Hold That Tiger

Wow, THAT was uncomfortable. In what really should have been one of the great sports moments in recent years I just finished watching Y.E. Yang's monumental upset of the great Tiger Woods and all I am left with is a sense of loss. Not for Mr. Woods, but for the announcers. Come on guys let's at least try to keep up appearances, shall we?. I mean, it seemed like everytime El Tigre missed a birdie putt the announcers would say,

"Oooh, tough break, must've hit a peeble. What a testament to a true champion that he still remains in contention after missing eleven or twelve of these putts." "Well he is special, Jim." "He sure is, Nick. He sure is."

Are you kidding me? Don't get me wrong, Tiger is probably the single most dominant performer in an individual sport ever, wait a sec. Let's leave it at "one of" for the time being because that actually might not be a bad topic. But just because he is doesn't make him infallible. Why is it that golf announcers never call him out...on anything? I will give Tiger credit for answering questions after the loss, but that is the first time he has done it. Look back on all of his loses and Tiger is out of dodge faster than LeBron James. He is notoriously petulant when it comes to the media, but nobody ever says anything about it.

And it doesn't end there. Tiger swears so much on camera that David Milch wanted to recast him in Deadwood, he slams his clubs around like they owe him money and he has his Kiwi Caddie rough up anyone trying to capture his likeness on film. Occasionally you will get a writer that will chastise Eldrich for this boorish behavior but they are few and far between. What is it about Tiger?

Think about it, John McEnroe was widely considered the scourge of athletics because of similar behavior on the tennis court. In fact Johnny Mac was held in such low regard that people actually rooted for Jimmy Connors. McEnroe would swear on camera, throw his equipment and call out officials. What's the difference? Tiger swears like a sailor, throws his clubs and the week before the PGA Championship he called out the officials. That one was the gold standard for hypocrisy. Tiger called out the officials, which in ANY league or work place would and should bring a serious fine and reprimand. The PGA appeared to actaully be taking a stand against their cash cow, as it was reported that they were going to fine Woods for his comments. Suddenly and without explanation it all went away. No fine, no public reprimand, nothing. In fact the only public comment from Commissioner Tim Finchem was an APOLOGY for the erroneous reports! What? Are you kidding me? An apology?

So why does Tiger get away with this stuff? Is it because he's just that good? Maybe. Or is it something else? Does it have to do with these mostly whitebred announcers fearing that they will say something that might be perceived as racist? OR, most likely, is it my long standing belief that Nike in association with Microsoft is secretly ruling the world?

And just for the record Y.E. Yang wears Addidas, take THAT Phil Knight.