http://www.topix.com/forum/topstories/TRA4B38OOTVGGUU5T

People on this link are over the top, but I have gotten an Anti-Tiger sentiment from a lot of people that I talk to or play golf with. I can understand not rooting for him because you are tired of him winning, but how can people not appreciate the talent and the drive that he has to be the best?

They are idiots. It's that simple. Or they're racist like my grandma.

Those are some pretty ridiculous posts.

Someone said he was like Barry Bonds???

That is ridiculous.

I am not a golfer but my parents are. His excellence is obvious and I admire it. I don't think he is especially arrogant. The worlds best in anything usually has some confidence and ego.

I like the fact that he is young, fit, and is different from the mostly white guys in pro golf today.

Thai culture influenced him.

a bunch of clueless baboons

Tiger is a winner.

I have a lot of admiration for Woods. I think he has earned all the adoration and money he gets. He IS the golfer of the moment (Maybe the ages).
Having said that, if you listen to most golf commentators or sports talk show hosts, you would expect to hear that Woods is doing open heart surgery and organ transplant operations during his spare time.
And the knee... really, he isn't the first athlete to play hurt - and his IS a non-contact sport. If you want to talk about someone playing on a bum knee, may I present Willis Reed?

Gun safety is no accident.

[This message has been edited by Shotgun Ag (edited 6/18/2008 7:41a).]

IMHO, for the same reason people hate Duke...it is just the popular thing to do. Tiger is hands down the best current athlete and is among the ultra-elite of all time. Makes him an easy target.

He's out for the year. His knee wasn't bothering him - it was a stress fracture.

http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1815681,00.html

uh, he has a torn ACL, chief. his knee and the stress fracture were bothering him.

And I think I may able to shed a little light on the "why do people hate on Tiger?" because some folks might put me in that category - although I don't consider myself a "hater".

For starters, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Tiger as a player and as an individual. He seems to be top quality all the way around. I'll freely admit he just played the best decade or so of golf that has ever been played, and even with the knee, I think he takes Jack's major record (and before the knee, thought he might make a run at 30 major wins). He also strikes me as a guy that will be a good father to his kid.

But that said, I'm a long-time golfer and have loved the sport since my dad was taking me out to his company's 9-hole course when I was 4-5 years old (I'm now 34). And there were a couple of things about him that soured me a little early on.

1) For starters, the cocky attitude he and his dad (mainly his dad) displayed when he first showed up kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

2) Another reason is that Masters Sunday, US Open Sunday, etc. are a couple of my favorite days of the entire year. When he completely ran away with the 97 Masters and the 00 Open, to where it wasn't a remotely competitive tournament going into the last round, it kind of took the fun out of it for me. He was too great. I'm willing to admit its sort of dickish to dislike him for that, but it's just how I felt.

3) In my own selfish, golf snob way, I kind of resented all the yahoo, casual fans he brought to the sport. It's like being a hard core fan and then seeing all these bandwagoners jump on.

So all in all, I usually end up rooting for the field. But at the same time, I have a great respect for what he's doing and realize this may be a once-in-a-lifetime thing we're watching.

Frankly Bob, of the three reasons you give, the first is very vague and the other two are pretty silly. You dislike Tiger because he ran away with two tournaments? Are you serious? Honestly, if you are a true fan of the sport, you would have seen those tournaments as huge accomplishments for the sport due to the effort it took to do just that.

The reasons people simply invent to not like someone often just blows my mind.

I don't hate on him but get really annoyed with the excessive attention placed on him. Even when he performs subpar, coverage for any given tournament will focus primarily on how Tiger is playing then if there's any time left, they'll casually mention who actually is at or near the top of the leader board. Just this past weekend again, all the hype was how "amazing" Tiger was performing when in fact he was playing neck and neck for days against a relative nobody. Rocco should have been receiving all the praise and amazement, but no, it was again placed on Tiger. I don't think it's amazing that he squeeked out a win in sudden death over an unknown player.

Again, these aren't knocks on Tiger, just on the media hype over him. There are other players and I would prefer the coverage be more balanced for each tournament, focusing more on who's actually playing well.

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Frankly Bob, of the three reasons you give, the first is very vague and the other two are pretty silly. You dislike Tiger because he ran away with two tournaments? Are you serious? Honestly, if you are a true fan of the sport, you would have seen those tournaments as huge accomplishments for the sport due to the effort it took to do just that.

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#1 isn't vague. I could post all of the boasting from Earl, I could post Tiger's "didn't have my A-game" comments that pissed off a lot of folks on Tour, etc.

I'd say #3 is probably the biggest reason I root against him. For some reason I just like seeing the bandwagoners not get what they want.

As far as 2 and 3 are concerned, I believe I already acknowledged the "silly" factor in my initial post. But thanks for rehashing them.

In any case, so what if I root against him? What's it to you? I clearly don't hate the guy, I don't wish him harm, and I acknowledge and appreciate how great he is - all of which I admitted in my initial post. Is a fan of the NBA morally obligated to root for the Celtics? They've accomplished a lot over the years. Were you rooting for Vince Young in 2005? Should Pistons fans have been rooting for Jordan in the Finals after the Bulls were finally able to beat them?

It's sports. We pick who we want to root for for all sorts of reasons. Some of you take rooting interest way too personally.

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Honestly, if you are a true fan of the sport, you would have seen those tournaments as huge accomplishments for the sport due to the effort it took to do just that.

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As a true fan of the sport, I do see them as huge accomplishments - which I acknowledged how great he was. But last I checked, you're still allowed to acknowledge an athlete's greatness (or a team's greatness) while rooting against them. It isn't mutually exlcusive.

[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 6/18/2008 2:44p).]

I am one of those non-golfers that only pays attention to golf because of Tiger. So I am a bandwagon fan. Golf is otherwise uninteresting to me. When Tiger retires - unless someone else interesting comes to the game I will probably quit paying attention.

Most of all with Tiger I admire his brilliance and dominance of the game. I am astounded by how crappy everyone else is most of the time. No doubt that Tiger has some serious confidence in himself - but compared to others in pro sports with extreme personalities (think Terrell Owens) that are all about "me" Tiger is nothing like them.

Bob,

I think your reasons for rooting against him are completely valid. I agree that I like a little more parity in golf and I am not crazy about the media coverage either (he brings in ratings and that's all they care about)

As far as your first reason...I thought it was pretty cocky when he was spouting off the A-Game comments as well. Now that I think about it, he was around 21 or 22 years old then. If people had recorded all of the cocky or stupid things you or I had said at that age we would feel like idiots. I think he has gotten a lot better at media speak and giving other players credit.

It also bothers me when people say he has no personality on the course or he is a robot. I like to see how well he tunes out the rest of the world and then how fiery he gets when he makes a great shot.

Like you said....to each his own as far as who you root for, but I think a lot of criticism that he does take is dumb.

[This message has been edited by Barnes04 (edited 6/18/2008 3:02p).]

Tiger is "the Man" now just like Jack was before him. Believe it or not, there were a lot of people out there that hated on Jack too while he was making history. They all claim different reasons but none are ever really valid. It's just a personal thing.

But as many haters as you think are out there, ten times as many are diehard fans of both men.



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"Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women."

I agree that a lot of the early brashness from Tiger could be chalked up to his age and he's certainly matured. Seems to be a great person, at least when he's not dropping GD's left and right. Earl is the one the bugged me more anyway. Anyway, that kind of thing sort of rubbed me the wrong way and helped steer me to root for other players when he first came on Tour. Things have changed, but it's just one of those "never get a second chance to make a first impression" deals. Sometimes you just pick who you're rooting for and against and it just sticks.

[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 6/18/2008 3:21p).]

Bob, the press release initially said the stress fractures were bothering him not his knee. Obviously it's different now because of HIS press release.

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Believe it or not, there were a lot of people out there that hated on Jack too while he was making history.

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Correct. My old man was a Jack fan when he first came out, but there were a lot of Palmer lovers (aka Arnie's Army) that hated Jack.

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They all claim different reasons but none are ever really valid.

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I'd go back to the rooting interest argument. Last I checked, this is a sport and its fans can choose to be a Palmer fan and root against Jack. That's just part of the deal and part of the fun. Validation has very little to do with it.


[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 6/18/2008 3:23p).]

>>In any case, so what if I root against him? What's it to you? I clearly don't hate the guy, I don't wish him harm, and I acknowledge and appreciate how great he is - all of which I admitted in my initial post. Is a fan of the NBA morally obligated to root for the Celtics? They've accomplished a lot over the years. Were you rooting for Vince Young in 2005? Should Pistons fans have been rooting for Jordan in the Finals after the Bulls were finally able to beat them? <<

This is all nonsense. I don't care who you root for. You said you were "sour"ed on Tiger. That tells me you don't care for the guy. Why? Because of his dad, his running away with tournaments, and the fact that he might have had a role in making golf less of a country club sport than it was 12 years ago. You didn't say you were a huge Phil Mickelson fan, which would invoke rivalry comparisons. You didn't say you hated Nike stuff and argue that he blindly endorses it. Or that he's going to break Jack's and Sam's records with equipment those guys could only dream about using (which is actually only partially true, btw).

Basically you said you don't like him because he's good and because of what others say and/or think about him. MY point was that you and others seem to just invent things to not like about the guy, and I don't understand that at all. I'm not criticizing the fact that you are "sour"ed on him, but rather find amusing the reasons you used. It frankly says a lot more about you than him.

"Last I checked?"

You had to check?

And you think Earl Woods and Tiger had an attitude problem?





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"Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women."

Nice that you focus on one word and make inferences about it while ignoring the following that are completely to the contrary and no inference is required:

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For starters, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Tiger as a player and as an individual. He seems to be top quality all the way around. I'll freely admit he just played the best decade or so of golf that has ever been played,

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But at the same time, I have a great respect for what he's doing and realize this may be a once-in-a-lifetime thing we're watching.

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I do see them as huge accomplishments - which I acknowledged how great he was.

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Where did I say I was relying on what others said about him? I said some of his brashness pissed off other folks too - pointing out that I wasn't the only one he and Earl rubbed the wrong way at first. Just because you weren't paying as close of attention in the mid-90's doesn't mean I was relying on thirdhand information to pick who I root for.

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It frankly says a lot more about you than him.

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I love how the fact I choose to root for other players is some sort of character flaw. I'm not sure I'm the one that needs to get a grip.

BTW, I was a Couples fan back in the 90's. Really liked Crenshaw too, although he was getting long in the tooth. The '95 Masters was awesome though. Norman also grew on me. Didn't like him in the 80's either (oh no, I'm an awful person again), but I started sympathizing with him as time went on and was really pulling for him when he gagged at the Masters in '96 and was pulling for him again when he and Olazabel had the back 9 showdown in '99. I've always been a Big Easy fan too - since he came on the scene when he won the Open in '94. I also like Furyk and his effed up swing.

Anyway, I've got guys I root for and guys I root against, always have. Just part of the fun. Over the years I've rooted against Duval, Monty, Faldo (although I'm a huge fan now because I think he's great in the booth), Sabbatini, etc. Tiger's just one of them.



[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 6/18/2008 5:08p).]

People that hate Tiger because he's good should stop watching sports.

People that hate Tiger because he made it less of a country club sport are dumb elitist bigots.

People that hate Tiger because they think he's arrogant should try winning the Masters at 21ish and being as modest as a 40 year old.

I can understand people not liking him because they like Mickelson or another golfer but creating reasons to not like someone who's one of the most dominant golfers of all time and nothing but a class act is dumb dumb dumb.

Do you like the Yankees? If not, maybe you should stop watching baseball.

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People that hate Tiger because he made it less of a country club sport are dumb elitist bigots.

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Actually, I'm just a guy that liked it when the Nelson wasn't overcrowded and finding a good tee time at the local muni was a little easier. The country club mfers probably don't even care. I'm the yahoo that is up before dawn every weekend, getting out to Sherrill Park while it's still dark - playing cheap muni golf while trying to beat the heat and the 5 hour rounds.


[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 6/18/2008 4:54p).]

When tiger made his A game comment... wasn't he just speaking the truth?... when he had his A game going... you saw him blow away the field (97 Masters)... when he had his B or C game... he was only marginally better than the field.

what should he have done? should he have lied and said it was his best when clearly it was not?

Nothing wrong with some modesty vs. trying to excuse why you didn't beat everyone even worse than you did.

Like I've said before, Earl was the bigger mouth anyway.

But if I remember correctly... it may have been at the Nelson.. and he was missing fairways, struggling to get up and down for pars... and he said he didn't have his A game today.

I guess I can see how it could be offensive... but I don't think it was intended to be cocky... it was just honest... and nike happened to make a commercial about it after it was proven that tiger could win without his best stuff

Why are all the players so bad compared to Tiger? It seems Tiger's C game is good enough for top 5 in most tournaments. He wins with his B game. He dominates with his A game. He dominates his sport like no other athlete I can think of.

Honestly I get annoyed at virtually everyone else because none of them seems to be able to improve their game enough to hang with Tiger. In other words I think they are pu**ies.

The dude is just a golf freak and has been since birth. Plain and simple. And then you have Earl basically molding him from birth specifically for what he's doing right now.

I do think the field has stepped it up some vs. when he first came out, largely from how much time and effort that is now being put into being as fit as possible, etc. There are a lot more guys that can compete with his length vs. when he first came out, and you don't see him completely run away with quite as many tournaments as he did early on (he wins a lot and always finishes high, but you don't see the 10+ stroke victories anymore).

But he's just a freak with the whole package. As great as his long game is, there is no one better on and around the greens. You just don't see that combination.

[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 6/18/2008 5:39p).]

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but you don't see the 10+ stroke victories anymore

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he only won the buick by 8 shots in January and the WGC-Bridgestone by 8 shots last august and the Tour Championship by 8 shots last September and only won his unofficial Tiger World challenge by 7 shots in December

so it looks like he has slipped to only being able to win by 8 over this last year



[This message has been edited by gravy97 (edited 6/18/2008 6:34p).]

It's the news people who are turning me off.

They are making this sound worse than Ben Hogan's car wreck in 1950.

For Christ's sake, Hogan's accident was life threatening back when medicine was nowhere as advanced as it is today. He was lucky to get out of the hospital, much less play golf again.

This is an ACL and a stress fracture. There is a big difference.

Give me a break.

Tiger could go out there, tee up a baby and knock the crap out of it, and if someone on tour criticizes him for it, ESPN would come out on SportsCenter defending him while ripping the player for saying anything negative about Tiger.

Without tiger the PGA tour would be the NHL, there would be no golf channel or primetime TV coverage, therefore everyone should root for tiger