{"id":6616,"date":"2009-07-02T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-02T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/?p=6616"},"modified":"2009-07-02T15:07:49","modified_gmt":"2009-07-02T19:07:49","slug":"is_jim_brown_right_about_tiger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/thrash_talk\/is_jim_brown_right_about_tiger","title":{"rendered":"Is Jim Brown Right about Tiger?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thrash If you missed Jim Brown’s appearance on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumble, then you missed the Hall of Fame running back declaring the following<\/a> about Tiger Woods, “He is a killer, he will run over you, he will kick your ass. But as an individual for social change? Terrible. Terrible. Because he can get away with teaching kids to play golf, and that’s his contribution.”
\n
\nBrown is arguably the greatest professional athlete at his position in a major sport of all time. Since his premature departure from professional football in 1965, he has established a reputation for speaking his mind, activism (broadly defined), amongst other less notable things.<\/p>\n

The point being, regardless of the specific merit of his assertions, he has clearly earned the right to criticize any professional athlete as he sees fit, and, further, to have his proclamations dispensed by omnipresent media outlets to the world at large for serious consideration.<\/p>\n

For his part, Woods responded to Brown’s statements indirectly in answering a question from a reporter yesterday saying, “I think I do a pretty good job as it is with what we’re trying to do with the foundation.” Further, he said his foundation has, “taught a lot of kids how to get back and learn… to learn how to lead, learn how to give back, learn how to teach others.”<\/p>\n

Jim Brown is known, informally, for his mentoring of young urban males who have been involved with gangs or committed crimes. Formally, Brown is the founder and CEO of the Amer-I-Can program. A portion of the organization’s mission statement<\/a> is worth quoting at length:<\/p>\n

\n

The Amer-I-Can Program will help you develop your attitude from one of self-doubt to self-determination. We believe that in addition to understanding the goal-setting process, a person must honestly examine the whys and wherefores of past behavior patterns that have negatively affected his\/her life. Once this understanding has been firmly established, that person will be able to change his\/her thinking from I-Can’t to I-Can, by accepting the responsibility of determining the direction of his\/her life.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Self-determination and responsibility, then, are the foundational elements of Brown’s program. Additionally, he is focused on helping the young and disadvantaged. On the surface, at least, this ambition doesn’t seem at odds with the objectives of The Tiger Woods Learning Center(s) at all.<\/p>\n

As a caveat, before presenting any of the TWLC mission statement or the like, it’s likely that even if one were to hold up the missions of the TWLC and the Amer-I-can program to Mr. Brown’s skullcapped visage, he would deny the significance and import of the Learning Center.<\/p>\n

This is because Brown’s real objection to Tiger Woods is that he is not outspoken enough in any criticism of the status quo, and, further, he is too “politically correct” in his dealings with the media and any potentially divisive or “hot button” issues.<\/p>\n

Brown would likely point to something like Woods’ appearance at the Obama Inaugural Concert. Yes, Woods spoke at a potentially polemic event, but hardly in any enthusiastic fashion. Also, he did little more than the politically neutral\/status quo-supporting fluff-spouting in praise of the military.<\/p>\n

Regardless, although there is a real difference of tactics and style between Brown and Woods, I believe they share similar objectives and concerns.<\/p>\n

From the TWLC’s website<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

The Tiger Woods Learning Center is here to get students thinking about the role education plays in their futures. We want to show them how to relate what they learn in school to their future careers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To be sure, the Learning Center’s mission statement lacks some of the gravitas of the Amer-I-can Program’s. Woods’ organization places an emphasis on education and career planning, rather than more fundamental life skills, which is the focus of Brown’s.<\/p>\n

In addition to, what I believe are, Jim Brown’s objections to the Tiger Woods Persona is a fundamentally different view the two seem to share towards society as a whole. It’s not my desire to put words into Tiger’s mouth, but it seems to me that he sees popular society and the dominant social paradigm as fundamentally decent structures which are occasionally populated by disreputable people with destructive ideas\/interests.<\/p>\n

Brown, on the other hand, seems to think that the problems he and his foundation intend to sort out are inextricably bound up with the status quo. Again, from the Amer-I-can program’s site:<\/p>\n

\n

Socio-economic problems are the great plague of our time. They cannot be separated from the decline of our civilization. Unless they are solved, we will face even more difficult times. With the cost of social welfare programs, law enforcement, incarceration, recidicism, and treatment escalating into billions of dollars, the most important consideration should be the saving of lives. What are the problems? Significant gaps in our educational system, poverty, gangs, killings, drug abuse, racism, political corruption, joblessness, and poor housing are just a few…<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To some degree, I think Brown spends too much time “cursing the darkness” rather than creating a functional, structured and repeatably model for bringing light to it. This isn’t to diminish his program or glorify Woods’ efforts.<\/p>\n

Again, I believe the stated objectives of the Tiger Woods Learning Center and the Amer-I-Can program are much more similar than different. There is, however, and obvious difference of tactics, with respect to their CEO’s. Is Jim Brown right in saying that Tiger Woods does nothing for society? Absolutely not. Does he have a point when he objects to the way in which Tiger implements his vision? Perhaps.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, though, social change is the product of institutions and organizations, perhaps fueled by the contributions of great individuals, but certainly greater than the individuals themselves.<\/p>\n

I respect Jim Brown, as well as his criticisms. However, I believe the best response is contained in begging the following question: “Which individual, by way of the organizations which they created and left behind, will have done more to improve society in 100 years?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brown has a reputation for incendiary remarks. Does he have a point this time?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[98,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hot_topics","category-thrash_talk"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Jim Brown Right about Tiger? 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