My Interactive Game Site

Hey Everyone,

Thanks to all of you who commented on my blog posts this semester. Here is a link to check out my interactive game site. It is a broad learning experience and if you are interested in space you'll find it interesting I promise! Enjoy.

Planet Harvest Link

Oh, the Tiger Hype

In his article, "Friday Night Lights don't shine perspective on Sunday Golf Tournaments", Ryan Ballengee writes an entire piece about how Buzz Bissinger, author of the popular Friday Night Lights series on NBC, is wrong about Tiger being done for. Ballengee writes, the Masters didn't mark the end of Tiger!

Instead, writes Balengee, Tiger was gone long ago. Back in 2009 when YE Yang came from behind to steal the tournament from him, that's why Tiger as we knew him faltered. But, either way, to both of these sports writers, Tiger is gone.

I think it's funny hearing people write about sports... I don't want to say I'm above them, just to the side of them. During the time I have been maintaining this blog I haven't been writing about sports as if they are mystical pop-culture fantasies as these writers seem to. It's funny because I know that both of these guys are so, so, so wrong. Sometimes you've got to just stop and realize the situation. Tiger woods will win again. He'll probably beat Jack's record. Instead of the Masters disproving that, the Masters proved that Tiger still has it: shot making ability, clutch putting, an intimidation factor. All of this was just too little to late, but it happened! That's a new development for anyone watching Tiger woods. He played well.

Here's to Tiger's next big win that I think will come sooner than later. And here's to those two writers being wrong and knowing it.

Peace

Tiger Plays Well at Masters

Tiger was exciting to watch this weekend. Given how the sports broadcasters had written him off he proved them all wrong finishing tied for fourth. It was hard to see him play so well on Sunday only to come up a bit short, but encouraging to know he still has what it takes to win Major championships.

We will see if this new found confidence in his game translates to that illusive first win since the divorce. I'm happy to be a woods fan after today, but let's hope there's so so much more to come!

It's Finally Here! Masters Week.

I wish that I could get Tiger to watch this interview he gave ten years. He seems so much simpler. So focused in. Tiger is a more complex individual now.

Going into the Masters it will be very interesting to see if he can bring back any kind of game worthy of praise. It may be that he is so mixed up, so lost in a million different thoughts, that he can't conjure up the kind of focus he talked about in his very own interview that many years ago.

My time is up. Enough talking and hyping his masters tournament comeback. Starting thursday you can catch Tiger in action at one of the "big" tournaments. Exciting stuff.

Tiger's Turmoil

There is a lot being written about Tiger woods heading into April. He reportedly has a new girlfriend. He has recently purchased what Jimmy Fallon called "a golf nerd's barbie dream house." He has come to terms with the "boundaries failures" that have plagued the last year of his life and all the while he is trying to scrap his golf game back together.

Focusing on golf while his personal life fell apart (the divorce to Elin Nordegren and the spending decent amounts of children as a newly single father) has been "extremely painful for Woods." He says that, when looking to the future, he plans to take things a day at a time, that's all he can do (Excited about the future).

This doesn't bode well for his golf game, but we should be able to get a great look at how it is coming along the second week of April. The Masters will be such an exciting time for all of us who love watching Tiger woods.

The Masters

Tiger Woods won the first major he ever played in at the 1997 Masters tournament by 12 strokes. He was 21 years old.

Tiger's career exploded. He accumulated 15 major victories along with nearly 70 wins on tour. By the age of 33 he was a shoe in for the greatest golfer of all time slot. All of this greatness was launched at the 97 masters.

It's masters time again. There is no bigger stage in golf. The same stage the young Tiger Woods stole the show on now 14 years ago. But, as we all of course know, a lot has happened to Tiger since that unprecedented victory.

Tiger is in a rut. He is down and out. His game has never looked, and most likely felt, so haphazardous. He is at the all time low in golf, and perhaps for Woods, in life. However, this doesn't make the masters any less exciting. Woods is the kind of guy who could shock the sports world by bringing it all together, mending it, glueing it tight, and pulling out a clutch victory this April.

If you were a betting man, at this point, you probably wouldn't have Tiger winning the 2011 tournament at Augusta. But, given the man's past, some part of you has to wonder if Tiger is capable of doing just that.

I'm certainly looking forward to see what happens. Some part of me doesn't want to get my hopes up that Woods will play well. Tiger has been breaking hearts lately, rather than lifting spirits. I just hope that I don't get too optimistic only to have a confused and broken former champion fail to show up to the tournament he dominated 14 years earlier.

It's Getting Ugly

Friday Tiger Woods drove the ball all of 122 yards off the tee. For anyone who knows anything about the game of golf, that's not good.

It seems if you desire to play golf like Tiger, he is coming to you. His game is just struggling, and it's frightening because it has been struggling for so long. It seems the man you thought could pull his game through anything just can't.

I fear for Woods. I fear for his continued success on the PGA tour. It's like if Michael Jordan, suddenly after a marital divorce, could no longer shoot the ball with confidence.

What a calamity. What a disaster for not only the game of golf but all of professional sports. Don't look forward to the Masters this April either, Tiger's game is hurting so bad he may not even make the cut.

God help Tiger woods.

Feeling Sorry For Tiger Woods

My attitude towards this subject has entirely changed. I am no longer feeling like Tiger is someone kissed by the God's who will come around and everything will suddenly be alright. I'm starting to feel sorry for Tiger woods. I recently read an article that basically is as good as anything out there at summing the difficulties up. Here's that link.

It is sad reading it... It makes me remember the old Tiger and how exciting it was when he did those absurdly good things that you only see in movies. I want him to get his mojo back already.

I would like you all to read this little bit that I pulled from the above link:

"There was a time when it was ridiculous to imagine him faltering before topping Nicklaus' career total for majors. Now, it's just as ridiculous to imagine him winning a major anymore.

In the space of a year, he went from the guy who could have been Babe Ruth to the guy who wound up being Roy Hobbs. No one could ever make a movie out of this, because it's almost too preposterous to believe, but there it is: a guy in the prime of his playing career completely lost the ability to play the game that he'd dominated since he was a child.

There is a "why" that I haven't asked, nor will I. I won't ask because its almost too easy to blame his personal failures on his golf game, even though I don't really see a connection. He was the best golfer in the world while hiding a secret that would eventually ruin his marriage and public image, and yet, while carrying all that guilt around, he was still able to stare down an evil 10-foot putt with everything on the line and utterly drain it. I want to believe that there is some other cause, something physical, because it's terrifying to me to contemplate a reality in which everything I've ever been good at is suddenly gone beyond all recall following a personal failure."

By - Van Walker.

This is interesting because he is talking about the personal failures affecting the golf game. I think my blog has postulated a major connection between his personal life and his failings on the course that has a lot of explanatory power and plausibility that  still isn't being thought about. I think that it has less to do with guilt or anything like that because, well, he'd been cheating on his spouse and all of that for a long time and still doing amazing things on the golf course. It has to do with an actual change in his temperament. He is trying to strike more of a balance where maybe he doesn't allow himself to go all Alexander the Great on they asses because he's trying to mellow himself out, to tame down. In my opinion he needs to stop letting people put his behavior in a box, he needs to live by his own moral code, to be who he is because who he is is the greatest golfer who ever lived. All of that is being threatened by this new mind set he's toying with.

Here's to Tiger getting his mojo back.

Tiger at Accenture Match Play

Tiger Woods will oppose his good friend and fellow competitor Thomas Bjorn of Denmark on Wednesday in the opening round of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Marana, Ariz., it was announced Sunday. Woods is seeded No. 1 in his bracket. 


This is a testament to how Tiger simply can't lose all his hype. The fact that he is seeded number one shows he's still the man to beat. I am excited to see how Tiger's mental life handles the match play style tournament. Perhaps he will gain a psychological advantage knowing that this tournament is different than all the ones he has struggled in these last two years of the down turn. 


Look for Tiger this Wednesday!!! Cheers

Tiger Cracks Again

It feels unfair sometimes, being so critical of Tiger's every performance, then I remember what a spectacle the man has made of himself. His personality and desire propelled him into the brightest of spot lights. He has to perform now or risk devastating one of the most impressive fan bases ever built up.

This previous weekend in Dubai Tiger showed promise, shooting a 66 on Friday. He had positioned himself to run away with the tournament, sinking an eagle put from near 60 feet. As the weekend went on the pressure brought out the insecurity Tiger feels with his game. He seems to get worse with the pressure on now, in direct contrast to how he used to be.

Relating this back to the thesis of this blog, is it possible this shift in temperament is due to his uncertain relational status with his ex wife and children? Is his sexual frustration affecting the way he deals with stress? These are all possibilities that have tempting explanatory power... I hope that Tiger can meditate on what is keeping him out of the winners circle and get his game together and fire proof come early April for the Masters.

Tiger's Putter

The Masters are approaching fast this March. I have been thinking about what really set Tiger apart in the past, it is his putter. He used to be virtually automatic from about ten feet in. Now, he struggles to maintain a decent two putt average. What could possibly have happened?

Putting is a game of will power. In the end, Tiger could use his superior desire to will the ball into the hole. Now that Tiger's life and love have been stirred into turmoil he is confused about what he wants. Where his desires were once clear and centered on one thing, win, win, win, then reap the benefits... Now he's unsure of what he wants. Now, he has a more complex inner strife that ebbs and flows. In other words, Tiger is more like the rest of us now!!!

Tiger Fails to Show Up

Tiger Woods had not lost at Torrey Pines in 7 years. All that changed this afternoon when he finished with 9 5's on his score card, something all golfers should agree is a bad sign. After the poor performance Tiger was asked all the usual questions, "can you diagnose this afternoon?" And Tiger gave all the same evasive answers, "Well, I started out great, but went down hill from there..."

That's not a diagnosis. That's a surface deflection to keep us focused on his game and away from his private mental life. I think that Tiger takes himself too seriously right now, I'd like to see him study someone like Watson, who in general seems to enjoy himself more on the course, and not ironically is looking to pull away with the victory.

Aside from his being too hard on himself, I think Tiger doesn't find the time to practice like he used to. He just doesn't seem to have the game he once did. It sounds over simple, but hey, back when he had ridiculous stats and was making almost every putt from within ten feet he used to get the big W's come Sunday rather than dropping five shots to finish barely under par in a tournament that the winner will easily be around 15 shots below par. What is going on with Tiger Woods? If I had to speculate I'd say a combination of over expectations that don't get met along with an in general more distracted less detail oriented preparation style and Tiger Woods is no longer the man he once was.

This new Tiger is depressing me, I want the old one back. Tiger of course played it off like he is feeling pretty optimistic. Saying, rather snarkily given the interviewer's question about his schedule specifics for when he returns to the States after his trip to Dubai this week, "I will be playing in the future." He smiled and then walked off. All I can say is, we know you'll be playing, but will you be playing like the Tiger of past of the current Tiger who seems to blow up under pressure?

My Agenda

No athlete since Michael Jordan has captivated the world like Tiger Woods. I have an outsider looking in view on sports lately. It wasn't always that way, but for the past few years I've been anything but your typical sports fan. It's rare for me to become excited about particular athletes. I get way more excited about artists. I'm the kind of person who is more likely to become drawn to a painter I find intriguing than a star athlete. I find that the greatest art lives forever, and the creative spirit lasts a lifetime. Compare this to athletes who have a short and exciting career only to be left 'grazing in the pasture, waiting to die', as Jordan put it in a recent interview. Indeed, I am much more interested in say film makers than sports figures, in men and women who can have the prime of their careers stretch over the entire course of their lifetimes. That is, unless of course, we're talking about Tiger woods.

TW is the big exception for me. Everything about the man fascinates me. His persona, his focus, his swing and often the many problems with it, his ability to come through in the most crucial of moments, and yes his recent sex scandal(s). I want to dedicate this blogspot to the shameless overhyping of this absurdly famous mortal. I want to analyze and perhaps over analyze everything from his inner mental torments to his outer physical condition. I want to meditate on how changing your sex life MUST have a massive impact on your mental approach to a game as deeply mental as golf. I want to understand the man now that his life has irrevocably been altered, to know the new Tiger that has been forced to 'tone it all down a bit.' His public image has been damaged, but I'm not writing to be another pundit ripping his character flaws. I'm writing to bring a fresh look at what it takes to dominate, and how perhaps dominating many... many... relationships and being as sexually active as he was active on the golf course was perhaps a crucial piece of the psychological puzzle that allowed Tiger to defeat so many athletes of a similiar skill level to his own in the moment they all envision and prepare for the most.

As the Masters approach this March, I will get more and more involved in bringing the hype. Hyping out his return in current media fashion. Making sure that every little angle has been analyzed. Will his new sex life allow him to continue being the ruthless competitor unstifled by even the harshest of adversity? Or, will his new, more mellow spin on life and relationship forever damper his ability to crush opponents in the clutch and love doing it? Golf is a complex psychological game that has a lot to do with ALL of your life. The reason Tiger was able to downright steal tournaments from other competitors I'm sure involved a deep psychological story. A chess match one plays with one's own soul. It will be exciting to see if the greatness inside of Tiger can continue regardless of the new lifestyle... Only time will tell.