Tiger Woods upset a lot of people in the hockey world a few weeks back when asked about who he was rooting for in the Stanley Cup finals, by saying, “I don’t really care. Let’s talk about the Dodgers. I don’t think anybody really watches hockey anymore.”
What I’d like to see is how many people watched his amazing putt on the 18th hole of the U.S. Open on Sunday to secure a playoff, or his clutch birdie putt on the 18th hole of the U.S. Open on Monday to take it to sudden death. Or his pressure packed putt to win it on the next hole.
Everyone in my office was tuned in to whatever TV they could get their eyeballs on to watch. And according to many in the golf community, this was the “greatest golf tournament ever”. Not just in a very long time… but EVER.
Even people that don’t follow golf have heard of Tiger Woods. He is one of the only dominant sports athletes that people don’t seem to root against. There was a poll done during the U.S. Open, where a cinderella of a man Rocco Mediate, comes out of no-where to challenge Tiger for the U.S. Open title, but even with all that, 60+% of the people polled, still wanted Tiger to win. Now, sports folk in the U.S. almost ALWAYS root for the underdog. If you don’t have a dog in the fight, generally, you’ll root for the guy that you least expect to win (N.Y. Giant’s anyone?) We American’s just seem to LOVE to see an upset.
And this U.S. Open was no exception. The chants of “Rocco” as Tiger headed up to the green are testament to that. But when push came to shove, and Tiger had to make the putt… I was pulling for Tiger with all that I could. And everyone I know was like that. Maybe it was because he was trailing late in the game, and it was all up to HIM to sink the game winner.. But damn, that was a good tournament. Great TV… just a great story.
Wow. Greatest Golf Tournament Ever? I’m not sure about that… but aside from a few Detroit Red Wings fans, I would venture to guess that more people know about THIS tournament and the series of events leading up to Tiger’s ultimate victory, than who actually won the Stanley Cup…
