#fireinthebelly

Athletes and sportspeople are driven to achieve greatness. Personal bests are their daily bread. So, how do you kill the fire in the belly? How do you put out the fire? You saturate it in the prizes that are supposed to come with reaching the mountain top. You inundate, these previously driven individuals, with masses of money and expensive gifts. In Cameron Smith’s case you pay this major golfing talent a reported $130 million to sign on with LIV Golf and have him play exhibition golf. Material comfort does not provoke elite performances. Extreme material comfort puts out that fire.

Extinguishing The Burning Drive To Achieve

Sport is a great example of humankind coming from rags to achieve riches. It happens again and again. Kids from the gutter rising up on the back of their talent and drive to scale the mountain top of sporting greatness. If you circumnavigate that via premature commerciality rewarding the individual ahead of time, you can kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Cameron Smith has missed the cut in most of the majors he has played since going to LIV. This young man, this laid back Aussie who dreamed of owning a coffee shop, has not come on under the auspices of extreme wealth. The proof is in the pudding folks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDjafFCNDEE Business Riding On The Back Of Sport The commodification of sport, like the commodification of sex, removes the magic from it. Commercial considerations may reward players with nice things and wealth but it is not how greatness is truly created. It is business sucking on the teats of something special in life. Human achievement in the athletic sense is inspiring. Victories in sport are not about the sponsors. They just want to sell stuff to the fans. How do you kill the fire in the belly? Overload it with material crap. Nobody pays you millions without expecting their pound of flesh in return. Professional sport may make a lot of people richer but the true glory of sport has existed since ancient times. The original Olympics in Olympia had incredibly famous athletes without corporate sponsorships and ads at every break in play. Football players from pre-professional eras were just as special within their communities without being walking billboards for businesses.

Neutering The Competitive Beast How do you kill the fire in the belly? Just ask Cam Smith and a host of other LIV golfers who have gone missing from the pointy end of major golf. Shower them with riches for playing exhibition golf. Only get them to play 3 rounds per tournament. Take away the need for the material benefits of winning majors. It is a recipe for neutering the competitive beast. What’s Cam Worth? “Cameron Smith’s net worth is estimated to be $50 million as of March 2025, according to Celebrity Net Worth. His net worth is a result of more than a decade-long professional golf career and endorsements through them. Cameron Smith's Salary Cameron Smith has total career earnings of $76.53 million on the LIV Golf and the PGA Tour as of March 2025, according to Spotrac. This includes $8.39 million from major championships, $26.35 million from the PGA Tour, and $41.78 million from the LIV Golf League.” - (https://www.sportskeeda.com/golf/cameron-smith-net-worth) Scottie Scheffler & Boring Golf “I once wrote a song with the line in it, “is there anything more boring than golf?” This, of course, was from the uninitiated viewer’s perspective; and in the song’s case from a disgruntled girlfriend of a golfer. Scottie Scheffler and the boring golfer problem highlights this age old issue in the sporting canon. You see, golf is a largely internalised sporting process. By this, I mean, a lot of the dramatic stuff happens on the inside where spectators cannot see. The placid visage of Scheffler makes it hard for viewers to get excited about him or his golf. Therefore, it means that outcomes have to be enough because the processes appear to be nonplussed.” - (https://www.golfdom.com.au/scheffler-the-boring-golfer-problem/) Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; Money Matters and America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump. ©GolfDom

DESTINY NOT ADJUNCT TO STARS Who will grow, will grow in life. Dare not play the destiny game with him.

WHO will grow, will grow in life His destiny will take everything in stride Struggles, lack of resources will not effect Hunger for success, fire in the belly reacts All tricks of stars, planets or numerology Can play as adjunct only for poor and week No time to die, astrology won't make him meek His spirit is sky high, his will may move mountains Dare not stop this soul, is unstoppable in all…