Monday, June 16, 2008

I've been watching golf and so has everyone else


Golf is the most dramatic sport on television. This past weekend's U.S. Open proved as much.

I enjoy watching Days 3 and 4 of the majors and after all the conversations I've had the last couple days, I am not as alone as I thought I was.

The drama in golf is on another level because 1) it's slow, and 2) it's an individual sport.

I've been watching Mike and Mike all morning and one of the alternatives Greeney and Trey Wingo compared this tournament to was this year's Super Bowl.

The speed of each respective game frames the size of the moment. When Eli Manning is running that no-huddle offense at the end of the game, having to worry about a pass rush, making the right throw, etc., he has no time to think; all he has to do is react and hopefully all those training camps and practices have given him the tools to succeed.

After Tiger made his third shot out of the rough and made it onto the green, he had to wait. First he had to walk the hundred yards or so to the spot of the ball, then he has to wait while some other schmuck takes his shot, and then finally he gets to start sizing up the green in preparation for his shot.

All this time, any normal human being's mind is racing off the fucking track. If football is a 'battle' of intensity, speed and physicality, then golf is 'Risk', the slowest board game of all time. You have your caddy, but you're pretty much up there by yourself. And if that's me all I'm thinking is "holy shit, this moment will make history." There's no letting your body react to a progression of events; it's just a shitload of thinking and then you perform a stroke of your club that's 100% finesse over strength.

Thinking by myself with nothing to do is one of the worst feelings in the world. It's the reason why I lie awake all night until 6:30 in the morning only to end up blogging about golf. An individual's thoughts all by himself can kill their performance if they let the size of the moment exceed itself; hell it's just a putt right? He's done it a million times before, and that's what makes Tiger Woods so great. He has the mental strength to not let the size of a moment consume and then prohibit what he knows he can accomplish.

When Tiger sunk that last putt, I jumped up and screamed in disbelief just as I did when David Tyree caught the ball off his helment.

This morning's playoff is gonna be a doozy. Tiger's what he is, a legend. Rocco Mediate is a likable underdog. And if it stays close, I'll be watching every dramatic second of it, thankful for another day of golf of all things.


3 comments:

  1. I can't believe I'm awake this early watching this

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  2. im sorry lance but i was watching the super bowl with you and you did not jump up and scream when tyree made that catch only Drew and I were the ones ecstatic, but i can truely belive you went crazy for this win. Tiger is the man

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  3. you're absolutely right, i fibbed so i could compare the moment. i was more stunned in disbelief, too full of chicken wings and sandwiches to react.

    even if i slept through most of it, this mornings playoff sure was amazing.

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