Words By David D.
Earlier this week I witnessed a display of guts and greatness in sports I haven’t seen since MJ dropped 38 points with the flu.
And no this didn’t happen in that façade of an NBA finals in which Kobe & co. tucked their tails in between their legs and quit on us halfway through a basketball game.
It happened on a golf course.
Tiger Woods showed us what a real champion was when he fought through excruciating pain and won a major tournament in a thrilling sudden death battle. It was his first tournament back from knee surgery and we could all see the pain on Tiger’s face. On Monday night after the tournament was over, I realized that I had witnessed an unreal showing of sheer will.
However, when news broke that Tiger was playing with a stress fracture and would need an entire year off to recover, the legendary effort was elevated to Herculean levels that we may never see again. I now have a story that I will tell my children over and over again. No, there were no slam dunks or reverse lay-ups. But the grit and determination it takes to put 130 mph of torque on a stress fractured knee in between walking a total of forty miles from hole to hole is unparalleled. Just two weeks before the tournament his doctor told him to be on crutches for three weeks. Dude was barely walking from the dining room table to the fridge. Somehow he walked onto the course and won a major.
Now he’s gone for a year. Ratings will plummet. Attendance will go down. And every champion this year will have a San Antonio-sized asterisk by his name.
For years we’ve searched for the heir apparent. We’ve looked to the sky for the next great athlete to capture our imaginations. Kobe ain’t it, buddy. The new millennium’s great athlete has been in front of our faces this whole time quietly putting birdies and eagles with an occasional sly grin and fist pump.
When I have a child and want to show him or her an example of sheer greatness, we’ll sit down and watch a “boring ass” round of golf in which one man fought through unbearable pain to show us what a real champion looks like.
So thank you Tiger Woods. Get well homie and come back soon.
Greatest Sports Accomplishment: Tiger Woods Wins U.S. Open By 15 Strokes [Bleacher Report]
Woods Forced Out For Rest Of Season [Boston Globe]
Sylword Walker – Lamb Bread
Class Of 3000 OST
Gym Class Heroes – …For The Kids (2001)
Breez_Evaflowin-Dont_Stop-(Import_VLS)-2001
Dudley_Perkins_(Prod._by_Madlib)-Flowers-Vinyl-2002
The_Alchemist-Cutting_Room_Floor_2-(Limited_Edition)-2008
Dwele-Sketches_Of_A_Man-2008
VA-J._Armz-How_To_Be_An_MC_53
![[avatar]](http://p.uproxxcdn.com/global/images/default-avatar.jpg){kind=avatar}
![[image]](http://cdn.tss.uproxx.com/TSS/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2011/12/tiger-woods-wins-475-150x72.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.tss.uproxx.com/TSS/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2011/11/Sally-Ferreira-lead-150x150.jpg)
Paul Pierce would play the rest of the year! Wuss
Yep. Golf is definitely not my thing, but as a sports dude, I gotta admit I got into it last week cause that shit was impressive. The first time I ever watched golf for more than the split second it takes to change the channel was when dude won his first Master’s. Tiger is the truf.
man….Tiger makes golf fun to watch
the nigga played w/ a torn ACL AND a stress fracture
I tried to tell y’all Thursday that dude was on to some shit. I want my kids to be as good at what they do as Tiger is at good at golf.
T.Woods = killer instinct.
Survival. Been watching his career for a minute
dude’s on another planet. Hope he comes back
stronger.
like many of us, we were waiting for the game 5 to start but kept on flipping back on that last hole on Tuesday. Then for him to finish the way, he did. Exactly, reminded me of MJ in Utah where he practically collapsed off the floor and needed Pippen to help him up. And I like how the haters are calling him a faker…
Was tryin to tell ya’ll to watch Tiger on Monday!
It truly was a great moment. Definitely on par with MJ in Utah w/flu.
El Tigre is the truth.
The Onion went the other way with it:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/man_who_used_stick_to_roll
HAHA. The Onion always did silly ish like that. That’s actually really funny.
I remember when MJ was sick that game. You can’t fake the flu.
Dude walked 40 miles on bum wheels….
smh
and oh yeah, won a golf tournament.
damn.
i just played golf for the 1st time this past saturday when i was down in the N.O. for a bachelor party and i was surpised as hell to find out how much fun it was. i typically prefer basketball as the sport to play, but the golf shit is pretty cool….if you go with the right folks.
i tried for the longest to justify not playing it because of it’s racist undertones and whathaveyou…but i think i might have been bitten by the bug.
i say all that say that i have a newfound respect for tiger…not just for being able to play through a torn acl and stress fractures, but for playing the sport at all cause it ain’t finding shade out on the green as a light skinned negro…i hate the sun. it’s all hot and omnipresent and shit. after like the 1st two holes, i was ready to find some AC and chill out.
playing golf on a hot ass day in N.O. is like running through hell with a furnace chasing you. therefore, golf ain’t for the weak-hearted so i can never hate on el tigre.
Golf is 50x more taxing mentally than physically because you have to lock in at least 100 times. Add that to focusing thru pain and pressure. Tiger= the new Mike.
That bicep looks mad photoshopped lol.
^nahh..I saw the US Open and was like damn Tiger is on the juice!!
@Ghostdini – Golf is a great sport. Cant blame anything on a another person. I was bitten by the bug a few years back…..ended up tsking lessons buying shirts,clubs, bags, hella golf balls (still lose em), and anything golf related.
Only draw back w/golf. YOU GOTTA PAY TO PLAY!
Only a few can sit at the table with the likes of MJ and Gretzsky, Tiger is definitely one of them.
Great read David, anyone who slept on the US Open missed a great final round of golf.
^ Hell yeah… and I’m always to lazy to walk the course. $40 for the cart, even if you don’t play a full 18.
yeah tiger’s good.
Class of 3000 soundtrack! Yes!
gw
Tiger is on some BS when it comes to social and sport issues. If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense to talk about it in his book.
But this performance was ill. I mean did Rocco choke? yeah, but when the time came Woods put his foot, torn ACL, bad knee, etc on Mediate’s neck.
I still can’t call Woods the greatest golfer ever for one simple reason: we determine all time greats by comparing eras and Woods wouldn’t have been allowed to play against any of the guys he chases.
Until 1968, the PGA’s #1 requirement for competing in events was being a Caucasian Male. Woods would’ve never been allowed on any course in this country in any capacity beyond serving mint juleps to club members. So all of Ben Hogan’s, Nicklaus’ Palmer’s ,Tom Kite’s, etc. records are kinda bogus.
As for Bobby Jones, widely considered the greatest golfer of all-time, BJ would’ve taken a driver to Woods’ head as he was a card-carrying KKK member and loudly and proudly hated blacks.
yeah…turk. if you don’t have that moolah then golf definitely ain’t for ya.
shit, i’m about to start hitting up some public courses for real. my guy is already giving me his hand-me-down clubs. i know that ain’t necessarily the way to go…but for a beginner like me, it’ll work. that way when i take lessons, i don’t look all the way like a bonafied loser.
As for toughness, i’ll take Ronnie Lott cutting his finger off just to go back into a playoff game back when he was with the 49ers.
Dude took that little digit and said, “chop it–i got 9 spares,” then went back into the game. And won.
Woods is strong but he ain’t losing no body parts, B.
Another thing, TW’s 1.5 legged win just showed once again how soft golfers are.
Dudes in other sports play with everything from ruptured spleens, concussions, broken bones, to you name it. If Woods were a running back, a coach would tell him to get taped up and get a cortisone shot and some vicodine and walk it off.
But no, these punk ass spoiled golfers are always bitching about something. They get a blister and they’re out for a month. They get mad when the grass is too high, when the wind blows too hard, when the pin placement is too high. If the cup is too far away…
The want new clubs, new balls, specific tee times… They wear loafers for crissake! C’mon, woods is great but how hard is your sport when it involves players wearing dress slacks and loafers with thumb tacks for traction?
How tough is your sport when you demand that the fans shut up because you can’t hit a shot with loud talking in the background?
How tough is your sport when dudes with garbage records can simply get sponsor exemptions to play anyway? i mean, that’s like saying, “I’ve proved I’m not good enough for this tourney’s standards, but gimme a slot any way, just because.”
How tough is your sport when Woods is the only guy on tour that can do more than 10 push-ups in a row?
How tough is your sport when as the Onion so aptly noted–somebody else has to carry your equipment for your just so you can compete?
Woods ran down a field of guys who are so soft, they need appearance fees just to show up and compete. Not contracts, not prize money, but “pay-me-for-the-privilege-of-my-presence” loot. (hey golfers, Naomi Campbell called–she said ya’ll are some stuck up hoes.)
Wood’s win was nice, but when they add random sniper fire and/or occasional shots to the gut between pins, then you can holla at me about toughness.
@Ghost – trust me man. That is the way to go. Wait until you get the basics down and work your way up. PLUS, when you get out on the public courses, you’ll notice that everybody sucks like you!
Golf aint for everybody.
@Black – play golf then come back and say that. I was the same way.
Turk, I’ve played. golf’s competitve. it’s a contest of will, mental focus, etc.
but compared to other sports, it’s soft.
Golf is Jazz–it’s the only arena where a 50 year old man with a pot belly and flat shoes has a legit shot at beating a man half his age and twice his health.
You also lose me with the golf cart. That Casey Martin cat got screwed out of a cart because them selfish PGA brats didn’t want anybody who’s almost as good as they were on talent alone to pass them up due to access to the same equipment they could use.
‘ef ‘em.
Don’t get me wrong i fuck wit Tiger Woods and how he is the only other sports figure to capture his ERA such as Jordan. But all the respect Tiger is getting for this “injured” performance is insane. TRUE athletes all over America are probably mad as shit right now. Like someone said a few post before. Golf is the only “SPORT” that a 60-70 yr old man can still compete in and have more then a decent chance at winning.
The only “sport” that your wardrobe is business casual attire. A polo shirt and some dockers.
The only “sport” were fans can’t make noise to distract the players.
The only “sport” were the players don’t wear uniforms
The only “sport” you don’t break a real sweat in from competing and not the weather.
The only “sport” that you don’t have to worry about the wear and tear of your body later on in life.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to disrespect golf but when you compare that to REAL SPORTS and REAL ATHLETES then that is disrespectful. Golf is a skill not a sport. It was a impressive performance by Tiger but he didnt get that injury playing golf, he probably was trying some new position on his wife or doing some type of extracurricular actiivity.
P.S. I want to apologize to all REAL athletes on behalf of the media and or anyone else who dears to put this performance on the same level as
-Emmitt Smith playing with a broken hand and still stiff arming defenders
-Donovan McNabb playing an entire game with a franctured ankle and still put up great numbers
-Ronnie Lott getting the remainder of his finger cut off for a playoff game
PLEASE FORGIVE THEM LOL
^ co-sign Black & Ray
@ ray and canseco:
spoken with true ignorance of the sport! comparing golf’s finest to other athletes is not an apples to apples comparison. golf is the game that can’t be one, it’s you against the field (most times).
i’ve been on the greens, swinging sticks with my homies who all said the same/similar things prior to picking up a club.
you guys would be surprised how difficult it is to hit a tiny sphere that is stationary on the ground with any degree of consistency. when you take into account all the different types of shots those guys can hit at any given time and i have to strongly disagree that golf isn’t a real sport.
golf is much more about skill and finesse than brute strength. i believe tiger’s sheer athleticism is one of the defining characteristics coupled with his adroit ability to control the ball that sets him so far ahead of his competition time and time again.
Golf is for pussies.