Unfair Shots

Doesn't everyone just love and underdog and hate whomever is #1? Why is that? At the gym today, I overheard a woman talking about how she hoped that Tiger would lose today (he did), saying to her friend on the treadmill that all he cared about was the money.

I hate that line of thinking. I hate it about golfers as much as I hate it about baseball players and pretty much any other professional athlete. There is no way a performer can get to the top without loving his or her sport deeply and being fully committed to it for their entire lives. When I was a kid, all I wanted in life was to be a pro baseball player. Money wasn't even a thought. What I couldn't reconcile was that the amount of work I needed to put in didn't match my true desire. I didn't have what it took.

Guys like Tiger and A-Rod don't do what they do for the money - that's a by product of a person pursuing their true calling in life and dedicating their entire lives to that pursuit. Because of how markets work, they get the loot. But I doubt that any of these guys ever starts out thinking about money. Performing at the top of any profession is hard enough, but put a microscope on an individual performance and it's an entirely different ballgame.

It's human nature, but it's not fair. I wanted to tell the woman to shut the heck up, but I left it alone. Turns out she is a Red Sox fan too, and as we watched the highlights of the Red Sox beating the Yanks 4-3, I had to eat it and admit that Paplebon was.... "OK, I guess."

In other news, I'm playing Tidewater tomorrow (can't wait) and very much enjoyed the Masters. I'm still waiting for Tiger to make his move.