Christine Brennan: Tiger’s Number One Fan
George Apostle
Miki Turner
Jour 432
Christine Brennan is certainly not afraid to take a stand on a social issue. Her latest grievance is with the world’s most famous golfer for dancing around a Donald Trump question after his final round at the Northern Trust this past Sunday.
In between small sips of her Perrier sparkling water, Brennan dove into a wide variety of social issues as she skyped into a USC class from her D.C. home. It was hard to tell from her laid back personality, but Brennan is a an absolute superstar sports columnist who loves attacking social issues. The recipient of nearly twenty major media awards, Brennan was the first female sports writer at the Miami Herald and the first woman to cover the Redskins at the Washington Post. She is the author of 7 books, including the critically acclaimed Inside Edge, which was voted one of the top one hundred sports books of all time by Sports Illustrated.
She stands up for what she believes in and has sparked national debates on a myriad of social issues within sports. No stranger to the sport of Golf, she publicly criticized Augusta National’s male exclusivity in her April, 2002 USA Today column. A decade later, she broke the news that Augusta would finally be admitting two women into the club. Chalk that up as a win for Brennan.
When asked about handling social issues within sports, she responded, “I really love to deal with issues that are part of our culture…Some people say ‘just stick to sports.’ The answer is no. Sports is the common denominator for so many wonderful conversations. They’ve been presented to us and I’m not going to shy away from them.”
Clearly, she excels at diving into controversial topics, and Tiger Woods’ silence on America’s controversy-ridden president has made for her latest fodder.
When asked his opinion on President Trump, Woods said, “Well, I’ve known Donald for a number of years…He’s the president of the United States and you have to respect the office. No matter who’s in the office, you may like, dislike the personality or the politics, but we all must respect the office.” He was then asked if he had anything else to say about race relations in general, to which he responded, “No. I just finished 72 holes and I’m really hungry.”
These responses from Woods may seem amusing to some — after all, he just avoided alienating likely a large percentage of his fans by playing the “hunger card.” But to someone as socially conscious as Brennan, Tiger’s comments didn’t remotely cut it.
When asked if she thought athletes like Tiger have a duty to speak their minds on social issues, Brennan said, “It’s his right, of course [not to speak], but Tiger’s forty-two. He’s not a kid anymore, and people still cut him slack. Tiger just didn’t wanna go there with Donald Trump. No surprise. Tiger never wants to go there.”
In fact, these types of comments (or lack thereof) have come to be expected from Woods. Brennan feels Tiger has taken the Michael Jordan approach to dealing with social issues. “Tiger and Michael Jordan will be viewed as great athletes, but will they leave behind any cultural residue? I don’t know,” she pondered.
The bottom line is that Tiger refuses to talk about race. While it’s certainly his right to discuss (or not discuss) whatever he wants, he seems to be wasting away his unique platform. Not only is Woods a person of color, but he excels at one of the most culturally backwards sports in the world.
In a time when most athletes have found their voices, Tiger’s silence is rare, and Brennan feels it may be regrettable. “I don’t know that it’ll look so good in thirty years in a far more culturally diverse country.” Only time will tell.