Am I missing something?
Did Tiger Woods senselessly pass away at the tragic age of 35? Did Woods retire to take up his other passions, like professional sweet pickle canning? Was he named in a hacking of all the Citi bank and Sony accounts?
If not, then I cannot figure out why we have collectively tossed him to the side in favor of Rory McIlroy.
Many in the media are doing a little bit of revisionist history right now. This is different than kicking a man when he is down, as was the case when his sex scandal broke 18 months ago. No, this is just poking an injured bear.
With Tiger gone, golf is thirsty for a new topic, something to keep it in the limelight. With Rory McIlroy’s destruction of the field at the U.S. Open 10 days ago, it got one.
By all accounts, McIlroy is a nice young man who signs autographs and smiles. Nearly everyone on the PGA Tour gushes over the kid. They praise his work ethic and his game.
Remind of you of anyone? When Tiger broke into professional golf’s big leagues in 1997 and won the Masters, I vaguely remember hearing similar things about him.
Now everyone is taking their shots, taking Tiger to task for spitting on the course, for cursing on the course, for not signing autographs, for throwing his clubs.
Honestly, that always endeared him to me more than anything else. The fact that the most talented golfer in the world did the exact same stuff I did, that my friends did, made him all that more likeable. And if you can tell me with a straight face you’ve never cursed on the golf course or tried to snap a club over your knee, well, you’re either a liar or a much better person than 99.9 percent of golfers out there.
I am a hacker. And golf is a frustrating game, period. The nod, the tip of the cap, that’s great and all, but it isn’t the reality that most casual golfers face. We fist pump, we do the bull dance from Happy Gilmore, we generally act like fools.
Golf is a 19th century game trying to make a name for itself in the 21st century. It’s expensive, time consuming and difficult to play. And the general public needs to have a reason to watch. Tiger gave us a reason to watch, as does McIlroy currently, like Nicklaus and Palmer before them.
But I do not see a reason to disparage Woods. Or to take a mulligan on how we viewed him until Thanksgiving 2009.
He wasn’t as reviled as everyone now likes to believe. In fact, he was often voted the most popular athlete in any given year. To take what makes him Tiger and use it as evidence of an egocentric athlete gone bad is a bit revisionist.
At one point, we viewed his fist pump as raw elation, not showmanship. We thought he was focused on the course, not some jerk who wouldn’t wave to the gallery or acknowledge their autograph requests.
Really, Tiger was and is no different than any other recent “greats” in their sport. As I’ve said many times, Michael Jordan berated teammates and punched one in the face, yet this was seen as Jordan the ultimate competitor who would not tolerate anything less than his team’s best effort. Jordan had a messy divorce and a gambling problem, it was just a little better hidden from the public eye.
Maybe we really did only love Tiger for his dominance, but isn’t that true of all the greats? We don’t really know any of them. Remember Don Johnson’s character in “Tin Cup”? He’s a jerk out of the public eye, a smarmy smoker who calls women “darlin’” and makes snide remarks about nearly every person he meets. To the cameras though, he’s a gentleman and a scholar.
How do we know McIlroy isn’t like that behind closed doors? The truth is we don’t, just like we didn’t with Jordan or Tiger. Muhammad Ali verbally abused his opponents and we revere him for it. Could Ali even survive today’s media onslaught? Would we even praise Wilt Chamberlain for his play had it been widely known that he carelessly slept with so many women?
The point is, we love all athletes for their dominance and little else. And we love the dominance because they are doing things we can only dream of doing.
Why does an athlete have to be endearing or embraceable? Because it makes us feel better about ourselves? Where is there a requirement that you have to sign autographs? To give something of yourself to the same media who will berate you, shred you and belittle you at the first sign of imperfection?
At some point, our beloved Rory will stumble, either on or off the golf course, and the media will question his passion, his dedication, his true skill or his morals. And we’ll move on to the next big thing.
This isn’t meant to be an endorsement of Woods, either. Yet at the same time, do you really want to poke a guy named Tiger? Something tells me Woods isn’t done yet and we may be just fueling the fire building inside him.
In which case, if Tiger does come back and win more majors and breaks Nicklaus’ all-time record, the media will once again embrace him, do a rewrite on this latest rewrite and pretend they always loved Tiger’s will to win.
George Orwell had it right in his book, 1984. Our media is a dystopian society, coercing and eliciting our reactions. We’re rewriting history constantly, engaging in doublethink, where we tamper with reality and manipulate how we once thought and felt about someone or something. We’re losing our curiosity and our ability to enjoy the natural process of life.
Right now, Big Brother has its bulls-eye on Tiger Woods.
Frankly, I’m excited to see how Woods responds to all this, if McIlroy really is the real deal.
Unlike Winston Smith, I refuse to sell out. The media can’t make me think I always disliked Tiger Woods and that McIlroy is the next Tiger, but with a better attitude and a winning smile. The truth is I loved watching Tiger Woods golf for over a decade and I can’t deny that what people now tell you is bad about him, I thought was fascinating.
And I can tell you that Rory McIlroy has a long way to go before he becomes Tiger Woods.
But for once, can we just all hang back and see how it plays out, instead of trying to compartmentalize the moment? That just might be the most fascinating development of all.
And if it happens, well, just pass me the Victory Gin.
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