The Dallas Morning News' Albert Breer is not impressed with you, Tiger Woods. Sure, you had a double stress fracture and a torn ACL, walked more than 21 miles over five days, and gave one of the grittiest performances in major championship history, but, apparently, it wasn't enough. You want tough? How about ... Philip Rivers? Really?
Breer tries to explain:
...[L]et's stop with all the breathless homages. Put the Purple Heart away. While there was some appreciation for it, I don't remember all this slobbering over someone going on in January, after Philip Rivers did something far more impressive. He played in a football game, in freezing conditions, against a 17-0 team through a similar injury.Well, I did my fair share of slobbering, and I'm not even a Philip Rivers fan. That said, I think it's ridiculous to compare the two. Breer admits to appreciating Tiger's accomplishment, and calls the feat impressive, but adds, "Is [comparing Woods to Philips] even close. No. Way."
He falls into the lazy trap of saying that all Tiger did was "hit golf balls," because "last time I checked, there are plenty of people who aren't in very good physical condition who can endure 18 holes." First, did you really check? I'm guessing no. Second, have you seen Grady Jackson, Sebastian Janikowski or Jared Lorenzen? Am I grossly oversimplifying things? Exactly.
But Breer's readers make my point better than I do:
"There's one significant difference between Tiger and Philip: Tiger won." - TySo, yeah, Rivers was impressive, but let's not get carried away, please. Thank God for Tim MacMahon.
"Tiger played 91 holes over five days, Rivers played for four hours on one day. Tiger puts a significant amount of torque on his knee with his golf swing. Throwing a football doesn't really put much pressure on the legs. Play some golf Breer, then post an article like this." - DARX26
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-20-2008 @ 7:47PM
nganassim said...
I had a cast put on today and spoke with the orthopedic surgeon. He said that Tiger did not have a stress fracture as the media has reported, but rather a bone bruise that looks like a stress fracture, caused by the ligament damage that meant the knee could be kept in place properly. That's not to say what Tiger did isn't incredible - this doctor said that he never would have let Tiger take a swing.
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6-20-2008 @ 9:58PM
Advocate fan said...
People and the media exagerate to build up hype. They want you to believe the impossible to be possible.
Lets say Rivers and Tiger both endured the same injury though...lol
Tiger didn't have to run around, putting pressured weight on top of the injury. - Yes Tiger was applying a good amount of torque on his knee but it's not in the same.
Plus Tiger wasn't also being hit by a 250lb body coming at you full force. - Along with the twisting pressure to go along with the impact of the fall.
Sorry not even close.
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6-23-2008 @ 1:39AM
sam said...
This needs to be taken out of context:
"last time I checked, there are plenty of people who aren't in very good physical condition who can endure 18 holes."
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6-21-2008 @ 8:50AM
PacoGerte said...
Golfers are NOT atheletes. Golf is not a sport - it's an activity. If a 70 year-old can beat a 30 year-old, it's not sport.
Rivers was much maligned as a trash talker (opposing teams' fans would tell him to f off and he would say 'thank you very much' - what a thug!), but in the ever biased east coast ESPN world, the Bolts weren't as good a story as the Cheatriots. LdT and Rivers were studs in the face of pain. Tiger was impressive, but swinging a club isn't the same as being chased and tackled by Jr Seau.
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6-21-2008 @ 12:08AM
George B Vieto said...
It is one thing to play a sport in weather for Mister Freeze's enjoyment and have 300 pound players crushing you like a grape than hitting a golf ball in decent weather. In the words of Whitney Houston "Love Is A Contact Sport." Golf isn't a contact sport.
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6-21-2008 @ 8:51AM
md3td said...
This is so stupid. I live in San Antonio where limbless war veterans and burn victims from the Iraq war come to rehab. How much of a hero are any of these sports figures? Now isn't this argument STUPID?
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6-22-2008 @ 9:14AM
Julian said...
... but Phillip Rivers lost. And it wasn't close. And they only scored 12 points. Also, Tiger had to beat a whole field of opponents playing on one leg.
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6-22-2008 @ 10:24PM
matt said...
hey julian give the bolts some credit please. playin w/o gates and lt they coulda won . if rivers was in better shape too they coulda beaten the cheaters (pats). the bolt will be back....
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