We don't do any Olympic Games half-arsed, anyway, do we?
You'll be aware of OCI chief Pat Hickey's arrest in Rio this afternoon. If not, you can follow the ongoing saga here. It's basically the 'OJ car chase' of Irish sport and involves dressing gowns and alleged attempted escapes, so we highly recommend you do.
Which brings us to Rory McIlroy, somewhat incredibly. Back in late April, Nike missed a beat by not clinching a deal to stand in as kit manufacturers for the Irish Olympic team, with the OCI instead turning to New Balance.
As a result, had McIlroy represented Ireland in golf at Rio, he would have been forced to sport exclusively New Balance apparel as opposed to that of his personal sponsors, Nike. Not that it requires much explaining, but Paul Kimmage probably put it best in the Independent at the time.
Worth revisiting @PaulKimmage on Hickey from July - "fuck you and the horse you rode in on" has come to pass. pic.twitter.com/ZVqhBXDRkS
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) August 17, 2016
Golf's former World no.1 was believed to be at loggerheads with the OCI over the issue before withdrawing from the Olympics in what can only be described as 'mysterious circumstances', with his ZIKA Virus reasoning being met with much scepticism from the Irish and indeed international sporting public.
As news broke this afternoon of Hickey's arrest, the Hollywood native - who's not in Rio - tweeted the following before rapidly deleting it:
Some who saw the tweet before its deletion hypothesised that it may have been a dig at faux-adversary Michael Conlan following the pair's (somewhat one-sided) back-and-forths on Twitter, but McIlroy seemed to confirm otherwise to a curious Twitter user who had his finger on the pulse.
This would be a "yes" then (Yes, this like is from McIlroy)@ballsdotie pic.twitter.com/bYYZYA8Zsg
— Redmond Shannon (@RedShannon) August 17, 2016
Well, well well. The saga rumbles on.
