The Escalating Cultural Phenomenon That is Tiger
Golf March 17th. 2008, 8:48am
Regardless to your thoughts on golf – boring, uppity, too slow – we urge you to watch the improbable game-winning putt by Eldrick Woods Sunday afternoon. At this moment in sports, Tiger has no closest spiritual heir. In 30 or 40 years, we’ll all talk wistfully about Tiger the same way that Peter Gammons raves about Babe Ruth, Dick Schapp raved about Ali and everyone raves about Jordan. Tiger’s that nice right now. When we’re long gone and ESPN reveals its list of best athletes in the 21st century, there’s absolutely no way Tiger isn’t in the Top 5.
Photo: Icon Sports Media
32 Responses to “The Escalating Cultural Phenomenon That is Tiger”
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March 17th, 2008 at 10:43 am
I’m committed to sticking around through the end of this century, if only for the end of century ESPN lists…
March 17th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Not sure how the heck this post got out of order …
March 17th, 2008 at 10:46 am
It would be worth a $100 ticket to wait 7 hours just to see him get excited and do one fist pump. Broadcasters talk about paying too see an athlete. I think he’s at the top of that short list.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:48 am
there’s absolutely no way Tiger isn’t in the Top 5.
The funny thing is, he’ll only be two spots ahead of Barbaro.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:53 am
the post-tiger era of golf is going to be very interesting.
who could possibly top what hes done so far? and barring any type of back/shoulder/knee trouble, he’s going to absolutely annhiliate every record there is by the time he’s 40.
plus, he’s like golf crack.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:54 am
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well played.
Jalen Rose said Tiger will win every tourney he enters this year…
the crazy thing is it certainly appears that there is no reason to thing that wont happen
March 17th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Is that Arnold Palmer, who they are doing the behind the shoulder shot of, watching Tiger? I know it was his tournament, if so that was a pretty cool shot.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:01 am
golfers are athletes now?
March 17th, 2008 at 11:04 am
you’re just figuring this out, TBL?
March 17th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Larry Bird would have said, “That was God disguised as Tiger Woods.”
March 17th, 2008 at 11:08 am
If Tyler Hansbrough played golf he’d be more competitive than Tiger Woods (sorry for that…yesterday’s game made me snap sometime during the second half)
March 17th, 2008 at 11:13 am
tyler hansbrough is the hardest working golfer in the sport butters, to suggest that he gets overexposed is just silly on your part. you look at him out there on the links and you can tell he just wants it more than anyone else, he reaches beyond his own ability and snatches glory out of tiger’s hands.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:16 am
I wish that Tiger would play in the New Orleans tournament just once. And don’t read any “rebuilding” comments into it.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:19 am
I second the golfers not being athletes complaint. Yes, Tiger is athletic, but he is playing against guys with man-boobs smoking cigarettes. Golf may be a sport and take tremendous skill, but the participants should not be considered “athletes.”
March 17th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Butters, you would have been happy in DC, ESPN’s airing got blacked out about 30 minutes in since it was on our Local MYTV station.
As a UNC fan I got to endure Duke alum Mike Gminski openly rooting against UNC.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:24 am
at least gminski is an established announcer for fox sports. what the fuck was jason capel doing there? aside from talking about lil mama
March 17th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Seeing the way the media fawns over him I can really appreciate why non-Packer fans came to hate Brett Favre for things that were out of his control
I don’t really like Tiger Woods for the same reasons…you don’t even get golf highlights unless he’s playing
March 17th, 2008 at 11:29 am
I am not in the least ashamed to admit that I screamed and punched the couch cushion when that ball went in on 18, something usually reserved for Broncos and White Sox wins.
There is no sports or quasi-sports equivalent for what Tiger is doing right now. People like to bring up Federer (who is off to a slow start this year), but Federer only has to play 6-8 of the people in the tournament because of the elimination format. Outside of the match-play championship, Tiger has to beat every single golfer every single week. No one is even in Tiger’s galaxy right now. The difference in world golf ranking between Tiger and 2nd (Mickelson) is currently 12.05 points (21.75 – 9.70), which is larger than the difference between 2nd and infinity (0 points).
March 17th, 2008 at 11:31 am
yeah but tiger is the face of golf and arguably the best ever golfer. diehard golf fans dont get their coverage from espn anyways, they watch the golf channel (its the shit), if espn wants to cater to the casual fan they show tiger and thats fine by me.
there is no equal to tiger, that cant be said about any other athlete/skillwhatever around right now
March 17th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Not that we’ve had to worry about it lately…but my only complaint is when they follow all of his shots and he’s out of contention. It’s sort of like in NASCAR when they follow all of the Hendrick racers (Earnhardt, Gordon, Jimmie Johnson) around the track, and none of them are going to win the race. I know most of you will freak because I made a NASCAR reference, but it’s the best one that applies.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Tiger is golf right now. If he’s not playing in a tournament, that event becomes as irrelevant as the NIT.
The people that hate him now will be the same people telling their grandkids that they got to watch the most dominating sports figure of all time.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Okay, I admit it. I watch golf considerably less during the Tiger Era than I did before the Tiger Era. Some of his accomplishments are truly remarkable and awe-inspiring, but others have the drama of the UCLA/Mississippi Valley State game.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
“The people that hate him now will be the same people telling their grandkids that they got to watch the most dominating sports figure of all time”
That’s right…I did see Michael Jordan play
March 17th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I only watch Golf when Tiger is playing…my college roommate loved golf…LOVED GOLF…he would record tournaments and watch them…it was insane…any way after living through that…I have no desire to watch it…only on Sunday when Tiger is in the lead or lurking…I admit it..I am one of those…but I did learn one thing this weekend…regardless of what Tiger does…Tyler Hansborough is the most competitive human being alive and no one is more competitive at what they do then he is…like Jesus descending down from the heavens…Tyler or Psycho T to those who love him most brings a level of play that no college player has ever brought in the history of ever
March 17th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Roman…that sounds like me. meaningless West Coast swing tourney without Phil or Tiger there? hell yes, ive got 3 hours of entertainment.
last years’ Masters and US Open was fantastic entertainment because those were 2 of the rare times where he didn’t come through. But what he’s doing now is beyond incredible. it’s sheer madness.
to think that Tiger’s two closest competitors, Vijay and Mickeltits’ combined victories don’t exceed 64 is nuts. plus hes just now hitting his golf peak.
golf after Tiger is going to be pretty sad tho…the more i think about it, the more dire the situation becomes. he might totally obliterate any interest in the game after awhile. we need a young hotshot to come up and challenge him immediately otherwise the game is going to become a one-man show.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
If you think that Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, etc… hate Michael Jordan because he never let them win a title, there are about plenty more golfers who despise Tiger Woods. He’s just that dominant. More dominant that Michael Jordan.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Hey, that game is exciting. Especially when you (read I) take UCLA and the points.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
How about this. Instead of getting into the debate about whether or not golfers are athletes, we should discuss a less controversial topic….like abortion.
March 17th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Tiger has MADE golfers become more athletic, not to mention better players. 20 years ago, golfers were, as a generalization, out of shape and more likely to carry a cigarette in his mouth down the 17th fairway. Now? Most tour players play year round, work out 7 times a week, and keep their body in tip-top shape.
March 17th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
The problem with golf sport vs. non-sport is that it’s simply a debate. Compelling arguments can be made for both sides. It’s an ideal 1st and 10 topic.
March 17th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Wally…that’s a misconception that Tiger is responsible for bringing athleticism to the game.
Jack Nicklaus has said many times that him losing a bunch of weight earlier in his career is the reason he became so successful (he was called Ohio Fats when he first turned pro). Gary Player was always in top shape which allowed him to keep up distance-wise with guys much larger than he is. Arnold Palmer, in his prime, was huge. Ben Hogan went through as rigorous a training regimen as you could imagine while keeping his body able in his post-1949 car accident career that netted him 6 additional majors and 12 more victories. Greg Norman was a legitimate athlete.
Just because golfers lack the bulk of a basketball or football player doesnt mean that they weren’t athletic. and muscle size and strength doesnt mean a thing unless you retain flexibility, so why try and be huge like Tiger is (he’s not even that big)?
just because the public looks at golfers as either lard asses or twigs is just looking at the extreme (which even then, is a minority. just because angel cabrera won while smoking and Daly is still popular doesnt mean a lot of the guys smoke the whole time or are fat fucks). you go back to the golden age of golf in the 1950’s and all the top guys were in shape, and that hasnt changed, theres just more of em now.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
If David Wells or any offense lineman are considered athletes, then Tiger is an athlete.