Grande Mesa

SAN ANTONIO - Golf god Tiger Woods this week stepped out of his normally diplomatic self to issue this comment on hockey: “I don’t think anyone really watches hockey anymore.” As if Nielson ratings shoot off the scale when golf is on.

This comment is Woods showing his true egomaniacal colors. Hockey may not have the ratings that a Masters Tournament does (which are still relatively low), but it doesn’t mean that it’s not worth watching.

The primary reason for low television ratings for hockey lies in the fact that it’s just not a well understood sport, but make no mistake, it IS a sport. There is no other sport that I can think of that requires the skill, athleticism, and toughness that hockey requires and on any given night (especially during the playoffs) you see professional hockey players on the ice giving everything they’ve got and leaving it on the ice. There are no primadonnas in hockey and any ego that any player in the league has better be backed up by some physical toughness.

Woods can talk all the sh*t he wants and intimidate whomever the f*ck he wants on the golf course because it’s a wuss game. I like golf, don’t get me wrong, but if I want a workout, golf is not what I do. Point is, if Woods had to back his sh*t up with actual physical play against another player, John Daly would have cleaned his clock a long time ago.

Hockey is the last major league sport where there is integrity and where every player in the league is bound by a code of conduct and honor. The Stanley Cup isn’t just a prize to the players, it’s a privilege. No player in the league will look at it or touch it unless they win it.

So to Tiger Woods, I say, “F*ck off. You’re a bad*ss on the golf course, but you’re still a d*ck for saying what you said.”

If I still haven’t convinced you what a little *ss Tiger Woods is, consider this:

The Tiger Woods Foundation has entered into an extensive five-year partnership with Chevron Corporation, with the oil and energy giant becoming the title sponsor of the Tiger Woods Foundation World Challenge Golf Tournament.