More than a few people took exception to Bill Simmons’ decision to compare Tiger Woods’ upcoming comeback to that of Muhammad Ali, and Olbermann is one of them. The two are having a Twitter/blog war.
Tag: Tiger Woods scandal (Page 3 of 6)
Bill Simmons wrote a long column that compares Tiger’s eventual comeback to those of some of sport’s other iconic athletes. One point jumped out at me…
At gunpoint, if I could wager on any conceivable scenario, I would wager on Tiger coming back in severe Eff You Mode, like a seething MJ in Game 1 of the 1992 Finals. The greatest ones have a way of channeling negativity and fueling it toward whatever makes them great. Jordan made a habit of it. So did Ali. But they were also larger-than-life personalities, whereas Tiger was always just someone who was freakishly good at golf and that’s it.
I can see Tiger coming back with a vengeance, but basketball (and boxing, for that matter) is unlike golf in that pure effort and energy can overcome one’s opponent. Typically, in basketball, an athletically inferior team can be victorious if they outhustle its opponent. Defense, rebounding, loose balls — success in these areas depends largely on a team’s effort. So if MJ’s shot wasn’t falling, he could take his “Eff You Mode” and apply it elsewhere and dominate the game. And when the best athlete on the court is playing harder than anyone else, good things will happen.
I don’t think Tiger can do that in golf. Effort is only going to matter when he’s practicing, and while this is vitally important to a successful comeback, effort is not going to matter much when it comes time to play a tournament. Golf is a game of millimeters, and passion isn’t going to help much when titles are on the line. If channeled, this passion and determination can help in the form of focus, but there is also the chance that Tiger becomes too focused and it pushes him off the rails.
Whatever happens, it’s going to be interesting to watch.
That’s just eerie…
Credit Bill Simmons’s reader (Will in Boston) for finding the clip.
No one feels the sting of Tiger’s plight more than this guy:
“A full admission and submission.” That’s the phrase I use when spending $55 for a day at Magic Mountain.
Seeing as how it was going to be on his terms, the Golf Writers Association of America decided to boycott Tiger Woods’ public appearance on Friday.
From Golf.com:
The reasons for the boycott were two-fold. First, the insistence by Woods and his handlers to limit media access to a pool of reporters. Second, Woods’s decision not to field any questions. But there were also deeper feelings in play, and complicated ones, too. This is an association filled with members who had covered Woods, by almost all counts, fairly and with respect, chronicling his golfing feats even as he bristled at times at his media obligations.
The Woods story has gone everywhere and nowhere in the last three months, and it is impossible to know how the story will end. Eventually, the GWAA will be back behind the scenes, where it has been for much of its 64 years of existence, as an organization whose original goals included “an improvement in press facilities” and “interviews with players.”
That’s all the GWAA wanted Friday, an interview with Tiger Woods. He won’t give it. So the GWAA won’t be there.
I’ve never been to a golf event as a media member, so I don’t know what it’s like to try and track Tiger down to do an interview. But I can only imagine how much of a pain he could be when it comes to being accessible to the media so I’m all for the boycott. If he was crass and cold to a group that helped make him one of the most popular athletes in the U.S., then he deserves to be shunned when he embarrasses himself and then wants to establish the rules for making a public appearance.
Don’t get me wrong – I’ve stated several times on this site that Tiger doesn’t owe the media or us anything. But I see the GWAA’s point here. They’ve played by his rules for a long time and even when he’s entrenched in an embarrassing scandal, he still wants everything to be on his terms. I don’t blame the GWAA for thinking, “You don’t control the situation any more, Tiger.”
Of course, as soon as he takes his first steps back into golf, the media will be there just as they always have. He’s arguably the most recognizable athlete in America and this little boycott by the GWAA won’t go any further than today. But I like the fact that at least a small media contingent told him to shove it, much like I’m sure he’s done to them over the years.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
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