Tiger Woods won and while most of America pumped their fist (or cried..wtf?), I was not one of them.
I loved having the Masters drama, I loved watching the sports theater and I appreciated that almost all of that was directly related to Tigerās involvement and his place in history even if I was still holding out hope on 18 heād miss his third putt and lose in excruciating fashion.
But he didnāt and I watched anyway not out of some nostalgic itch being scratched but because my job required it.
I donāt love golf because of Tiger. I didnāt start playing golf because of Tiger. I didnāt watch every major because of Tiger. I mostly followed Tigerās career through SportsCenter clips and dial up loaded internet stories from the late 90ās through mid 2000ās.
And in that time Tiger became, for me, just like the Yankees, Duke, Michael Jordan, the Lakers or the Cowboys. He became an avatar for extreme success and along with it, extreme arrogance.
I donāt know why Tigerās personal shortcomings bother me so much. I think itās because of how MUCH we know about how BIG of an asshole he was in virtually every part of his life. His actions werenāt the kind of growing pains everyone has to go through before they realize their best self. Instead, it felt like a hard wired reflection that heās better than everyone and can do whatever he wants because heās really good at golf. And maybe that has changed but I still suspect that hard wiring still exists somewhere and itās hard to just overlook. We know too much.
And when his extreme arrogance was finally met with his extreme comeuppance, it felt like a natural balancing out of his narrative.
And when he started winning again, it still felt like a big part of his story.
And when he was arrested for DUI, it was still a part of his story.
And when he started contending at majors again, it was still a part of his story.
And when he finally broke through and defied all the odds and won, it was still a part of his story.
Except if you were watching.
Itās not the only part of his story but it is a part of his story.
Thatās what bothered me about Sunday. CBS basically painted a picture that this was aĀ comeback from his physical injuries, which is a remarkable and relatable part of Tigerās story.
What Tiger did alone on Sunday by itself was a great story.
But itās not quite the whole story.
The comeback story starts with Tiger abusing all the power he had for his own personal gain at the expense of virtually everything else in his life.
And CBS just pretended it didnāt happen.
And if youāre afraid of angering Tiger and losing access or spoiling a good story on TV, then arenāt you just creating the same conditions that led to his downfall in the first place.
I donāt need Tigerās nose rubbed in his own infidelity at every opportunity but even if the evidence tells you people have stopped caring about that part of the story, I think you still need to tell it.
What good is the comeback story if you arenāt willing to tell the whole thing?