Reilly lecturing again

I agree, but there's a time and a place. There is a happy medium where you're not a robot and you're not John McEnroe.

 

So Tiger's exaggerated fist pump when he drops a long putt is cool, but his emotions when he sucks are reason to villify him?

 

Yes, when his emotions include loud F Bombs. He's not cursing on camera when he drops a long putt.

I think all the stuff about slamming his clubs....whatever. No big deal. I do have a problem with his dirty mouth, though. Does send a bad message.

God, who am I?

 

Don't mind the fist-pumping so much, although it's a bit silly at this point. But Reilly has a point: kids will emulate him, and soon we'll have a nation of golf courses on which punk-asses are dropping f-bombs and sullying what is supposed to be a "gentlemanly" sport.

I guess my question for Tiger is: What's the point of cussing so much? Yeah, we know you have the killer instinct. But c'mon, deal with a bad shot. It happens to everyone. Give the caddy the stick after a bad shot and enjoy the exercise of walking to the ball for the next shot. The shit ain't life or death.

 

Oh, I understand a column has an opinion. But that doesn't excuse laziness.

Columns can, you know, be good journalism.

 

Perfectly good column. He makes a reasonable argument, whether you agree with it or not. He also shows a willingness to do something other than kiss the ass of the big names. It doesn't make the list of his greatest hits, and yes, if he'd gotten Tiger to address the matter it would have been better, but it's still a good opinion piece. Save the Reilly-bashing for when it's warranted.

 

Eh. I still don't see the need for Tiger quotes. If it's a trend piece, sure. An 800-word column? Not so much.

 

the only people I've ever golfed with the last 10 years or so are people over 30. I've heard dozens of F-bombs on the course. Regular golfers have been swearing on the course forever. I don't see Tiger's cursing leading to a surge of unruly cussers on the course. And maybe it will have the opposite effect: the generation of American tennis players after McEnroe and Connors were among the most boring, lifeless personalities the sport's ever seen. I'm sure we'll still have plenty of boring, lifeless, well-mannered American PGA players in 15, 20 years.

 

He spurred real, legitimate debate. I happen to agree with him, but either way this was by far the best thing I've seen from him in a while - though I don't read him regularly anymore.

 

That generation included Agassi. And I would hardly call Jeff Tarango a boring, lifeless personality --- but then, he wasn't an elite player so most people don't know about some of his antics, which would easily rival McEnroe or Connors. But the other top Americans --- Sampras, Courier, Chang, Wheaton, Martin, Washington --- pretty boring, I guess. But they had a lot of class.

Makes me wonder, though.

Put McEnroe and Connors in today's game, with Hawk-Eye replay system, thereby taking away 99 percent of the temper they showed (arguing with umpires and stewing about questionable line calls), and would they be nearly as compelling?

I'd like to think there was more to "emotion" than being an ass or simply losing it just because you thought the linesperson made a bad call. But maybe there wasn't.

 

Jeff Tarango? Bad player, worse temper. Does not belong in this discussion

 

No, we won't.

I've yet to see any John Daly lookalikes running around the courses, chain-smoking and popping peanut M&Ms into their fat pieholes.

Tennis courts didn't go to hell in a handbasket when McEnroe and Nastase were parading around trashing umpires and gear.

There isn't a group of young drivers in Quarter Midget and lower regional NASCAR events cursing out media types like Tony Stewart did or acting like a bitchy Kyle Busch.

Why? Because when all that juvenile f-bomb activity is on display publicly, rational people including impressionable teens realize how stupid it looks. Parents typically tell their kids "Don't act like that" and use those events as examples of how not to act.