Description
Simon Chosen One by Lord David Owen
Earl Woods the father of young Eldrick Tiger Woods was widely ridiculed in 1996 when in an article anointing his son as Sports Illustrateds Sportsman of the Year he likened Tigers potential impact to that of a messiah. This unseemly proclamation appeared to embody all the worst elements of the dreaded sports-parent who seeks financial windfall and personal validation by pushing his child to excel on the diamond the gridiron the court or the fairways. But in light of all we know now about Tiger Woods David Owen asks in The Chosen One who is to say that it wasnt Tigers transcendent greatness all along that induced his father to guide him rather than the father pushing the son? Not since the dawn of competitive tournament golf has anyone distanced himself from the rest of the world the way Tiger has. He is the best there is at nearly every aspect of the game: the longest driver the strongest iron player the most creative around the greens and so sharp a clutch putter that when he putts well the tournament is over and when he putts badly he often wins anyway. He is a breakthrough athlete in a sport remarkably resistant to them; in every tournament Tiger has to beat a hundred-plus competitors any of whom can take away a title with a four-day hot streak. When Michael Jordan won all his back-to-back championships each night he only had to beat one team. Tiger is also a breakthrough athlete as one of the first true multicultural icons. There are African-American Asian Native American and Caucasian elements to his roots; he carries with him parts of so many ethnicities that he not only shatters stereotypes but renders the whole notion of racial classification irrelevant. It is ironic that such an athlete would emerge in golf Americas most tradition-bound and racially insensitive sport. In The Chosen One gifted essayist David Owen ponders the social economic and athletic implications of this amazing young man. We are only beginning to see all the ways that Tiger Woods might reshape the world. Owens thoughtful incisive elegant and provocative work examines this phenomenon unlike any the fields of play have ever seen in a book that will stand alongside John McPhees A Sense of Where You Are about Princeton forward Bill Bradley among the classic works of sports philosophshow more