Respectfully, Bob M. and Doc are just plain wrong and all they’re doing is restating the LPGA’s faulty and false justification for this rule in place of actual arguments and reasoning.
LPGA is an American organization, yes. But…
A number of lucrative tour events are held in other countries. For example, the Mizuno Classic in Japan (jointly sanctioned by the American LPGA and the LPGA of Japan- be kind of tough for them to enforce an English-only rule, huh?), the Evian Masters in France (not a major, but a tour event nevertheless and definitely not in an Anglophone nation), the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore and several events in Mexico.
But here’s where it gets sticky and interesting.
If one of the LPGA’s stated main concerns is protecting the financial viability of women’s golf while supposedly enhancing the money-making ability of the non English-speaking athletes vis a vis endorsements and whatnot (where you make the big cash) how do you factor into that equation that many of their tour sponsors and partners are international corporations like HSBC, Samsung, Ricoh, Evian, Rolex, Lacoste and Mizuno?
These are just a few of the corporations who sponsor the women and give them these money opportunities. Why would they care if the golfer they sponsor or who gets their endorsements can speak English or not?
And interestingly enough, the AP article on the partial rescinding of this farcical language requirement actually mentions an American company- insurance agency State Farm- as being against the English-only rule.
If many of the sponsors and partners are international and a major American sponsor is against the language rule, how then is an English-only requirement protecting the golfers’ endorsements? Protecting them from whom?
To me, this says one of the major motivating factors was simply nationalism. The international golfers are making it harder on the Americans. Of the Americans, Paula Creamer is the highest ranked internationally, and she’s #5. Not bad, but Americans aren’t winning many majors on their own tour. According to the AP story, Asians have won 3 out of 4 so far this year.
That and the corporate opposition together suggest the language requirement is not aimed at helping the international, non Anglophone golfers but seems more politically motivated at forcing out or limiting the playing time of some of the successful Asian players than anything else.
Go to the LPGA site itself and see the multinational faces they proudly use to pump up the excitement of the sport and if you’ll see how hypocritical and self-defeating an English-only language requirement is.
I think Mr. Lieu’s “Modest Proposal” takes the issue perfectly to task and I applaud and support his efforts fully.
Down with even the fines.
Also, CS’ comments relating this issue to unassimilated immigrants are way off the mark. The LPGA isn’t dealing with a “microcosm of broader American issues.” It may seem so through an Americentric lens, but actually they’re dealing with becoming an international organization with a worldwide presence and one that takes money from non-Anglophone sponsors while trying to force players to conform to a narrow standard of behavior.
It’s nothing like immigration issues. It’s more about international competition. The LPGA is facing an influx of superior Asian and European players and itself facing a transition, rather than the players. And how they’re dealing with it is graceless and tactless and short-sighted.
If you want to even make a labored comparison, the LPGA is more like the language-deprived immigrant. Only in this case, it’s the Ugly American abroad. Forcing her way into other nations and cultures and attempting to make them bend to her needs rather than adapting to their greater concerns.
The LPGA is going to have to be flexible on this. They can’t have it both ways- international presence and parochial language requirements.