Why I'm rooting for Tiger Woods

I realize that after reading the title of this blog entry most people won't read any further and that's ok, I understand.

But it won't change how I feel about this subject.

I don't condone anything Tiger Woods did in his personal life.  Never have, never will.  It's pretty awful what he did to his now ex-wife and their children and the barrage of criticism he's gotten since that November night in 2009 has been well deserved. 

That being said.....

I hope he regains his form as the (arguably) greatest golfer ever.  I really do.

 (Just for the record, I place golf behind baseball, football, basketball, and hockey.  I'm writing this because I enjoy watching great athletes do their thing.....Michael Jordan spoiled me what can I say)


Sports are always better when there is a villain or "super-team" involved.  Look at the Miami Heat for example; you either love or hate them and most people outside of Miami absolutely hate them.  There are countless other examples but that's the best and most recent one.

Tiger is now a villain in the eyes of a lot of people now, mainly because of his off-course issues but also because of his past greatness.  Sometimes people enjoy watching the villain go down in defeat and Tiger hasn't won a tournament in a looooong time.

I'm rooting for Tiger because he made golf and really, sports in general, a heck of a lot better when he was good.

(He also makes a GREAT video game but that's not important here;))

I never watched golf before Tiger.  Why would I?  It was boring and trying to follow the path of the ball in those pre-HD days was almost impossible.

When Tiger came along and started winning tournaments he enhanced the game of golf and raised peoples awareness of the game.  More people started tuning in to watch tournaments on TV and not just the majors, but ANY TOURNAMENT HE PLAYED IN.

When did SportsCenter ever lead with golf before Tiger came along?

Since "the incident" golf hasn't been half as interesting as it used to be, save for the few tournaments Tiger has actually played in the last couple of years.  And even in those he has only played well at times.

Tiger is back starting today and saying he "hasn't felt this good in years"  I hope he means it.

And I hope he leaves Jack Nicklaus in the dust.