Tiger Woods: more than just a winning golfer

I was thinking about Tiger Woods win Sunday at the Bridgestone Open. It’s not the fact that he now has 70 career wins and 14 majors that impressed me. It isn’t the fact that he has been rated the number 1 player in the world longer and more consistently than any golfer ever before. It has nothing to do with the fact that he is the best paid player in the world. He is humble.

More than any other athlete I can recall since Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali, Tiger Woods is a pinnicale of respect. When talking about his win on Sunday he stated

“I think I hit a good shot that put a little heat him [at the 16th hole]. But also, I think the worst he would have made would have been bogey."

He didn’t need to say anything about Padraig Harrington. He could have boasted about his record of 14 wins every time he leads a tournament after 54 holes. He could have even insulted Harrington about the triple boogey he shot once the stopwatch came out. But he didn’t.

Not that this is a new thing. Back when he first became a pro and won the Masters, Fuzzy Zoeller made the infamous comment

“That little boy [Tiger Woods] is driving it well and he's putting well. He's doing everything it takes to win. So you know what you guys do when he gets back in here? You pat him on the back and say, 'Congratulations' and 'Enjoy it' and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it?", and walking away, he returned to add the infamous postscript: "or collard greens, or what every the hell they serve.”

Woods was diplomatic in his response. Which I could have never done.

When the controversy over lynching Woods was started by Kelly Tilghman

“Which brings me to the comments against Tiger Woods. As some are aware during the recent Mercedes-Benz Championship tournament Kelly Tilghman, an announcer for the Golf Channel, suggested that Tiger Woods be lynched. The conversation surrounding that comment was in terms of what could be done by up-coming players to take on Tiger. One announcer suggested they gang up on Tiger, to which Ms. Tilghman stated

“Lynch him in a back alley”

“

Woods again took the high road. Again I could not in the same situation. Nor can I recall another athlete in most any sport that has done so in equally infuriating circumstances in the past 2 decades.

It is this that separates Tiger Woods from other athletes. This is what drives fans to his competitions and cheer him to victory. This is what is missing in most every other major sport in America (at least).

Today there are several great athletes. Some are intelligent, some are talented, many are wealthy. Few though have even a touch of the international appeal of Woods. None have his grace under fire and public humility.

When was the last time you heard a baseball, or basketball, or hockey player stand up and defend the ability of their competition. I mean sincerely doing so? You never hear it in boxing, or the MMA, nor dare I say wrestling.

Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer in my lifetime, and in my opinion ever. That’s just the raw talent and dedication he maintains. But it is his humility and thoughtfulness (that I sometimes disagree with) that really impresses me.

He isn’t about ‘bling’ or other ghettofabulous insanity that the media proclaims to be the only definition of Black in America. He is educated. He is a phenomenal businessman. He is a good father. He does make great effort to donate time, money, and his fame to help children. He is a role model.

As much as everyone will laud his many sporting accomplishments, I think that is the real impact and importance of Tiger Woods. I just wish that the major news media might highlight that from time to time as well as his winning streak.

Don Imus - the offense is unending

Oh the humanity of it! Shock struck me yesterday as I learned of news that I could not believe. A radio personality made a comment that was racist, or so I was told by a friend of mine.

The radio celebrity was Don Imus and the above comment was sarcasm, if you missed it. Notice the race of my friend is irrelevant for my sarcasm to be used, and it does not change the impact of what I was trying to say.

My point is to the constantly recurring comments of Don Imus. Yesterday he was involved in this conversation.

WARNER WOLF: Defensive back Adams "Pacman" Jones, recently signed by the Cowboys, here's a guy suspended all of 2007, following a shooting in a Vegas nightclub.
DON IMUS: Well, stuff happens. You're in a nightclub, for God's sake. What do you think is gonna happen in a nightclub. People are drinking, and doing drugs. There are women there and people have guns. So there, go ahead.
WOLF: Also, he's been arrested six times since being drafted by Tennessee in 2005.
IMUS: What color is he?
WOLF: He's African American.
IMUS: Ha ha, well there you go, now we know.

Now if you just read the words, it’s hard to tell what is actually meant. The comment could go either way. So I found a copy of his actual words.



Do I feel that was a sarcastic comment? NO.

IF Imus had no asked about the race of Adam Jones, then I might have had some doubt in the intent. If it were another radio personality I might have had reason to believe their words were poorly chosen. But Don Imus is very well known, especially for his offensive and racial remarks throughout his career – most recently and publicly for his attack on the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team.

Why Imus believes he can attack Black athletes (among other attacks on African Americans) is beyond me. His defense that he has 2 co-workers and a producer of his current show that are Black is stupid. They are not in his mind, they don’t control what comes out of his mouth. His racial bias does not change because of those around him, obviously.

When Kelly Tilghman called for the lynching of Tiger Woods, she was on national TV and tried to play the incident as a joke. It wasn’t and the fact that millions of people were watching did not make it any more funny or less racial. The same is true of Imus and his co-workers.

I was pleased with him getting fired after the Rutgers event. Yet I was willing to allow Imus to get a new job. I would have preferred him to have had more time unemployed, and the fact he received a speculated $50 million settlement for his contract really defeated the impact his firing was meant to convey. Still I had hoped it would slap some sense in to him. And this is perhaps why hope was the last thing that Pandora found.

But I will leave it up to you my readers. You have the transcript and his actual words recorded. Tell me what you think of his comment and what should be done this time?

Golfweek sought attention on Tiger Woods lynching - 1.19.2008.1

Tiger Woods. It is a name that when uttered brings up images and thoughts of success, achievement, dedication, fame, recognition, respect and wealth. To some. For a few the only image is that of a Black man in a White sport. Like Fuzzy Zoeller who’s only comment about the success of Tiger winning his first green jacket (an honor few professional golfers ever get – and Tiger now has several) was a stereotyped reference to fried chicken. Or Kelly Tilghman who envisioned Tiger Woods hanging from a tree.

Before I go further I want to take a moment to reflect on something. In 2007 there were several events that stood out. A few were highly covered by the major news media; others were followed and discussed in blogs like this one. Those events included Don Imus verbally attacking the Black members of the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team without provocation, Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman hurling the N-word as he rebuked his son for the interracial relationship he was in, the kidnapping torture and sexual abuse of Megan Williams in West Virginia, the reports of roughly 50 nooses throughout the nation, and the Jena 6.

Let’s focus on the Jena 6 and the nooses. It was a noose that caused the inflammation of that event. In fact it caused multiple events, all racially based, across the country. The sight of a noose from a tree, implying the potential lynching of African Americans, evoked violence and highlighted the imbalances that exist in the application of the law in America.

All of these things are facts.

Given these facts, it should be obvious to most that a noose is little different than the swastika or the confederate flag to most African Americans. They are all symbols of hate and violence unleashed for the pleasure of people too absorbed with the skin tone of those around them. These small minds needed big symbols to evoke the fear they felt and they made them huge.

How powerful are these connotations? Considering that the conservative counts of African Americans that were lynched numbers at least 3500 over 93 years (which ends in 1958). That after 7 years of debate and stalling, lynching became illegal in the United States in 1922. That given those numbers and the recent timeline, most African Americans need only look back 2 generations to find members of their family that were affected directly by either lynching or the Jim Crow laws and prejudice that fueled it. That’s 2 generations, even if you are just 20 now.

So yes nooses are not jokes or objects of laughter any more than say Nagasaki, or a concentration camp, or the Japanese internment is. It is a visceral reminder of violence against Blacks merely because we exist. And there is no equivalent that I am aware of that White Americans have ever known.

Perhaps it’s the fact that there is no equivalent that makes it so easy for some White Americans to minimize the impact of a noose, or to call for lynching a person. Perhaps the fact that far fewer White Americans can point to any time in America and their family trees when they were considered, by law, property or less than human or deserving of death because they exist. IF a nuclear bomb had destroyed Kansas City, I’m sure they would understand as I do. IF from say now until 2254 every White American was hit with a whip, 5 times every day for a half-hour each time, I guarantee they would understand.

But the fact is most don’t understand and never will. And that is why Tiger Woods is involved in a news story that deals with golf in the most meaningless way. That is the reason that Ms. Tilghman said the remarks she made (which I discussed previously – Tiger Woods comment impacts Dr. Martin Luther King birthday), why she only received a 2 week suspension, and Golfweek thought a noose on the cover of their magazine was appropriate.

Because if anyone stopped to think about it, or the events that filled the hours between intense discussion about Sanjiah still being on American Idol, how Anna Nicole Smith died and why (it was a drug overdose and she was an addict – seemed simple to me), and Ellen DeGeneres crying on television about breaking a contract and losing a puppy she had no right to give away, then you might have noticed that the prominent display of a noose pisses off most African Americans.

Obviously the editor at Golfweek missed all the abovementioned events, though I would bet that they know about American Idol. I would have thought the comments by the Golf Channel and the reaction of most (not Tiger Woods sadly – he missed a huge opportunity to make a valid and needed point) Blacks would have been a clue. Obviously they took that, and the entire Jena 6 situation among others, as the elephant in the room.

"...we consider Golfweek's imagery of a swinging noose on its cover to be outrageous and irresponsible. It smacks of tabloid journalism. It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident..." - PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem

There is no justification for the noose on the cover. It was a blatant attempt to profit off of a serious and offensive event. It seems apparent that they must have felt that since golf in America is so predominantly White their actions would slip through the cracks and the major news media would ignore it. Mostly they are correct, but not enough thankfully.

Let me say this clearly, I hope many in the major news media hear this and remember it. A noose is required for lynching. Neither is a positive nor funny (as many in Americas past felt they were). Both evoke memories of a time in America when we were not the land of the free, not for all not for a long time. Both evoke thoughts of words whose only use is the degradation and minimalization of an entire race of people for no reason other than their genetic birthright. The use of either of these things is no more worthy of profiteering than using videotape of 9/11 to promote political gain or an air ionizer.

There is a manner and way of using both the term lynching and a noose such that a positive is reached. That would be education and sensitivity on what those things mean and what they involved. That would help fill in some of the missing parts in American history, where African Americans are concerned.

But that would involve an understanding that I mentioned previously is missing, and that Golfweek seems far too obtuse to understand.

Tiger Woods comment impacts Dr. Martin Luther King birthday - 1.16.2008.1

With all the news on politics of late, little has been mentioned today about Dr. Martin Luther King. Equally little has been mentioned about events that slap the face of what Dr. Martin Luther King stood for, strived to do, and the day is meant to commemorate. Some of those events include the actions against Wesley Snipes (as I have been able to discern), the inference to the death of Tiger Woods, and the attacks on Senator Barack Obama.

I’ve already discussed Mr. Snipes, and to a degree Senator Obama. So I will start with DR. Martin Luther King. Since the death of Dr. King 2 days before I was born, there have been calls for a way to commemorate his life and life goal of racial equality in America. In 1986, after years of fights against the idea Dr. King became the first and only African American to have a federal holiday. Of course unlike most Federal holidays, virtually everyone has to work on this day, and it replaced an already existing holiday in 27 states (which helped get the day passed into law). Sadly more people enjoy a day off on Columbus Day than this one.

For those that are not old enough to realize it, one of the major reasons that there is a holiday today is because for over a decade the day before Election Day was a day that a majority of African Americans would take off. Kids did not go to school, nothing was bought in stores (big ticket items), adults were always sick. It was a social outcry that is unmatched today. And even with that statement, it took 18 years for many states to finally accept the day, though many ignored the holiday completely. All this in just my lifetime to date.

My point is that such willful ignorance of racial imbalance, and disrespect of an honorable and courageous man does not go away in a handful of years. It has gotten better, but to believe it is gone is ignorant and foolish in my opinion.

Which brings me to the comments against Tiger Woods. As some are aware during the recent Mercedes-Benz Championship tournament Kelly Tilghman, an announcer for the Golf Channel, suggested that Tiger Woods be lynched. The conversation surrounding that comment was in terms of what could be done by up-coming players to take on Tiger. One announcer suggested they gang up on Tiger, to which Ms. Tilghman stated

“Lynch him in a back alley”

Not knock him out. Not tie him down. She stated calmly, kill him in a brutal and public manner because he is Black (no matter how Tiger describes his racial history) on national cable programming. No matter how it may be excused, or what she wanted to convey, that is what she said.

The definition of lynching is –

“Any act of violence inflicted by the assemblage of two or more persons, without color or authority of law, for the premeditated purpose and with the premeditated intent of committing an act of violence upon the person of another which results in the death of the person.”

Concluded in part 2...