Broken mind
by Todd Bergeth
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posted Feb 24 2012 9:06AM
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Watching Tiger Woods now is not nearly as much fun or as fascinating as it once was. People want to watch greatness. They want to see someone special, it elevates them in a way that watching failure doesn't. We don't want to come away from a sporting event saying "too bad they/he blew that one." We want to say "wow! Did you see that shot to win the game." It's just a much more postive feeling. We watch sports as entertainment and too feel good about something, for the most part, sometimes being a Vikings this past season I'll admit I was hoping to see them lose but that was looking at a bigger picture a better draft pick.
When Tiger was at the height of his powers he never missed five foot putts on 18 to win the match, or send it to extra holes. That's why so many people watched, they wanted to see him be great. Some wanted to see him fail because of all the attention he was getting but even they would admit it was great to watch....greatness.
Now we watch expecting to see him fail and sadly he has been obliging for over two years now. He reminds me a lot of Mike Tyson. When Tyson was unbeaten and unbeatable he carried himself into the ring and opponenets quivered in fear. Then he lost to Buster Douglas and everything changed, in his mind. He was broken, there was doubt...fear. Not fear of losing or of being injured but fear of NOT being great. Not living up to the outrageously high expectations they have set for themselves and that others have placed upon them. Knowing that evryone will be saying "what's wrong?"
Tiger now struggles to read putts, and to make putts, that was never the case beofre. Golf like no other sport shows if you are feeling nervous or apprehensive. You can feel it your hands and your chest, Tiger had never felt that before because he knew he was going to make the putt, now he doesn't. Will he rebound to be great again, probably not. Can he win again and be a factor on the PGA Tour, yes, but he's got a long way to go to mend his broken mind.
Tags : Topics : SportsSocial : SportsPeople : Mike Tyson, Tiger Woods
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