Tiger Woods. Has there ever been anyone like him?

My friends & I always used the 'defense' criteria to decide what was a sport & what wasn't. If you can play defense and directly impact your opponent from scoring, it's a sport. If not, it's a game/skill/other. But questions still remain!

How do you determine defense in racket sports, like tennis, squash, or badminton?
What about individual competitions, like Track & Field events, archery, shooting, marathons, & cycling races?
What about performance based events that are judged, like gymnastics and ice skating?

I'm uncomfortable with this criteria now though. Using this, fencing would be considered a sport, but the 100 meter dash wouldn't! Which one draws millions more viewers once every four years?

Quote: Toes14

My friends & I always used the 'defense' criteria to decide what was a sport & what wasn't. If you can play defense and directly impact your opponent from scoring, it's a sport. If not, it's a game/skill/other.

So figure skating is a sport, or at least Tonya Harding tried to make it one.

It took me 6 months to think up an equivalent epic collapse... finally I have one close (this may have been mentioned, didnt read it all). Not in sports, I had to go to music.. Guns N Roses!!! Their first two contributions to music (arguably three) put them on pace to redefine hard rock.... then .... FAIL!

Quote: Toes14

My friends & I always used the 'defense' criteria to decide what was a sport & what wasn't. If you can play defense and directly impact your opponent from scoring, it's a sport. If not, it's a game/skill/other. But questions still remain!

The bigger question is "why do so many people care what is and is not a "sport?" Is there nothing on the other 5 ESPNs when the WSOP is being covered? Do men not like looking at curling hottie Jennifer Jones? Is it less masculine to enjoy watching a "skill" game than the NHL? ANd what of the WWE which labels itself "sports entertainment" and we all know what it really is?

If you don't like like it, don't watch. But "Wide World of Sports" was big for years for a reason and the reason was you could see "sports" there that you had never seen before and saw once a year on that show. Sports is more than football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. Saying you like fencing or ladies curling does not make you a girlie man.

Quote: LVJackal

It took me 6 months to think up an equivalent epic collapse... finally I have one close (this may have been mentioned, didnt read it all). Not in sports, I had to go to music.. Guns N Roses!!! Their first two contributions to music (arguably three) put them on pace to redefine hard rock.... then .... FAIL!

Too much dancin' with Mr. Brownstone.

Is it all over for Tiger? Many golf experts think it is. He was out with injuries and before the Players tournament he said he was fine and had been playing daily. Yet when he shot a 42 on the first 9 holes, he said he was injured again and jumped in his car and sped away. He was playing fine the day before and now he was injured again? I don't think so. Now he's been downgraded off the top 10 golfers list. He has a few endorsement deals left, but I never see him on TV doing any commercials, and he used to be everywhere.

Quote: EvenBob

Is it all over for Tiger? Many golf experts think it is. He was out with injuries and before the Players tournament he said he was fine and had been playing daily.

I know about back strain* from playing golf, because I did that myself, but I can't fathom other injuries related to playing golf. At least not compared to a lot of other pro sports. I mean, I could certainly understand how a tennis player could mess up a whole assortment of bones, ligaments and all without so much as running into another player -- but I can't figure out how golf could take you down so much.

*of course, back injury alone could end a career, but Tiger has more than that going on.

Woods is still the most well known athlete in the world, but he's ranked 38th on the social list. Yes, they actually grade golfers on their social skills. Woods has always been aloof and inaccessible and downright rude, and his spitting on the greens this year didn't help him. I shed no tears over his fall, I've always felt he's been a poor representitive for the game. He was known for his temper and his ego and even other pro golfers learned to stay out of his way.

Its official, Tiger Woods has pulled out of the US Open, set to begin next week. Stick a fork in him, he's done.. Will golf ever recover.

Tiger placed 41st in the Masters today. He even kicked
a club in round 2 and will probably be fined. He said:

“Well, I didn’t hit the ball very good this week, and what’s
frustrating is I know what to do, and I just don’t do it,” Woods said.
“I get out there, and I just don’t trust it at all.”

This is a revelation coming from Tiger Woods. He knows
how to win, he knows how to swing the club, but because
his life has collapsed around him, he no longer trusts
anything, not even his game.

I don't like him, its no secret. But for the first time
I really feel sorry for him. He must be going thru
hell, having all that ability and not trusting it anymore.