Sometimes you just have to wait long enough in order to read and listen to all the nonsense before you come to the conclusion, “Do not believe what you read in the papers or hear on talk radio or on cable television.”
After all, if you’d actually paid attention to everything that was written about Tiger Woods’ season-ending knee injury, you’d honestly believe that the PGA Tour was going to fold its operation and that Woods’ career is probably over. The response to Woods quiet website posting earlier this week was downright goofy.
Examples (with appropriate questions and comments)
Rick Morrissey, Chicago Tribune: “He is done for the season, and in a very real way, so is the PGA Tour. It is a victim of Woods’ dominance, but every victim should be so lucky. Tiger and the Tour are the same thing. They are indistinguishable. They share the same blood source. It works when he’s around. It won’t work so well when he’s not.”
Excuse me? The PGA Tour worked fine before Tiger arrived and it will work just fine after he leaves. Sure, he’s made it greater than it’s ever been, but when he leaves it will still be the goal to which the world’s best players will aspire. Will ratings go down? Sure. But all of this doomsday talk is just plain silly.
Thomas Boswell, Washington Post: “The lesson Woods should, perhaps, take from this episode is that, while his U.S. Open courage was magnificent, his attitude toward preserving and protecting his body must change or the rest of his career may be half of what it should be.”
Oh, right. I’m Tiger Woods, the greatest golfer in history and one of the greatest, most dedicated professional athletes of all time, and I’m going to take fitness advice from a sportswriter. Too bad Hunter S. Thompson killed himself. He knew, first hand, that almost all sportswriters are physical and mental wrecks. He’d have kicked Boswell in the cojones for that pompous remark.
There are plenty more examples of idiot writing, but the real embarrassment during Tiger’s recent 91-hole victory in the U.S. Open were the reactions and the remarks of other players, the guys Tiger made wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.
According to the Independent, Retief Goosen stated on Tuesday that Woods was “hamming up,” the pain and discomfort he felt during the Open. The Independent reported that “a number of other players felt the same way.” Wonder how Goosen and his buddies feel about their idiot comments now?
Through all the idiocy that came along as part of Woods’ injury, his close personal friend, Mark O’Meara, probably put it best. If nothing else, he put the injury in perspective.
“As big as he is, the game is even bigger,” O’Meara told the Orlando Sentinel. “The Tour will survive. I think it will be good for the game.”
I won’t go so far as to suggest it will “be good” for the game, but I will say, it’s not going to kill it. Not by a long shot.