Rain Delays

For outdoor sports, weather is always an unpredictable factor.  Snow can make it hard to stay on your feet on the football field.  Heat can cut a marathon short.  Lightening requires keeping players (and fans) away from danger.  And rain can postpone a baseball game or a round of a golf tournament.

The highlight of my week was going to be a PGA tournament.  But it rained.  And rained (with lightening).  And rained.  And then it rained some more.  I only had one day available to watch this golf tournament live, but an unusual all-day downpour kept the golfers off the course.   So I was forced to follow online.  (By the way, PGAtour.com’s Shot Tracker is pretty cool!)

And I was pretty disappointed that I didn’t get to experience a tournament.  My favorite pro didn’t make the cut.  I didn’t get to walk the golf couse.  I didn’t get to build my (very limited) knowledge of the sport.  And I didn’t even get to follow the entire second round online.

My only consolation is that an Illini alum one the event, and now stands second only to some guy named Tiger in the PGA Tour FedEx standings.

Oh, and that rain cause the Cubs and Cards to play a double-header today that had some great plays and an interesting 9th inning strategy, even though the teams split the day…

Something New

Let me interrupt this (somewhat painful) baseball season to give attention to another deceptively difficult sport.  Golf.

Like baseball, golf seems to be a rather slow game.  But also like baseball, golf requires bursts of athleticism, intense concentration and lots more thought than the casual fan realizes.

This week, I will be attending my first PGA tournament.  Actually, it will be the first golf tournament of any kind that I’ve attended.  Heck, I haven’t done more than mini-golf — ever.  But I am really excited.

Unlike other sports, occaisionally the average industry pro gets a chance to go up against the big names.  And this week, that average industry pro is family.  And he gets to play against Kenny Perry, who had a green jacket in sight a couple months ago, Zach Johnson, Davis Love III and a couple other guys I’ve heard of.  And quite a few more that I haven’t.

So I’m learning the importance of tee times, that you can watch golf “parade style” or “cross-country style,” and what makes a particular hole difficult.  And I’m sure I’ll learn a lot more while I check the leaderboard, follow play-by-play coverage and check scorecards during the first round, and walk the course to follow my favorite golf pro during the second round. 

And if he makes the cut, I may even turn on the Golf Channel this weekend.

Is Another Tiger Woods Victory Good for Golf?

I’ve heard it said that there are two kinds of people in the world: Phil Mickelson fans and Tiger Woods fans. I am an ubercasual golf fan, but I firmly believe this to be true. For the record, I am the latter. But today’s exciting playoff conclusion is just the latest in a string of tournaments in which Tiger finds himself against the ropes against an improbable opponent. And in these situations, even a Tiger fan must decide: is it better to root for the prohibitive favorite, or for the upset?

Point: Follow the general Life Rule: All things being equal root for the underdog.

Counterpoint: Are all things equal in this case? When dealing with the giant presence that is Tiger Wood, I submit that it may be practically impossible for anything to be equal.

Point: For many of these gentlemen, this is their one chance at taking the big prize. Tiger will have many, many chances.

Counterpoint: Golf is one of those sports where, at any given tournament, a superior player can have a travesty of a round or of a tournament, and an unknown can have a miraculous round or tournament. Chances are good that in most of his tournaments, Tiger will have a relative unknown nipping at his heels. If we keep saying that he’ll have his chances in the future, those chances may never arrive.

Point: Tiger is a gloryhog.

Counterpoint: For these gentlemen, simply playing Tiger competitively is a victory in and of itself. Whether they lose or win, they win. For Tiger, anything less than a first-place finish is roundly considered a let-down. Tiger, in a certain sense, needs the win more than they do.

Point: Tiger is a moneyhog.

Counterpoint: I was shocked to read that even perennial also-ran Mediate has made $13 million over the course of his career, just in tour winnings alone. Even those relegated to tour leftovers are doing just fine for themselves.

Point: It’s a better drama factor if the unknown wins. It makes for a more memorable weekend.

Counterpoint: In the end, Tiger’s historic run at golf immortality will be what we remember. It will be what we write books about, make movies about, and tell our grandkids about. The glow of an unknown’s victory fades in the time it takes to say “Zach who?”

Point: Competitiveness is what keeps the sports juice flowing, regardless of the activity. More competitive contests are to everyone’s benefit. That’s why all professional sports leagues and organizations regularly meet to create ways to improve the competitive balance.

Counterpoint: What makes Tiger great is the one thing that all those rule changes can never adequately account for: individual talent. Even if Tiger wins in the end (as he does more often than not), the changing cast of characters around him makes for enough drama. And the fact is that a Tiger win generates more buzz and more ratings for the sport, thereby drawing more young players into the sport, thereby increasing the likelihood that the game will remain competitive in the long run.

Counclusion: It is best if Tiger finds himself in a tight race, rather than stringing together victories in which he laps the field. But in the final analysis: Go Tiger.