The Water Cooler: Feb. 24, 2010

By Bonta Hill
The Guardsman

I have tried to stay away from the Tiger Woods mess, but after seeing how this has put the sports world on pause, it’s time for my thoughts on the ordeal.

Woods cheated on his wife and has stepped away from golf to try to repair his marriage. As Woods spoke out to the public this past Friday, golfers like Ernie Els felt the timing was selfish because of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship that often features the worlds best golfers.

Here is a memo to all of the golfers out there: Your tournament would not be crap without Tiger. The purses that have inflated at PGA Tour events would not be what they are without Woods and the game of golf would not be where it is today without him either.

What happened in Woods’ personal life is really none of our business. Did he do something wrong on the golf course? No. He did something in private that he will have to live with for the rest of his life.

Not that I am condoning it at all, but Woods has earned the right in his profession to speak when he wants to. If he wanted to do a press conference at the Masters during the final round, so be it. Golf would never have this type of attention without him.

I’m sure a lot of people will disagree with this assessment, but how do you feel when everybody is in your personal business? Do we like it when people talk about us behind our backs?

Nobody does and with paparazzi or the media following you around and commenting on your every move, we would snap and have a mental breakdown.

So please, if we forgave Kobe Bryant and his cheesy act to buy his love after cheating on his wife, we can accept Woods’ sincerity and let him ease back into what he does best — dominating the world of golf.

Idiot of the Week
The Idiot Hall of Fame Committee had to cancel this week’s ceremonies due to snow, rain and plane delays, but there are still a couple of athletes who deserve mention.

Floyd Landis is on the ballot and will get his due consideration in the next issue (yes, The Water Cooler dives into the grueling sport of cycling.) Hopefully, in the next two weeks we’ll get enough candidates to make this the best ceremony yet.

There is also a rumor that the Wizards’ Josh Howard was hungover and unable to play in a game while he was a member of the Dallas Mavericks.

This is the same guy who dissed the national anthem on camera, participated in street racing during the offseason and admitted to dating “Mary Jane” during his time-off from basketball.
The I.H.O.F. will be in for some great festivities two weeks from now.

Miscellaneous
I had the pleasure of watching the replay of the Denver Nuggets and Cleveland Cavaliers game on Feb. 19. It’s probably the best professional basketball game I’ve seen for some time. So sorry for you if you missed it, because the Nuggets Carmelo Anthony and the Cavaliers LeBron James put on one hell of a show.

Carmelo hit a long jumper over the outstretched arms of James to give the Nuggets the 118-116 overtime victory and snapped the Cavs 13-game winning streak.

Anthony finished with 40 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, while James finished with a ridiculous 43 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists. This duel between the two gave me memories of the old showdowns between legends like Bird and Magic.

Anthony and James, who are good friends, went after each other so viciously, you would think that one of ‘em slept with the others wife.

However, showdowns like this are what make the NBA fantastic. Sporting events like this are what make me the fanatic I am today.