At Least Tiger Didn't Go All Serena on John Paramor

I think Serena’s outburst puts a few things into perspective:

a) Most elite athletes have incredibly high standards for their own performance, are extremely intense, and get frustrated when they don’t perform up to their standards.

b) Tiger’s “outbursts” really aren’t that outrageous or that big of a deal. It’s a non-issue in my opinion and fodder for slow news days.

I played junior golf with an elite junior golfer in 1993 that was absolutely psychotic on the golf course. He did not learn this behavior from watching Tiger Woods. It came from the standards he set for himself and the fact that he was extremely intense. He went on to play collegiate golf for Wake Forest and holds the nine hole record at Pine Valley (29). Tiger did not teach him to curse or throw clubs. He figured it out for himself!

I’m not saying this behavior is acceptable or that Serena didn’t cross the line (she did), but Tiger’s antics just aren’t that big of a deal.

c) This doesn’t relate to Serena, but does relate to your post. John Paramor can breathe a little easier knowing that Padraig Harrington has made at least one double bogey or worse in 12 consecutive tournaments. I don’t believe that he had anything to do with Paddy’s 8 at the WGC because we’ve now seen him do it time and time again. Sometimes you just go through a streak where you can’t avoid the big number and that’s what we’re seeing with Paddy right now.

Serena’s “high standards” don’t excuse anything. What happened on Saturday exposed her character – not her standards. She is a bully and believes that she is better than the average Joe (or Jane) walking the streets. (two years ago at a tournament in south Florida – my brother was passing behind her. Serena didn’t know he was there – stepped back – and literally threw him against a metal post. Not a word – not a “sorry” or “are you ok ?” – just a sneer that he would have the nerve to walk that close to her)

Listen to most of her press conferences, especially when rankings questions come up, and she is blatantly snobbish towards the system – gee Serena, if you played more than 8 tournaments a year, you WOULD have the top spot – it’s a points system. She is also condescending to other players – especially Safina.

Yes – Tiger’s behavior a few weeks ago was bad. It was inexcusible – especially launching his driver the way he did. There are people around and he put them in danger.

Roger Federer USED to have one of the worst tempers in tennis – but he realized that it was holding him back. We might have never seen Bjorn Borg on a tennis court if he didn’t straighten himself out – his parents took his rackets away from him until he learned to behave.

And I am VERY sure that Earl “Pops” Woods would not approve of his son’s behavior. He taught Tiger better than that.