The Disease of Me

As Tiger Woods is wrapping up his worst season as a professional golfer and his divorce papers are filed, this is a good time to discuss his year. It started with an akward press conference that I am still upset I wasn't invited to attend as I met the three requirements needed to attend:

1) I have a sport jacket (One is even velvet)

2) I can act somber (Especially on command)

3) I am white (Even though a Walt Frazier jersey is my go to piece of clothing)

Tiger read a statement admitting to multiple affairs and asking for privacy for himself and family as they dealt with "his" issues. He refused to take questions and for the most part read from a pre-written statement that went through more professional edits than his autobiography "The Chosen One: Tiger Woods and the Dilemma of Greatness". He was unsure when he would return to golf (at the time him missing the Masters seemed as unbelievable as saving his marriage and both in time were proven correct) and vowed to get back to his Buddhist roots.

In a complete shocker Tiger was back at the Masters after a brief stint in a Mississippi treatment facility and was treated like a conquering hero at the Masters by the fans and most of the media. There was not a place more taylor-made for his return than Augusta, where former champions are cheered regardless and women are second class citizens. If O.J. would have been a golfer instead of a running back he could have moved into the Butler cabin after his trial and would have had tee times and dinner reservations for life. Tiger played one of his best tournaments of the year that week and finished T-4 and talk of his return to greatness began.

Lost in the shuffle, as everyone fom TMZ to ESPN tried to find all of Tiger's porn star and cocktail waitress girlfriends, was Tiger's connection to Anthony Galea. Galea, a Canadian "sports medicine specialist" who is not licensed to practice medicine in the United States and is facing charges in Canada for supplying athletes with PED's and is currently under a FBI investigation in this country. Tiger flew Galea to his Orlando home four times between February and March of 2009' for treatment. Tiger claimed the treatment was a blood spinning technique used to help his surgically repaired knees; even though sport trainers and doctors will tell you this is most commonly associated with HGH treatments given at the same time. Gallea's list of athletes he has worked with also include known PED users A-Rod, Olympian sprinter Donovan Bailey and Redskin WR Santana Moss. Moss admitted during FBI questioning that Gallea supplied him with HGH and Actovegin and was known around athletic circles as a guy to go to when you needed a boast or were covering from injury. Why would Tiger resort to this guy and his techniques? "The Disease of Me"; he couldn't be injuried and miss majors in his prime. The FBI made arrangements with Tiger to meet and discuss his relationship with Gallea and Tiger met with FBI investigators in early July. With Gallea facing charges and the FBI planning to meet with Tiger again this story is far from over and as Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens can tell you it usually takes a few years for past PED use to be made public and FBI investigators are a lot harder to lie to than ESPN commentators.

Tiger continued his normal golf schedule playing a few tournaments before the US Open at Pebble Beach where he had previously won by a record margin. A Saturday 66 masked an awful Sunday round that again left him T-4 and the talk of his return to greatness increased as everyone pointed to Saturday's round. Tiger's inconsistent golf continued throughout the summer as his scores worsened. He stumbled to a middle of the pack finish in the British Open at St. Andrews, also a course and tournament he formerly dominated on. Tiger played like a ten handicapper at the WGC at Firestone and finished second to last in the non cut event a week prior to the PGA Championship. His poor play at the PGA left him outside of the Ryder Cup automatic qualifiers and just inside the Top 125 needed to qualify for the first Fed Ex event.

I find the most amazing part of his summer to be the continuing and seemingly growing fan support Tiger has received since his initial press conference and subsequent tournaments. I watched the majors with golf fans and was stunned as they openly cheered for Tiger to get in contention as if they were in the CBS golf tower. I am an unabashed golf fan, as well as being in a competitive fantasy golf league with friends and continue to be amazed at other golf fans and their love for Tiger after all he has done. That is the most important fact to remember throughout this episode: what he has done was due to his massive ego (refer to the title of his autobiography in the first paragraph) known as "The Disease of Me"that helped him dominate golf and win 14 majors while intimating his opponents. "The Disease of Me" also fueled his depravity and the life altering consequences as a result of this behavoir. Tiger Woods used the American public and golf fans in particular; his con was that he was a child prodigy who was committed to breaking records on the course and the spokesman who led the perfect family life. He used this con to sell everything from video games to Buicks and the fact that the public continues to back this fraud is truly vomit inducing. Save the cheers and sympathy for players who are truly fighting adversity and not a guy who turned his marriage and subsequent life into a caricature even for a professional athlete all due to the "Disease of Me".

Tiger's year will extend to the Ryder Cup since it is inevitable that US captain Corey Pavin will pick him as a captain's pick or be forced to answer more questions about his exclusion then his ongoing fued with Jim Gray. (Which would make for a great Wrestlemania match; Pavin would enter to cheers while "I'm an American" is playing and Grey would enter to jeers as NWO music played.) The rationale seems to be that he is the #1 player in the world, the guy destined to break Nicklaus' major record, and that his driver's license does indeed say Tiger Woods. Shouldn't his career Ryder Cup record (10-13-2), a few losing matches from having the worst record of any player who has played in multiple cups, play a factor? Or how about the state of his current game, 42nd in scoring average behind luminaries like Freddy Jacobson and Ricky Barnes and his current streak of not contending? How about his overall lack of a "good team guy" quality; his personality and "The Disease of Me" is perfect for an individual sport and every other golf tournament except the Ryder Cup? In previous Ryder Cups he has partnered with veterans like Mark O'Meara, Davis Love, Jim Furyk, and Steve Stricker, making it known he wants nothing to do with his peers or being a veteran leader to this young team. Mickelson is the guy the 10' American players like Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, and Hunter Mahan talk about being a leader and a guy they want to play with, not Woods. Rory McIlroy is 100% correct when he said that no European is afraid of Tiger and would relish the chance to play against him. This sentiment would go double for a two man team of Tiger and Furyk or Stricker. Did it really take a 21 year old from Northern Ireland to finally say the Emperor has no clothes?

Tiger may win again, and he may even win majors again, but he will never be the same. He is in the middle of a PED investigation and he threw away a storybook marriage, quality time with his two children under age four, respect from his peers, and the adoration of millions all because of "The Disease of Me". The one thing that is going to be more uncomfortable then his interviews with the FBI investigators is going to be when he has to explain to his children what he did to their mother. No longer feared on the course, he should be laughed off the course for what he turned out to be: a con man who fooled everyone for a long time but in the end is just another absentee father and failed husband all due to "The Disease of Me".