Well OK. Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia had their little war of words through the press following the Players Championship. Garcia said Woods breached golf etiquette by causing some sort of stir amongst the crowd while Sergio was in the middle of his back swing -- hence he hit a bad shot.
Woods said the course marshals had told him Garcia had already swung, so Tiger felt free to go ahead with his own swing. To be sure, every swing Eldrick makes gets a roar out of the gallery. Problem is, later on the marshals denied ever having told Woods any such thing, and further said Woods showed "lack of character" by making such a claim. Unless one believes the impartial course marshals are lying, it would appear Tiger was being a little less than straightforward about the entire matter.
Nonetheless -- who gives a rat's ass?
Let's look at a few realities in other pro sports as a comparison.
In basketball, besides screaming and flailing their arms, the home fans routinely wave streamers (handed out by the home stadium itself) behind the basket when a member of the visiting team is attempting to shoot free throws. It's just part of the game.
In the NFL, oftentimes the crowd roars so loud when the visiting team is attempting an offensive play, the players themselves on the field have to resort to hand signals to communicate. You'll never hear a post-game whine by the visitors over how loud the crowd was. They understand it goes with the territory.
In major league baseball, fans routinely boo and shout various not-so-good things at various players -- sometimes even their own if they're playing bad enough. This is totally acceptable. The people in the seats paid the price of admission, and they've always had a right to "needle" players however they feel like -- short of things like racial slurs or gross profanity, of course. The players hear all this. Good grief, they've probably heard such distractions and catcalls since "little league". It's no big deal to them. Just another day at the ballpark.
Can you imagine what sort of backlash a player would face in basketball, football, or baseball, if he complained that the crowd noise threw him off his game? He'd be ridiculed, and rightfully so.
So who decided it was OK for fans to yell whenever they want in some sports, but they have a gag order placed on them at certain times in others?
In golf, everybody has to be hush-hush QUIET when a player is actually playing. If anybody dares yell or pop a flash from a camera during a player's backswing, it's entirely possible the perpetrator could be booted off the course. Or at the very least verbally assaulted by a belligerent caddy.
Same thing in pro tennis. When a player is getting ready to hit a "serve", silence is mandatory. A fraction of a second after the tennis ball has initially been struck, the crowd is allowed to start cheering again. On rare occasions, the crowd might actually boo a player if they think he/she is being unsportsmanlike. Usually that involves a player acting like a spoiled 7-year old throwing a tantrum on the court, when they're not getting their way.
But for some reason, booing has always been unheard of in golf. It's OK for some fan to scream, "YOU DA MAN!!!" a millisecond after Tiger Woods hits a shot. But if that same fan hollers out, "YOU'RE A BUM!!!", particularly at a major tournament, being booted off the course would be the least of his worries. He'd be lucky if he didn't wind up in Guantanamo with others that were deemed to be terrorists. They take this golf stuff seriously at places like Augusta National.
And you know what? It's just wrong.
Other pro sports require the same level of concentration to be successful while their games are going on. In the NFL or NHL, one momentary mental lapse might result in a player waking up in the locker room wondering what happened -- or worse. Those other guys don't care, and they're playing for keeps. Stuff happens. Again, it goes with the territory. Nobody makes these players subject themselves to this. Quite the contrary. The competition is ferocious to even make it to the professional level.
But horrors, poor downtrodden and abused Tiger and Sergio had to have their little girl cat fight (hiss) over one of them possibly causing the crowd to make a little noise. What's worse is the media trying to make a big deal out of it. To which I say ---
Shut up. Did I mention the rat's ass? These guys might be pros, but they're not athletes. How do I know this? They don't even carry their own equipment during the course of a game. While making millions, the hardest hit divas like those guys are ever going to take would be missing a cut at a major tournament, or maybe the paparazzi chasing after them in their precious personal lives.
The hypocrisy of etiquette in various sports is one thing. Tiger should have been able to play his game without worrying about causing a stir in the crowd that might have affected Sergio. Crowds have always erupted all over the course as different players make great shots here and there. Sergio was whining.
But Tiger shouldn't have said what he did about the course marshals giving him the go-ahead -- which apparently never happened.
Lying is never cool. Better to man up, or at least shut up. That cover-up thing only makes things worse in the end when it all comes out. One would think Eldrick would have learned that lesson from Elin a while back.
Come to think of it -- that turned out to be quite a hit too.
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