SI cover: the Ultimate Troll

[farmer]

Let's just pretend Tiger went through all the personal stuff but had a healthy body. Would he have more wins....almost for sure. Would he have more majors? Who knows? I mean mentally he just fell apart in the majors when you thought he was going to move up the leaderboard, post accident. Majors are REALLY hard to win, some of the all-time greats have only won around 5. Seve, Faldo (6) Phil etc. Tiger needs that total to surpass Jack, it's not going to happen......

 

So what happened?, life happened, Watson, Seve, and a bunch of others quit winning majors at an early age. Jack spoiled the golf world by winning majors over a 25 year span. Tiger was phenomenal for 11 years, winning 14, that is one of the all-time great achievements in sport.

 

People.....you just need to let go......appreciate Tiger for what he was, because it's over. Even if he comes back, and feels healthy he has had 3 back surgeries. To play at a high level you have to practice and play a LOT of golf. The wear and tear on a young healthy person is difficult, but when you are over 40 and have had 3 back surgeries I just don't see how you can practice enough to be sharp then travel, play practice rounds, hit balls, putt practice the short game, do a pro am, practice and then play 4 intense rounds of tournament golf.

 

If Tiger does come back and win a major again, it will be a flash in the pan and he will be done. Again Jack was different because once he established his game he just didn't practice that much and could still compete, his swing held up because he didn't change it, he could repeat it even with little practice. Tiger is not wired that way. He has to go full bore.

 

Seems SI is just trying to sell magazines, which they struggle to do in this day and age I am sure. This is not a "vexing" question at all, it is actually quite obvious what happened.

He also has to find a reliable swing that is easier on his body. And then be able to take that swing to tournaments, and then win with that swing.

[27x10.5]

see Peyton Manning. Careers end.

 

But Peyton was a senior citizen in his sport....look at Vijay still pretty competitive at 50-51 when he plays a tour stop. I bet he plays well this Masters.

[straightshot7]

It sells magazines. Simple as that.

 

Tiger is just a very interesting topic, no matter your opinion of him.

[Sean2]

Legitimate journalism is fast becoming an oxymoron these day, no matter what area is being covered.

[sjt4718]

Highly doubt the younger generation will subscribe to Sports Illustrated. Golf and SI will die together aling with Playboy.

[bscinstnct]

Highly doubt the younger generation will subscribe to Sports Illustrated. Golf and SI will die together aling with Playboy.

 

Nobody has read SI since like Earl Campbell and Reggie Jackson.

 

Playboy still lives on. Like at the place I get shoe shines on Madison Ave ; )

[dlygrisse]

Let's just pretend Tiger went through all the personal stuff but had a healthy body. Would he have more wins....almost for sure. Would he have more majors? Who knows? I mean mentally he just fell apart in the majors when you thought he was going to move up the leaderboard, post accident. Majors are REALLY hard to win, some of the all-time greats have only won around 5. Seve, Faldo (6) Phil etc. Tiger needs that total to surpass Jack, it's not going to happen......

 

So what happened?, life happened, Watson, Seve, and a bunch of others quit winning majors at an early age. Jack spoiled the golf world by winning majors over a 25 year span. Tiger was phenomenal for 11 years, winning 14, that is one of the all-time great achievements in sport.

 

People.....you just need to let go......appreciate Tiger for what he was, because it's over. Even if he comes back, and feels healthy he has had 3 back surgeries. To play at a high level you have to practice and play a LOT of golf. The wear and tear on a young healthy person is difficult, but when you are over 40 and have had 3 back surgeries I just don't see how you can practice enough to be sharp then travel, play practice rounds, hit balls, putt practice the short game, do a pro am, practice and then play 4 intense rounds of tournament golf.

 

If Tiger does come back and win a major again, it will be a flash in the pan and he will be done. Again Jack was different because once he established his game he just didn't practice that much and could still compete, his swing held up because he didn't change it, he could repeat it even with little practice. Tiger is not wired that way. He has to go full bore.

 

Seems SI is just trying to sell magazines, which they struggle to do in this day and age I am sure. This is not a "vexing" question at all, it is actually quite obvious what happened.

He also has to find a reliable swing that is easier on his body. And then be able to take that swing to tournaments, and then win with that swing.

 

If you are talking about Tiger it sure didn't seem to work. His new swings ruined his back.

[duffer987]

Highly doubt the younger generation will subscribe to Sports Illustrated. Golf and SI will die together aling with Playboy.

 

Nobody has read SI since like Earl Campbell and Reggie Jackson.

 

Playboy still lives on. Like at the place I get shoe shines on Madison Ave ; )

 

And as I found out - much like Golf Digest - if you are not careful and forget to clear the checkbox on checkout from RBG, you may end up with a complimentary subscription to SI. I'm sure our recycling centre enjoys the extra work.

[BMC]

see Peyton Manning. Careers end.

 

But Peyton was a senior citizen in his sport....look at Vijay still pretty competitive at 50-51 when he plays a tour stop. I bet he plays well this Masters.

 

Yeah, but...Tiger's been playing since 8 months old, and swingin' like he just don't care. His body is older than most guys his age.

[MtlJeff]

see Peyton Manning. Careers end.

 

But Peyton was a senior citizen in his sport....look at Vijay still pretty competitive at 50-51 when he plays a tour stop. I bet he plays well this Masters.

 

Yeah, but...Tiger's been playing since 8 months old, and swingin' like he just don't care. His body is older than most guys his age.

 

With all the media attention/stress Tiger got since he was a teenager, a strict father, tournament pressure, plus injuries. Tiger's relative age is probably somewhere around 104

[27x10.5]

see Peyton Manning. Careers end.

 

But Peyton was a senior citizen in his sport....look at Vijay still pretty competitive at 50-51 when he plays a tour stop. I bet he plays well this Masters.

 

Yeah, but...Tiger's been playing since 8 months old, and swingin' like he just don't care. His body is older than most guys his age.

 

True...and his swing as a teenager did look pretty vicious

[robdalky]

It sells magazines. Simple as that.

 

Tiger is just a very interesting topic, no matter your opinion of him.

 

The fact of the matter is that you can add together Spieth, Phil, Bubba, Fowler, Rory, Day and they STILL don't move the needle of public interest as much as one Tiger in his prime. (Now that is with me feeling as a golf guy that the level of play now is much higher than in 2000, the players are better, etc...)

 

As annoying as it was to have every public course filled with 36 cap hacks wearing red nike shirts playing a 6 hour round every weekend back in 2003, the popularity was unmatched, ratings were high... etc. It was good for the game no doubt.

 

IMO I think one thing that may hurt the popularity of the PGA Tour and golf in general is the overall lack of drama. And I'm not talking about the golf itself. I mean the interpersonal stuff. The PGA Tour tries to make every player seem like a stand up classy carbon copy of one another... and let's be honest it's a little boring. I want to see some of that hate come out and take the reins off these guys a little bit. I know they don't all like each other and they're not all classy guys either. Let's take some of the stuff from "Slaying the Tiger" and let it ride on TV. My 02, most sure to disagree.

[bladehunter]

Good chance the crow fowl get put on the endangered species list after they are all cooked up to feed the tiger haters here. .... Might have to switch to possums or maybe armadillos ( armored Possums ) in a pinch.

[Loki]

Um, injuries and personal problems happened.

So it's not like he sucks now...

 

-Christosteronw

 

If he was just injured and would be back in less than a year, I would agree with you. A couple weeks ago it was reported that he could only hit 9 irons on the range. I, a 7 cap, playing from the back tees, could beat him.

 

He sucks. He might get back to being competitive on the tour, but right now? He sucks at golf.

[larrybud]

The answer to why that cover exists is in every Tiger thread on GolfWrx. Just look at the reply count to "More Tiger Rumors" thread made 2 days ago.

[Lodestone]

Um, injuries and personal problems happened.

 

Agreed...but just over 2 years ago when he was healthy he won 5 times in a single season including a Players Championship...

So it's not like he sucks now...

 

He will probably pass Snead's all time mark in the next decade and perhaps much less likely catch Jacks major record....either way, he is in his forties and still has a punchers chance at becoming the greatest of all time....

 

It is frustrating to me that NOBODY recognizes his 2013 season(the last time he was healthy) and he was dominating....remember fowler crumbling on Sunday down the stretch at bay hill?

 

I think it's premature to bury him...just like Trevino told the press in 80 regarding Jack...he begged them to not wake the bear...

 

-Christosteronw

 

I admire your steadfast optimism. I don't agree with you, but time will tell. I miss rooting for him NOT to win. There was a time I thought it was a pretty even fight, Tiger vs. The Field. Alas, whether we love to root for them, or against them, the sun eventually sets on their prime and we must move on.

 

I grew up with SI, and my bedroom walls in the 1960s were essentially one giant collage of SI photos. Wilt, The Big O, Jim Brown, OJ, Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, etc etc. In those days their sports photography was unmatched (much like the photography in the aforementioned Playboy), and we didn't have ESPN or the internet flooding us with news and pictures and videos. SI was IT. And the writing was the best sportswriting to be read.

 

My requiem for Tiger is equally appropriate for Sports Illustrated.

It was great in its day, but its day has passed.

[Lodestone]

See, in the old days, instead of a rehashed Tiger story, they would have had a picture of the Match Play Champion, and a headline like " Dawning of a new Day"...

 

catchy, huh?

[Dpavs]

Let's see a media anything that sensationalizes stories to get readers or viewers.... hmmm, how ordinary...

 

[golfandfishing]

See, in the old days, instead of a rehashed Tiger story, they would have had a picture of the Match Play Champion, and a headline like " Dawning of a new Day"...

 

catchy, huh?

 

Golfweek or golfworld yes. SI wouldn't have bothered with a golf cover outside of US Open or Masters, the match play would have an outside chance of some coverage, certainly not the cover.

[Lodestone]

See, in the old days, instead of a rehashed Tiger story, they would have had a picture of the Match Play Champion, and a headline like " Dawning of a new Day"...

 

catchy, huh?

 

Golfweek or golfworld yes. SI wouldn't have bothered with a golf cover outside of US Open or Masters, the match play would have an outside chance of some coverage, certainly not the cover.

 

you are correct... maybe a story inside though.

[middie8]

[quote name='UCBananaboy' timestamp='1459286222' post='13283360']
[quote name='Sixcat' timestamp='1459285876' post='13283316']
[quote name='Hawkeye77' timestamp='1459285476' post='13283284']
I guess my wife is the troll today. She emailed me a link to the article, so [b]I wasted time reading it.

It really is a nothing piece, seriously. Just a summary of what's happened, like nobody hasn't had it hashed and rehashed dozens of times.[/b]

On a more interesting note, seeing the cover reminds me we have a different cover (from 1997) that my daughter at age 4 saved and tore off of SI (way back when I thought it was worth subscribing to), and taped to a wall in our basement - still down there! When we finished off most of the basement it got moved to our storage room, where it is still taped up about 3-4 feet off the ground (same height it was in 1997). Good memories!
[/quote]

The cover is intentionally inflammatory to sell magazines. The material within the article is the same regurgitated mess that has been widely reported since 2009. Nothing new and certainly nothing worthy of what the cover suggests. Just another magazine/newspaper resorting to click-bait tactics to get views.
[/quote]

It's the Taco Bell way of doing business. Take the same thing, repackage it, sell it as something else -> profit.
[/quote]

great, now i want a taco......thanks.....

[Outlier]

And that tells you everything you need to know about the state of golf in the consciousness of sports fan.

 

Once Tiger is well and truly out of the picture, golf can return to the backwaters of pro sports, somewhere a notch above tennis.

Sadly, this will probably be true. Golf has always been seen as elitist and closed off, and frankly most golfers I know don't do anything to dispute it.

 

But what is wrong with that?

[Titleist 670]

MtlJeff hit the nail on the head.

 

Tiger went from a seeming lock for 20 majors and 90 wins to no majors in the last eight years.

 

Its not all due to injury.

 

Who would have thought we would see Tiger with the chip yips? Back nine in contention last year (Wyndham maybe?) and he flat out shanks/blades a chip over the green to fall out of contention.

 

The swing/chipping issues and number of bad shots hes hit in recent years is stunning. And he is pretty much out of "wait till next years" to get things fixed.

[Konklifer]

If there is one thing everyone in media can agree on: negativity sells, positive stories don't.

[mukster]

Can't understand why people get so worked up about a magazine cover. Tiger is not some sacred cow that no one can talk, comment or write about.

[Dave230]

See, in the old days, instead of a rehashed Tiger story, they would have had a picture of the Match Play Champion, and a headline like " Dawning of a new Day"...

 

catchy, huh?

 

I can see the article cover now and I don't see why it doesn't sell well.

 

It's relevant because:

 

It's a preview to the Masters with the matchplay fitted in - they had Rory on the cover in the build up about him looking for the career slam last year I believe.

Jason Day deserves a cover because he's the new world number one and is on a hot streak.

Day is very marketable (handsome, athletic, beautiful wife, talks the talk) and is probably the most Tiger-esque golfer around at the moment.

Day has a great story of rags to riches that is very interesting and sellable. It's been rehashed a lot in golf media circles but maybe not in generalised sport.

[imakaveli]

Tiger sells, a magazine with that picture and a huge "MISSED CUT" will sell more than covers of Jordan, Rory, Jason or whatever combined

[Roadking2003]

Um, injuries and personal problems happened.

 

Agreed...but just over 2 years ago when he was healthy he won 5 times in a single season including a Players Championship...

So it's not like he sucks now...

 

He will probably pass Snead's all time mark in the next decade and perhaps much less likely catch Jacks major record....either way, he is in his forties and still has a punchers chance at becoming the greatest of all time....

 

It is frustrating to me that NOBODY recognizes his 2013 season(the last time he was healthy) and he was dominating....remember fowler crumbling on Sunday down the stretch at bay hill?

 

I think it's premature to bury him...just like Trevino told the press in 80 regarding Jack...he begged them to not wake the bear...

 

-Christosteronw

 

You are joking, right? He will never win again. No chance. And Jack never had Tiger's problems.

[nochct1]

 

 

If Tiger does come back and win a major again, it will be a flash in the pan and he will be done. Again Jack was different because once he established his game he just didn't practice that much and could still compete, his swing held up because he didn't change it, he could repeat it even with little practice. Tiger is not wired that way. He has to go full bore.

 

 

Jack's swing didn't hold up and he changed it in 1980. He wasn't playing well, so he made a big swing change that resulted in two majors that year.

 

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/jack-nicklaus-power-draw

 

But don't let facts get in the way.

 

[Shilgy]

Poor guy-Shipnuck I mean. His whole career , like Chamblee's, seems to be based on Tiger being crap. If-and it is a capital IF- Tiger ever does return to some semblance of form both of them will have nothing to talk about. Especially Shipnuck.