Tiger Woods as Fallen Hero: The Journey from Role Model to Chump

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: March 28, 2011

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Not long ago, I was probably the world’s No. 1 fan of Tiger Woods.

Without boring you with the many details that almost became a book, I first became totally enamored with Tiger Woods—and all the possibilities that his career could provide to golf and society—when he dramatically won his second U.S. Amateur title in 1995.

In late 1996, inspired largely by Earl Woods declaring Tiger "The Chosen One” in Sports Illustrated, I created the “First Church of Tiger Woods” on my radio talk show, then in Nashville, Tenn. In 2000, I produced the now defunct (for obvious reasons) website TigerWoodsIsGod.com, which SI once judged to be one of the three best things ever written about Tiger Woods.

It should be noted that while at least half of my Tiger-related fanaticism was intended as a good-natured joke about our celebrity-obsessed culture, there is no doubt that the Tiger Woods I thought we knew meant an enormous amount to my life.

No athlete has ever given me as much joy on the playing field. As a former TV sportscaster who had become completely cynical about almost everything in pro sports, Tiger Woods became my last real passionate rooting interest. Despite my jaded outlook, thanks to Tiger, I would look forward to major championships much like a child anticipates Christmas.

My fervor for Tiger Woods was based in two basic concepts. The first was that as a “scratch” golfer I greatly admired that Tiger was coming so close to perfecting a game that was never thought to be perfectible. In that sense, I came to see Tiger Woods as a human lab experiment, of sorts, for the potential of the tragically flawed human species.

The second component of my admiration was the positive impact that I was certain Tiger Woods would have on our country and perhaps the world. While I didn’t buy into Earl’s Messianic vision of his son, I did honestly believe that Ti...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Golf

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