By: Alyssa Robinson
Sunday, Tiger Woods won his first
PGA tournament in over 30 months at Bay Hill.
In class yesterday we talked a lot about whether or not Tiger Woods is
still associated with his nasty divorce that occurred over three years ago.
A few other big names that come
to mind when thinking about similar situations to me are: Kobe’s alleged rape
and Lebron’s ‘decision’. Lebron’s ‘decision’
is clearly the freshest of the three in my opinion but I think with all of them
time healed. Now I do agree that Tiger
will always be associated with his nasty divorce, but the fact is when I watch
an athlete compete I watch them because of their athletic abilities and not because
of their background/home life.
I don’t have to agree with the
different things these athletes do to be fans of them. I think that with the spotlight on these
athletes waiting for them to screw up, something is bound to happen. Also you can’t please everyone; someone’s
opinion that makes one person happy will make another person mad. Back when we talked about Michael Jordan he
had a controversial situation because he refused to give his opinion on a
political question he was asked. These
athletes are paid to perform and it shouldn’t matter who their going to vote
for in the up incoming election.
These athletes might be
associated with a particular event, like Lebron and his ‘decision’ I hated him
at first, but now it’s growing on me just as long as he doesn’t ever win a
championship. Much like Tiger, the fact
that he is such a legend in the game of golf I am able to oversee his past
mistakes and move on.
Alyssa makes some really good points about Tiger. I agree that an athlete is allowed to have their own lives, but he was viewed as a hero and role model to so many young athletes and people of all ages. He is not supposed to do things like this scandal. I am not the biggest golf fan but I was still upset at the fact that Tiger Woods could do such a thing. He did apologize but I don't think I could forgive him. I agree that he is and forever will be one of the best golfers, but this scandal will haunt him for a long time. I find it ironic that so many fans can just move on from past events. For example, Michael Vick's dog fighting scandal, Kobe Bryant's rape scandal, and even Ben Roethlisberger's sexual assault scandals. Athletes are role models and need to be more careful about the decisions they make in their lives.
ReplyDeleteMike Harrington
I agree with Alyssa's comments about how she dissociates a player between on and off the court or field of play. I believe too often fans get wrapped up in the stories between the games, and as for me as soon as they take the field I see athletes as the competitor they are not the mistakes they have made. I consider myself as being a pretty big fan of Kobe Bryant, often times I get a lot of criticism still to this day. I simply like Kobe’s game, and his clutch ability to win games, by being a fan in no way am I saying I approve of his off the court actions. As Alyssa said no matter the athlete there will always be those who like and those who don’t. Take for example Tim Tebow, from the outside looking in he seems to be the perfect role model athlete, yet he too has his fair share of haters. Whenever you put such high amounts of dollar signs in front of a person’s name, celebrity or athlete, their lives become dissected under a microscope, and every wrong doing is blown up. Our society is one that feeds off bad news of others mistakes and it is something that will not go away. As time passes only the names change, and often old names resurface. Take for example Brett Favre, he once admitted he had an addiction to pain killers, then he won a Super Bowl and after a while it all went away, until his incident with the Jets surfaced.
ReplyDelete-Tony Fritsch
Comment done by Trent Ringle
DeleteWhen looking at what Tiger has done over his career as a professional golfer I believe that he has open the eyes of fans and brought the game from the old into the 21st century. This is why I enjoyed watching golf was to see what unbelievable shot Woods would sink at the next hole, or by how many strokes he would win a tournament. In a players standpoint he is an amazing athlete that has accomplished a tremendous amount in his career. In his off course life I can stand the man and believe what he did was truly a disgrace to the game of golf to act in such a manner. Athletes are given so much publicity, fame, money and a easy going lifestyle, how can it be so hard to represent yourself in the proper manner. I have no respect for an athlete that cannot keep their personal life in order when at the snap of a finger they can get all the help they need.
I definitely agree with Alyssa's post here on Tiger. I also agree on her points on Kobe and LeBron. Although I am not the biggest LeBron fan, I believe that that is more due to me being a Cleveland fan over the Decision. If I grew up a fan for a different team, I would most likely just consider LeBron arrogant, however I would not cheer against him by any means and similar to what Alyssa stated, I would be able to oversee what these athletes did off the court or field and I would be more concerned with how they perform in the sport. I watch sports for the performance, not any of the outside drama that the media helps stir up. I am more excited about if Tiger is actually back or not and being able to win tournaments to the great success of what he did earlier in his career.
ReplyDelete-Tim McLellan
All great points, I would never consider LeBron's decision with the events of both Kobe and Tiger. I can see why it would be included in the way fans view the athlete after a major event but LeBron made millions of dollars for children during his mishap and Kobe and Tiger cheated on their wives while completely tarnishing their image at the time, not to say LeBron didn't but those two were on a different level of tarnished image. All 3 of these athletes though are at the highest level in their sports and everyone enjoys watching the best players play because of the skill they possess. It would take a horrific event for fans to completely forget and dislike an athlete while they are performing. The only event I could see would be if an athlete was to commit a crime where he went to prison and came back to play professionally.
ReplyDeleteI agree that fans and pundits are very quick to forgive superior athletes like Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods. However, I feel that it is wrong to compare those situations to to that of Lebron James and his "decision." With the decision although it was hurtful and devastating for Cleveland fans, what he did was nowhere near as bad as rape of cheating on a wife. I thought Mike made a good point by bringing up Michael Vick and from that I think a lot of why Americans are so quick to forgive these athletes is because we want to believe in second chances. We as a nation like a good comeback story, especially when we're talking about superstar athletes like Michael Vick. I thought that was a lot of the reason why Michael Vick's success in the 2010 season got so much publicity. Also why everyone disregarded Kobe's rape allegations when he won 2 consecutive championships to come within one of Michael Jordan's famed 6. In reality, I feel that fans and people in general should still be more critical of these athletes and they should be held to a higher standard because of what they represent. Also because of their role model stature and what their actions says to kids.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dane and Max in saying that they do not equate what Tiger and Kobe did (cheating multiple times on their wives) with what Lebron did. While I might agree with Alyssa's assessment of Lebron (not wanting him to win a championship), I think that the controversy about Tiger was less about his divorce and much more about the events that prompted his wife to leave him.
ReplyDelete