The Pain of Prestige

As one who has bled Purple and Gold from the day I was born, it's hard not to write about my disappointment and grief after having watched the demolition. But another aspect in sports has grabbed my attention much more harshly, so in short, Kevin Garnett should be admitted to an insane asylum, Pau Gasol needs to hit the weight room, AND EVERYBODY NEEDS TO REMEMBER THAT KOBE'S FREAKING FINGER IS BROKEN. PAUL PIERCE'S ANKLE MIGHT BE SLIGHTLY SPRAINED, BUT KOBE'S FINGER HAS BEEN BROKEN FOR OVER TWO MONTHS. Oh yea, and Bynum has yet to return.

Speaking of injuries, in wake of Tiger's US Open triumph, horrible news hit the golf world. Tiger has a tear in his ACL and shredded cartilage in his knee, is going into yet another knee surgery, and has stress fractures in his leg. Now I must admit Rocco Mediate is a likable guy, but if Tiger was healthy, no one would have any idea who he was. A one shot win with that kind of injury would have been a twenty stroke victory in full health. What Mr. Woods did was nothing short of miraculous.

I'm not going to pretend that I'm a certified doctor and I have no specialty in diagnosis of any type of injury, but after speaking to a few arthroscopic surgeons, Tiger's knee is in pretty bad shape. After the deterioration of his cartilage, the bone grinding on bone is horrible and Tiger is light years away from acceptable playing shape.

Tiger will be resting for the rest of the season, but with the torque and force put into the left knee with every golf swing, the condition can only get worse. It's hard to imagine, but we may not see the same Tiger that we know and love today. When you watch Tiger swing, you can see the harshness that travels into that part of his body. The amount of twisting and pulling that goes on can only make his knee worse and worse. So if he's hurt now, with the style Tiger plays and the rigorous workout he consistently puts himself through, this injury won't be the last.

A damaged Tiger doesn't only hurt him and his fan base, but the whole golfing world as a whole. It's like when Michael Jordan retired from basketball for the first time; dark days lay ahead, with no comparably dominant and attention-capturing player present on the Tour. A poll taken by ESPN shows that over 80% of the viewing public will watch less golf during Tiger's absence.

We can just hope that he's going to come back the same and win those five additional majors that would cement his status as the best in history. Then again, I wouldn't hesitate in the least bit to already call him the G.O.A.T. Good luck with your recovery, Tiger.