Tiger IS a Hero, but in a Way That a Lot of Us Can Reach

Here's why Tiger is a personal hero of mine, and a man I will likely always fail to imitate, hard as I try. He works and works and works at the one thing he is great at, like so many of us fail to do. As a person with a gift, he's worked on it his entire life, and man has it ever paid off. It's a pretty classic story. And he wasn't going to let that knee get in the way of glory, of doing what he's meant to do. Are you great at something, or at least very good at it, and not worked as hard as you can to develop that gift? I'd say yes, and likely so would you. Tiger doesn't need to.

And he's a good guy at that, at least publicly. I guess he could be a jerk in private, but I somehow doubt it. All I wanted him to say after winning was good words about Rocco (who came off as a great guy himself!), and he did. And I don't think this is a rare occasion.

Thing is, a number of people pull this off, and it's almost always someone in a role we don't know about. So when I meet someone who seems to be great at his profession while being a great person outside of it, I try to think of them as highly as I think of Tiger. They're rare to find. That plays to John's main point; the media really do build a guy up, don't they? And there are great guys everywhere, with that same spirit.

I really hope Tiger never lets us down. I don't think he will.