The Tiger in Winter

Anybody remember the 1973 World Series?  Let me rephrase, anybody but Wally remember that '73 Series?

If you go to the historical accounts, you'll be reminded of the "Ya Gotta Believe" Mets that improbably took down the vaunted Reds in the NLCS.  Now they believed for sure, at least until

Reggie's bat met a Jon Matlack fastball in the first inning of the seventh game, but that's not important now....

What I remember most from the World Series was the sadness in watching the legendary Willie Mays stumble around the outfield and struggle to get traction out of the batter's box after his last hit ever in Game 2.  It no doubt triggered an avalanche of garment rending about the failure of athletes to know when their skills had diminished to the point of embarrassment, something that has been with us since Achilles first felt that pop in his heel and no doubt told the media, "A little ice and it'll be fine" and "I just need to get in my spear-throwing reps" (Please, no letters, I know that he was killed by an arrow).

I'll send you first here to listen to the newly-anointed Olympic host Mike Tirico muse on this subject, and not just because he also uses the Willie Mays analogy, to which he adds the late Ali and MJ in a Wizards uniform.  And also give a listen to Rich Lerner here.....

Among the print press, ESPN's Jason Sobel, like your humble correspondent, a little worn out by the secrecy/misdirection coming from team Tiger:

But here's where it gets tricky: When Woods withdraws from the tournament in Dubai

one day after denying he was in any pain, that self-assessment loses some credibility. And when his agent declares that Woods' withdrawal was due to back spasms that are unrelated to those three previous microdiscectomy surgeries, it becomes impossible to decipher where the truth ends and the denials begin. 

In an announcement Friday on his personal website that he'd miss his next two scheduled starts, Woods again maintained that "ongoing back spasms" are the reason, never allowing that his current physical issues may, in fact, be a direct result of those previous physical issues. 

It's because of Woods' unending secrecy in these matters that we can view his latest news with a heavy dose of reasonable doubt.

Ya think?  Though I find the inference that Steiny was disingenuous to be....  Oh, never mind!  

Lastly, Ryan Lavner is lucky enough to be at pebble this week, and takes the opportunity to pose the question "How will Tiger know when it's over" to folks like Larry Fitzgerald, Andy Roddick and Kelly Slater...  here's the sample that I find closest to the mark:

Kelly Slater has reached a similar crossroads. His dominant surfing career is winding down, too. He has captured 55 career titles, and a record 11 world championships, but the 45-year-old has been off his game for the past couple of years, looking increasingly vulnerable in heats. 

“If you’re just wanting to be there and make up some numbers, that’s one thing, but if you’re trying to win and be the No. 1 guy, you have to be honest with where your levels are at,” Slater said Friday. “That’s kind of where I’m coming from. If I can put in a full healthy year with the right desire and I can’t win a world title, if that’s out of my grasp, then it’s time to retire. I don’t think I’m there yet. But I think that’s what the conversation is for me.” 

Slater, like Woods, has been inspired and motivated by the next generation. Surfers like John John Florence, last year’s world champion, have raised the bar for everyone. “I looked at that,” Slater said, “and I said to myself, ‘Man, I remember what that feels like. I want to put that back together again.’” And so he recommitted to his craft and summoned an epic performance, beating Florence with a near-perfect score last August in Tahiti. Afterward, he described it as “one of the best wins I’ve ever had.” Woods, of course, is chasing the same feeling.

To a large degree, that kind of win is the upside from Tiger's comeback, not the pie-in-the-ski expectations of dominance.  

But none of the folks he talked to are to me on point, as he himself noted in his lede 'graph:

Golfers don’t retire so much as they simply fade from view. They cut down their schedules. Limit their appearances. Spend more time with their families. Usually, it’s a peaceful transition.

Disagree?  Then call me when Roger Goodell starts that NFL Senior League.....

Contra Rich Lerner, this is a very interesting story because we've not seen anything remotely like this previously....  Now perhaps the most interesting person that Ryan Lavner could have consulted on the sudden loss of golf skills was not on the golf course... Rather, he was in CBS' 17th hole tower, he of course being Ian Baker-Finch.  A good player in his day, there was that Open Championship at Birkdale most notably, who woke one day unable to play the game at the highest level any longer....

As Lavner hints at, our game is different....  Skills erode as players age, they just typically erode at  an almost imperceptible pace such that sentient people will pay to see their heroes play into their dotage.  Arnie, as an example, won his last major at the '64 Masters, but it was well into the 70's before folks wrote off his chances.  Jack caught lightning in a bottle in '86, but he was competitive at Augusta into his fifties.  Hogan in '60 as well, despite making folks cringe anytime he had a putter in his hands....

Now, it simply may be that Tiger is too injured to compete at the highest level, and hence the frustration of Jason Sobel and others.  It would be refreshing if we could get a straight story on his surgeries and condition from him, but I also recognize the other possibilities, that either he's in denial himself or that his doctors don't know.  But do we think he flew twelve time zones knowing that he couldn't swing the club?  That seems a bit farfetched, though there was that seven-figure appearance fee....

The subject of stage fright also keeps arising, partially because the anecdotal accounts of both ProAms were so favorable.  Maybe, but we also know that he's putting the petal to the metal on Wednesdays, so I tend to discount those along with the inevitable accounts of him striping it on the range in Jupiter (see, Begay, Notah and Parnevik, Jesper).

So, not only do we have no idea of the next scene in this drama, but we don't even know if we're in Act III or even the Epilogue.  I've long thought that Tiger wouldn't have much appetite for the struggles, sucking takes more patience than he's demonstrated to date.... But, just to hedge, he's of course hyper-competitive, a Jones that's gone unsatisfied since at least 2013, and maybe 2008.

But then this from Lavner isn't much help:

What would Woods’ post-golf life look like? He’s already offered a glimpse. Last fall, he launched the second chapter of his career – his new brand TGR, which combines all of his various businesses, including tournament management and golf-course design. He’d also be heavily involved in team competitions each year.

Really?  He was out for sixteen months and basically spent that time playing Call of Duty 8 hours a day...  Don't be fooled by a silly logo.  

None of us can have a clue as to where this goes, because to do so would require a clear understanding of the state of his back.  But without such candor (and that's understating it, because he outright lied about not being in pain after the first round in Dubai), he becomes an increasingly unsympathetic character, and that puts everything he hopes to do in golf in jeopardy.  

It's really quite the spectacle....  Keep the popcorn and a box of tissues at the ready.

And now comes this news:

Of the original nine subspecies of tigers, three have become extinct in the last 80 years; an average of one every 20 years. It has been predicted all tigers may become extinct in the wild within the next decade.

Coincidence?  I don't believe in coincidences.....