Monday, April 11, 2011

Tiger and Albert

It was hard not to acknowledge the dichotomy between what we witnessed on Sunday afternoon on CBS versus what aired right after The Masters golf tournament on the same network.

From approximately 1:00-6:00 p.m. CDT, many of us were sucked into the CBS broadcast from Augusta, GA given Tiger Woods' five-under-par start on the front nine (excuse me--the "first nine," as it's referred to at Augusta National.) It was the Tiger of old--pumping fists, staring down putts into the hole and the swagger which has intimidated many a foe.

The back nine failed to produce the drama expected from Woods--no eagles materialized on 13 or 15 and Amen Corner exacted its revenge for his low score on the first nine. As a result, we saw the petulant Tiger which was on full display the day before--the slammed clubs, the audible curse, the body language which seemed to indicate that the golf gods had done him wrong and, of course, the terse interview after the round. For all of the lip service to how he's changed, Tiger's on-course behavior has only worsened.

Look, I think Woods is one of the most amazing--if not most amazing--athlete of this generation. And, yes, I want him to succeed, not because I think he's served his penance for his off-course soap opera story but because he's good for the game, and his performance on the course is often breathtaking.

I couldn't help but make the comparison, though, to what I watched on 60 Minutes after the CBS golf broadcast had ended. There was Albert Pujols, slugging star of the St. Louis Cardinals, discussing his 13th round draft selection and how it motivated him, coupled with story upon story of Pujols' off-field activities. He was shown dancing with Downs Syndrome teenagers who were treated to a prom put on by Pujols' foundation. We saw Albert and his wife administering aid to the poverty-stricken in his native Dominican Republic. And, in the most touching story of all, we heard about Pujols giving his bat--the bat which had just hit home run 400--to a child battling brain cancer. No film clip or photo was available of the moment as, you see, Pujols did it away from the glare of the team's public relations photographer and the local network news crew.

For the uninitiated who may not consider this an apt analogy, consider that none other than Peter Gammons, the acknowledged dean of baseball media in the U.S., said without hesitation that Pujols is one of the ten best baseball players of all time. His stature in his sport is every bit as important as Woods--the game needs a guy like Albert Pujols to restore credibility to a game tarnished by the steroid scandals of the past decade.

Tiger and Albert. Strange bedfellows in the game of comparing sports heroes. Yet, it was hard not to given that on Sunday, CBS made each the focal point of a broadcast program.

In this particular sports contest, it was Pujols in a runaway.

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