There’s no doubt whatsoever that he would beat me at golf head-to-head 1,000 out of 1,000 times, but Tiger Woods as a casual sports fan has always kind of puzzled me a bit. He very well may be the greatest athlete of his generation, and yet, he seems so clueless and/or apathetic about the other major sports out there.

I mean, playing golf with Tony Romo in the heart of Redskins country? Couldn’t he have shown a little D.C sports tact and made plans with Tony for some other time? Perhaps teeing  it up with Jason Campbell would have been more of a crowd pleaser?

Transitioning quickly, this minor oversight pales in comparison to the flip-flopping Tiger was up to at this years NBA Finals. When prompted, here’s what he had to say about the Lakers/Magic match-up that was about to take place:

I grew up a die-hard Los Angeles Lakers fan but I have season tickets to Orlando Magic games. Hopefully, it will be a great series.

Exqueese me? Baking Powder? In what alternate reality does a statement such as that even begin to make one shred of sense? Somewhere, Lebron James must have taken a huge sign of relief. If you grew up a “die-hard” Lakers fan, then it only follows logically that, as an adult, you would root for… oh, I don’t know… The Los Angeles Lakers. Of course, living in Orlando is no crime (I hear there might be some kind of tax benefit to living in Florida), and owning season tickets to the local basketball team is still well within reason, but to be torn in your allegiances between that team and the local team you grew up loving as a child is unabashed sports blasphemy.

Now, I understand that there are kagillions and bagillions of dollars at stake for Eldrick when it comes to the endorsement game. It’s no secret he’s gone to the Michael Jordan University of Public Relations and Empire Building, and he has to ride the fence on just about anything lest Nike, or AT&T, or Gatorade, or Gillete, or American Express, or whoever gets mad at him and stops signing the cheks. However, I fail to see where selling out your childhood basketball team affects any of this in any way at all. Is Tiger afraid of offending the good people of Orlando? Or is he too busy thinking about green speed and ball trajectory to bother himself with anything else? Maybe he’s just used to taking the middle road, but whatever the reason may be, I think Tiger Woods the sports fan would be a whole lot more insteresting if he would just pick one team to root for in a championship, and perhaps consider the city in which he is playing before picking four-ball teammates.

Random Thoughts