Trailer Trad Attire: John Daly is More Trad Than You

It would seem to be an insurmountable rhetorical challenge. The challenge that I'm referring to is making the case that PGA golfer John Daly is trad, maybe even more trad than you. You scoff but hear me out.

First off, there are a few straws that I could grasp regarding his life and livelihood that support my argument. John Daly is very good at a very trad sport. He, in fact, is a British Open champion. On its face, there can’t be many accomplishments more trad than that (maybe captaining the 1940 Yale baseball team). On the other hand, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe are Wimbledon Champions but that doesn’t make them trad. There’s the fact that the British people love him and that means something. After all, they love Tom Watson and they really loved Bobby Jones; both trad legends in my book. On the other hand, they also like Eminem.

The huge awkward elephant in the corner is John Daly’s collection of bad habits and bad choices that he possesses (drinking too much Diet Pepsi among them). However, upon reflection, I’m not sure whether that’s a case against him being trad or a case FOR him being trad!

I’m saving my chief argument for last. There are few people that I can think of that personify a specific, preppy iconic look. In Daly's case, the look that I’m referring to is wearing Go To Hell (GTH) pants. His collection that he proudly displays on tour gets to the heart of GTH. Preppies are too nonconfrontational to ever actually TELL someone to go to hell. These pants are intended to convey that and his do that better than any in history.

Recently, I visited a trad blog. You know, one of those Southern Gentleman blogs. The blogger hosted a 'wild pants party' or some such thing. Visualize a dude sending in a 'groomsmen dressed in Vineyard Vines' picture submitted for publication in the VV Spring catalog and you get the picture. This reminded me of what Go To Hell (GTH) pants are all about.

To compare John Daly’s pants to other ‘whimsical’ brightly colored pants is like comparing L.L. Bean duck boots to magenta Crocs. Daly’s vertigo-inducing eyesores do what they are supposed to do. Lilly, Vineyard Vines, etc. are timid winks at it; a half-hearted effort that says that while you want to appear wild, you really just want to be accepted for the fun lovin’ fella you are!

Brass tacks. You reach a point in life where the superficial approval of peers at the club, the office or at church becomes clear for what it is. No more. No less. You have reached that point in your life where it must be known that you are a grown man. You occupy a certain two foot square plot of ground. And you ain't going anywhere. This is where that special pair of pants comes in. They're called Go To Hell pants for a reason. These garments not only cover your body, they convey a message. A very special message. A very trad message.

Like Repp ties, blue blazers with brass buttons and flat-front khakis, John Daly's pants are masculine totems of strength, honesty and truth. Keeping it real. Phoniness is not trad. John Daly is flawed. That's well documented. But if you let him, he probably would pitch a tent at St. Andrews and live amongst the dunes and surf fish for his dinner 'til the end of his days. And he would be quick with a joke and always give you the straight take. What's more trad than that? And, if you didn't like him, he'd be first to tell you to go to hell.