At the risk of overkill, I'm giving Tiger Woods another post filled with sycophantic praise, lauding, and love--even though I did the same thing yesterday.
First of all, did you know there's a site called TigerWoodsIsGod.com? Kind of funny, actually.
Secondly, I'd like to put a video of this past weekend's Open highlights onto this post, but the fact is that there are so many highlights it wouldn't fit into one YouTube clip. So go watch Sportscenter at some point today. Or just watch this.
There was, however, a really well-written recap of the weekend by ESPN.com's least well-known "national voice" writer Pat Forde. Here's the most amazing quote:
"You keep playing," Woods said. "Whatever it is, you just keep going, keep going forward. All my buddies and I used to, when we were working out, used to always say 'Four.' How many more reps do you have? Four. Four-ever. And that's the idea. You just keep going, and there's no finish line, and you just keep pushing and pushing."Now you tell me how that doesn't make you want to be a better person, you tell me how that doesn't make you want to be a better citizen, a better father, a better student.
We don't all have to be as cutthroat as Tiger. I understand that. Mantras like "Good is the worst enemy of great" are not for everyone. But there are some things about Tiger that are. Things like moving forward through pain. Things like playing best in the most important situations. These characteristics can apply in life as well.
I got to leave work early yesterday to watch the Open playoff. It taught me more than any day's work or any day's lecture ever can.
-----
Thanks to the "anon" commenter who reminded us of the great Nike commercial that aired Father's Day weekend during the Open. Knowing Woods' relationship with his father, and his father's memory, it's a touching commercial.
You know, it's easy to be skeptical when looking at the relationship between Woods and his father. It's easy to think that his father obviously pressured him into become great; that his father obviously overused his Vietnam War experience to quasi-abuse Tiger and create a numb machine.
But this commercial does a good job of showing why those kinds of speculations are dumb. The tenderness that existed in that relationship is real and special. It was nice to see, especially on Father's Day.
Who knows, maybe one day I'll have to write up an entire "Best Tiger Woods Nike commercials" post...
Photo from here.
|