The Philly Phanatics

Earlier I wrote of the cockiness and sheer dominance of the Patriots and compared them to the Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong of football. The dominant part, I was right about. The running up the score and telling the rest of the NFL “up yours” I was also right about. But I’m not here to pat myself on the back. Most of America saw those things. But the Patriots are nothing compared to the cockiness being displayed recently by one of the individuals I compared the Pats to. Tiger Woods is taking it to another level.

Bill Belichick may be taking it one game at a time and made the Patriots’ team motto this season “Humble Pie.” They are showing tenacity, but the concept of not being outwardly pompous. Tiger Woods, on the other hand, recently took confidence and cockiness to an extreme when he posted on his website a comment calling it “easily within reason” for him to win the Grand Slam this calendar year. Is he out of his mind?

Tiger Woods is, arguably, the greatest golfer not only of his era, but any era. (I think he is. Although, I’d love to hear arguments from people who want to debate it.) But can he do it? The only person to ever do it was Bobby Jones in 1930, back before the Masters was even one of the four majors. At that point, the four majors were The Open Championship, the U.S. Open, the U.S. Amateur, and the British Amateur. When Jones did it, there weren’t even words for what he had done. The term “Grand Slam” was created for him.

Tiger, himself, is the only person in the modern history of the Grand Slam to be the reigning champ in all four majors at the same time, winning three consecutively to close out 2000 and winning the first major of 2001 at the Augusta. This made him the youngest ever to have a career Grand Slam and solidified his absolute dominance.

But can he really do it?

He has a great field of competitors matching up against him. Mickelson, Els, Singh, among others. None of these golfers are anything to sneeze at. And one hot week from one of these golfers could put Tiger and his Grand Slam dreams in the dust. In addition, Tiger would have to stave off the charge of the ever-unpredictable “who-the-hell-is-this guy” golfer like Zack Johnson, who had one career win on the Tour, coming three years earlier, before winning last year’s Master’s.

In addition, he has to play flawless golf to win all four in one year, which is, regardless of what anyone else may say, very difficult when someone plays as few tournaments as Tiger does in a year. Yes, he may be able to be in the Top 10 consistently and lead the Tour’s money list and scoring average list with a regularity that borders upon superhuman.

Personally, I think that with these comments he just made that already huge bull’s-eye on his back the size of the Target logo on the retailer's new store opening down the street from me.

But, honestly, I think he knows what he just did. That huge target on his back that the rest of the Tour will be taking aim at will stands to push him harder to continue his dominance. It's similar to Rory Sabbatini proclaiming Tiger Woods "as beatable as ever." It's like teasing the Tiger and tempting him to come after them. Sadly, we all know how that could end from the recent events at the San Francisco Zoo. I don't think this one will be as tragic, but I think this one might be just as newsworthy if Tiger mauls the Grand Slam.