Selena Roberts checks in on teenagers Freddy Adu and Michelle Wie in today's Times and finds that time may be catching up to them quicker than expected.
Freddy Adu and Michelle Wie are only 17, but they have been attracting attention for years, outlasting Bennifer and Vanilla Coke and the Hummer, all while cashing in on society’s youth culture currency.
Their gold rush to adulthood has been unsettling, if perfectly understandable, because sizzle factor does not age well in the era of adolescent Powerball.
But how long does the window for little darlings remain open?
It's a much fairer question to ask of Wie than of Adu. Freddy is no different than Andrea Bargnani, Dirk Nowitzki or Tony Parker of the NBA or Miguel Cabrera in baseball. He's serving his professional apprenticeship right now before scaling greater heights just as the cagers did in Europe and Cabrera did in the minor leagues. The hype around him was probably never fair but most precocious players get a chance to develop their games in more obscurity than Adu did as the "savior of American soccer." He may still be on the field in multiple World Cups and may also lead Barcelona or Liverpool to a Champions Cup as well so it's hard to say that the window is closing for him.
Wie, obviously, has a great chance to turn around less-than-stellar early reviews as well. But hubris can be a bitch and the golfer is certainly pushing its limits with her persistentce in playing above her weight. Roberts agrees.
Impetuosity is a Wie family trait. Wie could fan a poker hand out of the caddies she and her father, B. J., have fired over the past three years. She is on her second executive handler at the William Morris Agency. And, as she enters her second pro season with off-the-course earnings projected to be about $20 million, she has been barnstorming the world on a lucrative appearance schedule that has left her weary, ailing game in regression.
His mammoth success has clouded the past a bit but it's worth remembering that even Tiger Woods went to college and concentrated on junior, intercollegiate and amateur tournaments until he was 20, three years older than Wie is now. And he killed everyone in those settings, something Wie has never done because of her and her handlers obsession with being a trailblazer rather than the best golfer she can be. Earl Woods raised a golfing machine who wanted to win, it seems like B.J. Wie has raised a marketing phenomenon who has more in common with Anna Kournikova than the surface would indicate. Back to Roberts,
This is not about surrendering her dream, but about Wie’s persevering confidence in a sport that leaves divots in players’ self-esteem. Psyche is everything on a tee box. And with every bogey at a men’s event, the scrutiny on Wie increases and fickle bloggers sharpen their keystrokes.
“Everyone needs to back up and give her a chance to breathe,” said Jill Smoller, head of the sports marketing team at the William Morris Agency. “Allow her to grow.”
Sorry Jill but the people who won't back up and let her grow are the people who are supposed to be on her side. You don't think fans of golf want to see her go out and dominate the LPGA the way that Annika Sorenstam has? I think they do and I think that if she did people would be more supportive of her attempts to play from the men's tees as well.
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