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Has the last of our gunslingers hung up his six guns and just become another face in the crowd? After the Masters this past weekend we as sports fans have to let out a sad sigh and realize that the once charging Tiger may have become a purring pussy cat.

Jack Nicklaus was asked before the Masters if he thought Tiger was going to break his record on major victories. Jack said that if Tiger were to have a chance, this would be the year he would have to prove it, with all the majors being set up on courses conducive to Tiger’s swing. He was also asked (this one is for Mr. Neyland) if all the greats could have played during any era. His answer was yes, because not only were they sound fundamentally but they were solid mentally and they had the desire to be the best. But he did reconfirm that he was only talking about the greats, not everyone: Palmer, Hogan, Jones, Player, Snead, and Watson. Interestingly, he did not mention any names on the current PGA. Of course, we do know that Jack would consider Tiger as one of the greats, as we all do, but like Jack we will all wait until the end of Tiger’s career to see where his greatest ranks amongst the others Jack named.

So what happened to our gun slinging golfer? If you go to therapy to have the demons exorcized from your inner being, to discover your true self, do you discover that part of the dark side is that inner strength to be a champion? When you purge yourself, do you lose that desire to win? Research has shown that to reach for success can have negative consequences. Remember though: “good guys finish last”.

I know Tiger said he came to win The Masters, but before he used to come to a tournament with the intention of not losing it, not just winning. Is there a difference? Yes… in trying to win you will give it your best shot and at the end of the day you will throw up your hands and say, “I tried my best”. But in trying not to lose, you will try to pull out the impossible, mentally and physically, which may be too overpowering for the opposition to deal with during competition. How many times have we, as a viewing audience, looked at a few of the truly great players in a given sport and asked ourselves how did they make that basket, catch, pass, goal, shot, recovery of an impending blunder?

Yet, when we as a group, audience, individuals, start talking about that group of elite athletes, we do find a common thread, a dark side. Is it a horrible dark side? Well, the media would like you to think that their mistakes will swallow up the human race and it will be the end of the world. It may not, but it could create more negative consequences, which could create severe chaos for their families as the desire for success grows.

Wait, before you start yelling at me and asking “me what about so and so?” and “look at you know who”, remember, we all saw the good in Tiger and thought he was the perfect image for professional golf. Does that mean that all greats cross over the line? I am sure that there are many great athletes that can control that consuming dark desire and that find non-destructive ways to redirect that desire to a positive plateau. But let us be realistic, that is why some athletes cannot retire, and when they do, their lives crumble right before our eyes because competitive sports is their only outlet for that uncontrollable hunger that helps them win.

So what of the Tiger, can he find that balance of what has made him the greatest of his generation? If he cannot, it will be golf’s loss.  For we, as golf fans, have loved those golfers who stride down a golf course with a swagger and a flare and look at their opponents and have boldly told them “I am not going to lose today.” It may be your golf tournament to win, but it is mine to lose or not.  Jack and Title IX you are so right, the greats could play and win during any era, let us just hope that the Tiger can control his dark side and rediscover his roar instead of a sleeping purr.

Ok, Tiger Woods is back and we, as true golf fans, have to ask is it for the betterment of golf, or is it the fact that at the end of the day he might be taken for half of everything he has made in all his years as a professional.  Some here at Sportsnetusa.net are going to claim that as a traditionalist, I am rooting for the Golden Bear’s record to stand until the end of time. They will even say they saw me gloat when Tiger stepped away from the game of golf for personal reasons.

So let us clear the air, I love the game of golf, it is a game that can be played from when you are a little child until you are a grown person who can barely walk. You can be competitive with your mother, father, sister, brother, grandparents and absolute strangers. You can be perfect or you can be so/so, and for the majority of those you play with, they think it is a heck of a game no matter what level they play at.

Unlike with other sports, golf historians, golf announcers and golf fans celebrate those who were great and those who are great by today’s standards.  Golf fans look at the best of all time and put them towards the head of the pack during conversations. They can talk of the greats at length, and do not look at a particular player from a particular time and try to claim that he is the greatest unless his accomplishments can be validated, with the proof in the pudding. 

So, should it bother us that Tiger is coming back to the game of golf at The Masters?  The Augusta National course was the idea of all-time great Bobby Jones.  Jack Nicklaus won his first green jacket in 1963, and in 1986 became the oldest winner (46 years, 2 months, 23 days) when he picked up his final one in 1986.  In between Nicklaus won in 1965, successfully defended his title in 1966, and picked up victories in 1972 and 1975.  “The Big Three”, Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player won The Masters 11 times from 1960 to 1978.

To think of the history associated with the golf course, to think of the greatness of Tiger Woods and to watch the immortal Golden Bears record withstand a charge from a Tiger of any generation, why wouldn’t we want Tiger to start his comeback at The Masters?

There are so many events that I never think I will see.  I did not think I would ever see Tiger Woods looking so ordinary like he did last Friday.  I know this story has been covered from about a billion different ways.  People saw his apology from about the same number of viewpoints.  I figured it was time to add mine.  I am not a golf fan but I am a Tiger Woods fan.  If Tiger was in a final I found myself tuning in for a while and sometimes for hours.  I do not play golf and what I am about to write is just my opinion.  This is not about facts but just my opinion and questions I have now more than ever.

It is fun for some to gossip about what women Tiger had affairs with.  It may not be right but sex always and I say always sells.  It has been that way forever and ever.  I do not care who he slept or sleeps with.  It is not my business and it is not your business.  I was amused by all of the fuss about what type of conference he had and who was or was not there.  The guy did not owe fans nor any media people an apology.  So why all of the grousing about not being allowed to ask questions?  Get over it.  Some were upset that he read it.  You’re kidding me right?  People write and read speeches all of the time.  Have you ever been to a funeral?  Should a minister not be allowed to read from his script?  How many great political speeches have been written and then read.  Does that really make them less sincere?  I think not.  All of this stuff is just plain silly to me.  Most is not my concern nor do I care.

My concerns have to do with another question that may get larger down the road.  I cannot shake it yet.  Has Tiger Woods ever used any PEDS?  I know that he said no in his speech.  All athletes deny they have ever used steroids or peds.  Marion Jones denied over and over and then admitted so and went to prison.  I was a Marion Jones fan as well.  For me that is the real question and concern.  I think Tiger will come back and he may once again dominate golf.  People have and will forgive him.  He now looks more mortal and like one of us (not really but you get what I mean right).

This is not an accusation; just a concern and his apology brought it up more for me.  When the story of Tiger’s infidelity came up his agent Mark Steinberg did not deny and said little.  When there was mention that one of Tiger’s doctors was known for using HGH.  There was a strong denial from Steinberg that Woods had ever used steroids.  So keep the name Tony Galea in your memory bank.  He treated Tiger for his knee injury and has worked with numerous athletes.  He has also taken HGH personally.  He does unique treatments like the platelet-rich plasma injections he used on Tiger’s knee.  This is not against PGA rules.  The FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating him.  His employee, Mary Anne Catalano is said to be co-operating with the FBI.  This is similar to how BALCO came about.

Now let’s go back in history.  One day I turned on my TV and saw Woods strolling down the course and I thought I was looking at an NFL defensive back not a golfer.  I could not believe how big he was.  The announcer said that Tiger puts so much torque on his swing with his upper body that it put much stress on his knees.  We all know by now that peds build a person up and then eventually they tear a person down.  Everyone has talked about Tiger and his competitiveness, his super desire to be the best ever.  There is that and then his own words at his apology announcement.  Woods said, “I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in.  I knew my actions were wrong but I convinced myself that normal rules didn’t apply.  I never thought about who I was hurting.  Instead I thought only about myself.  I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live by.  I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to.  I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me.  I felt I was entitled.  Thanks to money and fame I didn’t have to go far to find them.  I was wrong.”

Tiger is the one athlete that may be bigger than the game.  In his fourteen years, the PGA purses have gone from 65.9 million to 277.3 million.  Is CBS going to do an investigation?  How about the PGA commissioner?  Take a look at the previous paragraph. “I knew my actions were wrong but I convinced myself that normal rules didn’t apply.”  I hope Tiger finds peace and I hope my concerns are unfounded.  Whom Tiger cheated with is none of my business but if he cheated in golf, that is a question that is fair game.

I just love when someone uses that word.  It is so harsh.  They cheated on their taxes, they cheated on their spouses and they cheated on their tests. YIKES !!!!! Can you imagine anyone cheating in football, baseball, ice hockey, basketball, sorry there are no enforceable rules in basketball ….

A cheater is defined as: one who acts dishonest, to elude by trickery or deception, lying.  So once again the world of technology has set golfers against each other in one of the last of the gentlemen sports; yes, Phil has been called a cheater. That’s right, Phil Mickelson has been branded a cheater by other pros because he is using a club that is within the rules, but which skirts the boundaries of acceptability according to technology rules.

That’s right, MR. TITLE IX, that aspect of sports that you keep protecting on FNM is now slithering its ugly bite into one of the last bastions of fair play. What is wrong with you technological geeks who keep thinking that the changing of the accessories is beneficial to the game? Please do not answer with the traditional: “well maybe they should still be playing with …….” Advancement is fine, but just as we have advanced with our automobiles, none of thinks that we should have cars that do a thousand miles an hour with roads that are filled with stop, stop, stop and go traffic.

So why do you and your cohorts feel that the constant change of the accessories will improve the sport? Why not just try to improve the athlete in a non-controversial way?  Or maybe you think it is fine that an athlete is called a; rogue, confidence man, quack, charlatan, conniver, fraud, beguiler, deceiver, trickster, inveigler, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, four-flusher, a shill, fake, pretender, hypocrite, con man, shark ….can’t use shark.

Gentlemen, awake from your world of metal clubs, belly putters, softer covered golf balls and GPS yardage finders, and realize that there are certain games that should be left alone. So what if you are not as strong and accurate as the next guy. So what if you cannot putt as well as everyone on the course. So what if your game is just a little south of John Daly’s.  THEN QUIT… or you could just enjoy the game you have when you head out to the golf course. And please, do not try to walk around the hazard if the rule of the game is bad for the spirit of the game, because then the rule should be changed not just bypassed. So please geeks, understand that your world of technology is ruining this game and other games as well.

I’ll tell you what; let’s give the best players of today’s game of golf some semi-antiquated equipment, persimmon woods, standard putters and golf balls that are under wound, and let us watch them play the game and see if the quality of the sport degenerates. If it doesn’t, then let us look at non-domed stadiums and allowing the sports to be played in the elements they were dealt. If we do that, then maybe when we try to discuss the greats of the generations we all seem able to relate to, there might be a sense of equality because they all played a very similar game. Then, the only ones who can be pointed at and called CHEATERS are the ones that broke the clear-cut rules of the game.

The Tiger Woods meltdown, we all know how it started.  News bulletins stating he collided with a fire hydrant and a tree leaving his driveway after 2am.  One of my first thoughts was how do you do that with the front of your car?  Perhaps if your wife is running down the driveway swinging a driver at your SUV, trying to “rescue” you it could happen.  Shouldn’t she have picked a rescue hybrid wood?

I thought it was interesting that many fans initially dismissed the National Enquirer’s report of Tiger’s mistress.  They called the paper a rag, a toilet paper and other slurs.  However, once again the Enquirer (much as they were with the John Edwards affair) nailed one inches from the pin.  Then the dam broke loose.  It was two women, then three.  Then the Tiger infidelity story took the turn after 9, and got to 10.  Now it sounds as if his round of infidelity could be on the 13th. 

Those thoughts were crossing my mind when I stopped in the supermarket on the way home.  As I was going into the checkout line, I saw the cover of the latest National Enquirer.  It mentioned a love child and a sex tape.  This is something I was discussing with a colleague when the count was at ten women.  The nay Sayers may once again question the Enquirer, but what if they are right again?  What if Tiger Woods has fathered at least one child outside his marriage?

A new report from ESPN has a Canadian doctor busted for allegedly trying to smuggle HGH and another banned drug into the U.S.  The doctor has links to American athletes including Tiger Woods.  Does this mean Tiger buffed up using HGH?  No.  However it does lead me back to a report from the first day when he hit the hydrant.

There was a “report” from an unnamed source that Tiger had been taking powerful painkillers such as Vicodin at the time of the crash.  The fact was some law enforcement officers on the scene wanted Tiger’s blood tested.  It didn’t happen.  Prosecutors felt there wasn’t enough evidence. 

I think this points to something new in the saga.  Has Tiger Woods really ever recovered from his knee surgery?  Is he still taking powerful prescription painkillers to deal with the pain?  Even worse would be if Tiger has come to rely on them just to be able to compete on the tour. 

His marital affairs are separate from Tiger Woods’ triumphs on the golf course.  They shouldn’t affect his standing on the PGA Tour or his place in golf history.  However, the specter of drugs, whether legal prescription or illegal performance enhancing ones will probably be scrutinized.  Hopefully for the PGA, the fans and the game of golf, Tiger is clean.  If not, then we may see the total unraveling of a legend.  SportsNetUSA.net’s Mark Pavlovich said long ago that Tiger Woods would not beat the record for most career major championships held by Jack Nicklaus.  And just like that story of Tiger’s mistress in the National Enquirer, many people scoffed.  We may all owe Mark an apology.

If you forgot to turn on the television this past weekend you most likely missed the most exciting team event of the year for women. Most of you who listen to Friday Nite Mics realize that we seem to tilt a little to the left in sports gender discussions. We are all very large supporters of women sports and three of us are huge followers of the LPGA.

Let us congratulate our American team for winning the Solheim cup, it doesn’t matter if the European team did not have the best golfer in the world on their team or that their team was not shored up by quality golfers from other parts of the world. It was a competition that the Americans needed to win and a stage for many of the loveliest athletes in the world to prove they were true competitors. It was also a competition where it was time for some of the more publicized golfers in the LPGA to put up or shut up.

So I guess it is time for me to shut up. Well for the moment, because the “circus” took down its tent and decided that it was time to show the world that all the hoopla in the past may have a basis for reality.

That’s right Michelle Wie looked as “if” she is ready to claim her throne at the top of the LPGA. As Juli Inkster put it: “I would bet you a large amount of money that Michelle will win before the year is out,” Juli Inkster said after the Americans won their third straight Solheim Cup with a 16-12 decision over Europe.

And what of Juli Inkster the senior citizen playing most likely her last Solheim cup for the American Team? For those of us whom have ever played match play golf, to be in the position Juli was in, we could relate to her words that kept chiming through her head: “I just kept chattering to myself to say, `This is an important match, you’ve got to get at least a half a point here. It’s two holes. If you can’t win two holes, then you don’t deserve to be out here.’” said Inkster. I know that every match play golfer has had similar thoughts during a match.

Plus, for those of us who play as often as we can and get just a little too juiced up when something goes right, there was Christina Kim for the Americans. What is fun about Christina is that “yes” she does play the game like a lot of us occasional “duffers”. She is loud and, like one Friday Nite Mic contributor said, obnoxious. But how many of us when we are doing well don’t smile, talk too much or in some way, somehow, let everyone in our group know we are playing better than everyone else. And when things go bad there are those of us who pout, scream, throw clubs or sulk.

As for how the match ended, well for me it ended on a high note with the shortest driver of the golf ball clinching the cup for the Americans, Morgan Pressel. Pressel defies the modern day long ball philosophy in golf, she is one of the shortest drivers of the golf ball and many times can be thirty or forty yards behind those she plays against, yet she drives it straight, hits great approach shots and putts above average. She plays the game the way most of us wish we could play.

Throw in the other young guns, Paul Creamer (pavlovich), Natalie Gulbis and we see why Juli Inskter stated that the only disappointment there was when it came to the Solhiem was that not everyone could experience LPGA golf at its finest

Yes women’s golf stepped up to the plateau it is suppose to be by the number of records broken this year at the Solheim Cup-By the numbers:
8 – players who retained an undefeated Singles record on Sunday:　 Paula Creamer (USA), 3-0-0; Natalie Gulbis (USA), 2-0-1; Christina Kim (USA), 2-0-0; Brittany Lang (USA), 0-0-1; Diana Luna (EUR), 1-0-0; Janice Moodie (EUR), 2-0-1; Morgan Pressel (USA), 2-0-0; Michelle Wie (USA), 0-0-1
120,000 – attendance this week at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.
5 – matches played by Maria Hjorth and Suzann Pettersen – the only players to play every match
0 – losses by Europeans Gwladys Nocera and Diana Luna and Americans Michelle Wie, Brittany Lang and Morgan Pressel – the only undefeated players this week

More records set.　

The 2009 edition of The Solheim Cup was not only exciting and brought down to the wire before the U.S. Team defeated the European Team 16-12, but records were set.　 A few by Laura Davies, of Europe, include being the only player to compete in all stagings of The Solheim Cup (11), but also is the player who has competed in the most number of matches (43 of 48) and foursome matches (17 of 18).　

We’ve been inundated throughout these years with all kinds of factoids regarding Tiger Woods in Major Tournaments.  He’s never lost after having a 36-hole lead.  He was unblemished on American soil when leading by more than one shot. He’s a perfect 14 of 14 when leading heading into the final round of a major.  Well, make that 14 of 15 now after not being able to make putts Sunday at Hazeltine.  We all know about the 20 come-from-behind wins, none of which have come in a Major.
 
Can anyone explain what happened yesterday?  I was listening to someone recap the event, and they mentioned yesterday’s final round was just a carryover of Saturday’s third round.  On Saturday, Tiger played an extremely conservative round of golf.  I concur.  Not many birdies.  He played it safe …or so it appeared.  Maybe just maybe the misreads on the greens resulted in what we viewed as Tiger playing a “safe” round of golf were actually just the beginning of his demise.  Honestly, have we ever seen Tiger play it “safe?”  I don’t recall.  I want to say of course not!  Tiger is like Kobe and Michael Jordan in that regard.  One of the greatest competitors in the world.  If he smells blood, he attacks and attacks some more. The ‘never let up’ approach. 
 
What was more out of the ordinary, Tiger missing the cut at The Open or blowing it in the final round of the PGA?  Both so uncustomary of the greatest golfer in the world today.  Tiger came out swinging last weekend.  It was his tournament from the beginning til nearly the end. 
 
Two weeks ago we talked about it on Friday Nite Mics, how Tiger’s focus was changing and how he was making an effort to not to put too much pressure on himself to attain more Major Championships.  Tiger was ..well, vintage Tiger through the first 36 holes at Hazeltine.  He held on to take the lead into the final round.  All of a sudden, dare we mention the ‘C’ word and Tiger in the same sentence, but did he choke? Is it safe to say that the world’s best golfer folded under pressure?  Is it fair for us to say that one of the greatest competitors the game of golf has ever seen, in his red shirt, in the final pairing of a Major on a Sunday, succumbed to the pressures of the then 110th ranked player in the world?
 
Dare any of you say Y.E.(S).  Regardless, of how you view it, if there’s a tournament tomorrow, I’m taking Tiger.  The next time Tiger steps foot in another Major Tournament, you already know my prediction on FNM.  Eldrick all the way.  However, give credit to where credit is due.  Y.E. Yang did not back down.  He took it to Mr. Woods, in superb fashion on his way to becoming the first Asian-born player to win a Major. 
 
So many have tried, yet so many have failed.  So how did Mr. Yang get it done?  Through his interpreter he summed it up saying, “It’s not like you’re in an octagon where you’re fighting against Tiger and he’s going to bite you, or swing at you with his 9-iron, ….The worst that I could do was just lose to Tiger. So I really had nothing much at stake.”
 
Au contraire Mr. Yang, there was a lot at stake, you just played it cool.

Nike’s much ballyhooed and equally lambasted SQ Sumo2 driver ($480) is leading the charge into the engineering breach, pushing the limits of golf equipment. This behemoth club’s size (460c), shape (square) and moment of inertia (or MOI; nearing 5,900 g-cm2) are all pushing the USGA’s specified limits on design.

WOW, the world of technology, the advancement of sports, bigger, better, faster. Yet does one ever wonder if it is technology that makes the athlete better or has the athlete become so good that no matter what the level of the technology he would be superior to the athletes of yesteryear?

Just think of playing football in the 1960’s, Sam Huff, Jim Brown both wearing flak jackets and the latest GPS device that measures impact on a tackle. I am sure they would get up after a rough and tumble play and start conversing about the numbers on their impact meters and how the levels exceed suggested impact levels on a open field tackle.

The talk during this last Wimbledon was how the better players in the world were reducing the size of their rackets. They were scaling back down to the days of Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe. Even John McEnroe has said on numerous occasions he would love to see players have to go back to the same standard size rackets that he, Connors, Laver and others in the past had to play with on a competitive level.

At our last U.S. Open in golf many questioned not the difficulty of the golf course, but the fact that the majority of professional golfers can no longer hit a 1, 2, or 3 iron if they had to save their lives. Tiger, Jack, Arnold and especially Gary Player have suggested that the USGA needs to look at where technology is taking the game of golf.

As for the great National past time, people decided to use technology, it was called medical technology (steroids) and for some reason the sport of baseball turned their back on this technology after a period of time. Many believe that this technology was delivering a cluttered message that said “how do you look at a participant in a sport and compare them to the hero’s of the past if there is not somewhat of a level playing field for comparisons.”

Yes, sport after sport accepts technology to hopefully keep the game as entertaining as it was in the past. Plus the sporting world not only wants us as viewers of athletes on the world stage, but they also want us to feel as if we could play on the world stage. So advanced technology may not be so much for the games we view as it is for what we will buy to participate.

Does that mean I am against technology for safety reason? No ….nobody wants to see an athlete get hurt. But I do not want it used to mislead our attitudes about good athletes, not great athletes. You see I came from a sports era where every quarterback could be tackled, pitchers could brush back a hitter, tennis players could play at the net and golfers needed to know how to use every club in the bag.

Remember technology is a system that provides its members with those things desired not necessarily needed.