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Headline RSS FeedWoods' phony family-guy act offers one more reason to pull for Mickelson
December 13, 2009 —
Even before “Mistress-gate” took down Tiger Woods, I always pulled for Phil Mickelson if he was anywhere near the top of the leader board, especially in a major. If Lefty wasn’t in the hunt, I’d grudgingly root for El Tigre just to see history in the making.
But Lefty showed me what kind of guy he was when he beat me in three straight NASTAR ski races at Beaver Creek just a few weeks before he played in the Masters back in 2005. He’s funny, engaging and fiercely competitive. Woods, by contrast, who also has skied Beaver Creek, always seemed to me to be cold, calculating and detached.
I asked Mickelson at the time if he thought he would beat Woods in a ski race now that the world’s greatest golfer was getting ski lessons from his expert-skier wife Elin Nordegren of Sweden.
“If he's comparable to you, yeah,” Mickelson said with a grin, chiding a ski writer for losing in the gates to a pro golfer.
Mickelson will always live in Woods’ shadow as a golfer, owning “only” three majors to Woods’ 14. But Lefty clearly towers over Tiger as a man, quitting golf to be with his wife and mother when both were diagnosed with breast cancer.
By all accounts Mickelson is the ultimate family man, doting over his wife and children to the point of distraction, his critics claim. Good for him.
Years ago I used to not really care what kind of character my sports heroes demonstrated off the field of play. I shrugged when John Elway won two Super Bowls for long-suffering Denver fans then cast off his longtime wife Janet to chase cheerleaders.
Now the man is diminished in my mind by that behavior and his increasingly bizarre rightwing politics. Those Super Bowl wins don’t taste quite so sweet anymore. Ditto for the CU Buffs lone championship after Bill McCartney went off the deep end with his patriarchal Promise Keepers.
Kyle Orton may not have the physical tools of Elway (or even Jay Cutler), but the guy drives a Honda hybrid because he cares about global climate change. The Patriots can have Bush White House suck-up Tom Brady and their three Super Bowl wins. Give me the hybrid-driving Orton any day.
But those are political concerns. What Woods did is try to fool us all into thinking he was the ultimate family man while he was out wildly boinking anything in heels. That’s fine, but just stay single ala Derek Jeter and don’t foist off this faux-family-guy image on us. I’m sick of family-values conservatives trying to tell us all how to live while acting like complete scum behind closed doors.
Now, I have to say, I hope Woods never catches Jack Nicklaus and his record of 18 majors. Go Lefty.
8 Comments on "Woods' phony family-guy act offers one more reason to pull for Mickelson"
Captaincrunch — December 13, 2009
WOW!! Guess you are not too fond of Republicans and Christians. Funny how Woods and all the rest of us could use some more of those values.
David O — December 13, 2009
Sorry for my delayed response, Captaincrunch, I just got back from church. Actually I'm just not fond of hypocrites and fundamentalist lunatics of either political persuasion. By the way, it's pounding snow in Vail at noon Sunday (no hype or conspiracy theories here). Powder days cover up all sins.
George — December 13, 2009
David O. I see your point, but here is my point. It may not be the best but its as honest as I can get! When the Conservitive Bush was asked about drugs and a drinking problem when he was younger. He admitted it, Right to the Cameras! Bill on the other hand, refused to admit it without a big fight. Conservitives, Admit it is wrong to cheat on their wives! That wont stop the human from doing wrong! I know its wrong to lie, I still find myself in a position whrer I do some times. That doesn't make the idea wrong! I go to Church because I am a conservitive sinner! Beleiving in who I believe in means I know I am a wrong doer! Knowing I am a sinner doesnt mean I will stop going to church, and it surly wont stop me from telling my kids what and what not to do, or it wont stop me from diciplining them, even if I have did the same wrong! I will stand by a Conservitive that is a leader and makes a mistake before I stand for someone that says, "I believe Abotion is Wrong" But Im going to stand up for you, because you want abortion to be legal" And by the way I get your vote if I do it that way! Rather than the Conservitive Person Who states, abortion is wrong and bad, and can not find it in their heart to vote for it. And even if this person makes a mistake, cheats on his wife and gets another woman pregnant, and sneaks away in the emotion of the moment and has his lover get an abotion! very wrong of him, I agree. Shouldnt have done it, I agree! But the idea of it being wrong is still right, The Idea is what matters! Thats what we stand for, not the person. If that person stands up like a man, and truly is regretfull for what he does, I will forgive him and hope he learns his lesson. The other guy, will never learn his lesson, because he never believed in the idea in the first place! That person will just continue to stand for someone elses values instead of his own. And they will rationalize it away and say something like" Well it depends on how you use IS in a sentence! Or "I did not have se*ual relations with that woman!" Because knowingly they make them selves believe its ok to say that because the definition does not mean oral gratification! I would have respected a person like that more if he would have said he made a mistake and he was sorry! So to the point, Tiger and these others made a mistake! He shouldn't stop trying to be a good conservitive person because of his human mistakes! If thats the case, throw out all the rules! And lets just do what we want when we want to.
David O — December 13, 2009
Thanks for the comment, George. I agree with some of your points, but don't forget, Bush also looked right into the cameras and told us we had to invade Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction. I'd rather have a president who lies about an affair than one who lies about going to war.
Annie — December 14, 2009
The thing is, WMDs and evidence were found. Clearly they weren't enough to merit the attention of the media or the credibility from the left....I am the wife of a soldier who has been over there a few times. Sarin gas bombs were found and are continuing to be found buried throughout the Iraqi country side.
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=15918
550 metric tons of yellowcake were located and removed from Iraq last year BTW; not that the liberals care because Bush was a lying liar who lied.
And here I was excited to be reading a Team Phil article because I've been on Team Phil since day 1 (we both went to ASU) and always thought Tiger was a punk.
Just so you know, because of the aforementioned ASU connection, I've never been an Elway fan thanks to the now late Grandpa Elway's hatred of Frank Kush. Then, Jackie Elway decided he didn't want to play ball and left the ASU QB situation in dire straits. The Broncos lost me with their horrid treatment of Jake Plummer. Wow! All roads lead back to ASU for me.
However, I find it HILARIOUS that a liberal (you know, the side that claims to own tolerance and openess) is less enamoured of his teams championships simply because he doesn't agree with the politics of the people who helped attain those feats. And YOU are the one who dislikes hypocricy? Physician, heal thyself!
David O. — December 14, 2009
I appreciate your husband's service, but we knew about the nerve gas (Hussein had used it on the Kurds), and yellowcake is far from enriched uranium. We have tons of it all over Colorado.
No, we had Hussein boxed in with no-fly zones and he was a minimal threat to the rest of the world. Regime change for all the wrong reasons can bankrupt a nation (look at the Soviets in Afghanistan).
We can still disagree on this and be Phil fans, mostly because I have no idea what his politics are, and I like it when my sports heroes keep it that way.
Drive a Humvee or a hybrid if you want to make a statement one way or the other but limit your comments to the field of play.
Watch — December 15, 2009
Phil always had it way above tiger in the class department. Elin should sue for damages the size of which we have never heard of before in a divorce. I would be living in fear over what diseases the scum could have brought home. What a horrible violation of trust and decency he pulled.
Now his pouting and overemoting on the golf course seem apropos--just a guy who doesn't have the maturity or class to control himself. How arrogant to justify behaving like he did toward his wife.
I think Phil is way too classy to say it, but he must have been slightly amused seeing the world of "the invincibe tiger" crashing down.
Woods' supporters are just as low class as he is. One was on television saying Americans watching the horror-for-Elin story unfold and opposing Woods' behavior don't have a life. What??? Is his trasy behavior acceptable where they come from? Total distasteful, egomaniacal jackasses.
I liked Phil before. As the Antiwoods, he looks even better now.
KR — December 21, 2009
Granted Tiger is no role model for family values, but don't let his corporate-greedsters off the hook either--they meticulously crafted his phony "good guy" image,and stifled their laughter all the way to the bank! Also the Vegas mob/pimps who rented out whores for delayed-extortion scam--this goes on regularly btw--NBA,NFL,MLB,PGA,CEO's,politicians,Hollywood actors are steady clients of--you pay, we ship whores direct to orgy sites--major growth industry since 80s, when porn exploded (pun not intended) Above all, can we STOP looking to entertainers/politicians for role models--parents, guardians are role models...geesh! Question: why would anyone pay a Vegas mob-controlled hostess/waitress/whore who can't keep her mouth shut a dime after this?
