Obviously dislike of Tiger is complex but he's the GOAT and
― The Gapes of Wrath (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 14 April 2019 18:35 (five years ago) link
In the moral compass of the universe--or at least the celebrity moral compass--Tiger's hardly the worst person out there. (And I basically don't care anyway--he's a golfer.)
I'm not sure if I was watching when Nicklaus won in '86--I think I would have been, but no clear memory. He came back from four down. Today was thrilling, that was undoubtedly just as thrilling.
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 April 2019 18:35 (five years ago) link
Comeback incredible in that he worked out a way to play safer and shorter and still twitchy as fuck off the tee and beat a field of much younger fitter men.
Imagine what his career record would look like without car/life crash & multiple surgeries.
― Non, je ned raggette rien (onimo), Sunday, 14 April 2019 18:38 (five years ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/TKCUaKk.jpg
― alrakis morissette (tangenttangent), Sunday, 14 April 2019 18:39 (five years ago) link
I don't like watching golfer's implode, so I didn't enjoy what happened to Molinari.
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 April 2019 18:40 (five years ago) link
that too
― imago, Sunday, 14 April 2019 18:40 (five years ago) link
It's a quarter of all our lives― xyzzzz
Just got this...I kind of fluffed up my point there, didn't I? There's some 14-year-old sitting out there today thinking "14 years--that's my entire life!"
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 April 2019 18:43 (five years ago) link
couldn't happen to a more horrible bastard. fs molinari
― ... and the crowd said DESELECT THEM (||||||||), Sunday, 14 April 2019 18:44 (five years ago) link
btw I disliked him even before the scandals etc. - its a complicated achievement. At the beginning he is clearing the cobwebs off golf through his approach, perhaps. Then it just becomes one-way track and strays into unwatchability.
How far do you want to push this btw? I'd argue, from the way Tiger speaks about things and is almost always so unpertubed that he has no conscience and that, once he overcame the physical obstacles and changed his approach that it was entirely possible to see this win. It is something to see, really impressive and yet.
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 14 April 2019 18:50 (five years ago) link
haha yeah, I don't think any 14 yo is posting on ilx these days tho'
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 14 April 2019 18:51 (five years ago) link
*Principal Skinner voice* Prove me wrong kids!
take the zing, move on
― imago, Sunday, 14 April 2019 18:52 (five years ago) link
are you ok, woke boy?
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 14 April 2019 18:55 (five years ago) link
I can't really defend him as a person--he's done horrible things, and I found that photo of him, Nicklaus, and Trump a few weeks ago nauseating.
But he single-handedly renewed my interest in golf when he arrived in the mid-'90s, and his dominance for the next decade was like nothing I've ever seen (I suppose there have been tennis players just as dominant). And it did matter that he's black. I wanted to see him catch Nicklaus, and when everything fell apart, that felt like an unfinished story. Still a longshot, but after today, it doesn't feel like an unfinished story anymore.
All of that, for me--a fan--easily outweighs his personal life. His kids have every right to hate him, but he's not my dad; his ex-wife has every right to hate him, but he didn't cheat on me. He didn't break laws, I don't think, and I believe his 3,000 mistresses were all consensual.
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 April 2019 19:05 (five years ago) link
I hated Faldo too and I have no idea about his personal life.
― Do you like 70s hard rock with a guitar hero? (Tom D.), Sunday, 14 April 2019 19:08 (five years ago) link
xyzzzz_ and imago to play a round of golf this summer
― alrakis morissette (tangenttangent), Sunday, 14 April 2019 19:08 (five years ago) link
Also xp to Clemenza - that’s fair enough! I love R.D.Laing whilst accepting him at the biggest hypocrite and worst family man ever.
― alrakis morissette (tangenttangent), Sunday, 14 April 2019 19:10 (five years ago) link
The fact that Woods' physical problems seem to be self-inflicted, stemming from him playing soldiers, makes his coming back from them less romantic. But 11 years without a major title is definitely remarkable.
He is also very obviously a total tadger of a man and a boring bastard,but plenty golfers are
― findom haddie (jim in vancouver), Sunday, 14 April 2019 19:20 (five years ago) link
Kinda feel the rest of golf should hang its head when it loses to a broken 43 year old playing at 80%.
― Non, je ned raggette rien (onimo), Sunday, 14 April 2019 19:32 (five years ago) link
agree with clemenza
find suspect this talk of liking golf but wishing tiger weren’t performing well, but this is ilx
― k3vin k., Sunday, 14 April 2019 19:46 (five years ago) link
I don't know what's suspect about it but, yes, golfers are generally a boring bunch.
― Do you like 70s hard rock with a guitar hero? (Tom D.), Sunday, 14 April 2019 19:50 (five years ago) link
Winning older does happen now and then. Of course Nicklaus and then in other sports like tennis or snooker. It certainly happens.
I can't really defend him as a person--he's done horrible things, and I found that photo of him, Nicklaus, and Trump a few weeks ago nauseating.But he single-handedly renewed my interest in golf when he arrived in the mid-'90s, and his dominance for the next decade was like nothing I've ever seen (I suppose there have been tennis players just as dominant). And it did matter that he's black. I wanted to see him catch Nicklaus, and when everything fell apart, that felt like an unfinished story. Still a longshot, but after today, it doesn't feel like an unfinished story anymore.All of that, for me--a fan--easily outweighs his personal life. His kids have every right to hate him, but he's not my dad; his ex-wife has every right to hate him, but he didn't cheat on me. He didn't break laws, I don't think, and I believe his 3,000 mistresses were all consensual.― clemenza, Sunday, 14 April 2019 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 April 2019 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I get that, but what I was getting at is "hardly the worst person out there" is not the best grounds, exactly, because what if it was a lot worse, for one. As it is I don't care he slept around or whatever, but its the persona as expressed in the field -- there is a lack of feeling or even enjoyment (and when there is its just fucking ugly to watch). Of course some of the shots were great and he was the one composed at the 12th...so fine.
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 14 April 2019 19:53 (five years ago) link
― Do you like 70s hard rock with a guitar hero? (Tom D.), Sunday, April 14, 2019 3:50 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I mean he’s clearly the most exciting, galvanizing, and decorated player of the past twenty years, and him being good is good for golf
― k3vin k., Sunday, 14 April 2019 19:55 (five years ago) link
I didn't know there was a Nicklaus, Tiger and Trump photo...wish I hadn't gone down this road..
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 14 April 2019 19:55 (five years ago) link
(xp) and I suppose Cristiano Ronaldo being good is 'good for football' but I can't stand him either.
― Do you like 70s hard rock with a guitar hero? (Tom D.), Sunday, 14 April 2019 19:57 (five years ago) link
right, I mean I hated kobe bryant, and his fans, but I respected his game and loved rooting against him
― k3vin k., Sunday, 14 April 2019 19:59 (five years ago) link
I understand the automaton/robot argument (if I'm understanding you right), even if I don't share it--I always found him expressive/emotive on the golf course to a degree I was comfortable with. But I've felt that way about a few baseball players, so I can see that.
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 April 2019 20:00 (five years ago) link
id to go deal with family stuff and watch on delay with all contact off
basically watching schrodingers tiger
― fremme nette his simplicitte (darraghmac), Sunday, 14 April 2019 20:11 (five years ago) link
Cool. The thing is (unless they do something horrible) I am not going to know that much about a sports person beyond the odd post-match interview. Mostly work with what I see while they are doing the thing they are known for.
Ronaldo is another good example. Goal scoring machine I want to see the back of. But there is something else about Woods...hard to pin down. xp
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 14 April 2019 20:14 (five years ago) link
hes rich
― fremme nette his simplicitte (darraghmac), Sunday, 14 April 2019 20:15 (five years ago) link
what i enjoyed, all the ryder cup bros hugging it out and then poulter.. actually looking away while offering this limp fuck off hand, pure keano
― fremme nette his simplicitte (darraghmac), Sunday, 14 April 2019 20:18 (five years ago) link
hes rich― fremme nette his simplicitte (darraghmac), Sunday, 14 April 2019 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― fremme nette his simplicitte (darraghmac), Sunday, 14 April 2019 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
that ain't it chief
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 14 April 2019 20:33 (five years ago) link
you say that but who dyou like thats rich like
― fremme nette his simplicitte (darraghmac), Sunday, 14 April 2019 20:38 (five years ago) link
lj
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 14 April 2019 20:40 (five years ago) link
second best beautiful redemption tale of the evening
― fremme nette his simplicitte (darraghmac), Sunday, 14 April 2019 20:43 (five years ago) link
thing about Tiger is, and same applies to Cron or Kobe or take your pick of a sport, the beauty of his ability crosses out any kind of bullshit idiot moral argument about deserving to win. the whole fucking point of sport is skill = ethics
blah blah shit is complicated but if you hate Tiger go fucking shoot yourself in the face is how i break it down to some extent
― The Gapes of Wrath (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 14 April 2019 20:43 (five years ago) link
xyzzzz__: Would your dislike be tied into what tangenttangent was saying, the insanely disproportionate attention paid to Tiger for a decade, like no other golfer (with the possible exception of Mickelson, and occasional flashes like Garcia) existed? It was indeed wearing, but from a business standpoint--what he did for television in terms of ratings and sponsorship--I can understand that. I don't know how the early start time will figure in, but I bet the ratings for today will be off-the-chart.
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 April 2019 20:50 (five years ago) link
Gonna shoot half of my face down.
To NV and xp clemenza: I don't see a lot of beauty there. A lot of the time he is hacking away at a golf course. Might have helped if he had a near equal (like Federer had Nadal). Today was unlike any of his wins in that there was a duel there, so I saw something else.
The media focus was bad but you can comprehend that as he was so dominant.
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 14 April 2019 20:58 (five years ago) link
I'll take my pick of Stephen Hendry then. All of this time I should have been cheering him on.
― Do you like 70s hard rock with a guitar hero? (Tom D.), Sunday, 14 April 2019 21:04 (five years ago) link
surely the Federer of golf is yrself/the media/the outside???
i know it's more complicated than this and i'm too battered to work it thru right now but i sincerely thought he was done as recently as two years ago and didn't deserve to be done and uggh, narratives, and i wanted Molinari to do it, but that was a sweet resurrection
― The Gapes of Wrath (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 14 April 2019 21:07 (five years ago) link
i feel the same about Hendry as well Tom! it's easy to do the "genius is boring" story but fuck it, sometimes being the best is a fact of life
― The Gapes of Wrath (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 14 April 2019 21:09 (five years ago) link
Ok that's too far, nv
― findom haddie (jim in vancouver), Sunday, 14 April 2019 21:09 (five years ago) link
:D :D
― The Gapes of Wrath (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 14 April 2019 21:10 (five years ago) link
i think i'm still carrying the guilt of hating Steve Davis before he turned out to be a jazz funk maven tbh jim
― The Gapes of Wrath (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 14 April 2019 21:12 (five years ago) link
Might have helped if he had a near equal
Skill-wise, I think he probably did. But the most fascinating thing to me during that decade was how deeply he had gotten into the heads of everyone else, Mickelsen especially. Today felt a little like that: with the exception of Johnson, everyone else seemed to fall apart as soon as they looked to be in it. That's to Tiger's credit, I think.
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 April 2019 21:16 (five years ago) link
(And I realize that happens in majors in general--but it was even more pronounced when Tiger was #1.)
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 April 2019 21:18 (five years ago) link
btw Faldo was infinitely more cuntish than any sports peep i csn think of
― The Gapes of Wrath (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 14 April 2019 21:20 (five years ago) link
Not sure I think Molinari was digging himself out throughout the round until he finally couldn't on the 12th -- and he played the shot before Tiger. it's true Tiger got into ppl's heads but so did Fed, but Nadal met that challenge.
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 14 April 2019 21:22 (five years ago) link
Things like this--released minutes after-the-fact--don't help, I'll agree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx9fadoL9oU
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 April 2019 21:25 (five years ago) link
it's unfortunate that Woods is the only top flight golfer ruthlessly manipulated by corporate sponsors, yeah
― The Gapes of Wrath (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 14 April 2019 21:27 (five years ago) link