OT: Rick Reilly article on Tiger Woods

Submitted by notetoself on
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?id=4347419 Rick Reilly criticizes Tiger's on-course behavior, generates hits on espn's website. "Woods has been this way for years: swearing like a Hooters' bouncer, trying to bury the bottom of his driver into the tee box, flipping his club end over end the second he realizes his shot is way offline." wha? Tiger, disrespectful? can't ignore! need to click on that to read more! must provide job security for rick reilly!

GBOD79

July 22nd, 2009 at 12:35 PM ^

Yeah I personally dont care if Tiger swears, tosses clubs, whatever. Its good TV and it makes golf somewhat interesting. Hes the best in the world and I personally think its good he is so competitive. Where would he be if he didnt hate losing so much? Rick Reilly needs to relax. In the article he mentions a story from the 97 masters when Tiger almost hit a kid with a club when the child approached tiger simply to touch his hero. Really Reilly? You're going to criticize the late Earl Woods for not reigning in Tiger, but you say nothing of the parents who let their kid wander off into the middle of a pro sporting event? Give me a break!

turbo cool

July 22nd, 2009 at 12:37 PM ^

And i'm sure Rick Reilly didn't swear at all when he got canned from SI. Seems a little hypocritical to me. We all swear when shit hits the fan at work.

lunchboxthegoat

July 22nd, 2009 at 12:40 PM ^

isn't this the same turd who wrote the article about Yost and the foul mouthed fans there? Apparently Reilly's innocent little ears just can't handle it. I'd be shocked SHOCKED if this guy ever wrote anything I was ever remotely interested in.

GoBlue-ATL

July 22nd, 2009 at 12:43 PM ^

First off, this is not even an original article. I read an op-ed piece a few days back from some other guy pointing out the same thing. Tiger is who he is. He has always been that way. For a career journalist like Reilly who looks like he has not so much as swung a bat since t-ball, after all Tiger has and continues to do for the sport, is asinine. I think this says it all- Reilly dabbles in magic, piano, mountain biking, SCUBA, back-alley basketball, skiing and snowboarding. He lives in Denver and in Hermosa Beach, CA, with his wife, Cynthia, and a putter he’s not currently speaking to.

cpt20

July 22nd, 2009 at 12:45 PM ^

"Either behave or get off the course. Come to think of it, if I were the president of Nike, I'd tell him the same thing." That's a lie. He makes so much money for Nike. When you play sports, emotions are high. People getpissed off. Every athlete cursing but he does not bitch at them. Seems hypocritical.

Todd Plate's n…

July 22nd, 2009 at 1:05 PM ^

I would imagine that will get some backlash from some folks. Perhaps you were kidding, if not... do you have any idea the workout regime that tiger endures? or how mentally taxing it is to go through 4 rounds focusing for 5 hours? while many golfers are not athletes, they are all (pros at least) sportsmen.

aawolve

July 22nd, 2009 at 3:30 PM ^

for her to be out there. The fact that she was there at all is a black mark on golf though. That being said, pro golfers are tremendously skilled, and I would love to have that ability. I do in fact suck at golf, so maybe that's coloring my opinion.

STW P. Brabbs

July 22nd, 2009 at 5:15 PM ^

It requires some athletic ability, sure. You know what damages its sport status more than anything? Putting. Putting is the least athletic endeavor you will ever see on ESPN (yes, perhaps less than poker), and it is of paramount importance to golf. Putting is as gay as mimosas at brunch. /generally bitter about all things golf-related

MichiganStudent

July 22nd, 2009 at 10:34 PM ^

Are you serious? That is one of the dumbest things I have ever read. Putting is extremely difficult on PGA tour caliber courses. It is not physically demanding, but it is far from easy or "gay". Is it gayer then Gramatica jumping for joy after kicking field goal? Is it gayer then the QB taking a snap from the center? Nothing pisses me off more then people talking shit on golf because they either suck at it, or have never really tried it. Its one of the purest individual sports there are. Its you versus the course and ends up being you versus yourself. Can you guess I'm an avid golfer? Woosahhhhh...woosahhh...

STW P. Brabbs

July 23rd, 2009 at 10:24 AM ^

I didn't say putting wasn't hard. It's really fucking hard. It's just super duper gay - you're hunched over trying to just tappy tappy tap a little ball just the right distance to go down a little hill into a little hole. It requires all kinds of concentration and mental toughness. It requires less athletic ability than darts. Gayer than capri pants.

BlockM

July 22nd, 2009 at 1:30 PM ^

I, like just about everyone else, disagree. The game involves swatting a very small ball into a very small hole over distances orders of magnitude larger. It's not necessarily the most physically demanding sport in terms of muscle mass, but being successful takes as much or more body control than any other sport.

dinkmctip

July 22nd, 2009 at 1:44 PM ^

Poker is the reason I stopped watching ESPN, that and having their summer Top 10 consist of outfield grabs and homeruns. An outfielder is out there to catch the ball, it's not that hard and homeruns speak for themselves, unless it's off the roof, we've seen it before.

jwfsouthpaw

July 22nd, 2009 at 1:06 PM ^

Can you imagine what we would hear players say during football and even baseball games (reading the lips of a manager yelling at an umpire is especially fun) if the crowd didn't drown it out? Perhaps that's a poor comparison because golf has its own etiquette rules, but I ask: if you were playing for a million dollars (hypothetical number), with every shot being crucial to winning, might you be a bit unhappy when one went awry? Might you even--gasp!--swear, perhaps? Or even toss a club down in frustration in the midst of a poor round? I mean, these guys are human. Even the Almighty Tiger Woods.

dex

July 22nd, 2009 at 1:14 PM ^

Tiger is a hyper competitive dude obsessed with winning golf tournaments and being the absolute greatest he can possibly be. This is why he's the greatest of all time in his chosen field. It's also why he cusses and slams a club when he hits a wedge shot three yards off line.