Sticks and Stones: Were Tiger's words worse than Tilghman's? |
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Tiger Woods is the man. He could beat God in match-play and probably wouldn't need every hole to do so. If he happens to hit a wayward drive into a water hazard, have no fear he'll simply walk on water to retrieve his ball. Well you get the point; the man is worshiped and rightfully so. He is the single most spectacular athlete of our time and perhaps the most captivating of all-time. But does Tiger deserve a free pass on a blatantly offensive remark he made at the recently concluded CA Championship at Doral as much as Kelly Tilghman deserved to be drug through the mud for a blatantly offensive mark she made about him. Or better yet, would you rather be lynched in a back alley or have your f****** neck broken? I think if anything, the two remarks deserve equal criticism. During the PGA TOUR's season opening tournament, Tilghman made a phenomenally stupid mistake when she countered her partner Nick Faldo's banter about what should be done to stop Tiger with "lynch him in a back alley."
Sure it was a horrendous choice of words and a terribly regretful attempt at humor, but I'm not sure if after careful inspection it was a more egregious error in judgment. Despite the denials of Tigers displeasure, Tilghman was suspended from her on-air position for two weeks and chastised in the mainstream media by the likes of blowhard Al Sharpton. But in an interesting twist to that story, Tiger had his own potty mouth moment this past Sunday and I don't know if we can yet ascertain whether it was "unequivocally" not of a malicious nature. Like it has happened many a time before, an either unaware or unskilled photographer clicked in Tiger's backswing which resulted in a verbal barrage from the world's No. 1 player. Tiger's tirade is reported to have included: "The next time a photographer shoots a f****** picture on my backswing, I'm going to break his f****** neck." Wow. The whole argument from Tiger fans and supporters, who in turn displayed support for Tilghman earlier in the year, uttered things like, "People need to lighten up. If this isn't bothering Tiger, then who the heck cares." Well do we really think this not in the least bit bothered by what transpired. I'm almost certain given the chance the 'backswing-clicker' would have been apologetic. I would imagine the comments at least embarrassed and degraded him. He probably went home and told his wife, "Hey honey, Tiger Woods threatened to end my life today." Tiger, who really does live like he owns a printing press stamping out his own currency, should gain a bit of perspective. So should some members of the media. An L.A. Times columnist launched into a lecture directed at photographers and the PGA TOUR saying, "The Tour needs to have mandatory meetings for all photographers before each tournament. Photographers need to know when they can and can't shoot. I'm willing to bet the latest guy to break the rules had no idea he couldn't shoot in Tiger's backswing." This is all correct. The photographers did have a hand in contributing to this incident but let's not use it to excuse what Tiger said. The Times writer concluded, "Let's hope the PGA TOUR will handled photographers before Tiger takes his first swing." Let's hope the Tour does take action before Tiger goes all Latrell Sprewell on one of these guys. I mean how would Tiger like walking around in Britney Spears' shoes for a day? There wouldn't be enough of those ugly, cumbersome neck braces for everyone. All joking aside, Tiger was in the heat of the battle and he said a stupid thing but what's worse and almost unexplainable is his lack of an apology when given the chance. "It's been frustrating because that's what's been happening lately," Woods told ESPN's First Take Wednesday morning. "It's one of the things that comes with playing in the last group, one of the distractions we have to deal with." And when asked specifically about the language used he said, "You have no idea what's been said on the golf course all the time, in any sport really. It was the heat of the moment. That one shot took the momentum I had built on No. 8." Unequivocally unapologetic. All he had so say was a simple "I'm sorry for how I reacted. That was very unbecoming of a PGA TOUR golfer, especially someone in my position as a revered figure all over the world." Tilgham had to apologize and so should Tiger.
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