Yes, Jon Rahm was picked to Ryder Cup. But what was that behind him on TV?

Little to do with golf, this has. 

A bit geeky, this is. 

But did you catch what was behind Jon Rahm’s shoulders as he was picked to this year’s European Ryder Cup team? Announcer Nick Dougherty had spotted it before Rahm joined the Sky Sports broadcast on Monday, then wondered about it as Rahm’s time on the show was ending.  

“Is that a Baby Yoda that’s behind your head there?”

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Rahm then moved to his right and laughed. It was, though the Yoda speak in the first two paragraphs of this story may have given that away. 

There are some questions here, of course. 

First, who’s Baby Yoda? He’s one of the fictional stars of the Disney Plus show “The Mandalorian,” and he’ll star in a movie next year. His real name is Grogu. (Yes, the author has watched the show.) So why is he called Baby Yoda? That’s because he appears to be young and he bears a resemblance to Yoda, one of the fictional stars of the “Star Wars” films. (Yes, the author has watched all the movies.)

OK, so how did Rahm answer Dougherty’s question?

Proudly. He explained what was behind him. There were other pictures. But Baby Yoda, depicted through a painting, was front and center. 

“A bit of a Star Wars fan here in the office,” Rahm said. 

“And there is not quite 6-foot Darth Vader, but it may or may not be in the corner of the room.” 

Really? Just how much of a “Star Wars” fan is Rahm? 

In a press conference after the televised announcement, an inquiring mind wanted to know. 

“Not as much as you would think,” Rahm said, “but I do have a Darth Vader behind the computer screen a little bit away, but it’s there.

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“I started when I was young. Unlike a lot of the fans, because I was young enough but old enough at the same time to see it, my first introduction to ‘Star Wars’ was the ‘Phantom Menace,’ which for the hard core fans might not be the best way to go in.

“But I was young, and seeing the second trilogy, Episodes 1 through 3 and the light saber fights and all this before I even understood it is what got me in, right.

“One of the characters that is, again, maybe not the most liked as a kid, it was my favorite, Jar Jar Binks. So it’s how I got into it, right. I was a kid and that character is actually really, really fun.

“It was actually during Covid, Kelley [his wife] had never seen the movie, and I made her watch all of them. And we watched the newest trilogy that Disney put out together and I got a new appreciation for the original trilogy. But obviously I’m always going to be a little bit biased towards that second one since it’s what got me into it.”