Why is There Such Hatred For Tiger?

Here are some Google statistics for you:

Hate + Terrell Owens = 29,400 Google hits.
Hate + Randy Moss = 65,600 hits.
Hate + Mike Tyson = 163,000 hits.
Hate + Barry Bonds = 135,000 hits.
Hate + Tiger Woods = 349,000 hits.

Seem a bit out-of-kilter to you? Me, too.

I studied this on the heels of a Los Angeles Times article by Bill Plaschke criticizing Tiger, and an eloquent riposte by Michael Wilbon (not incidentally, these articles came to my attention on the Sports Central Message Boards). In the Plaschke article, the writer says people just plain ol' don't like Tiger, and it's because "Woods is not simply a golfer anymore, he is Microsoft, he is Coke, he is Steinbrenner, and that isn't fun. He is not as beloved as much as he is feared. He draws fewer embraces than stares."

Wilbon replies by pointing out that it's a sign of progress that black athletes can finally get endorsement deals commensurate with their talent and TV ratings, and he laments that, per Tiger's critics, "...it's not enough to win major championships, to win so much, and with such style it revolutionizes the entire game and elevates the profile of the profession — no, he's got to smile the way they want him to smile, accept only as much money from Coke and Nike as they want him to accept.

First off, to an extent, Plaschke's charges are a fair cop, but Tiger is who he is. When it comes to his golf and his life available to the public, he's stone-cold serious and that's that. He hasn't made any major faux pas (except for his inaccessibility to fans) and I would be surprised if he does make any serious missteps in the future. I, for one, was
rooting for him last week at the British Open over Colin Montgomerie, who is a sour choad.

Another thing to remember is that Tiger's dominance in a white sport as a black guy makes him Jesus Christ to some and the ultimate enemy to others, and the unscientific Google study I did, I think, speaks to that. If you go to the more populous golf message boards (like the one The Golf Channel hosts), you'll see that everyone seems to either deify or despise him to a ridiculous extent. One commenter said, "Watch for the crime rate to be significantly lower tomorrow (Sunday), because Tiger's in contention so the country's blacks will be at home, rooting for him." Consequently, comments like these made me stop going to The Golf Channel's message boards.

So I'm sure that when Tiger does avail himself to the public, he has to deal with a surfeit of certified lunatics that no other golfer could even dream about having to deal with. I don't blame him for withdrawing from that.

And then there's Dad, Earl Woods. "Tiger will do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity. ... He is the Chosen One. He'll have the power to impact nations. Not people. Nations."

Well, his mother, Kutilda, probably doesn't heap pressure on her son like that, does she? "Tiger has Thai, African, Chinese, American Indian, and European blood. He can hold everyone together. He is the Universal Child." Oh.

Expectations, anyone? I'm lucky to have parents that believed I could do anything I set my mind to, but if any parent sees fit to start making prophecies in the national media likening their progeny to deities and martyrs, most kids, even adult kids, would develop a bit of a complex.

So Tiger has that on his plate. According to Google, people hate him just about as much as Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, Barry Bonds, and Mike Tyson — combined. Why? Considering that Woods has never really said or done anything particularly egregious, selfish, or offensive (certainly not compared to Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Mike Tyson, and Barry Bonds), I think the answer to that question is pretty ugly. It has to do with the fact that Tiger is doing what he's doing in a sport that is, for the most part, lily-white, and a sport that too many of its defenders regard as the last bastion of civility.

Wilbon didn't put it this bluntly, but more people than would ever admit it rue the incursion of a dominant black guy in an outpost, golf, that serves as one of the last safe bastions of a white-civility sensibility. They would feel better about it maybe if he smiled more, as Wilbon said, or was more of a grateful Stepen Fetchit type, but maybe that wouldn't even matter. I wonder if Google numbers will back me up on that theory, as well.

Terrell Owens + N***** = 790 hits
Randy Moss + N***** = 956 hits
Mike Tyson + N***** = 9,840 hits.
Barry Bonds + N***** = 5,440 hits.
Tiger Woods + N***** = 18,900 hits.

Looks like The Universal Child has a long way to go in making that impact his father visited upon him.