Tiger Woods

Don Wassall

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It's a bird, it's a plane. . . it's SUPERMAN!!!

While rivals catch ZZZs, Tiger gets even better
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. â€" While a few of his rivals are still sleeping, the best player in the world keeps getting better.



Not by the usual leaps and bounds, the length of a fairway, nor even a few feet.


Today we're talking millimeters.


Tiger Woods is standing behind the practice green in front of the clubhouse early Monday at Bethpage Black, lining up golf balls tight against the collar of rough surrounding the putting surface. His tee time is still three days off.


Woods has already played nine holes, putted for a half-hour and hit two dozen chips out of the thick stuff. This last bit of practice is to settle on what kind of shot he wants to hit if one of his approaches rolls off a green and nestles up against the 2-inch high collar. It's a scene only a golf junkie could love.


Woods first tries "blading" the shot â€" using the leading edge of his wedge to strike the ball and start it rolling like a putt. Then he tries a more conventional chip, popping the ball softly in the air. As Woods realizes there's a danger he might hit the ball a second time, even as it's taking off, he modifies his swing, quickly pulling the club back a heartbeat after striking the ball.


It requires the kind of strength and dexterity few possess. But the same guy who can stop his driver dead in the middle of his downswing â€" something Woods does on tee boxes when he hears a hummingbird take off two fairways over â€" makes it look easy.


Hank Haney, Woods' coach, watches nearby with his arms crossed and a quizzical smile. Woods takes in Haney's reaction and responds with an embarrassed smile of his own. Then he offers, almost defensively, "It's like T.C. Chen."


Nothing more has to be said.


Chen was a Taiwanese golfer who came out of nowhere to grab the lead at 1985 U.S. Open. At the fifth hole on the final day, he tried to chip from brutal greenside rough, popped the ball straight up, then hit it a second time when it was thigh-high. A penalty stroke was added to the two he'd already wasted on that fateful shot, leading to a quadruple-bogey 8 and an eventual second-place finish.


While T.C. actually stood for Tze-Chung, he was immortalized in golf lore as "Two-Chip" Chen.


Woods' place in golf lore is already secure, but it hasn't dulled his competitive edge. Like nearly all the other parts of his foundation, Woods' desire was unveiled as a kid and carefully nurtured by his father, Earl, a former Green Beret who died in 2006.


Earl was never one to waste a teaching moment, and during a phone conversation almost a decade ago, he recalled watching a Los Angeles Lakers game with his son:


"I used to tell Tiger, 'You watch Magic next year and he'll have at least one new shot.' We would watch them next year, and Tiger would look for the shot Magic had been working on all summer. And he's never forgotten that."


Woods continues to experiment with shots nobody else on tour would touch. He's taken the "knockdown" â€" typically a mid- to short-iron shot that bores through the wind â€" and adapted it for use with his 3-wood. He's got one wedge shot with a stiff-armed swing that turns left upon landing, another where he cuts sharply across the ball to make it go right. All that's missing are turn signals on his golf bag.


Every golfer tailors his game to fit the course or the weather they expect to encounter that week. But with the exception of Phil Mickelson, not one has such a wide array of shots, nor the imagination to improvise something new on the spot.


Woods developed those skills playing alongside his father when he was young. He wasn't strong enough to hit his approach shots over a hazard in the distance, so he learned to carve out a path around them instead. He expanded that arsenal under former coach Butch Harmon, but since hooking up with Haney in 2004, he's delved even deeper into the mechanics of the swing. The results have been so impressive the temptation to expand it further continues to this day.


Calling Woods a quick study is almost redundant, which may be why he's usually the one to poke holes in the idea. After he finished practice, he turned to two reporters standing nearby and struck up a conversation that wound its way to college athletes.


Woods told a few jokes about his struggles with calculus and physics during his freshman year at Stanford, then made fun of the notion that everything comes easy to him.


"Anybody who took a class with me there should send me a check," Woods joked, "because I lowered the curve in every one."


Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke (at)ap.org
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/jun/15/jim-litke-while-rivals-catch-zzzs-tiger-gets-even-/
 

Thrashen

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I saw something funny during one of the millions of ESPN-Tiger interviews.

It appears that the "perfect one" has a single yellowish brown front tooth in his room-brightening smile. It's very noticable. It's pretty pathetic that even with the myriad of endoresements this corperate-funded piggie has participated in....he could at least get his teeth whitened to look the part while he's selling Oldsmobiles / Nike / Gatoraide.

As Don has pointed out thousands of times before....the sports media is once again "wooing" Tiger to victory. God how I hope the "Tiger is back" orgasm blows up their f*cking ugly faces.Edited by: Thrashen
 
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There was a time when Johnny Miller was in TV commercials constantly in the 1970's. These commercials continued for a couple of years after Miller stopped winning. There were even jokes about Johnny Miller going to make a commercial after finishing down in the pack at the latest major tournament.

If Tiger was to stop winning, how long would his TV ads continue to run? Would it be about two years as in Johnny Miller's case, or longer?
 

Don Wassall

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The Future President of the World is actually taken to task. Rick Reilly must either have dementia or is planning on retiring early. Really, all he's doing is pointing out the obvious that other white writers won't, either because they are afraid to, or because their case of Tiger worship runs too deep to see any flaws in their idol.

And even this piece has the disclaimers and gratuitous compliments -- "Never shows up in the back of a squad car with a black eye. Never gets busted in a sleazy motel with three 'freelance models.'" -- as if that kind of behavior is routine among PGA players. What he's really saying is, "Even though Woods is considered black he has refrained thus far from committing a serious crime, unlike so many of his fellow black athletes."

Woods needs to clean up his act

Tiger, please, where are your manners?

Tiger Woods has outgrown those Urkel glasses he had as a kid. Outgrown the crazy hair. Outgrown a body that was mostly neck.









When will he outgrow his temper?








The man is 33 years old, married, the father of two. He is paid nearly $100 million a year to be the representative for some monstrously huge companies, from Nike to Accenture. He is the world's most famous and beloved athlete.








And yet he spent most of his two days at Turnberry last week doing the Turn and Bury. He'd hit a bad shot, turn and bury his club into the ground in a fit. It was two days of Tiger Tantrums -- slamming his club, throwing his club and cursing his club. In front of a worldwide audience.








A whole lot of that worldwide audience is kids. They do what Tiger does. They swing like Tiger, read putts like Tiger and do the celebration biceps pump like Tiger. Do you think for two seconds they don't think it's cool to throw their clubs like Tiger, too?








He's grown in every other way. He's committed, responsible, smart, funny and the most talented golfer in history. I just thought we'd be over the conniptions by now.








If there were no six-second delay, Tiger Woods would be the reason to invent it. Every network has been burned by having the on-course microphone open when he blocks one right into the cabbage and starts with the F-bombs. Once, at Doral, he unleashed a string of swear words at a photographer that would've made Artie Lange blush, and then snarled, "'The next time a photographer shoots a [expletive] picture, I'm going to break his [expletive] neck!"



It's disrespectful to the game, disrespectful to those he plays with and disrespectful to the great players who built the game before him. Ever remember Jack Nicklaus doing it? Arnold Palmer? When Tom Watson was getting guillotined in that playoff to Stewart Cink, did you see him so much as spit? Only one great player ever threw clubs as a pro -- Bobby Jones -- and he stopped in his 20s when he realized how spoiled he looked.








This isn't new. Woods has been this way for years: swearing like a Hooters' bouncer, trying to bury the bottom of his driver into the tee box, flipping his club end over end the second he realizes his shot is way offline.








I can still remember the 1997 Masters -- arguably the most important golf tournament ever played. Woods, then 21, was playing the 15th hole on Sunday. He had just hit a fairway wood out of the rough and was watching it. A young boy came up from behind just to touch him -- just to pat the back of this amazing new superhero. That's when Tiger pulled the club way back over his head and slammed it down, nearly braining the kid he couldn't see behind him. And this was with a huge lead.








Look, in every other case, I think Tiger Woods has been an A-plus role model. Never shows up in the back of a squad car with a black eye. Never gets busted in a sleazy motel with three "freelance models." Never gets so much as a parking ticket. But this punk act on the golf course has got to stop. If it were my son, I'd tell him the same thing: "Either behave or get off the course."








Come to think of it, if I were the president of Nike, I'd tell him the same thing.








Put it this way: Will Tiger let his own two kids carry on in public like that?








I know what you're saying. We see more Tiger tantrums because TV shows every single shot he hits. And I'm telling you: You're wrong. He is one of the few on Tour who do it. And I keep wondering when PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem is going to have the cojones to publicly upbraid him for it.








Golf is a gentlemen's game. Stomping and swearing and carrying on like a Beverly Hills tennis brat might fly in the NBA or in baseball or in football, where less is expected, but golf demands manners. It's your honor. Is my mark in your way? No, I had 6, not 5. Golfers call penalties on themselves. We are our own police. Tiger, police yourself.








Tiger does a boatload of work for kids. He raises millions for his Tiger Woods Learning Center, which has helped teach thousands. But teaching goes the wrong way, too. Tiger is teaching them that if he can be a hissy hothead on the course, they can, too.








I remember Tiger's dad, Earl, telling a story. One day, when Tiger was just a kid, he was throwing his clubs around in a fuming fit when his dad said something like "Tiger, golf is supposed to be fun." And Tiger said, "Daddy, I want to win. That's how I have fun."








Well, it's not fun to watch.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=reilly_rick&id=4347419
 

Europe

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He doesn't need "freelance models", he's got a hot wife. I never heard anything about his personal life before he got married. He must have been seeing many women at the various stops on tour.

I remember McEnroe was constantly criticized by everyone for his behavior on the court, but not Woods on the course.
 

Colonel_Reb

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Don, thanks for posting that article. I'm glad someone in the MSM has the guts to say what everyone already knows. I sincerely hope that the bad play and hissy fits continue!
 

Thrashen

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Don is correct, Rick Reilly has been acting very strange lately. Almost "rebelling" against his ESPN handlers....the caste billionares who made him their top stooge at ESPN the magazine.

Recently, I saw the Colin Cowherd(turd) on ESPN's new show "Sports Nation," and they were discussing Rick Reilly's "Tiger Is A Spoiled Brat" article in great depth.

Cowherd and the standard 'random hot woman co-host' quickly dismissed Reilly's article....and suggested that "Tiger is just too passionate about the game of golf, extreme pressure, fame, forture, etc."

That article is exactly what we've been discussing at CF for years. He even mentioned Tiger's cursing and bitching whilst his young white fans sniff his jock.

I guess Reilly got tired of writing bland, sleep-inducing articles about Labron, Kobe, Ali, Frasier, Jordan, Ray Lewis, TO, OchoCinco, and other standard caste figure heads. At least Reilly isnt boring anymore....it may cost his him cushy little job, though.
 

Quiet Speed

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I imagine I saw the same episode of Sports Nation as Thrashen. The two hosts were also of the opinion that Woods was just being a regular guy. They aired results of a poll where over 70% were just fine with the behavior. The results are here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/fp/flashPollResultsState?pollId=75055

Years ago Reilly wrote something that pointed out a double standard. His tack was not to be overly serious. He likely had to carefully craft an article that would prevent him from getting into deep excrement.

SI's Rick Reilly: White like Me (1/30/02)</font></font>
 

Thrashen

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Quiet Speed, thank you very much for not only remembering an article from 2002, but actually finding it after 7 years! Nice job, dude.

Reilly's article is sarcastic as can be, it liked it. Naturally, he was only pointing out blatantly obvious, irrefutible evidence of racial bias. Nevertheless, we'll take what we can get.
 

Jack Lambert

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I'm starting to get really sick of the moronic DWFs who continually cheer for Tiger Woods, no matter how bad is doing, or how many of his clubs he throws into the ground. I was watching the Buick Open today, when I heard the DWFs chant: "Let's go Tiger!" for a good 30 seconds twice.
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It's stuff like this that I really hate. I hope they know Tiger probably thinks they are all pretty stupid, and he could care less if they cheered for him or not. Tiger doesn't care about anyone else but himself. I feel sorry for Michael Letzig having to listen to this crap all day. No doubt most of the fans there hate him, and hope he loses to King Woods.
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DixieDestroyer

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I'm not a golf fan/follower, but I've always been annoyed by the DWF nutt-riders who constantly sniff Lord Tiger's jockstrap. He's always struck me as an ego-maniac who's hyped to the max by the caste media.
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Don Wassall

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Woods beat a weak field to win a minor tournament today, but the mediaplayed it upthe past three daysalmost as if he won a major. They must have been in near panic mode after their idol missed the cut at the British Open. All the white Tiger worshippers in the media can sleep soundly tonight cuddlednext totheir Tigerblow-up dolls. . .
 

forty-four

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"All the white Tiger worshippers in the media can sleep soundly tonight cuddled next to their Tiger blow-up dolls. . . "

That's hilariuos! Thanks for the laugh this morning.
 

Poacher

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Reilly made up for his Woods criticism last week by throwing Phil Jackson and Roger Federer (with Serena Williams thrown in for cover) under the bus in his last article.

He takes Fed and Jackson to task for wearing the "15" jacket and the "X" hat respectively. So typical of the double standard the media applies to the behavior of white and black athletes. Federer and Jackson have been decent guys ever since they emerged but if their judgement lapses for one second its time to sharpen the knives. In contrast Woods has been throwing his tantrums for years with nary a peep from the "msm."

This dovetails nicely with the media's handling of the Gates incident vis-a-vis black on white crime. Literally thousands of whites are murdered, raped, robbed, assaulted and otherwise have their lives made miserable every year by non-white (mostly black) criminals and the msm ignores it. Let one black get arrested under unusual circumstances and its hands across America.

Woods beat a bunch of stiffs at the Buick.Edited by: Poacher
 

Jack Lambert

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Yeah, the way the media was talking you would've thought Tiger had just won the Masters. The media is also very giddy and excited for Tiger to pass Jack Nikalaus for 2nd most wins, ever. He will inevitably do so, winning a few more minor tournaments with really weak fields to get there.

Also, the media declares golf a sport again with Tiger winning yesterday.

Don, the media members must have nearly died if Tiger had missed the cut at the Buick in such a weak field. After Tiger had his good round, they probably wet themselves over excitement.

Poacher, if a white guy in golf threw anywhere near as many tantrums as Tiger, he would be made fun of and buried by the media as a "spoiled baby who can't keep his temper."
 

Thrashen

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Among the top 50 or so who placed at the 2009 Buick Open, the only players that your average golf fan has even heard of are Justin Leonard, Jim Furyk, Mike Letzig and Ben Crane. Not exactly household names"¦.even among the hardcore DWF golf sub-culture.

If Mickleson, Els, or Goosen had sneaked past these average players"¦.the media would have collectively yawned (and rightly so). Naturally, because this "feat"Â￾ was achieved by the media / corporate / cultural marxist poster-boy (with emphasis on ‘boy'), we were forced to watch him pumping his fists in victory. What's wrong Tiger"¦why aren't you smashing your clubs and cursing in front of your young fans? I guess, for once, it wasn't the fallen angel's "time of the month."Â￾Or maybe he finally felt superior again"¦over a field of players that was inferior.

As is standard procedure for all media outlets"¦.we will now be instructed via a hypnotic-style "replay clip session"Â￾ on ESPN that "TIGER IS BACK!"Â￾
 

Don Wassall

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The daily Cultural Marxist fishwraphere has a picture of Woods holding his trophy from winning the minor tournament on the front page today -- not the front page of the sports section, the front page! Can it get any more absurd? As I've maintained over the past several years, it had to be the same way in Pravda and Ivestia and the rest of the Soviet mediaduring the last years of the USSR -- the more that people can see through the non-stop lies and propaganda, the more furiously the lies and propaganda are pushed. Or, another way of looking at it, the U.S. media is like National Lampoon and Mad magazine come to life!

ManBehindTheCurtain.jpg
 

Europe

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The host of the local ESPN radio show here said that it was lucky they had Tom Watson, who he called 90 years old, doing well in the British Open because that saved the tournament since Tiger didn't make the cut.
 

foreverfree

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Poacher, two questions...

1) What's a "15" jacket"? (I assume that "X" hat was a Malcom X hat.)

2) What'd Reilly have to say about Serena?

John
 

Jack Lambert

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Well Tiger is 5 back after two days at the Bridgestone. Let's see how he does with a few more big names in here this time. Hopefully, Phil can pick his game up the last two days. No cakewalk for the messiah this week.Edited by: Jack Lambert
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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barely a day goes by when there's not a story about "the most amazing athlete to ever walk the earth" in the local bird cage liner, even though he has no ties whatsoever to this city or even to this state.

furthermore, when Tom Watson wasmaking hisHISTORIC rungoing into the final day a couple of weeks back,where"Lord" Tiger had already failed to makethe cut ... who do you think had a huge, full-color picture on the front page of the sports section?

you guessed it, and it wasn't Mr. Watson.
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Deadlift

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I'm confident that Padraig will post a good score on the final day of this tournament.

I believe in him.
 

Jack Lambert

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Yeah, that would be awesome if Padraig could beat Woods in the final pairing today.
 

jaxvid

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Hadrington unraveled like a cheap suit. Chalk up another one for his royal highness. I guess it's not only americans that choke when playing Woods.
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Edited by: jaxvid
 
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