When is a kid getting a bloody nose after being hit by a golf ball a newsworthy event? When the child is Japanese and the golfer a US service member stationed in Japan.
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19 Comments
Sounds like the Korean lady who was hit with a mirror of a passing car, which was driven by a USFK member, which she tracked down like a bounty hunter and demanded her medical bills be paid for.
Well, it’s not as if there wasn’t a fence.
PS. Speaking of freak accidents and golf balls. My brother’s friend was knocked out by the golf ball of her neighbor 2 houses down the road as he was practicing his put. We were happy she was okay…but it was still funny as hell.
This calls for a candle-light vigil.
Does anyone think that maybe it was Pawi who hit the golf ball? I heard he has a mean slice…
I’ll never play a us military golf course now, my slice is god awful, don’t want to cause an international incident over a misplayed 3 wood.
I did not sense anything malicious in the article, as the Marmot and ROKdrop are trying to imply.
Newsworthy? What are the chances of a golf ball flying over a fence and hitting a kid in the face?
Also, I am curious to know why the Marmot decided to post a link to the article after having asked the following question?
“When is a kid getting a bloody nose after being hit by a golf ball a newsworthy event?”
Must be my deep-seated anti-Japanese bias.
BTW, I didn’t post it. Sonagi did.
@Gerry,
Even in my podunk town of 25,000 a golf ball sailing over a fence and giving a kid a bloody nose would not get 30 seconds of airtime. That the Japanese media thought the story newsworthy is blogworthy.
Do you see Pawi posting a comment? If not, then why do you evoke his name? Do you evoke in order to provoke?
Are you obsessed with him in some way that you want him to drop by and comment on you commenting about him? No flame, just asking.
Hey, sorry about that…I guess I am victim to the mob mentality here. Sometimes, it’s just too hard to resist not to. I mean, I really wonder if he plays golf.
There are all kinds of reasons a story like this can get on the air. The TV news broadcast starts at the same time every day, even on days when the news crew is less than 100% ready.
The story is the sort of thing they can film quickly on the way back from something that did not pan out. (Notice how there’re no interview with the kid or someone from the base?)
it’s sort of funny. What reports were done just before and just after it? Likely, the news director was using it as a segue or palate cleanser between two other items. How can we get from the circus is on town to baby killer on the loose? We’ll need something in between.
The story was filmed as a back-up in case an on-air interview fell through. Sadly, it did.
There was a story aired the day before about a kid who was hurt really badly at a park during a baseball game and the golf ball story fits in with a running theme of public safety.
Someone at the station thinks “if it bleeds, it leads” even covers bloody noses.
@Sonagi,
Did Japanese media think it was newsworthy? Was this on every station? Or, did one news crew one day have to deal with a deadline or some other circumstance by serving up a silly story?
Methinks your friend’s neighgbour is having trouble grasping the concept of putting.
Neighgbour? Ugh.
Well… is this story one of those “In a more lighter news, a little boy found out why he shouldn’t be hanging around near a golf range a hard way when…” that seem to almost inappropriately follow news pieces like “10 dead from a tragic car accident” or “fire burns down local home”? Or is it given a more weight?
In other words, Kent Brockman moment, or Brian Williams moment?
I heard the Korean Teacher’s Union has called for a ban on golf.
@Mr. Kim
The story makes sense as long as the neighbor was using a Rube Goldberg putter.
@jd:
The Asahi Shimbun thought the story was worth a few paragraphs, noting in its conclusion that in 2006 and 2007 there were two incidents each of flying golf balls causing property damage and in 1980 a woman was injured. If you read Japanese, have a look at the linked story “在日米軍ゴルフ場からボール、小６けが 相模原市が抗議” (Golf Ball from US Military Golf Course Injures Sixth Grader, Sagamihara City protests).
http://www.asahi.com/national/.....70017.html
#12,
Part of the reason why it was funny.
Had the ball hit the chest of the kid, there is a possibility that he could have gone into commodio cordis.