Filed under: PGA
When you break it all down there are two kinds of athletes: those who can handle being hated and those who can't.Some athletes perform their best when the world is at war with them: Barry Bonds, Terrell Owens, Kobe Bryant. While others need to bathe in fan adulation in order to be successful: LeBron James, Vince Young, Alex Rodriguez.
Up until this year, we didn't really know about Tiger Woods. He seemed like the kind of athlete who could put on his sunglasses and ignore all distractions as he stood over a ball on the tee. Certainly that was his reputation on the course, that his powers of concentration were superior to yours or mine. That Earl Woods' son didn't need to worry about silly things like fan support or someone calling out, "That's what she said," after another fan yelled, "Get in the hole!" on his tee shot.
But he truly cares what we think of him, after all this, Tiger Woods is not a golfing island.
All athletes like to pretend that they're motivated by something internal, a drive to succeed that doesn't take note of their surroundings. But this past year we discovered a flaw in Tiger Woods: he really wants to be liked. In the world at large, that's not a flaw at all. In fact, in most walks of life that's helpful. But Tiger Woods got used to being beloved on the golf course and when that love suddenly vanished, he didn't know how to respond. Suddenly, the roar from Tiger's crew on the course turned from adulation over an eagle or birdie putt to catcalls over his private life.
Source: http://golf.fanhouse.com/2010/11/23/tiger-woods-needs-to-be-loved-unfortunately-he-isnt/
No comments:
Post a Comment