Tiger Woods vs. Jack Nicklaus: My Take

8 thoughts on “Tiger Woods vs. Jack Nicklaus: My Take”

1. What does this say about Tiger that no one has commented. Very interesting. Golf is not my game, but Tiger certainly has never had the maturity level that one would like in a sports icon. But I guess that is usually the exception to the rule, unfortunately.

2. I went golfing yesterday and the best balls I hit all day were when I stepped on the rake.

3. Good Morning from Omaha,

   as my mother in law used to say “there is no shame anymore.” Its to the point where you can’t mention anything without hurting someones feeling by telling them the truth.

   Tiger and his money have created his own monster. his little temper tantrums and arrogance have been his headlines lately. Has our society evolved to the point where the word slut is tossed around like the word “the” but handling yourself with class and dignity is a forgotten art.

   The pendulum is going to swing back the other way some day and this era will be thought of as the end of strange time in american history.

   Strive for excellence, nothing but your best.

   Gene

4. Dear Drew,

   This thought occured to me as I was reading your comments about the caption. Yes, Tiger doesn’t always show that much maturity. While he bears the brunt of this since he is an adult I can’t help but wonder how much blame could go to his parents, especially his father. After all his father pushing him in this game made him a great player but never added the lessons needed to handle the game when things got rough. I guess the term I think of with Tiger’s dad would be the “Tiger Dad” (as opposed to the “Tiger Mom” phenom I heard about not too long ago. P.S. no pun was intended here)

   All the best

   Louis

5. Some of my fondest memories from when I was a little girl, are the weekends I would sit on my dad’s lap (as he sat in his comfy recliner), watching various PGA events on television. I was born in the early 60s. The golf heroes of the day were Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Trevino, and Rodriguez, among others. They were cardigan sweater, plaid slack-wearing gentlemen who played the game the way Ben Hogan played: with class, dignity, and manners. Golf, to me, was the game of ladies and gentlemen. Not women and men, or boys and girls. The game’s rules are of respect for the game, the course, and one’s fellow golfers.

   While I give props to Tiger, the golfer, for his great skill and knowledge of the game – I have never been a fan of Tiger Woods, the man – for the very reasons Gene mentions above. Like Louis, I wonder how much his father’s greed to breed the best golfer in the world, is the very reason for Tiger’s downfall. His private life became public because of his lack of anger management skills; and we all found out he wasn’t the gentleman that he sort-of appeared to be in the past.

   Thank goodness we have gentlemen like Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Tom Lehman; and ladies like Stacy Lewis, Karrie Webb, Christie Kerr; and others, to show us how the game should really be played – on and off the course.

   Peg

6. Drew:

   Never, ever be concerned with making a controversial opinion (within reason, of course). As Bill Cosby said: “I don’t know the secret to success, but I know the secret to failure: trying to please everyone.”

7. It may be one thing to blame Tiger’s father for Tiger’s actions as a child, but he is an adult now and able to make his own choices and decisions; therefore, the fault lies with Tiger, it is called personal accountability.

   Sportsmanship in most games and society as a whole has become a lost “art” or skill. It is just common courtesy, but maybe these days it should be called “uncommon” courtesy. Just my 2 cents.

8. I’m not sure I’ll go along with the comments that surly behavior and lack of courtesy is a recent development – Hank Aaron received death threats. Ty Cobb was a vile racist who cheated to injure almost 100 years ago. Jack Tatum called himself “The Assassin” almost 40 years ago. Bob Gibson swore at and threatened opposing batters routinely. John McEnroe was a petulant crybaby who is now celebrated simultaneously as an elder statesman AND a hothead.

   As Billy Joel said: “The good old days weren’t always good.”