David Feherty is a lot like frozen dessert queen Sara Lee. Nobody can hate him. A dashing young -- OK, middle-aged -- rascal with a devilish but always good-natured sense of humor. Sports fans know him for his proximity to professional golf and its players.
The players, both current and former, always look forward to being interviewed by Feherty. True, he lobs softball questions and pretty much toes the politically correct line, but once in a while his playful side will kick in and he'll take a poke at somebody -- all in good fun of course. They get that, and eat it up.
Recently he sat down with Nancy Lopez. You remember her. She dominated the LPGA tour in the late 70s and throughout the 80s, winning all kinds of stuff. A no-brainer lock for the golfing Hall of Fame.
Now she's 60 years old. Time flies. Alas, though dear Ms. L was always a little heavy in the stern, even during her playing days, it appears she's been taking on some serious water, or food, since she retired. Translation? That woman is bigger than a house these days. Porker, oink, oink city. Yikes!!
Cry all you want, but shut up department.
Venus Williams broke down into tears on camera when asked about her recent auto accident that resulted in the death of a passenger in the other car. The authorities have verified the crash was clearly her fault. If she is showing sympathy for the poor guy that is no longer with us, that's one thing. But if she expects people to cut her some slack, that is something else entirely.
You don't see her jammed up on a charge of negligent vehicular homicide. She'll likely throw a little money at it, and the whole affair will disappear from the public consciousness within a couple weeks. All gone and her life goes on as before. But the dead guy in the other car isn't coming back. His family grieves and will likely never see justice done.
Meanwhile, some poor slob that was attempting to dock a pontoon boat, and doing everything right, found out later that -- incredibly -- some man and his 4 year old daughter were swimming right next to his running motor. Hey, it was clearly a no-swimming zone and boat motors not only make a lot of noise, but churn up the water. Any sane person knows to give them a wide berth, lest they be caught up in the propeller causing horrific injuries up to and including death.
Perhaps a 4 year old wouldn't be expected to know any better, but her father surely should have. What could he possibly have been thinking letting his little girl get that close to the running motor on a boat?
Alas, the little girl was killed indeed. Her dad, futilely attempting to save her, had his own legs mangled, which had to later be amputated. A tragedy all around.
And the pontoon driver? He quickly found himself under arrest for negligent homicide, though he had done absolutely nothing wrong. Even if he eventually beats such a bum rap, it will cost him countless thousands in legal fees, and there will always be those that hold him accountable -- somehow -- for that little girl's death. It's a stigma he'll have to live with forever.
So let's see. On the one hand we have Venus Williams who was at fault for a violent death. But she'll walk. Because she's Venus Williams.
On the other, we have an innocent citizen NOT responsible for a violent death, but he'll get ground under the wheels of so-called justice. Because he's Joe Blow.
If anybody has a right to cry -- it's the pontoon boat driver. Notice how quickly the "system" gobbled him up, and we may never hear about him again. But make no mistake. His nightmare has only begun. An innocent man's life likely ruined.
Currently, Ms. V flew first class to jolly old England and is participating in the Wimbledon tennis tournament. More glory, fame, and the adulation of her fans -- plus another hefty paycheck. Nice work, if you can get it.
The beleaguered pontooner is out on bail awaiting his next court appearance and wondering what could go possibly go wrong next.
Venus just needs to shut up and count her blessings. In a perfect, even fair world, it would be HER getting jammed up instead of the boat driver.
Am I the only one who thinks there is something really, really, REALLY wrong with this picture?
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