Rooting for Goliath

(What Tiger Woods did on the last three days of the US Open was unreal.)

Hear that? Yep, that sound you hear is the collective sigh from the sports world. After a whirlwind week, the land of sports pretty much will be on cruise control until the baseball all-star game. Except for your everyday, run-of-the-mill June baseball games, there aren't any major events on tap until baseball's best show up at Yankee Stadium for the Midsummer Classic.

But what a month it has been. And out of everything that has happened (Boston dismantling my Lakers in the Finals and tarnishing Kobe's legacy, etc.), one thing stands above everything else. The US Open. In my opinion, the absolute greatest golf tournament I have ever watched. And watch I did. All 91 holes of it.

Tiger Woods. Goodness. What is there left to say? What he did at the US Open propelled him to another level – which is saying a lot considering he's the greatest golfer ever to pick up a club (narrowly edging out Happy Gilmore and yours truly). I mean, I was CAPTIVATED by what he did on Saturday. Those final five holes or so were amazing. The long eagle putt, the chip in on 17, the eagle on 18. Sheesh. And his clutch birdie on 18 on Sunday to force a playoff was equally amazing. I just don't remember being that entertained by a golf tournament in a long, long time. And to know now just how bad his knee actually was makes it that much more amazing. I know there are a lot of people out there who are tired of Tiger winning. Tired of everyone rooting for him. But you know what, I can't help it. I mean, I doubt I'll be telling my grandkids about Sergio Garcia, or the time I saw Zach Johnson win the Masters. But you know what? I will be able to tell them that I got to see the greatest golfer of all time playing in his prime.

As Americans, we are naturally drawn to rooting for the underdog – the USA to be the Soviets in the Olympics, Rocky to beat Drago, Tweety Bird to get away from Sylvester... you get the picture. But for the most part, we don't root for the underdog when it comes to Tiger. When he's playing – and especially in contention – ratings are through the roof and the galleries are insanely big and loud. People want Tiger to win. They want Goliath to crush David. Why? I'm not sure I can speak for everyone, but I know why I want him to win. I want to see greatness. I want to be a part of history. And Tiger's an easy guy to root for. For as successful as he has been, his arrogance is relatively controlled. Sure, he has a swagger (who wouldn't), but he takes every shot, every round very seriously. His focus is unmatched. It doesn't matter if he's matched up against Rocco Mediate or Phil Mickelson, Tiger takes no one lightly. We've watched him grow up in front of our eyes, from the charismatic kid who took the Masters by storm back in 1995, to the man who lost his father, to the stoic champion battling through an extremely painful knee injury to win one of the most difficult golf tournaments on the planet.

And that is why the golf world won't be the same for the rest of the year as Tiger sits out.

Side note: I actually wrote this entry last week, but our site has been down more times than Simmie Black. Hopefully we've got all the bugs worked out and I'll be able to post more often this summer.