Golf still needs Tiger
After enjoying a Father’s Day punctuated by a Cincinnati Reds’ victory and a delicious chicken dinner, my family settled in to watch golf’s elite desperately search for a different kind of bird in the U.S. Open’s final, mostly to no avail.
As the party dissipated and family members returned to their respective dwellings, my mom asked if anyone wanted to watch the remainder of the tournament.
My dad replied that two more hours of watching the leaderboard shuffle was not his idea of a good time.
What that plummet in interest really means is that professional golf still needs its golden goose turned devilish fiend Tiger Woods.
For every triumphant headline Woods made while winning 14 majors, equally as many were printed because of his more recent less-than-acceptable personal practices.
After winning the Memorial Tournament a few weekends ago, he continued to garnish positive ink for leading the U.S. Open. The golf world seemed ready to proudly announce his return to the top.
Instead, Woods limped through the third round, dropping six shots and falling behind on the leaderboard. He continued to struggle in Sunday’s final round, and finished tied for 21st with a score of +7.
The final day’s pressure and difficulty of the course made the fall down the leaderboard seem like all the rage.
It almost seemed like the TV coverage was protecting Tiger from the audience. Once he bogeyed five of the first six holes, viewers were treated to other players trying to survive, because he clearly wasn’t.
It’s clear Woods still has some things to work out on the course (and maybe between his ears) but the golf world desperately wants him to return to form so he can face the coterie of younger players rising through the ranks.
Tomlinson retires in powder blue
Some think that signing one-day contracts so players can retire with their former teams is cheesy and disregard the gesture as useless, but it has a place in sports.
LaDainian Tomlinson, formerly of the New York Jets and San Diego Chargers, signed a one-day contract with the Chargers last week so he could officially retire with the organization that drafted him.
Tomlinson played nine seasons as a Charger and ran for more than 1,000 yards in eight straight seasons. He hangs up his cleats fifth on the all-time rushing list, with the third-most touchdowns in an NFL career and most touchdowns in a season.
No doubt, Canton will be calling Tomlinson’s name after the mandatory waiting period. But the thing that I like about this situation is his respect for the organization that gave him his first shot.
More athletes need to do this and remain loyal to the organization that gave them a chance. Another thing I like about the gesture was that Tomlinson thanked some interesting people.
He gave shout outs to equipment people for protecting him from the most violent sport in the world and he also gave thanks to his offensive line.
The one thing I would have liked him to hone in on was at least mentioning Lorenzo Neal, his lead blocker for many years. He owes a lot of his yards to that man.
Maurice shuts the door
Keeping with the theme of running backs, Maurice Jones-Drew announced that he was keeping his contract negotiations under wraps. Give that man an A++.
Athletes need to link back to the old days when the players of yesteryear did not air their dirty laundry, so to speak.
In the time of “The Decision”, in which LeBron James opted for South Beach before an impossibly captive audience, this choice by Jones-Drew is a unique practice for the times but certainly not unique in sports history.
Younger and veteran players alike should dog-ear a page from Jones-Drew’s playbook when it comes time to renegotiate contracts.
Nick Robbe is a senior studying journalism and sports editor of The Post. Think golf is better without Tiger or Nick’s views about running backs are invalid? Email him at nr225008@ohiou.edu.
