Redemption of a Tiger

WAIT. YOU'RE STILL ALIVE?

The Daily Hat Trick--once a daily blog, true to its name--has been retired for nearly five years. In late 2017, scratched the itch to revive the blog, but never followed through. In many ways, this is like a preview of a possible reboot.

Rule 1 of blogging, for most people, is that the first phase of blogging is like talking into an empty room. With that said, I thought that I would memorialize my thoughts on Tiger Woods' remarkable comeback to the world of elite golfers.

CALL IT A COMEBACK

Tiger Woods reached the highest of highs and, after Michael Jordan's second retirement in 1998, was the biggest, most famous, most marketable, and successful athlete in the world, by any measurable, reasonable standard.

He brought himself to successive new rock bottoms, starting with his serial womanizing, the public collapse of his personal life, then his drug addiction caused by his deteriorating back, followed by the cops discovering him in a ditch in a pain-pill induced stupor, where he literally did not know where in the world he was.

The image of Woods winning the 1997 Masters is like that of a ghost. 1

NEW LOWS...ALL-TIME HIGH

Woods could not walk without assistance, let alone play golf, because of his back problems. Despite all of that...Woods could have walked away, still been the G.O.A.T. (that's "Greatest of All Time for you older readers), and never needed to earn another nickel in his lifetime.

To go through the rehabilitation, the training, and the work just to compete in the PGA...just to make the cut, let alone win the MASTERS.... Woods put himself in a huge hole that he never had to bother coming out of because of his past success and nobody would have questioned him. Instead he pulled himself out.


Sports are often a microcosm of life. Woods' self-made redemption is truly remarkable. It tells us that we can earn second chances, seemingly no matter how far we fall, if we're willing to make it happen.

It has been a long time coming. 2

1) Image from businessinsider.com.
2) Image from usatoday.com.