The price was right

 I don't know what is the precise definition of "Eff you money," except that it's shorthand for "Eff you, I've got money." I don't even know if "Eff you money" has a precise dollar figure.

What I do know is, for Dustin Johnson, it seems to be around $125 million.

And for Phil Mickelson, $200 million.

And for various other PGA Tour regulars, various other chunky denominations.

What all of them have in common is they've taken money stained with the blood of innocents and said "Eff you." They're all off to Greg Norman's LIV tour, which is bankrolled by Saudi Arabia, which enjoys doing cool stuff like murdering journalists and dismembering their bodies, and butchering civilians in neighboring Yemen.

Yes, they're lovely people, the Saudis, but they're also the latest proof that if you have enough money to throw around, it doesn't matter if you have no manners. The people at whom you throw money will make excuses for you even if you chain your kids to the basement wall and torture them on the regular.

"Hey, everyone disciplines their children differently," they'll say.

Or, "Meh, lots of people have done worse. What about China, for God's sake?"

This is the rationale Norman and his cadre of PGA defectors are using in defending what is clearly a classic "Eff you, I've got money" scenario. Or, to be more precise, "Eff you, the Saudis have money."

Or to be even MORE precise: "Eff you, the Saudis have money and they're giving it to me."

And, OK, I get it, these are professional golfers we're talking about.  They are as enthusiastically capitalist as John D. Rockefeller, from the tip of their logo visors to the tip of their other logo shoes. Money means a great deal to them.

I just wish they'd admit that without exercising a lot of phony moral relevance.

It's not a great defense, after all, to justify reprehensible money-grubbing by pointing out the reprehensible money-grubbing of others. Yes, F1 does business with repressive Middle Eastern regimes, too. Yes, so does professional soccer. And, yes, so does the NBA, cozying up to the Chinese because their market potential is through the roof.

All of that is true. And all of that has been criticized in various corners of the media, despite the amnesia of those who say it hasn't been. (Examples just from the Blob, re China and the NBA: Here, and here.)

So what's your point, exactly, gentlemen?

Do you even have one, except the obvious?

Didn't think so.