“I don’t think anyone really watches hockey anymore.” – Tiger Woods
Hockey fans shouldn’t care what a prima donna golfer has to say about their beloved sport. Sure, hockey may not have the numbers that other sports such as American football and baseball or pseudo-sports such as auto racing and golf do. Does that mean that hockey isn’t an exciting and great sport? Of course not. More likely, it means a lot of people haven’t been exposed to hockey or don’t understand it. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard non-fans complain about not understanding what’s going on in a game, be it a hockey, football (soccer), or American football game. Once they begin to grasp the basics, their appreciation for that particular sport grows. One of the problems for hockey is that most people have never played the sport. If you took physical education in school, you’ve played baseball, American football, basketball, football, and maybe even golf. How many schools offer hockey in phys. ed.? Very few, if any. Why? Because it requires a skill that the vast majority of people do not possess – skating on ice. If you can’t skate, you can’t play. Simple as that. What skill is required for those other sports? Running. Well, except golf. You only need to know how to stand. Walking is optional.
Tiger Woods, ambassador of sports (except for hockey)
By Greg Wyshynski
Tuesday, Jun 3, 2008 11:06 am EDT
“I don’t think anyone really watches hockey anymore.” – Tiger Woods
Allow us, for a moment, to point out the subtle difference between hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and golf superstar Tiger Woods, pictured here with an even bigger icon, Diamond David Lee Roth. Gretzky was asked in a press conference back in March about Woods, and said that he never thought he’d see an athlete dominate like Michael Jordan did — until Tiger hit his stride.
“He’s the greatest athlete I’ve ever seen,” he said. And when pressed by a cynical reporter that golfers may not exactly fit the mold of an athlete like, say, even the most physically maligned hockey player does, Gretzky rushed to the defense of an entire sport whose participants range from senior citizens on a Saturday morning in South Florida to children trying to get a ball into a clown’s mouth. “You ever tried to golf? You better be a good athlete if you try to golf.”
How does Tiger choose to repay that respect, during the NHL’s moment in the spotlight?
“I don’t think anyone really watches hockey anymore.”
The full quote came from a news conference at Oakland Hills Country Club in Michigan yesterday, where Tiger appeared via satellite. He was asked his thoughts about Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals. He chuckled, and then answered:
“I don’t really care,” he said with an impish smile. “It’s all about the Dodgers. I don’t think anyone really watches hockey anymore.”
What’s rather amusing is that this wasn’t a hard-hitting question from a Detroit sports reporter; it was a softball lobbed by Julius Mason, the PGA of America’s senior director of communications. When it appeared Tiger would be less than gracious to the sport currently capturing the imagination of a place called Hockeytown, Mason tried to end the answer by saying Woods was “politically correct as always and that’s what we …” before Tiger added his candid assessment of hockey’s popularity.
Not even PR flackery could curb Tiger’s hunger to diss the game.
The NHL addressed his comments in a general way. Our first inclination was to label this as some clever NIKE brainwashing: Convincing one of its biggest brand names to ignore how awesome hockey really is in order to go after the NHL and Reebok. But wouldn’t the EA Sports brainwashing counteract that?
Perhaps Tiger is still bitter about the demise of the All-Star Café with Gretzky.
The bottom line is that Tiger Woods downgraded a sport that’s been good to him, from charity appearances at golf tournaments to fans asking about when “hockey’s Tiger Woods” will arrive. As they say among champions: Act like you’ve been there, Tiger. You’re already the guy who gets bigger headlines for not playing in a tournament than the NHL gets for playing an all-star game. No need to rub it in.
As for you, Gretzky: Time to get Tiger in the arena for a playoff game, so the puckhead conversion can begin and we can put this all behind us.
