As the United States Ryder Cup team heads back home, licking their wounds in their gated mansions and wondering how it all could go so horribly wrong, lets take a quick look at some history.

Europe sucked early, U.S. sucks now: The United States dominated the early stages of this biennial competition. From 1927 through 1983, the U.S. won 22 of the 25 matches played. Obviously the game which was invented in Scotland was perfected in the good ol' USA.

From 1985 on, however, it has been a different story. Even though the U.S. boasts the top three players in golf according to the World Rankings (Woods, Mickelson, Furyk), as well as eight of the top 25 players in the world, the European team has won eight of the last eleven matches, including the last three in a row, by the ugly average score of 17.5-10.5.

The quandary: How is that possible? How can the U.S. get trounced so badly when we boast Carson and McMahon, uh, I'm sorry, Woods and Mickelson? Tiger Woods is generally conceded to be the best player of his generation, possibly the best player ever.

Surprisingly, the answer has little or nothing to do with golf swings, mind games, or team unity. The answer lies in the U.S. team's golf shirts. Specifically, the collars are too tight, and the way they are designed, they get tighter as the weekend progresses.

With that in mind, it's no wonder the United States could only avoid their worst loss in the event's history thanks to the good sportsmanship of Europe's Paul McGinley, who graciously conceded a 25-foot putt to J.J. Henry of the United States on the 18th hole of their Sunday match. Had he not done that, the final score would probably have been even worse than the 18.5-9.5 that it was.

The solution: The answer to the thorny problem of how to compete in an event we used to dominate is perfect in it's simplicity: wear T-shirts in 2008, or perhaps muscle shirts. I realize it would asking for a huge sacrifice to have to see Phil Mickelson's man-boobs in a muscle shirt, but there it is. It is imperative the U.S. Ryder Cup team wear shirts without collars in 2008, to avoid the problem of those collars shrinking over the weekend.

USA basketball might want to consider changing uniforms, too. Those basketball shirts don't appear to the naked eye to have collars, but it's obvious they do.