A letter to John Hawkins and the golf media re: "Where has all the excitement gone?"

Sure, the job of the media is to present opinions and perspective as much as factual recording of events. In the modern sports era however, we all know the former has replaced the latter, and for many of us that's a shame. Maybe it's old school, but today we feel the non-sport side of sports has more often overshadowed the actions on the field, and I seriously doubt many would say that's been an improvement in sports. Truth be told, it's no more than a reflection of the expansion of coverage, from ESPN to all the network sports to yes, even the Golf Channel. It used to be about the games, the tournaments, the players actions; wins and losses, champions and up and comers. Today, it's about their attitude, their lifestyle, their failures (professional or personal), their sound bites; whatever it takes to fill an overload of too much space and time.

What's so obvious to most everyone out here with triple digit IQ's is that in golf, we are simply in an era of the greatest player in the sport's history, much like we also were fortunate enough to experience with MJ in basketball. The difference with him was that it was a team game, and individual competitors didn't have to bear the burden of face-to face, one on one humiliation, or comparison by the swarm quantity media. In golf, the situation has been exacerbated by an athlete that has never experienced this level of world attention, and a media totally inexperienced with it as well.

Golf is different. It's slow; it can be one-dimensional in coverage. The golf media often needs more than the stats to fill time and page space. You can only get so much John Daly side-show news, so the rest of the time is Tiger, and who isn't Tiger. The idea that Tiger is the only one with a winning attitude shows ignorance, plain and simple. More so, probably underscores people who, as in many other sports, have never played at any level where true competition is experienced. These are the world's best players; players who have beaten the crap out of others all their lives, until they ran into this guy. Yes, some have folded, or at least displayed it, questioning their drive or attitude to be the best they can. No one respects seeing a Stewart Cink smiling and cutting up with Tiger while getting his ass handed to him in Match Play. Most of us, even though we may not have played at that level, cannot stomach that second tier reconciliation from a fellow pro. But what about Garcia, Kim, Sabatini; they make natural competitive comments and put themselves on the block as a result. We should love those attitudes; welcome them, but instead we get our lame media blasting them when they fall short.

These are potential rivals who have displayed a competitive attitude, the ego if you will, to say they can take on the top dog. Whether they do it or not you should understand and relish their motives. Our sport's media, however, have become such puppets to the great Tiger, and great he is of course, that they have beaten them down so for their comments that they have all quieted and retreated. Why wouldn't you? Unless you've beaten him, you're set up for easy blasting by the sideline voices, those who don't have a clue what's it must be like to try to catch up with greatness.

Interestingly enough, if this were back in the day, Tom Watson would have been beaten down because it took him forever to break through with Nicklaus; Lee Trevino made out to be a big mouth; Johnny Miller an underachiever. Before you quickly retort that they were eventually legends, think about the lack of daily media coverage they were fortunate to be free from. Who knows, maybe they would have retreated somewhat themselves. The media's power, if you can call it that, can indeed have real performance ramifications.

Personally, I like the atmosphere of this year. There are clear signs that there are young guns poised to make a mark and take on Tiger. Does that mean they will dethrone Tiger? Hell no; this man is special; he's history in the making, and we should relish being in the moment. Just like MJ, he will not be matched for a long time, if ever. That doesn't mean the game has lost excitement, unless you don't know much past the obvious. There's the challenge; will we have a sport's media that can get past the star-struck status and start appreciating the progress made in the sport's new generation Tiger has birthed? I certainly hope so.