Monday, April 15, 2019

Thank you, Tiger. Seeing your smiles, and the hugs you gave the kids and your mom when you got to the finish line, is a joy worth waiting for. Congratulations, for the work and the payoff. And, as a father of a teenage girl, I turned to my wife and asked whether your daughter was too cool for Dad in that moment, so seeing her embrace you in your family's moment added to the moment.

Now, following the sports world today, I see a lot of people jumping onto the "Tiger's gonna beat Jack" bandwagon again. I'd love to see that chase, one way or another. But I haven't heard a single one of the talking heads mention something that came up when Tiger talked about his day yesterday: he woke up at 3:45 am to get his back loose for a 9am tee time.

The golf season's a long one. Four days a week plus practice rounds, so 5 full days; baseball and hockey, the NBA, that's the kind of grind we're talking about. That's a long hard thing to go through.

I wonder if that moment at the Masters, where Tiger walked off to his family, if that's the moment he's been working for. The old days, that Tiger, this comeback would have been the beginning. He's, by personal admission, not that person anymore. The river moves on; having done so, isn't the same.

I don't doubt his drive remains. I believe it's tempered, though. As iron becomes steel, the drive changes when kids come in. When their smiles and their accomplishments matter now, far more than anything we have done or would like to. The grind is a grind now, isn't it?

Success is tempered as well. It means something different, the little things.

I look forward to finding out what this portion of the road looks like, as Tiger shrugs into another green jacket. To more smiles, more triumphs, more defeats because that's the nature of the beast, but either way, I have a feeling we're all going to get to see something very special.

And, because it's Tiger, I suspect we're all going to be changing our view of what special means, no matter what happens.

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Please keep it on the sane side. There are an awful lot of places on the internet for discussions of politics, money, sex, religion, etc. etc. et bloody cetera. In this time and place, let us talk about something else, and politely, please.