Fathers and Sons
Hey everybody,
According to blogger.com, this is my 40th post. Part of me wants to say that I don't have time to celebrate because there's so much further to go, but the truth is we should all take the time to enjoy our achievements and blessings. So thanks you guys, and happy belated Easter.
*Fathers and Sons*
For the record, I don’t think anybody could’ve been madder than I was watching Tiger Woods put the Green Jacket on Phil Mickelson than yours truly. Not for the reasons you think, however (well, maybe, ha ha).
I like to think Tiger and I have more in common than just the fact that we are viewed as ‘black’ (put in quotation marks b/c Tiger is of multicultural descent) men working in professions that are notorious dominated by whites. We’re both considered talented by our peers, enjoy and study our craft endlessly, and have hairlines that have begun the receding process before their time.
Oh, and this other thing…which brings me to the point of this blog.
Our road to success has been positively paved by the patience and persistence of a patriarchal presence.
Being able to say that in the midst of the lot of you is likely to bring mixed emotions…on the level(s) of relationships with one or both parents. I like to think that everyone has what could be considered their ‘voice of guidance’…something that they might associate with a parent, aunt, uncle…everybody has their someone. Thing is, for me, and likely Tiger…the ‘voice’ we hear when we’re at our best and worst is likely the old man’s voice.
That ‘voice’…I know for me, I’ve spent a lifetime hearing it. Also, it’s been well-documented on this site just how much my father and I can be at odds…and yeah, sometimes I don’t like the cat.
For Tiger, there’s the appearance on the Ed Sullivan show at 2. There’s teen Tiger…pretty much all of Tiger’s life, his father is somewhere around, presence felt.
Which brings us to 2006. Tiger’s words on Tuesday, April 4, 2006:
Well, it was important for us as a family, because for dad -- my dad couldn't make it out to the golf course, but at least he was able to travel. That's no longer the case. Hey, if anyone can fight and grind it out, it would be him. He's as tough as they come. It's always been a very emotional week for us as a family because my first year here as a professional, my dad, actually he was dead, and then somehow they revived him and they had complications in his surgery. He wasn't supposed to come here anyways but somehow came and gave me a putting lesson and I putted great.
This has been a very special week for us as a family.
Tiger had to deal with his father’s ailments, amongst a number of things at Augusta National, and it was interesting seeing his resilience at the course. It’s always fun and enlightening seeing someone master their craft, whether it’s Tiger, MJ, Ralph Wiley when he was here…but why leave it at sports(writers)? Oprah’s media run is sheer brilliance, and I can’t help but think that my man Dave Chappelle is smart enough to be able to bring reverence and humor to real-world topics.
But back to golf. People like myself, and most everybody else, wants to make dominance in golf seem as easy as dominance in any other sport, but I beg to differ. Especially at the Masters, you’re not only competing with other golfers, and dealing with the mental and physical conditions of 72 holes, but you’re also competing with nature itself.
What other sports can say that? Yes, a lot of outdoor sports, but I don’t think any sport forces you to be at a mental and physical peak like golf (I may regret saying that later, ‘cuz long-distance running is a beast).
Now, with all of that said, why would I be mad when Tiger put the Green Jacket on Phil’s back?
Because it seemed to me on Sunday that my man Tiger was listening to every voice but his father’s on Sunday. Maybe it was the rumblings in the gallery, the sound of a number of golfers making a serious run. Maybe it was the sound of pipes bursting from the pressure that comes from being the no. 1 golfer in the world.
Or maybe it was a faulty putter that betrayed him, where putting is the staple of Woods’ game, and where his father’s influence is best portrayed.
And especially at Augusta National, putting is everything. Anyone who’s ever won there did so because of great putting.
Here’s hoping that in the near future, Tiger (and myself) will tune out the doubters, and try to take advantage of patriarchal advice.
Epilogue:
Q. Did you bring anything of your dad's this week to have some part of him with you and do you still have that ball marker he gave you?
TIGER WOODS: I still have it, yeah.
Q. Do you carry it with you?
TIGER WOODS: No, I don't carry it with me on the course, just in case I lose it. I've been known to lose things every now and then. I don't carry it with me when I'm playing, no. But he's always with me.
Q. Over the years we've heard players make swing changes and sometimes they backfire because they are trying to get to another level and it doesn't quite work. How have you been able to channel those things into getting to another level without that happening to you?
TIGER WOODS: Well, having a game plan. You know it's not going to happen overnight and you have to have a belief in what you're doing it's going to be right in the end, and you have to have stepping stones.
Sometimes the people watching me, whether it's media or fans or whomever who are out there, they may not see the stepping stones and the building blocks. But if you hit one good shot today, it's more than you hit yesterday and if you hit two today, that's heading the right direction, and don't have any setbacks along the way.
As I've done this a couple times since I've turned pro, I think that's the whole key is I kept building and building and building and believing in what I was doing. So it's more of a long-term project.
Things a father understands, to be sure.
The Good Doctor
According to blogger.com, this is my 40th post. Part of me wants to say that I don't have time to celebrate because there's so much further to go, but the truth is we should all take the time to enjoy our achievements and blessings. So thanks you guys, and happy belated Easter.
*Fathers and Sons*
For the record, I don’t think anybody could’ve been madder than I was watching Tiger Woods put the Green Jacket on Phil Mickelson than yours truly. Not for the reasons you think, however (well, maybe, ha ha).
I like to think Tiger and I have more in common than just the fact that we are viewed as ‘black’ (put in quotation marks b/c Tiger is of multicultural descent) men working in professions that are notorious dominated by whites. We’re both considered talented by our peers, enjoy and study our craft endlessly, and have hairlines that have begun the receding process before their time.
Oh, and this other thing…which brings me to the point of this blog.
Our road to success has been positively paved by the patience and persistence of a patriarchal presence.
Being able to say that in the midst of the lot of you is likely to bring mixed emotions…on the level(s) of relationships with one or both parents. I like to think that everyone has what could be considered their ‘voice of guidance’…something that they might associate with a parent, aunt, uncle…everybody has their someone. Thing is, for me, and likely Tiger…the ‘voice’ we hear when we’re at our best and worst is likely the old man’s voice.
That ‘voice’…I know for me, I’ve spent a lifetime hearing it. Also, it’s been well-documented on this site just how much my father and I can be at odds…and yeah, sometimes I don’t like the cat.
For Tiger, there’s the appearance on the Ed Sullivan show at 2. There’s teen Tiger…pretty much all of Tiger’s life, his father is somewhere around, presence felt.
Which brings us to 2006. Tiger’s words on Tuesday, April 4, 2006:
Well, it was important for us as a family, because for dad -- my dad couldn't make it out to the golf course, but at least he was able to travel. That's no longer the case. Hey, if anyone can fight and grind it out, it would be him. He's as tough as they come. It's always been a very emotional week for us as a family because my first year here as a professional, my dad, actually he was dead, and then somehow they revived him and they had complications in his surgery. He wasn't supposed to come here anyways but somehow came and gave me a putting lesson and I putted great.
This has been a very special week for us as a family.
Tiger had to deal with his father’s ailments, amongst a number of things at Augusta National, and it was interesting seeing his resilience at the course. It’s always fun and enlightening seeing someone master their craft, whether it’s Tiger, MJ, Ralph Wiley when he was here…but why leave it at sports(writers)? Oprah’s media run is sheer brilliance, and I can’t help but think that my man Dave Chappelle is smart enough to be able to bring reverence and humor to real-world topics.
But back to golf. People like myself, and most everybody else, wants to make dominance in golf seem as easy as dominance in any other sport, but I beg to differ. Especially at the Masters, you’re not only competing with other golfers, and dealing with the mental and physical conditions of 72 holes, but you’re also competing with nature itself.
What other sports can say that? Yes, a lot of outdoor sports, but I don’t think any sport forces you to be at a mental and physical peak like golf (I may regret saying that later, ‘cuz long-distance running is a beast).
Now, with all of that said, why would I be mad when Tiger put the Green Jacket on Phil’s back?
Because it seemed to me on Sunday that my man Tiger was listening to every voice but his father’s on Sunday. Maybe it was the rumblings in the gallery, the sound of a number of golfers making a serious run. Maybe it was the sound of pipes bursting from the pressure that comes from being the no. 1 golfer in the world.
Or maybe it was a faulty putter that betrayed him, where putting is the staple of Woods’ game, and where his father’s influence is best portrayed.
And especially at Augusta National, putting is everything. Anyone who’s ever won there did so because of great putting.
Here’s hoping that in the near future, Tiger (and myself) will tune out the doubters, and try to take advantage of patriarchal advice.
Epilogue:
Q. Did you bring anything of your dad's this week to have some part of him with you and do you still have that ball marker he gave you?
TIGER WOODS: I still have it, yeah.
Q. Do you carry it with you?
TIGER WOODS: No, I don't carry it with me on the course, just in case I lose it. I've been known to lose things every now and then. I don't carry it with me when I'm playing, no. But he's always with me.
Q. Over the years we've heard players make swing changes and sometimes they backfire because they are trying to get to another level and it doesn't quite work. How have you been able to channel those things into getting to another level without that happening to you?
TIGER WOODS: Well, having a game plan. You know it's not going to happen overnight and you have to have a belief in what you're doing it's going to be right in the end, and you have to have stepping stones.
Sometimes the people watching me, whether it's media or fans or whomever who are out there, they may not see the stepping stones and the building blocks. But if you hit one good shot today, it's more than you hit yesterday and if you hit two today, that's heading the right direction, and don't have any setbacks along the way.
As I've done this a couple times since I've turned pro, I think that's the whole key is I kept building and building and building and believing in what I was doing. So it's more of a long-term project.
Things a father understands, to be sure.
The Good Doctor
posted by The Good Doctor at 3:28 PM
1 Comments:
Golf is only for someone with such an attention span as yourself.
My only comment goes to piggy back on just how demanding Golf is. Now, your average bar fool will yap about how simple Golf is, because it doesn't look difficult. But anybody who claims that cross-country isn't trill is simply running off at the mouth.
So no, Golf's not the only sport that requires a true channeling beyond simply the physical, but rather, it is one of those sports.
And I could go on and argue that all sports involve some serious mental focus, even how Barry Bonds shakes everybody off on his way to sticking it to the man(not that I'm joining him in this crusade), but that's another topic.
I took out spiritual focus to, because that is not to be confused with religion, because some of the most dedicated athletes are not necessarily God-fearing. And that's another topic.
So is me fighting off going on a completely long rant in one comment. Holla back.
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