A Matter of Tiger

In sports, you have certain numbers that mean something specific. Whether it’s a score, a statistic, a line, or otherwise, we as sports fans cannot live without numbers. In golf, the number 72 is a measuring stick between above and below average. Scoring par on each hole on a course is considered a good score for us amateurs. The pros, more often than not, need to score under par. 5 under par, 7 under par, 11 under par. Whatever it may be, those pros need to be in “red numbers.” Eldrick “Tiger” Woods has never shot for anything over par. However the number 72 means something now to Mr. Woods.

                Tiger Woods outlasted Graeme McDowell and others to win the 2012 Arnold Palmer Bay Hill Invitational last week. His career wins on the PGA tour is now just one behind a man named Jack Nicklaus. Sunday’s win not only gave Tiger his 72^nd career win, but it was his first win since the BMW Championship in September 2009. In case you are counting at home, that’s 924 days between wins for Tiger. Also in that time, there have been 72 different winners on the PGA tour. There’s that number again, 72. Numbers have meant everything to Woods. Since day one, he has had his eyes on Nicklaus’ eighteen majors. Tiger has fourteen. Just a few years ago, it seemed just a matter of time that Tiger would reach and eclipse Jack’s eighteen. However, life happened along the way. That is, a different life than what the public expected from the Superman of the links. We all expect the greatest athletes of our time to be good people. We expect them to follow our family values. We can’t understand why things go wrong for these athletes. But things went way wrong for Tiger, and he had no one to blame but himself. Let’s just say the affairs with the number of women tallied higher than 72. His wife, Elin, divorced him in 2010 after his attempts at reconciliation and his therapy sessions for sex addiction. Tiger had not only hit rock bottom at home, but his game was also nowhere to be found. He lost his #1 world ranking for the 1^st time in 281 weeks. Plenty of people, reporters, peers and fans felt that Tiger would never be the same. He may be a competitive golfer, but never the Tiger we grew to love. And it is true; he won’t ever be the same. He won’t ever win the career slam, holding each grand slam trophy at the same time. And that just may be what makes Tiger bigger in the future than ever before.

                We as the general public are shocked and disappointed when our sports heroes fall from grace. After holding the world heavyweight championship belt, Muhammad Ali spent three years in jail after refusing to enter the Vietnam War draft. When he got out, he became a bigger icon, winning the belt two more times. Michael Jordan had won three straight NBA titles when he decided to spend a year and a half playing minor league baseball. He came back and won three more titles ascending further and further above his peers. Look at music. Frank Sinatra was a big star in the 1930’s and 40’s, but he was broke by 1950 and even tried to commit suicide. He battled back and became a bigger star behind the mic and on the silver screen. Tiger has this same opportunity. Can you imagine Tiger winning a couple of majors in 2012 and capping the year by leading his team to a victory in the Ryder Cup on American soil? Don’t put it past him. He is not only very capable of this, but is also considered the favorite going into next week’s Masters. Not only would a couple more wins pass Jack in career victories, it could inch him closer to Jack in career majors.

                What I said earlier about us not wanting our stars to fall from grace is absolutely true. However, there is a small part within us that gets a kick out of the best in sports battling adversity, and then rising above and beyond that adversity. I have said it before, people need winners. And regardless of what the critics say, Tiger is a winner. Maybe he is not a winner in his family life, but he is in the world of sports, especially when he met and exceeded everyone’s expectations. Maybe even his own. How often have we seen athletes rise to the occasion time after time after time? That is one of the reason we still root for Tiger. That is the reason TV ratings skyrocket when Tiger is in contention on Sunday. We push him. We are with him on every putt.  We follow him on every fairway.  If Tiger becomes the greatest winner of them all on the tour, he will not only go down as the greatest golfer of all-time, but he will put his name at or near the top of best sports athletes of all-time, joining the likes of Jordan and Ali as transcending figures in sports. Regardless if you root for or against Tiger, one thing is for certain. He does makes golf watchable on TV. And Tiger will win the Masters again. Whether it’s this year or next year or down the line. Don’t worry, it’s just a matter of Tiger.

LA’s Other Team

The NBA trading deadline is less than 48 hours away and usually this is a time of moves for teams looking to get to the pinnacle of basketball, an NBA Championship. However, up until now, this strike-shortened season has seen very little movement by any team. That’s pretty surprising when you think that many teams with one crucial move could move into the short list of serious contenders. We’d all agree that the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder are that short list of teams. Who can join them? Who has the ability to join them? How about the recent consistent playoff teams, the Mavericks, the Magic, the Nuggets, and the Hawks to name a few? Well the Mavericks are a mess, as bad as it can get for a defending champion. Dirk is not the Dirk from a year ago, Lamar Odom is lost and the team is somehow considerably older. The Nuggets and the Hawks are always exciting to watch but always seem to be a player away. So why not trade for that player? Because if Carmelo Anthony wanted out of Denver, it must not be that great of a destination. Atlanta has never been a great destination, so that eliminates them. Then there is the Magic, who are ready to give Dwight Howard the farm, well, at least the power to run the organization. It doesn’t seem fathomable for everyone to be happy in that situation, so Orlando is going on hope. How about the perennials? The Celtics are on their way out and have been shopping Rajon Rondo, their best player and only real asset under the age of 30. Other than Ray Allen, the Celts have nothing that anyone wants. The Lakers are always going to compete, whether or not they can land Howard or Deron Williams or a package of pieces. While they need to upgrade to win it all, it is not a necessity to continue being the NBA’s elite franchise. I use the word necessity, and I mean the word necessity as a thought of who really needs to make a move more than the others. The list of teams above has the ability or the need, but not both, save for one team not yet listed: the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers moved to Los Angeles in 1984. In the 27 years prior to this year, they have made the playoffs four times, winning only one series. In some ways, this franchise has been more snake bitten than other sports franchises. Yes, that includes the Cubs. You see, the Cubs have been close and have had marketable stars to keep them interesting and competitive. The Clippers have had Danny Manning, Elton Brand, and an owner not willing to spend any money. Then a funny thing happened a few years ago. They won the lottery, thus the rights to Blake Griffin. Although he did miss his entire rookie season to injury, the drafting of Griffin could be a franchise changer. If you didn’t believe it then, believe in another funny thing: the Clippers somehow landed superstar point guard Chris Paul after the NBA put a nix on his move across the hall to the purple and gold. Add Chauncey Billups, Caron Butler, Mo Williams, Kenyon Martin and others, and all of a sudden the Clippers have themselves a quality squad. Chauncey gets hurt, but with Butler, Mo, K-Mart and now Paul, they have the tools to groom Blake Griffin. They have prior experience with battles in past playoff success and heartache. The pieces are falling together. Youngsters DeAndre Jordan, Eric Bledsoe, and Reggie Evans among others give their fans excitement and a reason to watch. They also give the team something many other teams don’t have, options. Jordan, Bledsoe, Evans, they could all be used to acquire a quality, veteran shooter/defensive specialist, say Ray Allen for one. There’s the ability, now here’s the need:

With all the Dwight Howard talk and the Lakers possibly trading Pau Gasol and/or Andrew Bynum, along with the “why can’t LeBron James finish?” hype, here may be the most important question not being talked about. Will Blake Griffin opt out this year or next? He’s explosive and talented and a fan favorite. While the jury is still out on if he will become more Vince Carter (all hype, little substance) than Kevin Garnett (lots of hype, all substance), the Clips need to put their best foot forward to keeping Griffin their franchise guy. That leads to another point not being talked about; will Chris Paul stay after next season? After all, he will become a free agent after the 2013 season. So the Clippers have a year and a half to prove to their two all-stars why Los Angeles can be big enough for two teams. Here’s what they could do:

By trading DeAndre Jordan and Eric Bledsoe for Ray Allen, they become an automatic serious contender for a championship…this year. You tell me with a starting five like Paul, Allen, Butler, Griffin and either K-Mart or Evans at center, that those five couldn’t go toe to toe with any other five? Then with Mo Williams, K-Mart/Evans, Bobby Simmons and Randy Foye off the bench, this team becomes a solid nine deep. They definitely get to the conference finals if not further. Blake stays for another season and you have either Chauncey Billups or Ray Allen, or both, return. The Clips, by losing Jordan, can offer a mid-level contract to one or both veteran guards and gear up for one more season to win the trophy. More importantly, owner Donald Sterling has made aggressive moves to win now and put a quality and entertaining roster on the court to make his case to keep Blake Griffin and Chris Paul with the franchise long term.

While this is only a theory, it is definitely a slippery slope, and a critical time for LA’s other team. They could rise to the top of the NBA and possibly go on a five-year run of incredible success. However, one wrong move, or a move not made, and the Clippers could fall into their normally familiar doldrums: lottery picks year after year and never getting out of the shadow of their older brother, the Lakers. The NBA will be fine regardless of the Clippers rise or fall. But, and it is a huge but, what happens next to the Los Angeles Clippers? Especially if they can’t get to the top.