Once again, this isn't a sports blog. But, so much goes on in sports that relates to how people act and do things in everyday life that some of the stories are worth commenting on, such as this one. A friend mentioned yesterday that he'd heard Tiger Woods interviewed right after the Masters Tournament.
In the interview, Tiger apparently said that one of the most important things he took away from the tournament was a better understanding of how to deal with adversity. And to underline the point he compared himself to Ben Hogan, who came back from a horrendous automobile accident that almost took his life. To get a better understanding of what Hogan went through some details follow.
Between 1938 and 1959, Hogan won 63 professional golf tournaments despite his career's being interrupted in its prime by World War II and a near-fatal car accident.Hogan and his wife, Valerie, survived a head-on collision with a Greyhound bus on a fog-shrouded bridge east of Van Horn, Texas on February 2, 1949. Hogan threw himself across Valerie in order to protect her, and would have been killed had he not done so, as the steering column punctured the driver's seat.
The accident left Hogan, 36 at the time, with a double-fracture of the pelvis, a fractured collar bone, a left ankle fracture, a chipped rib, and near-fatal blood clots. Afterward, he suffered circulation problems and other physical limitations for the rest of his life. His doctors said he might never walk again, let alone play golf competitively. He left the hospital on April 1, 59 days after the accident, rebuilt his golf swing and practiced ceaselessly to compete once more.
Hogan won the British Open at Carnoustie, Scotland in 1953, a season in which he won five of the six tournaments he entered and the first three major championships of the year (a feat known as the "Hogan Slam"). It still stands among the greatest single seasons in the history of professional golf.
He was unable to enter, and possibly win, the 1953 PGA Championship to complete the "Grand Slam" because it overlapped the play of the British Open at Carnoustie which he won. It remains the only time that a golfer has won the first three major professional championships of the year.
Hogan often declined to play in the PGA Championship, skipping it more and more often as his career wore on. First because the PGA Championship was, until 1958, a match play event, and Hogan's particular skill was much moreso in stroke play events. Secondly, the PGA required several days of 36 holes per day competition, and after his 1949 auto accident, Hogan struggled to manage more than 18 holes a day.
Now, let's consider the story of the man above. Hogan was so dedicated to the game of golf that he fought against all odds to return as a multi-time champion despite nearly being killed by a bus in Texas, while trying to save the life of his wife. In comparison, let's look at Tiger. Here's a guy who ran his own SUV up a tree at two o'clock in the morning, after being chased out of his home by his irate wife who'd probably just learned about some of his extra-curricular exploits.
I don't know, maybe it's me, but I just don't see the connection. Between Tiger's dad's visit from the grave to help him sell some sneakers, and now this comparison of a self-caused fender-bender to Hogan's incredible return after being mangled in a car wreck, I think whoever's writing Tiger's stuff needs to reconsider.
Before the sneaker ad and the interview comments, Tiger was just a no-account selfish cheater, but now he's a total loser. So, I guess it's a good thing that most of the fans he has left are brain-dead, because the chances are they won't understand how insulting and demeaning to just about everyone Tiger's recent actions have been.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
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