In GQ there is a discussion on why Tiger is so dominant. And though many theories abound, the fact remains, Tiger kicked everyone’s ass. He had it won on Saturday. There was no mystery on Sunday about who was going to win. The US Open became two events: 1)Tiger vs. Pebble Beach 2)all those other chumps playing for second. Is this good for the game? Are the other players going to push themselves harder, or is there a feeling that Tiger is unbeatable unless he doesn’t have his “A” game? What does this mean to events where Tiger isn’t playing?
Tiger woods, like any sportsman, won’t last forever. Sooner or later age will catch up with him, or he’ll lose cabin pressure at 40,000 feet or something, and then the world will watch in awe as the new Champion of Golf is crowned.
… well, that part of the world that’s interested in a sport as boring as golf is will watch in awe, anyway.
I think he’s good for the game in the sense that he’s attracting more attention to it. Sorta like McEnroe/Connors/Chrissy/Martina did for tennis about 20 years ago. It seems that people like to watch phenoms excel.
He’s horrible for my game, though. I don’t just pale by comparison; I become invisible and disintegrate.
For most of a decade, the Chicago Bulls were dominant in US pro basketball. They were the pinnacle, the ultimate team. Were they bad for the sport? Not at all.
In a different decade, UCLA was the only team worth speaking of in NCAA basketball. They were untouchable, winning 10 championships in 12 years, including seven consecutive titles. Did they kill men’s basketball?
I think your first guess is right, winky. The other players will strive harder. Nothing can exist for long maintaining a status quo. There must always be something to strive toward. Hell, Ernie Els, one of the best in the game, has been playing some of his best golf ever trying to keep up with Tiger. And more importantly, like other superstars before him, he is creating an interest in the game. MJ clearly helped the sport of basketball, encouraging every kid and their dog to shoot hoops and be like Mike. Pele (I can never remember if it’s accented or not) almost singlehandedly created youth soccer in the US, because he was by-god cooler than hell.
-andros-
**
You and the rest of the PGA this past weekend.
I enjoy watching him play. All he wants is to win. I think from a youth standpoint it is great. He sparks that fire in kids to WANT to play golf. Unfortunately, I think that the PGA is going to suffer because TV isn’t going to put as much effort into tourneys Tiger isn’t in. That is a shame. Also, I can see how other players are probably sick and tired of all the “What do you think about Tiger” questions.
but the “he’s too good” argument doesn’t hold much water for me. How can someone be bad for a sport by being too good at it?
It may indeed be boring for the average viewer watching at home, but that doesn’t make it bad for the sport.
I’m still on the “wow” bandwagon, I’ll watch just to see him perform, regardless of the quality of the competition. The man just has the complete game.
More importantly, Tiger has busted open a wonderful, difficult game that has a terribly elitist history. I worked many summers at exclusive golf clubs on the east coast. I remember the sort of people I worked for, and if the idea of Tiger dominating the sport appalls them, then it delights me by default. Watching him calmly tame a famously tricky course, watching him display deep talent in all aspects of the game, and watching him walk down the eighteenth farway, with the gallery prostrating themselves before him and whooping it up and generally having a great time, I say, how can this be bad for golf?
I don’t think he is bad for the game. Like you, I watch in awe. Strength, touch, and intelligence is on display everytime he swings the club. I’m a little more interested in the ramifications his impact will have on:
[list=a]
[li]Other players attitudes[/li][li]Media coverage[/li][li]Non-Tiger Tournament appeal[/li][/list]
I think you would find that athletes that establish higher standards of performance in their sports are invariably GOOD for their games, not bad. Consider two obvious examples:
BABE RUTH literally changed the nature of baseball strategy, establishing the home run as the primary weapon of successful baseball. He more than doubled the season home run record and more than quadrupled the career home run record while rolling up amazing batting averages and incredible numbers of walks, runs, and RBI. He was a unmatched offensive machine, in some years hitting more home runs than entire teams, AND he was an outstanding pitcher.
There’s little doubt Ruth was great for the sport of baseball, raising its popularity to new heights, which is something considering it was already the most popular sport in America. Ruth was the first real pro sports superstar in the sense we understand it today. The addition of the home run as a common weapon made baseball a more multifaceted, interesting game, too, since it not only adds a new dimension to offense but probably was the main reason relief pitching become popular.as a strategy.
WAYNE GRETZKY set and still holds virtually every offensive record recognized by professional hockey. His list of statistical accomplishments, records, awards and overall offensive dominance completely dwarfs any other hockey player. No player in any major North American pro sport matches Gretzky’s total domination.
Gretzky, too, was probably good for his sport. The NHL when he arrived (1979) was not doing well financially and was subject to a lot more franchise instability than it is today, if you can believe that. Gretzky’s amazing play did a lot to popularize hockey in L.A. and subsequently the U.S. south, where many very successful franchises now operate. He remains wildly popular with kids and was and is a major draw for young players.
Incidentally, Gretzky is an interesting comparison to Tiger Woods. Like Woods, Gretzky was a phenom, a kid who from five or six years old was marked for stardom. Like Woods, Gretzky completely dominated his sport at a very young age. Like Woods, he was groomed early by his father, though Walter Gretzky wasn’t as pushy, I don’t think. Like Woods, Gretzky isn’t a physically impressive athlete to look at, although he seems naturally gifted to an almost absurd extent; it has often been said that Gretzky could have been a major league baseball player if he’d wanted to be, and by all accounts excels in every other sport he’s ever tried. Like Woods, Gretzky is an avid student of his game, an extremely intense competitor, and much more gracious and PR-conscious than a lot of pro athletes with less talent.
Both Ruth and Gretzky were involved in team sports. I don’t deny that they heavily influenced their respective games. But Tiger is playing against everyone. When he completely obliterates the field, he receives total attention from the media. Even when he doesn’t have his “A” game, the focus is Tiger Tiger Tiger. With team sports, the media can branch a bit and talk to teammates to get their perspective on winning. In golf the media gets to ask only one person how it feels to win, EVERYONE else must answer, “how does it feel to lose.” I guess this is more of a media centered question.
I’m sure Tiger is going to shift the focus and nature of golf. That much is already obvious. I hope he keeps winning big. Its fun to watch a legend grow.
RickJay wrote:
Not to undermine the the greatness of “Babe” Ruth’s achievement, but – he had three newly-introduced factors helping him along:
First, in 1920, a major-league batter was killed by a skull fracture due to a high-and-inside pitch which hit him in the temple. In the modern world, we’ve eliminated this danger by forcing the batters to wear plastic batting helmets, but in 1920 there were no such things as plastic helmets. The Major Leagues instead decided to bleach the baseballs to a bright, shiny white so they’d be easier to see on the way to the plate, and to insist that a new ball be substituted every time a ball got scuffed up. This severely handicapped the pitchers, who had previously thrown balls the color of unbleached leather which they were free to scratch up, rub dirt on, spit on, and otherwise make harder to see and give unpredictable aerodynamic properties to. Furthermore, since the balls were now substituted with such great regularity, they no longer had a chance to “soften” from repeated thwacks with a bat, and so the game had a lot more pitched balls with their fresh-out-of-the-box liveliness intact.
Second, that very same year, the Major Leagues also decided to tighten the windings in the cores of the balls, for some reason. This made them harder and, thus, they would fly even farther when hit.
Third, and most crucially, Baseball had just been rocked by the Black Sox scandal. It was still America’s most popular sport, but it wasn’t the pinnacle of popularity it used to be. Interest had sagged. At any other time in history, if someone like Babe Ruth had come along and hit outside-the-park home runs with such regularity, the Major Leagues would have changed the rules to make home-run hitting more difficult (i.e. loosened the windings back up, widened home plate, raised the pitcher’s mound, etc.). But Babe Ruth was bringing so much needed popularity to this sport that the Powers That Be simply decided not to interfere.
It wasn’t just Ruth’s raw talent that changed the game – he was also in the right place at the right time.
winky:
A) From what I hear, the other player on the tour are, as we are, in awe. While there may be some disgruntlement now, I think that in a few years the attitudes among players will be similar to the attitudes of NBA players to Jordan–“he’s the best, I just hope I can hang close and maybe put one over on him once in a while.”
I don’t think anyone will be leavign the tour out of jealousy or frustration. Firstly, just because he’s amazing doesn’t mean Tiger cannot be beaten. He has been, many times. Secondly, as Tiger brings more money into the sport, salaries will increase. For the bulk of Tour players, who are much more interested in making Thursday’s cut than ever thinking about winning, Tiger can only bve a positive thing. And for the big names, they know Tiger, they respect him, I think they’ll continue to challenge him and only improve their skills.
B) and C) The media love the guy, of course. NBC said that Tiger being on the leader board Saturday was worth a full ratings point, and his being on the board sunday was worth two more. That’s over three million extra viewers. So they’ll definitely hang tough to the tourneys he’s in.
And most of those people are NOT golf fans. Some of them will be after watching Tiger. His hype is increasing the popularity of the sport, and the more popular the sport, the more people watch ALL golf, not just Tiger golf.
I hate to keep making references to Da Bulls, but Jordan, while wildly increasing the popularity of his own team, also helped increase revenues and attendance throughout the NBA.
-andros-
Its monday & I went down to the Open site today & looked around the ocean area for some US Open balls. Didn’t find any. I figured those guys wouldn’t hit them there anyway & plus there was tons of 5’ high poison oak.
Anyway, I noticed Tiger has the Nike baseball cap, in other words, he doesn’t need the bucks from golf, so I wonder why he plays?
I suspect, handy, that Tiger has a contract with Nike because he plays golf.
He plays because it’s what he does. Why did MJ play basketball? After all, he had the endorsement contracts . . .
Maybe I’m missing something, but. . .HUH?
Babe Ruth hit 29 home runs in 1919, splitting time among the outfield and first base and pitching while playing in Fenway Park, a poor home run park for lefthanders.
While Ruth did benefit from different rules in 1920, he was still far and away the most dominant player of his time. In 1921, he outhomered every other team in the AL except the Yankees.
The sport did adapt. It adapted by finding more players who could hit home runs.
As for Tiger Woods, he is one of the best things that has ever happened to golf. He is drawing in thousands of new fans. TV ratings are way up for tournaments he plays in. Ratings aren’t as high when he doesn’t play, but that phenomenon is present in every sport. How many people would tune into NBC’s NBA coverage if the featured game was the Clippers vs. the Grizzlies?
Soon, someone will be playing at Tiger’s level. What will be interesting is whether or not Tiger regresses or whether someone else can improve to that level. It would be great for the sport if it’s the latter.
Stoli said,
I take a little, smirking pleasure in this, too. There were clubhouses that, until recently, still wouldn’t admit blacks or Jews. (Wasn’t there some sort of flap about George Bush belonging to one of them? Somebody like that.) Hell, they probably wouldn’t admit me, and I’m white and I’ve been baptized.
Anyway, then along comes Tiger.
Anything that makes rednecks squirm is amusing.
Winky states;
2)all those other chumps playing for second.
Gettin a little carried away there, eh winky? 
I’m not a big sports fan, but some things are simply beautiful. Tiger Woods’ game is one of them. So are the the games of some of winky’s “chumps”.
Nice thread, winky.
Peace,
mangeorge (Golf, guys. Golf)
Rsydad… rednecks? No rednecks are just stupid not elitist
If Tiger is so bad for the game, then why did CBS basically screwed their powerful Sunday night lineup for extensive coverage of the tournament? This is probably the first time in memory that a live tournament was covered until 10 pm on the East coast. They could have switched to programming at 7. But they figured, and I agree, that history would be in the making.
I think you mean NBC and it was Saturday that the coverage ran long because of the fog delay from the first round.
Even if Tiger wasn’t in the lead, NBC would have kept showing the Open. They paid a lot of money for the rights and what else would they have been showing? Reruns of “Profiler”?
Without a doubt, should be outlawed.
I’ve never heard of a T-ball team hitting so poorly with runners in scoring position.
Oh … I’m sorry. I thought you were asking if the (Detroit)Tigers were bad for the game.