Tiger Woods: Back to Even Par

(Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Times)

He might not have had the social impact that Muhammad Ali had and he might not have had the cultural impact that Michael Jordan had, but there is no denying the impact Tiger Woods had on the game of golf and the world of sports. Perhaps only a few athletes before him have had the impact on sports like Woods. When he burst onto the scene in 1997 winning his first of fifteen Majors and first of five Green Jackets, it’s hard to fathom what the next 22 years would be like.

But here we are.

He was 21 when he won the Masters by 12 strokes. (No that isn’t a typo, he really won the Masters at 21 by 12 strokes.) That would be like the number one pick in the NBA Draft leading his team to an NBA title while also winning league MVP and scoring title as a Rookie. That was just the beginning though for Woods. From that first swing at Augusta National to his U.S. Open victory in 2008 no athlete was more dominant than Woods and no athlete had the impact on sports while being so quiet on and off the field of play.

Until he hit the back nine.

It’s not cliché for me to say Tiger Woods is the reason why I wanted to play golf. I would be willing to bet most people reading this who do play golf would say the same thing. Let’s be honest, golf was a sport filled with predominantly older white people. Tiger changed that. Golf was popular before Woods teed it up for the first time, but not for the younger crowd. He made it cool. He made it fun. He created the modern day golfer with that first swing.

He brought flare. He brought in a younger crowd because he was one of them. He brought a swagger that was dripping with red Nike polo’s and black pants. He brought a certain cockiness to the sport that it had NEVER seen, and quite frankly, it didn’t really want. His fist pumps were loud. His club twirls were flamboyant. You knew where he was on the course and his opponents knew it too. He had an aura about him that seemed to diminish their skills before they even reached the first tee box and THAT Tiger Woods is why golf is where it’s at today.

It’s not a stretch to say that if Woods was an average golfer with only 4-5 Majors the sport wouldn’t be close to what it is right now. Actually, that’s probably a fact. Television ratings, merchandise sales, popularity, etc. have risen over the last 20 years because of one man. The style in which the game is played is because of one man. The look of the golfers today is because of that man.

People seem to struggle when it comes to athletes who do wrong. They struggle because they can’t separate the person from the athlete, and when that athlete does something they don’t agree with, they dismiss them. Even when they fall from grace, pay their dues, and make their comeback, it’s not enough. What the regular folk seems to forget is that athletes are human too and are allowed to make mistakes. Crazy concept, right? What Tiger did was shocking and shameful, but does that mean we are not allowed to still root for the golfer? Some people would say yes. When things started to fall apart for Woods in 2009 (off the course) the sport wasn’t put on hold but in some ways it felt like it was. New faces emerged such as Dustin Johnson, Rory McElroy, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Speith who all tried to carry the load while the former world’s number 1 was going through his struggles. It was something new for the sport and many wondered who would be the guy, mainly because no one was really close to taking that title from him.

Fast forward to April 11^th through the 14^th, and the 2019 Masters. Woods was a 14/1 favorite to win the Green Jacket and complete his comeback. The field at The Masters, per the usual, was stacked. Only two players however had odds greater than Woods; Rory Mcllroy (8/1) and Dustin Johnson (13/1). Tiger didn’t lead wire-to-wire like he has in other Major victories but his name was always at the top. He was paired with Francisco Moinari and Tony Finau who both had a good first three rounds heading into Sunday. With the weather that was approaching August, not scheduled until mid afternoon, the PGA decided to push the tee times back to early in the morning. Some started on #1 and some started on #10 at 7:30 a.m. The group at the top which featured Woods was scheduled to go off at 9:20 a.m. Golf fans were ready for this day where Tiger was at the top heading into Sunday, especially at Augusta.

Heading into the 18^th and final hole Woods held a two shot lead so there was room for a single mistake and would still walk away with his 5^th Green Jacket. Once Tiger took the lead on the 15^th hole you could feel that this was finally the moment. It was a moment that sports fans had been waiting for. It had been since 2008 when Tiger won his last Major and while he had won some events since then, it wasn’t the same. Tiger needed a Major victory in a major way.

Tiger walked onto the green at the 18^th hole with millions of people watching both at Augusta and on TV. He had a par putt go just past the hole and had about four feet for a bogey and in that moment where he brought the putter back and struck the ball, knowing it would go in, the fans surrounding the green collectively took a deep breath trying to build up and let out the loudest roar a Tiger Woods made putt has ever produced.

The ball didn’t even hit the lip of the cup and those watching exploded with a feeling of satisfaction and joy they hadn’t felt in over 10 years.

It was a feeling that golf fans and sports fans alike had been waiting for and to finally have that feeling and for it to come at the hallowed grounds of Augusta National made it that much better.

Tiger’s return to glory took a while but the it was worth it and the build up was like something you’ve never seen in sports. It wasn’t graceful as he had other off the course issues come to light which set him back but he never really faded into the darkness. His return and victory at The Masters last month was something the sports world needed, it was closure that yes, Tiger Woods is still one of the best.

Is this the last Major he’ll ever win? That remains to be seen. If it is however, what a way to close the book on Majors.

Penn State Football Fans: a reality check

I wrote a few months ago that head coach James Franklin is not overrated like some people say he is. The in-game mistakes that have been made in the last few years against likes of Ohio State and Michigan State are easily correctable. I’m not making excuses for those situational mistakes because they’ve cost us potential trips to the Big Ten Championship game and possible trips to the College Football Playoffs. But to say Franklin is overrated, or that fans would be OK with him leaving for another job, is simply ridiculous. That tells me that Penn State fans, like most college football fans, are very spoiled.

(Photo: baltimoresun.com)

I don’t have insider knowledge. I don’t have ‘sources’. And nothing I say is (usually) to be taken seriously, but this is something I’m a firm believer in, James Franklin is NOT leaving Penn State any time soon.

The fact that he has gotten the Nittany Lions to where they are now being another thing I don’t think fans really comprehend, winning 7 games each of his first two seasons is perhaps more impressive than the back-to-back 11-win seasons and Big Ten title since 2016.

When I watched Franklin’s introductory press conference I compared it to Bill O’Brien’s and one of the biggest differences was that O’Brien’s seemed scripted and it didn’t feel like this was his “dream job”, which is understandable because O’Brien is an NFL guy. Franklin is not. When I watched Franklin’s I could tell he wanted to build Penn State into one of the top programs in college football and wanted to be here for the long haul. This is his dream job. 

He’s getting there, by the way. 

If Penn State fans are OK with what he’s done and would have a smile on their face should he leave, that again tells me that most fans don’t get it. Building a football program into a consistent playoff contender is not an easy task; look at Clemson's Dabo Swinney for example. Right now, Swinney is arguably the second best coach in the country behind Nick Saban. In his first three seasons at Clemson however, Dabo was 4-3 (he took over for Tommy Bowden during the 2008 season), 9-5, and 6-7. In comparison, James Franklin was 7-6, 7-6, and 11-3. Franklin had less to work with and more of a challenge playing in the Big Ten. Penn State fans apparently got so accustom to winning that they forgot loses happen, and that the Big Ten title might’ve been ahead of schedule. Even though he hasn't gotten back to the Big Ten Championship or made the College Football Playoffs, doesn't mean he's done a bad job. He's done a great job actually. 

Then again, what were your expectations when he got to State College? 

With more talent coming in and Franklin getting more and more players that he wants, the wins will keep coming. Penn State has a chance to finish this season 10-3 and play in another New Years Six bowl against a top-tier program. That’s a big deal. Something that fans should appreciate and understand the significance of. 

It’s easy to say that the expectations are high for Franklin and company, rightfully so, there is nothing holding him back and nothing holding this team back from being one of the top programs in the country. But fans have to hold back on the notion that Franklin isn’t a good coach, or that leaving Penn State would be OK. The fact is, he is a good coach and it wouldn’t be OK if he left. 

Lets all take a step back and stop listening to local media. Stop listening to the pundits and think about where Penn State is compared to where you the fans thought they would be at this point. I’d say they’re pretty doing a damn good job, wouldn’t you?

The Chaos Begins

Penn State enters this weekend’s game against Michigan State 8^th in the AP top-25. The College Football Playoff rankings don’t come out for another three weeks but the Nittany Lions still have an outside chance of making the playoffs. There are several teams ahead of them that in the next few weeks could lose and allow the Lions to be on the outside looking in should they keep winning.

Penn State has shown so far this season that they can score, having scored 50 or more points in 3 of their 5 games, including two 63-point games. They were leading the #3 ranked team in the country Ohio State for about 54 minutes two weeks ago and looked the part of a playoff team. They have seven more games left, with two of those games coming against currently ranked teams in #12 Michigan on the road then home to #15 Wisconsin, coincidentally those two teams play each other this weekend. (Penn State should hope for Michigan to pull out the win.)

Should Penn State win those two games and win convincingly, while getting some help from teams ahead of them, and of course winning their remaining games, it will put them in good position to get into the College Football Playoffs even if they don’t win the Big Ten. We can get into all the scenarios for Penn State getting in the playoffs at a later time. The help they’ll need from other teams is what we call chaos. If you’ve followed college football over the years, you know that chaos is bound to happen. It’s just a matter of when.

Here is a what some of that chaos could be in the next few weeks starting with this Saturday.

• The #2 team in the country Georgia travels to Death Valley to take on the LSU. Coming off loss to Florida last weekend, LSU will be eager to get back on the field and prove that their previous ranking of 5^th was not a fluke. Playing down in the Bayou is never easy, but head coach Kirby Smart will have his Bulldogs ready. A loss wouldn’t hurt the Bulldogs but it would surely drop them out of the top 5 a few weeks ahead of the initial CFP rankings. LSU has Alabama coming to town at the beginning of November which will be a massive game should the Tigers pull this one off Saturday afternoon.
• Implications: a loss for Georgia isn’t the end of the world but it means they can’t afford another loss. They would meet Alabama in the SEC Championship Game IF both teams should win out. A win for LSU should certainly boost them back up in the rankings and will provide them with an enormous amount of confidence heading into the home stretch of the season. Although you can never look ahead, a matchup will the Crimson Tide will decide who goes to Atlanta to represent the SEC West and a likely trip to the College Football Playoffs with a win.

• The leader in the clubhouse heading into this weekend in the Big 12 is West Virginia. The Mountaineers, led by Heisman hopeful Will Grier, head into Ames, Iowa as the 6th ranked team in the country to take on the Cyclones. On paper it seems like a win for West Virginia, but we saw last year Oklahoma go into Ames and take a loss. The Sooners eventually made the playoffs but I wouldn’t expect that to happen to WVU who still has to play the aforementioned Sooners and Texas, who is coming off a big win against Oklahoma.
• Implications: a loss for West Virginia doesn’t knock them out of the playoffs by any means, but with a stretch of games that includes Texas (road), TCU (home), Oklahoma State (road), and Oklahoma (home), it seems unlikely that they run the table and finish 12-0.

• The team that Penn State beat in the Fiesta Bowl to end 2017 season, the Washington Huskies, travel Eugene to take on Oregon. This is an interesting time for a game like this, or any PAC 12 game for that matter, as it is set for a 12:30 (Pacific Time) start. If this is a shoot-out, then Oregon is likely going to take it as they average 45.6 points per game compared to Washington’s 29.2. However, the Huskies only allow 13.7 points per game so something’s got to give. Both teams enter the game with 1 loss on the season but Washington has the 0 in the loss column in conference play. The early start will catch a lot of people off guard but it should shape up to be a great game.
• Implications: a loss for Washington would be their second and would certainly keep them out of the College Football Playoffs even if they win their conference. Oregon is still in the hunt for the conference title but even with winning that, their chances of making the CFP are slim.

Penn State needs to hope for the chaos to start this weekend and continue a few more times as the season goes on. Going forward, style points will matter for James Franklin and company. They have plenty of opportunities to showoff for the playoff committee and that starts this weekend at 3:30 when Michigan State comes to town.