TIU OUTTAKE: My Thoughts on Tiger Missing the 2011 US Open

“He’s hurt. He’s hurt.”

Those are the words I uttered while watching Tiger Woods on the 72nd hole of the 2011 Masters after hitting his second shot to the final hole in pain. I knew he was hurt. And now the knee and Achilles injuries suffered on Masters Saturday are going to keep him out of a major.

There’s two ways of looking at this. The first is that Tiger is learning the lessons of 2008, and that to take care of himself and have a long career he needs to actually listen to his doctors, and not put himself through hell — like he did when he won the 2008 US Open on one leg. And that he’s not more hurt than he’s letting on — he’s just resting.

The other is that something is very wrong, and we’re on a path to complete knee reconstruction. That would devastating for Tiger, and for golf, and would almost certainly end his quest to break Jack Nicklaus’ record of 19 majors.

Is sitting out the 2011 US Open the right move? Probably is. But now the question turns to the AT&T National July 4th weekend, and beyond.

Golf Channel’s Tim Rosaforte hinted tonight that this hiatus may last through the British.

My message to Tiger would be don’t come back to soon, but without knowledge of the severity of the injuries, does anyone know what too soon is anymore?

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TIU OUTTAKE: Tiger’s Behavior

Some are not going to like what I’m about to say but here we go. First, this blog post from Golfchannel.com’s Randell Mell:

Some excerpts from media reactions to Tiger Woods’ letting loose profanity after bad shots Saturday at the Masters:

Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times: “(Phil Mickelson) was not only taking this tournament for himself, but he was taking it from Woods, who reverted to his old entitled ways . . . This is the same Woods who promised to show a newfound respect for the game. This is, of course, also the same Woods who this week mindlessly compared his sex scandal comeback to the comeback of Ben Hogan, even though Hogan was injured heroically in 1949 while throwing himself in front of his wife when their car collided with a bus. As the blogs so brilliantly reminded us, Woods threw his wife under a bus.”

…….

Mike Freeman, CBS Sportsline: “Tiger Woods’ foul mouth is officially back. The arrogant, mouth-meet-bar-of-soap Woods has made its roaring return. Congratu — $@&! — lations, Tiger.”

My response is the following: I’ve played golf now for 12 1/2 years played 510 rounds. I can tell you from personal experience how hard it can be to mask your frustrations. I’ve tried myself to reign myself in — the last thing you want to do is air your frustrations in front of your family — and it’s a very hard task. And in the time that Tiger’s tried to do it, basically 10 weeks, is insane.

This is a process that will take time, and expecting Tiger’s behavior on the golf course to be more perfect coming out of the gate is very unreasonable. If Tiger still has this problem down the line, then it’s worth bringing up. But for now, it shouldn’t even be a talking point. I will also air this other part of that post as an addendum to what I said.

Greg Stoda, Palm Beach Post: “Here’s a question: Is failure of this kind allowed Woods anymore? If anyone else in the field had said what Woods said, it’s likely nothing would have been made of it . . . The criticisms of that aspect of Woods’ personality — even before the sordid revelations of recent months — always seemed overblown to me. It’s a gentleman’s sport, to be sure, but expressions of disgust such as the ones Woods frequently utters don’t constitute a mockery of the game.Is there any room for the opinion that Woods is as good as he is, in part, because he’s so hard on himself? It’s who he is, and Woods would be better off just saying so.

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TIU OUTTAKE: Luke Mauro’s “Fluke of the Week”

With Bill Schweizer and Bill Mecca appearing on Teeing It Up this week we had 0 time for Luke Mauro’s weekly segment on the air. Here it is:

My fluke this week comes out of college basketball and the Missouri Conference Valley. That’s right, the MVC and their first place team, Northern Iowa. The Panthers are, some how, ranked 22nd in the country, but will most likely drop out of next week’s rankings. Granted, NIU is 24-4 on the year, and 14-3 in the MVC, but it’s a wonder how they cracked the top 25 when their biggest win was at home against (13-13) Boston College. Meanwhile, they lost at home to (8-18) Depaul, the last place team of the Big East, a conference that has many bubble teams and a few that deserve the ranking more than NIU. The Panthers just suffered a lost at the hands of (8-20) Evansville, who is in last place in a weak MVC conference with a 2-15 conference record. This lost, as well as others to Wichita State and Bradley, will most likely knock them out of the rankings. However, it’s a fluke that they’ve even been ranked for this long. Imagine Northern Iowa being a five or six seed in the tournament while other teams, like UConn and Louisville, may have to settle for the NIT. I’m all for small conferences being represented and getting a fair shot, but it’s odd to see NIU at number 22 while Virginia Tech (21-5), 8-4 in a good ACC conference, is on the outside looking in like many other talented teams. In my mind, NIU being ranked as high as 22 is a real fluke and they should consider themselves lucky.

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TIU OUTTAKE: More New Blogs to Look At

Here are 2 more blogs to take a peek at:

1) We have “It Doesn’t Matter What Your Name Is” by my good friend Adam Helfgott, co-host of “The Scarlet Pulse” and game broadcaster on WRSU at Rutgers.

2) And from another one of the host of WQAQ’s “Three’s a Crowd” we have Aaron Tanguay’s blog.

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TIU OUTTAKE: My Dad’s Unusual Super Bowl Stat

I meant to say this on the season premiere but never got it. From my dad:

Indy had on paper the easiest route to the super bowl ever

Bye
9-7 team at home
9-7 team at home

Something to chew on as we head towards Sunday. My prediction is most likely coming Saturday.

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TIU OUTTAKE: New Blogs to Look At

I love promoting new blogs so we have this new blog, Boston Rejuvenated, from one of the hosts of Three’s a Crowd on WQAQ.

We also have this blog from Tom Butto, host of the Award-Winning Bountiful Butto Sports Bonanza on WQAQ.

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TIU OUTTAKE: My Take on Tiger Woods and Steroids

Following up on points made in this post:

1) According to Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard, Tiger was tested in 2009 and didn’t fail a performance-enhancing drug test, and he obviously didn’t fail one in 2008 either.

2) Yes, you cannot currently test for human growth hormone (HGH), and that’s what this guy was arrested for. I’ll gladly admit that.

3) I firmly believe this is two different stories here, with names (Tiger, Dara Torres) being the linking factor. Tiger needed him for this specific therapy meant to speed his recovery (which I still don’t get — by all accounts — including Mark Steinberg today — he didn’t need this), which is seemingly completely unrelated to him being arrested for HGH. Now yes, he could have injected him there, but if the recovery was right on target, then there’s no need for HGH.

4) Yes, it is plausible Tiger took HGH. And yes, you can’t test for HGH in golf or any other sport. But I firmly believe Tiger isn’t guilty of anything. I really do. Yet, he did commit adultery, and I’ve been wrong before so…

5) I don’t know Mark Steinberg well at all. Not sure anyone does besides those in the sports business world and the media who talk to him on a regular basis. But his comments today were written in outright anger. And after all that Tiger has been through this is the PERFECT time to admit something if you have something to admit. But I just don’t see that happening — mainly because none of this is true.

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TIU OUTTAKE: My Take on Tiger’s Statement

First some housekeeping: Tiger Woods messed up, and I’m disappointed in him. That’s right, all you doubters and haters of me who thought I’d never admit that Tiger did something wrong, Tiger Woods messed up, and I’m disappointed in him.

But this is also a sad day, as the world’s greatest athlete’s fall from grace has now basically hit rock bottom. It appears that the voicemail from the alleged “other woman” that is posted on the US Weekly website was enough to make Tiger feel the need to put out this statement. And I commend him for that. It is not easy to muster up the words to write something like this, spill the beans, and lay everything (including you and your family’s personal business) out on the line. But now it’s happened, it’s done with, and now Tiger can work on repairing the personal wounds he has opened up.

And if there’s one thing I know about Tiger it is that he fights, and he claws, and he grinds. Every challenge anyone has given him he has successfully flown through with flying colors. And I contend that this will be no different. Will he be ready for golf in 58 days for a press conference at the Century Club of San Diego Invitational? Maybe not. But whenever he does come back I contend that he will use golf — playing and practicing — as a cathartic part of his day and part of his life, he will rise back up and be the same Tiger that we’ve seen for years on the golf course (or maybe even better…that ought to scare his fellow PGA Tour players).

And there’s one more thing I want to say. Tiger points out in the post that: “But no matter how intense curiosity about public figures can be, there is an important and deep principle at stake which is the right to some simple, human measure of privacy. I realize there are some who don’t share my view on that. But for me, the virtue of privacy is one that must be protected in matters that are intimate and within one’s own family. Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn’t have to mean public confessions.”

For those that questioned why Tiger didn’t say anything for five days, that is why. That paragraph says it right there. And it is sad to think that this only came about because of tabloids and other methods of non-traditional journalism whose sole purpose is, a lot of the time, to uncover the bad in people, and force them to be publicly accountable for a private issue that they wish they didn’t do. But it’s happened, and in the long run it may have been a good thing for Tiger to get it out of his body.

So get better Tiger, I support you, the golf supports you (most likely..it still is kind of early on to know for sure), and we need to see you back on the golf course, fully strong, as soon as you’re ready.

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TIU OUTTAKE: Slow Down!!!

I wrote this for the school newspaper. I think it’s pretty self-explanatory:

Can people just slow down? As a resident of York Hill [the new campus at QU], I drive to campus less than most, but I do it at least once on a weekly basis, so I have a general idea of the parking situation. Yes, it’s unfortunate, but no, this is not another Chronicle [name of school newspaper] article about how bad the parking situation at Quinnipiac is.
This is about safety and keeping students alive. At least three times this year, so far, I have nearly gotten into serious accidents with another vehicle in North Lot [main QU commuter parking lot] because they were going too fast. Drivers feel like they can enter or leave that parking lot at whatever speed they desire and pay no attention to other drivers who are trying to do the same thing. As a result, the chances for a serious crash increase, and God-forbid, injuries occur.

I would love to see Security put in speed bumps or at least think of, make up, and ultimately post speed limit signs – AND THEN ENFORCE IT! You cannot let this idiotic behavior continue, or all of these measures will happen way too late – and most likely as the result of a horrible tragedy.

Jeremy
Class of 2010

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TIU OUTTAKE: Mike and the Mad Dog Reunion

Here’s the audio of the 1 hour Mike and the Mad Dog Reunion from Friday.

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