Tiger v. The Field

Noah,
I have intended for this entire blog page to be something for you to be able to look back on, gain insight from, and perhaps be a more rounded, contributing individual to society. On that note, most of the time my postings are quite mundane, in fact, sometimes dry. And most of the time they are centered around LHS football, UNC sports, the Carolina Panthers or someother happenings in the world of sports. I believe Howard Cossell(a past sports announcer) once said that sports are a microcosm of the world we live in. And in some respect I believe that statement has some validity. We spend our hard-earned money to make the trek to Atlanta to watch the Braves, or endure the traffic to catch a glimpse of the Carolina Panthers from what seems to be two miles up in the air, or wherever our favorite team may be. On that note, the sports world has turned their attention from the NCAA Champion North Carolina Tarheels to The Masters in Augusta, Georgia.
There are two things: first, a caller called in to say that he would gladly give up his Panthers season tickets for one chance to attend the Masters. I am not inclined to agree with him. I guess if you're an adamant golf fan, ok. But lets be real. Thousands of people attend the Masters. You dont really have a seat, per say. Constantly, people are walking following the group they want to most see. The ideal spot is "Amen Corner", and everyone that knows anything about The Masters knows that the place to be. And I envision everyone amassing at a gate waiting to get in to make a mad dash for "Amen Corner". I would just rather be able to watch it on TV I guess.
Secondly, there has been too much discussion in my opinion about Tiger Woods. Im sure you will hear from all of his supporters and brown nosers that he is the greatest golfer of all time. And he may be, that is still up for debate. And I will be the first to admit that he has single-handedly changed the game of golf. Before when you viewed golf on television, you would have not see African-Americans in the grandstand. But that leads me to my true point. For all the hype that ESPN gives Mr. Woods, it makes me wonder if he were caucasian would he get the hype. I mean, we surely dont hear near as much from Phil Mickelson, ranked no. 2 in the world by the way. I feel that ESPN goes on these little tirades and has to have someone to hang their hat on. During football season its the Dallas Cowboys. Not a day goes by that we dont hear something about the Cowboys. In college football, its USC Trojans. Who cares..how many BCS titles have they actually won in such a weak conference. Then of course there is basketball and how can we forget the almighty Coach K and his ability to recruit...we seem to forget he has not beaten Roy Williams in the last four years at Cameron and Roy has two National Championships in the last five years. And then there's golf. Now I'll admit golf doesnt get the same coverage without Tiger, but thats because its Tiger. Golf needed someone to sell it to people who could care less. There are people now who watch golf who didnt even know it existed ten years ago. Some used to call it the white mans game; no longer the case I guess. Noah, Im not suggesting that I am somehow biased because Tiger is black, but I do think there are several players who are as well deserving of a Masters title and at least some consideration for it rather than for ESPN to put out a Web poll and ask viewers whether they think Tiger will win or "the field". As if to say, "hey field, Tiger just showed up..lets let him play his holes and call him the winner while you guys all sit in the clubhouse and have a few cold ones and talk about how dominating he is". The rebuttal is about MJ. Sure, he will probably go down as the greatest basketball player ever and he may have changed the game somewhat but he isnt the game. The game will always be bigger than Michael Jordan. The game will go on. But some tend to believe that when Tiger decides to hang up the clubs I guess the game will cease to exist and all golf courses will no longer allow people to play.