Tiger A Distraction From The Real Story At The Masters
Posted
Roger Grossman, Lake City Radio-
So Tiger Woods came down from his throne last week and declared that he would grace us with his presence at The Masters starting tomorrow. The sound bites you’ll hear this week will be ALL from Tiger Woods. The video clips will be of Tiger Woods. Every-other shot you see on the TV coverage this week will be the next shot of Tiger Woods. Oh, and there is a really good chance that he won’t even make the cut to play the weekend at golf’s cathedral. And THEN what? It reminds me of a story that I read to my daughter Hannah every now and then called “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” In that story, two scoundrels get paid big bags of gold to make the king the most beautiful clothes he’s ever seen. They actually do nothing, pocket the cash, and then convince the fool with the crown on his head that while it appears he has no clothes on, he absolutely looks fantastic. After parading through his town square in his new ‘garb’, finally someone steps forward and informs the emperor that he has no clothes. Tiger Woods is golf’s version of the emperor. His career is over—he just doesn’t know it yet. Since he was exposed for his matrimonial cheating in 2009, Tiger has done more time in sex rehab than holding up those over-sized checks on the 18th holes on Sundays. He has yet to win a major, and has been stuck on 14 (which if he never wins another one would be a tremendous total) since he won the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in 2008. Since June, he has had a couple withdraws, missed the cut three times, tied for last and his best finish was 69th. But who is the story this week again? Yep, Tiger. For perspective, this would be like watching the Super Bowl and after every pass completion they cut away to a shot of Jerry Rice watching the game in his living room. Jerry Rice was the greatest – but he’s not really relevant right now. Neither is Tiger. I understand that Tiger has made the TV networks a LOT of cash over the years, and when Tiger was right, like he was for the first decade of his career, he WAS fun to watch. But he’s not right now and he’s frankly difficult to watch. To be honest, if I want to watch someone hack around like Woods is now, I can pull up a lawn chair at one of the local golf courses and watch them tear up the sod. And lest you think this is ALL Woods’ fault, let’s also blame every other golfer on the tour for having six years to carve their own name into the top of the name recognition heep but epically failing to do so. Shame on you Rory, Phil and (please inset any other golfer on tour you can name). I love this week. I love the Masters. I love the way it just makes me feel warmer by watching it on TV. I love the tradition, the grandeur and the protection of the tournament from over-commercialization. I will not enjoy Tiger Woods hacking around Augusta National. But at least that will end on Friday.
