Anyone who watched this year's Memorial Tournament no doubt heard or witnessed the drama.
No, we're not talking about 54-hole leader Jon Rahm being jettisoned from Muirfield after testing positive for Covid-19 during the third round. We're talking about the loud noise in the background throughout the tournament. Brood X of the 17-year (or periodical) cicadas could be heard loud and clear on television as they descended on Muirfield by the millions.
Brood X cicadas have been out in full force this summer in parts of at least 16 states, getting into and onto everything. Totally harmless, but an incredible nuisance, they land on and stick to everything, including clothing and hair. Superintendents have posted photos of the red-eyed demons on water coolers, irrigation control boxes and even congregating in the bottoms of cups on putting greens.
Dave Shetlar, Ph.D., retired entomologist at Ohio State University, says those grossed out by cicadas can get the last laugh on these periodic pests by, of course, eating them.
"My normal preference is to get rid of the wings," Shetlar said in a televised segment on WCMH, the NBC affiliate in Columbus, in which he pan-fried up a batch of cicadas with a little bacon fat, garlic, snow peas and sage and tossed the concoction together with some fettuccine. Yum!
Shetlar, whose expertise in the field also was highlighted in a recent episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, expressed a particular affinity for egg-laden females, mostly because they are packed with carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
If you did not hear cicadas this year, don't worry, you probably will. Maybe not this summer, maybe not next, but you will. According to the U.S. Forest Service, there are at least 15 broods of cicadas that emerge periodically. Some, like Brood X, are on a 17-year cycle, others are on a 13-year cycle. The noise they bring emits solely from the males of the species in their attempt to woo females to fulfill their sole purpose in life - to propagate the species (well, and to serve as a food source for birds and brazen entomologists).
Although a pan of cicada fettuccine is not likely to make a dent in the population, try convincing those arthropods swimming in hot bacon grease of that. Revenge is indeed sweet, just like the cicadas on the Bug Doc's plate.