New York Post Top 10 Hated List

Every year some newspaper or magazine publishes a top ten list of some kind and the New York Post has come through with there’s.

There are some people worthy of being on the list, scam artist Bernie Madoff who made off with people’s money and retirement savings. John Edwards who left his wife while she was sick with cancer, understandable why he would be number on the list.

Sports figures that made the top ten, former NFL great OJ Simpson, former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky and Tiger Woods. Now I understand Simpson and Sandusky they are both thought to be guilty of the crimes they were accused of, while Sandusky awaits his trial. But Tiger has committed no crimes, hurt nobody but himself. I understand people got their feelings hurt because they put him up on a pedestal and held him as a role model, but for him to be on this particular list is a little shocking. As a consequence the thing is, there’s nothing he can do. People will always hold his cheating ways against him, no matter how much he wins, how much charity he does there will always be a contingent that will hate Tiger.

Perhaps one day people will look past his personal and accept him for what he is, an exceptional athlete who has human flaws just like the rest of us.

Stevie Williams Takes Another Shot at Tiger

Once best friends forever, Tiger Woods and his former caddie Stevie Williams are on par for a Kobe and Shaq like beef. At a HSBC Champions dinner in Shanghai when asked to explain his overtop celebration after Adam Scotts win at Firestone in August Williams replied “My aim was to shove it right up that black a$$.” According to The Telegraph, the crowd which included players, caddies and sponsors who were there to commemorate the caddie of the year award were stunned by his comments. However I don’t see why, as the story goes; he was invited on stage to accept an ironic ‘celebration of the year’ award from his fellow caddies.  So if you’re going to invite him to recall a moment he was showing up Tiger, why be surprised he took another shot at him? Now many sites have said these remarks were racist, although I disagree, just because color was mentioned doesn’t mean the comments were racist. Stevie was fired and that’s why he doesn’t like Tiger, that’s it. Sometimes times the media acts as if when people of different races don’t get along that it’s because of race.

Is Tiger on the Prowl?

After 2 days, and a combined 1 under par score later golf is finally back on the radar of most casual fans and has everybody screaming that Tiger is on his way back. STOP…Let’s analyze this for a second. He hasn’t played for three months and just because he’s looked ‘ok’ at one of his favorite courses doesn’t mean that Tiger is on his way back. Tiger is held to a higher standard, he’s not expected to just contend, he’s expected to win most tournaments he’s in and those expectations will not change. Now might those goals be lofty considering he’s coming off of his injuries, yes, but why should we change them if Tiger himself expects to win every time he tees up? I will say that what I’ve seen from Tiger does look encouraging and gives us hope that he can be on the comeback trail. However, let’s let him be in contention on Sunday before we say he’s back, he could fall apart and come the final round be right back at square one. And as far as golf being on the radar again; the PGA better hope that Tiger is at least healthy, because when he’s not at least playing, no one outside of diehard fans are watching golf.

Lost in the Woods

This week Tiger has experienced another big change in his life, firing his long time caddie Stevie Williams. That makes in the last two years Tiger has lost his wife, encountered more injury problems, lost his squeaky clean public image and now his caddie. However, none of these are why Tiger is not winning. He lost his confidence, he no longer feels unbeatable when he steps on a course, and now others aren’t afraid of him. Now firing the caddie that has helped you win 13 majors may not be the brightest move but a new voice may be needed. We see that strategy all the time in baseball, basketball and football. So why can’t it apply here? Stevie wasn’t going to be the special elixir that brought him out of his slump, so no harm no foul. Now if you want to speak upon Tiger and his loyalty being lost, well that’s our fault for thinking he had any. I’ve never thought of Tiger and Stevie as friends, but as people that since they work together they’ve are more than associates, but not quite friends. Hence it should be no surprise that Stevie plans to write a book, and the chapters on Tiger will be as heavy as a 6 ton gorilla. That’s not something that a ‘friend’ would do. So for all the whining Stevie is doing about loyalty and wasting 2 years of his life, where’s his loyalty to Tiger. I’ll always say this, in big money situations most people will have no loyalty to any person, only their wallet, and family. Example, Stevie could have as easily bitched out Tiger face to face, on the phone, and left it at that. However he chose to go on television vent his feelings, and mention how he plans to write a book. Are these actions of loyalty? Nope, therefore let’s just assume this. Both Tiger and Stevie have no loyalty to each other. Thus Tiger fired Stevie to get a new voice and leave behind anyone that was associated with his past good or bad. Stevie is bitter because he’s no longer with the most lucrative golfer and will most likely not make the same money he did before. Moral of the story… Do your dirt by yourself so there are no witnesses, and remember its business, never personal.

Tiger Now Has an App for that?

Tiger Woods just released his new endeavor, which is an application for your mobile device that will allow the one and only Tiger Woods to coach you on your golf swing. Are you serious? No, really, Tiger didn’t just do that right? I got love for Tiger. He’s a big reason why I play golf to this day, the biggest influence behind me playing high school golf. However, as the saying goes, timing is everything and the timing for this is terrible. Tiger hasn’t won a golf tournament in over 400 days and in his last tournament he was hitting the ball out of bounds. If anybody should be using an app to fix their swing it should be Tiger. His swing is worse than a two year old wailing a plastic golf club. Now for the record, I do believe Tiger will break out of this slump, but as it stands now, Tiger flat out sucks at golf. For those that don’t play golf, think of it this way. Imagine a fourth grader that struggles writing between the lines and in cursive attempting to give the third grader who’s struggling some tips, it’s just not a good idea. I do believe that Tiger will figure it out, but in the meantime Tiger needs to figure out his own swing…I believe there’s an app for that.

Updated Apr 9, 2011:

At the Masters after the first two rounds Tiger looked as if he took his own advice and figured it out. But, then came Saturday, where he finished the third round seven shots off lead. So much for him having it down. Now there is a chance for Tiger to make a strong run and capture his 15th major, but I wouldn’t bet on it. It may be safe to say, Tiger’s new app may need an update already.