POINT BLANK
Joel Blank: It was hard not to root for Tiger Woods in the British Open
Jul 23, 2018, 7:05 am
Tiger Woods made a run, and it was glorious to see. Andrew Redington/Getty Images
I'm not afraid to admit it, I was pulling for Tiger Woods yesterday. I'm not saying I agree with all of his decisions in life, or off the course. I'm saying I wanted the iconic golfer to return to prominence at least one more time so the world could be reminded of just how dominant he was not too long ago.
A golfer that, if not for his off course transgressions, might already have more major championships than Jack Nickalaus and be considered the greatest golfer ever. He made the entire world take notice and had entirely new demographics suddenly interested in a game of golf. He not only was at the top of his game, he was a global icon that could sell sand in the desert with just his image and smile. When he was wearing red and in contention on a Sunday, the whole world was watching. Yesterday was as close as we have come to seeing a glimpse of those days again, if only for one day, and man was it fun!
I really think Tiger still has some fuel left in the tank. He is only 42 years old and we all know he has always prided himself on being in tip top condition. The most important thing is, he is finally healthy. After enduring back issues that caused him to undergo several surgeries and procedures, it looked like his days as a regular tour professional, let alone one of the best golfers in the world, were in the rear view mirror. The fact of the matter was, he seemed to be facing the reality that he may never pick up his kids again, let alone swing a golf club.
The decline was fast both on and off the course and the path of destruction and disappointment was on center stage and the evening news for all to see. It was a sad and bitter end to what was otherwise a meteoric rise to fame and fortune as the child protege that started playing at 2 years old and rocketed to being the only man within ear shot of catching all of Jack's records. The fact that he has righted the ship both on and off the course and has his health back, leaves me and many others hopeful that he can re-write the final chapter of his professional career and maybe improve his image along the way.
Maybe the reason I wanted him to win so badly is all the amazing memories he provided sports fans with his relentless persuit of perfection in an imperfect sport, and all the incredible, dominant performances he etched in our memory banks. It's like a fan of the Celtics dynasty or Yankees, being able to see them on top or in the hunt one last time.
In team sports it’s impossible to see a comeback or instant replay of those days of incredible success and achievement. In sports like tennis and golf it doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's amazing! Connors and McEnroe had runs late in their career that made the whole world root for them as if they were underdogs playing in their first major tournament. Even Nicklaus made a run at age 45 when he cemented his legacy with his 18th and final major by winning the Masters.
Tiger had a chance yesterday and made a run that not many thought he had in him. He made up 4 shots, leap frogged more than a half dozen players and had his name on top of the leaderboard on the back nine of the final round of the British Open with 8 holes to play.
Even the hole that turned out to be the game changing end of his improbable run gave us all a return to the gutsy shot taking that made him Tiger Woods. On the 11th hole, after a fortuitous bounce off two spectators kept his ball in play and hope alive, he had two options— play it safe and play for par, or play aggressive and save par or better with a perfect pitch. He hit the shot that he knew he could hit and had hit numerous times before. In the end the shot was inches from being perfect, but fell short, as did he. Tiger would double bogey the hole and lose the lead and the tournament. He may have come up short this time, but I for one am hoping their is a new fire a blaze in his belly and we all get to hear Tiger roar again, at least one more time.
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A lockout appears unavoidable! Photo via: Wiki Commons.
Looming over baseball is a likely lockout in December 2026, a possible management push for a salary cap and perhaps lost regular-season games for the first time since 1995.
“No one’s talking about it, but we all know that they’re going to lock us out for it, and then we’re going to miss time,” New York Mets All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso said Monday at the All-Star Game. “We’re definitely going to fight to not have a salary cap and the league’s obviously not going to like that.”
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and some owners have cited payroll disparity as a problem, while at the same time MLB is working to address a revenue decline from regional sports networks. Unlike the NFL, NBA and NHL, baseball has never had a salary cap because its players staunchly oppose one.
Despite higher levels of luxury tax that started in 2022, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets have pushed payrolls to record levels. The last small-market MLB club to win a World Series was the Kansas City Royals in 2015.
After signing outfielder Juan Soto to a record $765 million contract, New York opened this season with an industry-high $326 million payroll, nearly five times Miami’s $69 million, according to Major League Baseball’s figures. Using luxury tax payrolls, based on average annual values that account for future commitments and include benefits, the Dodgers were first at $400 million and on track to owe a record luxury tax of about $151 million — shattering the previous tax record of $103 million set by Los Angeles last year.
“When I talk to the players, I don’t try to convince them that a salary cap system would be a good thing,” Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “I identify a problem in the media business and explain to them that owners need to change to address that problem. I then identify a second problem that we need to work together and that is that there are fans in a lot of our markets who feel like we have a competitive balance problem.”
Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, 2026, and management lockouts have become the norm, which shifts the start of a stoppage to the offseason. During the last negotiations, the sides reached a five-year deal on March 10 after a 99-day lockout, salvaging a 162-game 2022 season.
“A cap is not about a partnership. A cap isn’t about growing the game,” union head Tony Clark said Tuesday. “A cap is about franchise values and profits. ... A salary cap historically has limited contract guarantees associated with it, literally pits one player against another and is often what we share with players as the definitive non-competitive system. It doesn’t reward excellence. It undermines it from an organizational standpoint. That’s why this is not about competitive balance. It’s not about a fair versus not. This is institutionalized collusion.”
The union’s opposition to a cap has paved the way for record-breaking salaries for star players. Soto’s deal is believed to be the richest in pro sports history, eclipsing Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million deal with the Dodgers signed a year earlier. By comparison, the biggest guaranteed contract in the NFL is $250 million for Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
Manfred cites that 10% of players earn 72% of salaries.
“I never use the word `salary’ within one of `cap,’” he said. “What I do say to them is in addressing this competitive issue that’s real we should think about whether this system is the perfect system from a players’ perspective.”
A management salary cap proposal could contain a salary floor and a guaranteed percentage of revenue to players. Baseball players have endured nine work stoppages, including a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 that fought off a cap proposal.
Agent Scott Boras likens a cap plan to attracting kids to a “gingerbread house.”
“We’ve heard it for 20 years. It’s almost like the childhood fable,” he said. “This very traditional, same approach is not something that would lead the younger players to the gingerbread house.”