Guess Who's Back?

I wanted to repost my thoughts from the day the news of Tiger's injury, and pending sabbatical, became public last year.

Consider this a celebratory flashback.

Welcome back, Tiger. We missed you, your fist pump and, most of all, your hot wife.

For shizzle.

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Original Blog Date: Thursday, June 19, 2008

Did You Hear That...?

Was that a collective sigh of relief from every PGA golfer eligible to play in the last two major tournaments this year?

OR

Was it the sound of every sponsor and TV executive howling at the obvious loss of revenue they will experience with Tiger sidelined for the rest of '08?

In all likelihood it was probably a little bit of both.

First, most golfers are soft both physically and emotionally. They'd rather win with the best player in the world injured than step up and beat him one-on-one. Re-reading that statement it sounds a bit like hyperbole. Hmmmm...

Let's dig a little deeper.

Tiger has never lost a major when leading after 3 rounds. NEVER. That means the tournament is over if he's leading after 3 rounds. He actually shortens the tournament. Similar to a great bullpen and closer in a MLB game. Tiger IS a closer. And, as we all know: Championships are for Closers.

Numbers don't lie, folks!

Listen, I don't want to spend too much time on this because it's so painfully apparent: Tiger is head and shoulders above all of his competition. Even if every other player was at his "best" it wouldn't come close to what Tiger is at his. His better is better than their better. (plug) Why do you think Vegas has you bet on "Tiger" or "The Field" for every tournament he's in?

Second, golf ratings and ad revenue will drop dramatically without Tiger on the course. You know what the PGA Tour needs to do? The "Tour" needs to start planning for life without Tiger. And that planning needs to start TODAY.

Really? You think that's too soon? Well let me tell you why it's not...and try and keep up, newb.

Remember what happened when MJ left the NBA? Oh, and I'm not talking about the "can't-let-go-of-it-trying-to-sell-tickets-cuz-I-own-part-of-the-team" retirement from the Wizards. I'm talking about the "top-of-his-game-face-of-the-NBA-with-his-own-cologne" retirement from the Bulls. With me now? Ok, good.

So now that you've had some time to think about it: do you remember? Of course you do!

The league was so busy looking for the next MJ that the product suffered and people stopped watching. They lost the one player who appealed to the masses like no other without adapting or evolving after the loss. David Stern just put his head in the sand and tried to replace the irreplaceable.

Bad move.

The NBA was throwing around "He's the next MJ" statements like beads at bare breasted women in Mardi Gras. The quest for a new marque player got so bad that the NBA dubbed Harold Minor "the next MJ." Harold. Fucking. Minor. Are you kidding me? Most of you probably don't even REMEMBER who he is! Let alone that fact that everyone hoped he would be the next MJ. "Baby Jordan" was his nickname.

What a joke.

(This is usually the point where I tell my faithful readers to "google it." In this instance, let's share the laugh and google his stats together --google, google, google*)

As I said, what a joke: he played a total of 200 games in his career and started 47 of them. The next MJ, indeed.

Even more damaging than the product suffering -- people stopped caring. To improve a product is one thing. But to make people CARE about a product is a completely different challenge. A challenge the NBA is just NOW recovering from. Thanks, in no small part, to one of their biggest market teams winning the NBA championship on Tuesday night in a 39-point ass kicking. GO CELTS!

[SIDE NOTE: START]

Memo to the Lakers: You can't lose a deciding game in the NBA finals by 39 points and still consider yourself "professional." To be professional is to be considered an expert at your chosen craft. I can think of at least 1,000,000 amateurs that would have put forth a better effort in that situation. It was embarrassing. Do better.

[SIDE NOTE: END]

Look, the main goal for every sport is to appeal to the masses. The more people that care and watch, the more money there is to be made. Today's sports landscape is about one thing: revenue. PLEASE don't use the "purity of sports" argument. Sports purists are a dying breed. I'm not wasting my time on the obvious again -- sorry.

Bottom line: Golf means NOTHING to the masses without Tiger. NOTH. ING.

The sooner the PGA realizes that their majority "white club" is being ruled, rewritten actually, by a minority who has become the biggest name in individual sports -- the better off it will be.

Tiger has started the Revolution. Time for the PGA to start thinking about it's evolution.

Or it will become extinct.

(* www.basketball-reference.com is a great resource.)