by Jeff Skinner
Tiger Woods just keeps on racking up the records. According to Forbes Magazine, Tiger has now become the first athlete to earn a billion dollars. We all knew it was just a matter of time before Woods crossed that mark. With Woods getting 10 million a pop for each course he designs, it won’t be too long before he earns his next billion. All I can say is that I’m glad it’s Tiger that has earned the title of “World’s Richest Athlete” and not some knucklehead.
We are lucky that it is a man of the character Tiger Woods. Can you imagine if it was one of the immature, self-absorbed, narcissistic punks that populate the sports world today? In an era when young, rich athletes measure their own self importance by how many people they have in their entourage , how many tattoos they can fit onto their body or the size of the gun they carry, Woods is a decidedly, refreshing change. Even though chronologically he is a member of the “Look at Me Generation” he really is more old school then most athletes today. The only time Tiger wants the spotlight is when he is on the eighteenth green, sinking the winning putt or announcing some news that involves his charities.
You will never see Tiger making news like many of the thugs that crowd the sports world today. He isn’t concerned with packing a gun like Plaxico Burress. He will not call out his fellow golfers like Terrell Owens. He isn’t a press hungry, “look at me fanatic” like Brett Farve. He isn’t a “me first, team second” person like Allen Iverson. Woods will never be conceited enough to think that he knows it all like Curt Schilling and he’ll never be as obnoxious as Ochocinco and change his name to “19 Majors” when he passes Nicklaus.
Sure, Tiger isn’t perfect, who is? He takes heat for his cursing, club smashing and cool demeanor. These are but minor frailties and I’ll take a pissed off Woods over a microphone hungry moron any day of the week.
You’ll never see Tiger on the web on someone’s amateur video doing something he shouldn’t. He won’t be caught with another woman or doing drugs or punching out a photographer. He will never pull a Kanye West and steal the microphone when they announce someone else for Player of the Year. Tiger isn’t a “look at me” kind of guy. He never will be. We are lucky it’s Tiger who is the first “Sports Billionaire” and we are lucky we get to watch him earn his next billion.
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