Do you like Tiger Woods?

[texaseagle76]

I'm all about Tiger Woods!!! Best putter ever. Not a thing about him is shallow. Good family guy with a georgeous wife and kids. Loves his Mom & Dad. Treats the unknown guy as an equal. Doesn't put up with jive like dissin his brand. Done more for the game of golf then most give him credit. I have a Tiger plate, headcvr, shirt, hat, bagtag, picture, book and poster. I'm all about Tiger Woods.

[Shorty]

so you feel that since it may not be convenient for someone to speak out vocally about the racism that continues to plague this country, then they shouldnt? that it isnt a "good" thing to do? we need more people in positions of power and influence to speak out, and not hide behind their status and fame.

How on earth do you know what Tiger's "real" opinion is? Why do you say that he is hiding behind status and fame? As for "speaking out vocally"(sic)........good grief. And, as a middle school teacher, I would hope that in addition to telling your students how other people should behave with regard to things you also teach them how to use the apostrophe and capital letters in sentences. Seems though, that these things are trivial to you. And don't tell me that the internet has made the use of these quaint conventions redundant.

[Shorty]

From watching him play - he drives it okay, but thats pretty much the only thing he has going for him at the moment. He doesnt hit it close, his shortgame is mediocre such is his putting, despite his statement, that he had a lot of time practicing his short game and he felt it was in very good shape.

A top 10 finish in his first 72 hole tournament in 8 months or whatever it is - and a WGC event at that. I dare say that if "OK" driving is all that he's got going for him, being less than OK at everything else must be pretty damn good.

[texaseagle76]

Oh my...I heard Johnny Miller say something like Phil , driving the ball in fairway made him number 1. Roger Malbie jumped on that saying "he know a guy who could take him". No one is as good as Tiger ever! Tiger won everything he could, under the conditions. He is so good, Jack said, "if I know someone like tiger was coming, Id had play more oftern".

[topspin4hand]

None of else know Tiger as a person.

As a pro golfer, very few of these guys - heck very few pro athletes in general - live up to the hype, expectations and scrutiny that Tiger gets. So for that ability, I 'like' him.

[Sandy Sammy]

As a Brit, its difficult to know what to make of Tiger in terms of personality, it just seems he's all American college boy golfer who obviously has come very very good, as a Brit its difficult to relate to that.

Phil bless his cotton socks just looks the village idiot with a fantastic short game, I like Phil despite never managing to have a winning golf bet with Phil, during the late 90's/early 00's I used back him religiously in the majors and call him king Michelson, won't mention the first three letters before the king. Ya gotta love the guy though.

[Doctorfro]

Overall, I'd have to say I do. I guess I wish we saw more of the guy with a sense of humor. He can be quite funny. Unfortunately, we see the guy with the game face on most of the time. And I guess if he didn't have his game face on we wouldn't have the incredible player that he is so..... I have to admit there are times when I root against him (rather, I rooted for the underdog going against him). I didn't root for Sabatini.

[HytrewQasdfg]

Simple question, do you like Tiger?

I respect him, which is more important than like.

He has a ton of natural talent, but that isn't what makes him a great players. He outworks every other player on tour. He has taken his natural talent and developed it to its fullests. There are other players with just as much natural talent as Tiger, but they don't have the drive and will to make the sacrifices to develop it the way Tiger has (and don't doubt for a moment that working that hard to develop his talent has meant Tiger has had to make sacrifices in other areas of his life.) Also, despite constantly being praised as a great golfer (often mentioned with the greatest names of all time), he still seems to keep his ego in check. It would be easy to become full of himself (as so many athletes do), but Tiger seems to be, if not humble, at least fairly down to Earth. He may not be Mr. Personality, but where it matters (work ethic, humility) I think there is a lot to like about the guy.

[NorCalGolfer]

I saw a post somewhere in here talking about how you'd never see Jack or Arnie throw a club or have a hissy. And guess what? That's true and yet false. Because the coverage back then was WAAAY different. They didn't follow them around every second. You're trying to tell me that Jack or Arnie never slammed a club into the ground or cussed at a ball whilst in the air? That's just plain dumb. Or naive.

Now to the real topic. I've read so many people say that it's impossible to even answer the question, and it is. I'm a huge Tiger fan. I'll watch every shot he takes during a round, every highlight on Sportscenter, every repeat of any of his wins or greatest shots. To say that I'm a Tiger fan is an understatement. But guess what? Do I like him? How the f*%k do I know? I've never met him. Judging by his interviews and watching him at sporting events he seems like a mans man. That's cool.

[Ben]

There's some really good replies in here. Good thread!

I used to not like Tiger. But grew to the understanding that it was because I am extrememly jealous of the guy. I threw that point of view away a few years back. He is quite undeniably great at golf! A putting, ball striking and short game master. A true winner. As also mentioned, he seems to be quite humble and genuine. I think he is a person to look up to and to strive to emmulate.

[TommyD69]

I actually PREFER it if he's NOT in the field. I'm sorry...I know he's a great player...but yesterday was a prime example of the televised coverage showing ONLY Tiger when he wasn't even in contention! It just gets very, very old watching Tiger when I'm wondering how the rest of the field is doing. Sure...he's their "Cash Cow" but I get tired of watching "Tiger TV" when there's supposed to be a golf tournament televised.

I feel the same way.... and I'm NOT sorry!!!

[Clambake]

I respect him, which is more important than like.

Good post, and I agree completely except for the Mr. Personality part. I think he really does have a great personality but that he is careful to keep it out of public view. With the skewering the press and public can deliver (it seems there is a never-ending glee of watching celebs fall from grace), it is just one more measure of his intelligence. I cannot claim that I know him, but I was fortunate to play with him twice when he was 16 and 17. A coworker of mine was part of the regular group with Earl and a few others at the Navy course, and I got to fill in a couple times. What I saw was a very mature kid who was completely at ease around us grown-ups. He was warm and welcoming to the newcomer (me), had a great sense of humor (I still chuckle at the image of his dad trying to figure out why the cart wouldn't go after Tiger hid the key), and seemed completely unaffected by the fame that was already falling his way. And the respect and love that he had for his father was awesome to see. What I saw was a very well rounded person who you just hoped would grown up without changing and losing his core values, and from everything I read or hear that is exactly what has happened. I greatly respect someone that can achieve the wealth and fame that he has - someone who truly has become much bigger than his sport - and remain at the very core a fellow human that we should all respect and admire. And for that reason I like him a lot.

[bogeyhitter25]

i went with indifferent. i, like everyone else, totally respect the man's ability and skills, but i silently root against him in just about everything he plays. i figure those two counteract each other into indifference.

I feel just like this. Actually, I feel

exactly like this.

[d373rm1ned]

Tiger is a great player, how can anyone not like him as a golfer?

[golftrainer]

I am pulling for Tiger bigtime. He is a huge impact on tour. He looked very good at The Tavistock tournament. I think he's really close.

[juanrjackson]

I heard yesterday that with the new TV contract that CBS only wants to show televise the tournaments that Tiger is playing in & move the rest to the Golf channel or another channel.

It's hard to "like or dislike" a player....because we only know what they do on TV....& golfers are the most bland of any athletes.

[flap]

To be the best you must beat the best and since nobody seems to want to beat him how can you not like him.I will say I like some other players more but he is still the champ.

[Chas]

To be the best you must beat the best and since nobody seems to want to beat him how can you not like him..

hmmm, how did you come up with that idea? I would think that they all want to beat him but vary greatly in their estimation of how likely that is - from not so likely to fuggedabaaaadit.

As to CBS, that isn't exactly surprising - they've run the numbers and that's what they've come up with. As long as another channel picks it up and covers tournaments well, who cares? Let CBS focus on Octamum or some such rubbish .......