You don't have to be a fan to be impressed
08/27/2000
Codding Home / Sports Channel / Bullz-Eye Home
Tiger Mania invaded the Akron/Cleveland area this past weekend as the NEC World Golf Championships rolled into Akron's Firestone Country Club. Guys like Davis Love III, Greg Norman, Mark O'Meara, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson roamed the golf course all weekend, but all anyone could talk about was Tiger Woods.
As I've stated before, I'm no Tiger fanatic. I don't root for him every weekend, I don't go out and buy every product he endorses, and I don't scour the outskirts of the practice tees for his stray driving range balls. But I do respect his ability - you have to. In much the same way, I was never a Michael Jordan fan but, damn, he was a lot of fun to watch on the hardwood.
So on Sunday, with the threat of rain overhead, I headed out to Firestone with a friend of mine to catch a glimpse of the most popular sports icon in the world today, a title relinquished by His Airness. It was the first golf tournament either of us had been to and walking through the front gate was a little overwhelming. Thousands of people milling around an immaculate golf course, waiting to catch a glimpse of people they only see on TV, applauding as Nick Price and Kirk Triplett headed to the first tee. We followed O'Meara for a couple of holes, watched him sink a tough birdie putt on the first green and even had a brief conversation with his caddie as we walked up the second fairway. After his tee shot on three, though, our plan was in effect.
We headed down to the range and saw Els, Mickelson, Loren Roberts, Justin Leonard and Colin Montgomerie taking some swings. It was obvious that our plan wasn't unique as hundreds of other people were either standing around us, crowding the opposite side of the practice tees or piling up in the bleachers behind the golfers. With his tee time less than an hour away, they wanted to see Tiger warm up. When he finally made it to the practice green and the driving range, everyone took notice: "There he is," "Man, I wish I could hit the ball like that," "What club do you think he's using?" Hardly anyone even acknowledged Leonard, Furyk and Phillip Price heading over to the first tee. Instead, hundreds marveled at how Tiger was peppering the back left corner of the driving range with golf balls, watching spectators rush for any ball that happened to hop the short green fence in front of the tall evergreens.
After several minutes, we camped out along the first fairway and watched Montie, Furyk and Mickelson hit their second shots onto the green and then putt out. The crowds along the hole, for the most part, were moderate in size. At least a third, but no more than a half, of the fairway was lined with spectators as the golfers walked up to the first green to mild applause. But when Tiger was announced at the first tee, the entire area surrounding the clubhouse went berserk. For at least thirty seconds, people clapped, screamed and whistled as he prepared for his first shot. Suddenly, the area was flooded with fans, media, security and course employees as his ball landed right in the center of the fairway (a little shorter than we had anticipated, by the way).
We caught our first up-close look while Tiger walked up to his ball to line up his second shot. Amazingly, this mammoth group of people kept completely silent as he stepped up to hit, and when the club head met the ball, the expected "thwak" sound was instead replaced by a furious "click-click-click" as the thirty or so cameras focused on him caught the intended target in action.
The throng of people nearly trampled us as everyone ran up to watch Tiger putt, but for my buddy and me, our day was over. Before he could even putt, the lightning came and stopped play for a couple hours, and the ensuing rain was enough to float us back to the car. But we caught a glimpse of the man everyone in the world wants to meet, and although we had planned to follow him around for a good portion of his round, we'd had enough of Tiger Mania already.
Of course, Tiger's day ended with yet another tour victory and the "best ever" talk continues to pour down from every sports fan in America. It's hard to disagree with the argument - his numbers speak for themselves: more tournament victories and Major championships in his first 100 PGA events than Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer had in their first 100... combined. It's amazing, yet people who try to compare his dominance to Jordan or Gretzky during their championship runs are way off. First off, basketball and hockey are team games, and while those two were arguably the best ever in their respective sports, they always had teammates to rely on if their game wasn't at 100% on any given day. Tiger has to be on every weekend, for three or four days in a row, to beat his competition. And while Jordan and Gretzky only faced one opposing team at a time, Tiger always faces some, if not all, of the best golfers in the world at once, and yet he's gone out this year and outplayed everyone, nearly every weekend in almost every tournament. That's almost like Jordan playing Dr. J, Kareem, Magic, Wilt and Oscar Robertson, one-on-five, and winning with relative ease. OK, not quite, but you get the idea, right?
It's mind-boggling when you think about it. Oh, he was also battling the flu this weekend. Catch him if you can. Even if you're not a Tiger fan, it's always cool to say, "I saw the best ever."
In the Bullz-Eye
The Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Anaheim Angels and Detroit Tigers. After this weekend's action, the Sox led the AL Wild Card race by a half game over the Indians. The A's were one game out, the Jays two, the Angels three and Detroit five. With roughly 30-35 games left to play for each team, this race will get even more heated in another month. What makes it even more intriguing is that Seattle leads Oakland in the West by a mere 2.5 games and the Yankees are only up on the Sox in the East by four games. Pitching should be the difference, which could sink Detroit's and Anaheim's chances. The other four teams have at least one or two front-line starters to rely on the rest of the way.