Yesterday, Bacon pointed out that Stuart Appleby, dispensing with the niceties, had this to say about John Daly: "I guess he's a walking train wreck and unfortunately, people turn their heads to watch the train wreck."
Appleby's right, of course. After finally stringing together a few good rounds, Daly is still a mess, still without his PGA Tour card, and, amazingly, still wildly popular despite his this-is-not-a-misprint 603rd world ranking.
But as Bacon points out, "As for the train wreck thing, that is Daly's niche. He is the 'people's golfer' because he, like most of us, is a little crazy and wears his heart right over that Hooters patch on his sleeve." Sorta like the "people's champ" but less embarrassing.
But Daly claims that he's trying to clean up his life, even if his actions suggest otherwise. In response to Appleby's "train wreck" observations, Big John offered this:
"Did anybody survive? I'm still surviving the train wreck. ... Well, everybody has problems and I'm a fighter. I'm a survivor and I'll get through anything people can throw at me ... I've done a lot of stupid things I take responsibility for but a lot of it came upon me.
It's just life. We've got to live it and get through it."
Daly also blamed his two-year slump on a rib injury, but as Steph wrote this spring, "... the injury can become a chronic one, and it is likely to get worse unless Daly can lose weight. Hooters has salads, I understand, but those are tough to order when faced with everything else on their menu."
This assumes that JD's ribs are the primary reason Appleby saw fit to refer to him as a train wreck. I'm skeptical.
