Sergio and Tiger

It's no big secret pro golfers Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods don't like each other much. Hey, it happens. Whether it's players in other sports, movie stars, teachers, cops, construction workers, even the clergy -- you name the profession -- and some people rub others the wrong way for various reasons. It's just human nature. Always has been, always will be.

But now Sergio Garcia finds himself back peddling, apologizing, and in damage control mode because he dared to take a swipe at Tiger about serving him fried chicken. It was similar to a swipe former pro golfer Fuzzy Zoeller took at Woods after Tiger had won the Masters tournament back in the 90s. As I understand it, the winner of that tournament gets to pick the entree for the official dinner the following year. Zoeller said something about Tiger opting for fried chicken and collard greens. He caught a bunch of flak too. (If I remember right, as it turned out, Tiger decided on cheeseburgers.)

Obviously, both comments have been construed as some sort of ethnic slurs, because for some reason, there are those that think all black people of overly fond of fried chicken. How that came to be -- I have no idea. But it's silly.

And so is this latest "feud" between Sergio and Tiger.  It's WAY overblown. A few questions ---

Even if Garcia had uttered a profanity laced out-and-out racial slur towards Tiger, do you think the majority of everyday men and women around the world would really care about it? I think not. Most of us have experienced that sort of thing countless times during our lives. Is it right? Probably not. Does it happen? Of course. Such disparaging words or references can be about race, gender, heritage, religion, politics, age, physical traits, intelligence, and a lot of other things. It's just a part of life. Most of us just shrug it off -- even when it's personal -- and we surely don't care about what others are saying to or about each other somewhere else on the planet.

But when such a thing occurs between high profile people, two things normally happen. First, the media gets its bowels in an uproar and pours gasoline on the fire. Most of them could likely personally care less, of course, but it's a story, and they'll do their best to turn a marshmallow roast into a blazing inferno. Second, when it involves people in the public eye, some such folks tend to be overly sensitive when someone says something about them they don't like -- even if it's true. It's basically an ego thing. They have to protect their precious image at all costs. So they'll either snipe back or play on public sympathy. All the while, the media willingly fans the flames.

Let's get a few facts straight. Sergio Garcia is a Spaniard. Tiger Woods is an American that happens to be half black. Sergio took a swipe at Tiger about fried chicken. The story exploded.

Do you think if it had been ---

A German Formula One driver taking the same swipe at an Italian F1 driver about spaghetti, or..

A Swedish hockey player teasing a Russian counterpart about borscht, or...

A Canadian gymnast poking fun at a Chinese competitor about rice, or....

Etc, etc, etc, this would be such a big deal? I highly doubt it.

But it was the precious Eldrick Woods on the receiving end. Why that should make a difference, I don't know, but evidently it does.

Even Tiger himself jumped in and said Garcia's words were wrong, and hurtful. Many have bought into that.

I don't. First, I don't know whether or not Tiger likes fried chicken. No one seems to notice that he's never said one way or the other. If he does, then the politically correct crappola aside -- Garcia wasn't wrong. At that, maybe Fuzzy had some inside info about some of Tiger's favorite foods back in the day. Beats me.

And second, if Woods finds such a remark hurtful, that man needs to get out of his bubble-wrapped celebrity ivory tower and spend a little time with the commoners. Perhaps he'd learn some harsh realities about the every day world. Couldn't hurt.

In the meantime -- between Garcia and Woods -- it's a couple of golfing multimillionaires that have been pampered and catered to their whole lives acting out the equivalent of a 3rd grade playground squabble through the press.

Two words....

Who cares?