12/03/24
June 15, 2004
Should we lay up?: Tiger is tired of the incessant analysis and criticism of his swing. "That's where you can get into a problem, trying to analyze things you don't understand." Do we owe him the benefit of the doubt, or is our entertainment paramount?
I prefer Vivid and Miramax. Oh and Koch Vision Entertai I saw Tiger with Sampras, Barkley & Manning on Rashad's sit-and-chat show. Sampras voiced his displeasure with the media's portrayal of his lapse in brilliance being due to his new hotty wife. Now, the Tiger's distracting wife has been a minor subplot in the 'what happened to superman' theme that follows Woods from tournie to tournie, but the similarity to Sampra's gripe is there: we don't know what we're talking about, really, when we analyze the best of the best, and that slump stories are missing the action. Golf has become Tiger-centric, and I don't know if I like it. I know, nobody watches unless Tiger is playing. But isn't that exactly the problem?(I am of that school, but I didn't have to be.) Couldn't, or shouldn't, the sport rethink its media strategy because Tiger's play isn't as story-worthy as it once was, and will be again? It's akin to focusing on a non-story...and it's lazy reporting. There must be more stories that are worthy of our attention, but are ignored because we are fed what Woods ate for dinner the night before. I don't know, maybe I'm making something out of nothing, or taking way too big of a bite, but TW just ain't the same.
posted by garfield at 05:12 PM on June 15, 2004
Nothing to understand really...Butch Harmon went and so did Tiger's swing. Kinda like how Kobe will fare without Shaq next year :)
posted by pivo at 05:57 PM on June 15, 2004
I have always copped to being more of a Tiger fan than a golf fan. Of course I would be willing to change, but golf has to sell me on something for that to happen. There is so much about the game that I dislike (I dislike its lack of accessibility to me, both from the prohibitive cost of playing and attending, I dislike pros that complain about playing environments and the Casey Martin thing left a really bad taste in my mouth that I'm still not totally over). Tiger is the only story I'm interested in from a positive light. It has sucked watching him struggle because I have no interest in watching on Sunday if he isn't contending. As far as analyzing Tiger's swing...well, nobody gives a shit about Brad Faxon's swing except Brad Faxon. When you're as good as Tiger is, criticism of your every move makes good copy.
posted by vito90 at 09:33 PM on June 15, 2004
Surely it's more worrying that Tiger is paying any attention to what people are saying about his swing, no? This from the man who decided to ditch Butch and replace him with... no one - because he knows his own game so well. I imagine there's much more too the Tiger/Butch saga, but it always struck me as ridiculous to get rid, not just of Butch, but of any coach whatsoever. I'd almost be willing to concede that Tiger understands the golf swing better than anyone else on the planet, but as far as I know, he hasn't yet mastered the art of standing behind himself and watching while he's swinging.
posted by JJ at 04:41 AM on June 16, 2004
My entertainment is Pixar, not paramount.