Please forgive me. I wanted to write about Tiger Woods some time ago but it took this long to wade through the over-the-top tributes and gooey memorials stemming from his U.S. Open win.
Woods plays with a bum knee and suddenly he's Beowulf slaying Grendel.
Beowoods.
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| Michael Phelps has qualified for eight events in Beijing. (AP) |
The sonnets written in honor of Woods from the national media reminded me of the site TimTebowfacts.com, which generates outrageous and sarcastic one-liners about the Florida quarterback who has become almost legend. Like when you open a can of whoop-ass, Tim Tebow jumps out.
In the NFL, men play on despite broken bones and death-defying concussive impacts. One of the greatest single acts of courage in the history of American sports was Jack Youngblood, the outstanding defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams, playing much of a 1979 playoff game on a broken left fibula which had snapped just above the ankle.
That was true sports courage, not courage manufactured by the ESPYS.
Woods isn't Superman. He's barely an athlete.
This brings me to my point. My long, belabored point.
If Woods is an athlete, then Flavor Flav is Secretary of State.
Woods isn't an athlete but Michael Phelps is.
An argument can easily be made that Phelps, right now, is the best athlete in the world.
Sure, I said it.
