Walk A Mile

I am not famous. Quite the opposite. Nonetheless, I have had enough situations where the spotlight was bright enough for people to judge everything and anything I did to know that it is not fun.

On the other end of the spectrum is Tiger Woods, and Michael before him. There are two people, quite literally, on the planet, that have ever known what it is like to be in their shoes. People seem to lose sight of this, but it is an indisputable fact. No other athletes have ever been as dominate as they have, as early in their careers, or to such an extent, and no two athletes have ever made the kind of money they did for being as good as they were/are.

There are two facts about this money, one, they make these kinds of sums because of how good they are, and how recognizable they are for their success beyond their individual sports, and even beyond sport itself, and two, having that kind of money, while wonderful I am sure in many ways, brings a pressure, and responsibility, and "temptations" as Tiger said, that none of us mere mortals can possibly have any vague appreciation for.

If you cheat on your wife, you are wrong. If you gamble on any athlete that moves as a professional athlete you are wrong, even though lots of people have forgotten Michaels involuntary vacation from basketball, or at least the reason for it. But, both men knew they were wrong. Michael did what he could to make it up to the fans, the NBA, his family, his teammates, and three more championships later people sort of forgot. Tiger is trying to do the same.

My friends at ESPN are the ones that once again have me writing this, and although I thought Mike Tirico did a very professional job with his post "game" coverage of yesterdays speech by Tiger, there are still too many "journalists," most at ESPN, taking shots from the cheap seats.

As I said with the Bret Favre coverage of his interception against the Saints, two weeks later Americas Quarterback Payton did the same thing in the same situation to the same Saints Safety to lose the Super Bowl, I would challenge any of the so called "peanut gallery" to stand on the field and try to throw a pass to open space thirty yards down field with a New Orleans Saints linebacker or Defensive End running you over as you do it. We will have the Medivac waiting I promise.

I don't know that there are any on the PGA tour that could walk a mile in Tigers shoes let alone in the press. Not to mention the most important part of all of this, Tiger as worked from the age of two to be mentally and physically tougher and more talented than every other golfer on tour and he succeeded, which is why all the sponsors want him, and why everyone else does as well. Can anyone out there imagine what it is like for most of the world to want a piece of you in one way or another, and what it is like to try and figure out how many of those millions are sincere. Not many I would guess, and I know I could not handle it, not for a minute, not that I wouldn't want to try mind you, but I am just simply not that mentally tough.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.