In Tiger Woods' case, perhaps we should remember
the human race
By Bob Verdi
Chicago Tribune
(KRT)
CHICAGO-On the subject of insensitivity, Fuzzy Zoeller owns
no patent rights. With that "fried chicken" remark regarding
Tiger Woods, Zoeller might be the leader in the doghouse, but
he is joined there by some other sick puppies.
They all want dibs on Woods, claiming him as theirs, as though
this 21-year-old golfer is a piece of furniture up for auction.
Shortly after his compelling victory at the Masters, recall
how Woods explained again, for those who refused to pay attention
before, that his ancestry is multiethnic.
"Growing up, I came up with this name," Woods said.
"I'm Cablinasian."
Indeed, Tiger's father is half black, a quarter Chinese and
a quarter American Indian. His mother is half Thai, a quarter
Chinese and a quarter white.
Tiger obviously had training on this matter of honoring one's
roots. In a just-released biography, "Tiger," by John
Strege, Tiger's mother, Kultida, expresses dismay when her son
is referred to as black.
"I've tried to explain to people," she is quoted.
"They don't understand. To say he is 100 percent black is
to deny his heritage. To deny his grandmother and grandfather.
To deny me."
That should be good enough for the American public hooked on
labels, but it isn't. Now, you can't legislate against density
and carelessness, both of which fellow pro Zoeller cited in his
apologies. But one would hope people who are paid to think might
try a crack at logic and fairness.
Alas, even eggheads in lofty perches disrespect Woods as thoroughly
as did Zoeller, only with bigger words and compound sentences.
When sociologists, civic leaders and editorial pundits insist
Tiger is one thing even though he says he's not, they also insult
him.
They're simply filling space with hot air. These same intellects
who imagine they are shaping opinions that will enlighten Americans
would do better by leaving Tiger Woods alone, with his sport and
his values. He doesn't require free advice about his family tree,
or to whom he was born.
If Woods is offended by all these windbags-and one suspects
he is-he also should file this gibberish about how he strangled
Augusta National with brute strength. In fact, he won because
he was tougher mentally, because he outthought the golfers he
thrashed. Ask them. They'll tell you.
They also will tell you locker rooms, while notorious for their
political incorrectness, are in many ways more comfortable places
for minorities than a lot of industries that include equal opportunity
in their handbook of corporate gobbledygook. In sports, with rarer
exception than the real world, if you get it done, you get rewarded.
Tom Watson categorized Woods' Masters romp as a "boy"
against men, but over Watson's dead body will you brand him as
"insensitive." His wife, Linda, is Jewish. He withdrew
from a Kansas City country club because it rejected Jews.
Meanwhile, along come Jim Dent and Walter Morgan, black golfers
who maintain "racial slurs" among peers are nothing
more than banter. Crude, maybe, but no more hateful than when
Charles Barkley chides "white trash" teammates.
Zoeller begged our pardon and should receive it. But while
we brace for the next overreaction from tightly wrapped observers
who judge from a distance and don't always get it, perhaps we
should remember a remark by Jimmy Cannon, a mere sports columnist,
about a black hero named Joe Louis.
He's a credit to his race. The human race.
(Bob Verdi is a sports columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Write
to him at: Chicago Tribune, 435 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago,
Ill. 60611.)
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