I know this is supposed to be a hockey blog, but I have a buddy who needs a hand.
The world is bullying my man Tiger Woods. Now I understand he’s made some pretty big mistakes in the past, but enough already. We are tearing him down, you can see it in his eyes, and we’re losing an amazing sporting icon by doing so.
A few things need to be made clear, here. First off, Tiger Woods career is not over. He’s just 34-years-old and not finished winning. Golf is a sport where some of the best players are in their 40s (Mickelson, Els, Singh, Furyk, Harrington, etc). Of the top six players in the world golf rankings, Tiger is the youngest. He has dominated the game at all levels of his life (see below), and he will rebound to once again dominate at the highest level in the sport.
Just think, he has had the worst year of his life. The sky has fallen. The roof has caved in. He stands up in front of the media almost weekly, and is close to tears with nowhere to turn. But amazingly, through all this mental anguish, he was still pretty darn good on the golf course this year.
Don’t forget, each week he’s out there against 100-plus of the world’s best golfers. After a 20 week hiatus due to his domestic wounds, Tiger finished fourth in the first two majors of the season (Rory Mcilroy and Phil Mickelson were the only other players with two top 5 finishes in the majors this year). He had the world (and media) crashing down on his head, and he was the only player to finish top 30 in all four majors in 2010.
On another note, we’re lambasting the man for an error that is more societal than individual. I’m betting men all over the world are making his mistake (and women too?). The rest of the sporting world is certainly making it. The ‘sports men are sluts’ stereotype has been witnessed on a few occasions by my own two eyes, and not just through Roger Dorn, NFL QBs or Tiger Woods.
It makes sense that these mighty men are promiscuous at times. These athletes are often pretty attractive individuals, worked in to splendid form thanks to their time and effort in preparation for battle. Tiger looks jacked, walking down the fairway in his Sunday reds. And I bet Tiger never let out a lustful roar like many youthful men in this day and age. He was too busy becoming the best golfer to ever set foot on a green.
In 1991, at the age of 15, he was the youngest player ever to win the U.S. junior amateur championship, the biggest tournament in his teenage world. He was the first player ever to win back-to-back U.S. Juniors, and still the only man to win three in a row. The next year (1994 – at the age of 18), he became the youngest ever winner of the U.S. Amateur championship, a tournament played by men of all ages. In 1996 he became the first man to win three consecutive U.S. Amateurs. Less than a year later, seven Months after turning pro, Tiger won his first professional major (the 1997 Masters). It was a record low score (18-under), by a record margin (12 strokes), becoming the youngest Masters winner and the first African-American winner. This is unbelievable stuff. Never matched in history. Woods has held the number one position in the world rankings for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks. He has been awarded the PGA Player of the Year a record ten times, the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average a record eight times, and has the record of leading the money list in nine different seasons.
Do you get the drift? He’s the definition of a sporting legend. And I’m arguing that’s all he ever wanted to be. We (along with Nike, Am Ex, and Buick) put him up on some social pedestal and now we’re ripping him down. Its been going on for almost a year now! Where is this forgiveness you always hear talked about?
Well I, for one, am behind my man Tiger, and will be cheering loud and clear when he wins major number 15 – sooner rather than later I suspect.
Eric Prime
FAN590 Reporter
Professional Golf Caddy
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I like your dedication. He is so good that we need to let him get back to the top of his game. But he did cheat on his wife with numerous women, so a year of bashing is deserved.
- Bubba WatsonAbout time someone other than myself is defending the man. Yes he screwed up in a big way but worse has been done by “Joe Public”. As the saying goes, “to err is human, to forgive divine”. Or how about “he who is without sin cast the first stone”.
We all have skeleton’s in our closet’s. I would hope that none of us has to experience the public humiliation that Tiger has.If we do, would we hope those around us would be forgiving or just as critical as they’ve been of Tiger?
- D SeginYou make some excellent points mr prime! I too will enjoy watching tiger rise from the ashes to dominate again soon. Very soon!!
- Dr ZayasWhat Tiger did is symptomatic of a societal problem, but the error was his. I am ready to forgive Tiger – in the important things in life, he is just a man like any other man. Maybe he is struggling because her hasn’t completely forgiven himself.
- Old Steve