Masters Week used to be can’t miss television for golf enthusiasts and novices alike. Maybe it still is, but for very different reasons.
From 1997 through 2009, people tuned into golf’s most hallowed tournament to see the world’s best player — the man who was possibly better at this particular skill than anyone was at anything — chase the all-time PGA Tour major championship record, held by Jack Nicklaus. Now, people tune in to see not Tiger Woods the golfer, but Tiger Woods the sideshow.
What’s the “sideshow”, you ask? Put it this way: People used to check for The Masters to see, “Is Tiger winning?” Or, “How much is Tiger winning by?” Nowadays it’s, “Will the old Tiger comeback?” And, “Will Tiger make the cut?” The hopeful optimism for dominance has long since been replaced by just hopeful optimism, with the understanding that a complete meltdown is arguably the most compelling theater of all. Just ask 1990s Mike Tyson.
The Intimidation & The Instant Dominance
Woods’ run form ’97-’08 is eerily similar to Iron Mike’s from 1985 to his first fight in 1990. It was on February 11th that year where Tyson suffered his first defeat as a professional pugilist against James “Buster” Douglas. Up until then, Tyson mowed down opponents like a John Deere, typically intimidating them with his stoic demeanor and his trademark black shoes and black trunks. Tyson also preferred to make short work of those foolish enough to climb in the ropes against him. In his first 37 professional fights B.D. (before Douglas), Mike Tyson prevailed by first or second round knockout 23 times.
A significant portion of Tiger’s image as a ferocious competitor was bred out of rocking a fiery red shirt every Sunday of every tournament. Opponents dare not cross the man when wearing his championship colors, and it worked too, with the shirt contributing to his aura of invincibility. One of the more ridiculous criticisms of Woods’ career made by talking heads (ahem, Skip Bayless) is that he’s never come from behind to win on Sunday, unlike Nicholas. This is because Tiger, like Tyson, took care of business on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. In fact, a third of the major championship victories authored up by Tiger were by five or more strokes.
The Power
As mentioned, Iron Mike made a name for himself in the mid 1980s by plumbing opponents right from the opening bell. Tyson was to the knockout what Picasso was to oil painting— both men made masterpieces on the canvas.
The presence of Tiger Woods on the PGA Tour immediately altered golf, and not just because douchebags like Fuzzy Zoeller had to adjust to having a brown person at the country club who wasn’t there in a domestic capacity. Young Eldrick broke onto the tour as a skinny kid in decent shape, but within a few years he easily the most cut (damn near swole) golfer on the tour, and possibly of all-time. As a result, Tiger would simply demolish the ball with his drives. He quickly became one of the longest drivers on the tour, which would be a huge advantage to him. Pretty soon golf courses were doing all they could to “Tiger Proof” their grounds, i.e., making the course deliberately longer and more challenging so as to play against Tiger’s strengths.
Sidebar: Did anyone ever raise the issue of race within “Tiger Proofing” golf courses? Not saying it surely should’ve been, but other golfers like John Daly were well known for their driving distance off the tee, but did they ever “Daly Proof” any courses? Perhaps they did. Just thinking out loud. Anyway…
The Prodigies
Part of what made Tiger and Tyson unique was their utter evisceration of the competition from an incredibly young age. Phenoms like these two are normally reserved for individual sports like tennis or figure skating. But golf and boxing? Two sports that require an exceptional amount of focus and dedication typically reserved for fully matured and developed adults? We’d never seen anything like it.
Nobody has ever seen anything like 20-year-old Mike Tyson becoming the youngest heavyweight champion in history when he dispatched Trevor Berbick minutes into their bout in 1986. Back in the 80s, being “The Heavyweight Champion of the World” still carried significant meaning. Muhammad Ali had only retired five years earlier (Berbick, in fact, was his final opponent) and boxing, particularly heavyweight boxing, was still at the forefront of the American sports landscape. Each generation had contained its own group of talented and charismatic prizefighters with whom they connected beyond the ropes, with Ali being the pinnacle. Tyson was tabbed as the leader of the new school. He embraced the streets and the streets reciprocated. He embodied hip-hop and even formed a special bond with Tupac.
We’d also never seen anything like Woods’ mastery of Augusta in 1997, when he set the record for largest margin of victory at The Masters. As a 21-year-old, Tiger’s 12 stroke victory was so enthralling, entire groups of people that had never even watched golf were fixated on the event. One of these groups was my own family. We’d always watched football, basketball boxing and baseball. But this event was bigger than just golf, or even sports for that matter. We were witnessing something historic, and we knew it; something that had the power to change the landscape of the PGA Tour for years to come. He did this under the pressure-filled backdrop of becoming the first non-white player to don the green jacket, which is why my entire family watched together. Even my mom.
The Father Figures
Maybe it was Tiger’s youthful destruction of the competition that commanded her intrigue, or maybe it was the human interest element. After sinking his final put to clinch the championship in ’97, Tiger first embraced his father Earl Woods, the man who taught him the game and with whom he was incredibly close. Earl passed away in 2006, and while Tiger at first managed to navigate this loss rather well from a professional standpoint, his private life slowly began to crumble with his guiding light.
The same thing happened to Mike Tyson, who never had a father figure in his life, when Constantine “Cus” D’Amato died in 1985. D’Amato, a trainer in New York who had worked with boxing Hall of Famers such as Floyd Patterson and José Torres, first discovered Tyson as an adolescent. Far more importantly than giving Tyson the “peek-a-boo” style he would one day use to become a champion; Cus adopted Tyson after his mother died and gifted him confidence, guidance, structure and a positive influence away from the streets. Mike was able to continue his success in the first five years after his passing, but nothing was to keep Tyson away from the people (Don King, Robin Givens etc.) and the vices that would ultimately derail and destroy his career.
The Wives
Tyson wed actress Robin Givens in 1988, but the nuptials were short lived. After Tyson accused Givens of digging for gold (word to Ye) and Givens famously accused Tyson of physical abuse, the couple split on Valentine’s Day 1989 after just 12 months of marriage. With no pre-nup agreement in place, Givens reportedly walked away with $10 million of Tyson’s money (approximately 20% of Tyson’s net worth at the time), while Mike’s famous short temper was left to burn uncontrollably. Just ask Mitch Green.
Woods married Swedish nanny/model (that’s pretty funny, right?) Elin Nordegren in 2004. After having two children together, Woods seemed to have the picture perfect family. But the infamous Thanksgiving weekend broken window-car crash incident of 2009, and the ridiculous coverup that followed said incident, proved to be the beginning of the end of their relationship. The unveiling of “Tiger Woods: Serial Cheater” shook the sports world and saw the greatest golfer on the planet lose $100 million in a divorce settlement in August 2010.
Sidebar: This the part where the article gets a little heavy. For some comic relief, let’s cut to Bill Burr for his opinion on these astronomical divorce settlements.
The Addiction
Divorce settlements aside, the repeated bouts of infidelity for both men allow us to conclude neither was Grade A husband material. Tiger’s infatuation with the ladies went so far that he actually checked himself into a sexual addiction rehabilitation clinic in 2010. In the years following his professional career, Tyson has pretty much admitted to being addicted to everything at some point, not the least of which included cocaine and alcohol. After getting knocked for felony drug possession, Tyson would check himself into a treatment center in 2007, less than 24 months after his last fight.
The Downfall
One year after divorcing Givens, Mike Tyson lost to Buster Douglas in Tokyo in what is still widely regarded as the greatest upset in sports history. Douglas had recently lost his mother and fought an inspired fight against Tyson, a 42-1 favorite, and knocked out the champion with a 10th round flurry that included one of great uppercuts you’ll ever see (some questionable officiating and Tyson having probably the worst corner ever in a title fight didn’t help Mike’s cause either).
Tyson’s career would never bee the same.
After the loss, the aura of invincibility and intimidation left Tyson faster than Givens had. Although he was victorious in four fights following the loss to Douglas, they came against also-rans with no championship on the line. The wheels officially came off when Tyson was accused and convicted of sexual assault and was sentenced to six years in prison followed by four years probation on March 26, 1992. Upon his return after serving three years, Tyson had four tuneup fights against mediocre competition before stepping in the ring against Evander Holyfield. Holyfield KO’d Tyson in the first bout, then got a chunk of his ear bitten off in the rematch and “The Tyson Sideshow” was in full effect.
Woods’ career hasn’t been nearly as wacky as Tyson’s, but his fall from grace has been equally astonishing. Knee, back and an assortment of other injuries began to pile up, in large part due to Tiger’s violent drives off the tee. There was also the bizarre handling of his team around him. After having massive amounts of success with caddie Steve Williams and swing coach Hank Haney, Tiger fired one caddy and swing coach after another (technically Haney quit) and would eventually do a complete reconstruction of his swing— the same swing that won him 14 majors championships, second most all-time. This is “The Tiger Sideshow”— instability within his camp, a reported case of “the yips” and entering his favorite tournament this week as the 111th ranked golfer in the world.
Tiger Wood has not won a PGA major championship since the summer of 2008. Back then, George Bush was president, Tha Carter III was the top rap album of the year and Justin Bieber was still playing guitar on the street.
The Cultural Significance
Iconic.
That’s the word best used to describe each of these men. America tends to put more of an emphasis on team sports rather than individual sports, but when Woods and Tyson were at their peaks, they were no worse than the second most popular athlete on the planet (each of their eras coincided with Michael Jordan). Tiger became a worldwide phenomenon over night. He sold hundreds of millions worth of Nike apparel and golf equipment, while introducing a generation of non-white children to the gentleman’s game.
Tyson would eventually clean himself up and do, well, a little bit of everything. From being spoofed on The Simpsons, to movies, to Broadway of all things, to professional wrestling.
Despite their very adult lifestyles, both men were also extremely appealing to kids. Look no further than the success of their widely popular video games.
Sidebar: I absolutely spent countless hours trying to master one of these games back in the day…and it definitely wasn’t Tiger Woods PGA Tour.
The Next Chapter
You might not find two sports as dissimilar as boxing and golf, yet you might not find two athletes as closely linked as Tyson and Woods. Tyson’s career arc has been one of recovery in the eyes of the public. He has grown from that rough & tumble kid off the streets of Catskill to a man, husband, father and functional member of society. He’s overcome many demons and a bipolar diagnosis in his post-prizefight life, and has shown the world the vulnerable, human side of Mike Tyson. While he was never able to recapture his glory days inside the ring, he’s worked hard to reach the top of his game outside of it.
The primary difference between Mike Tyson and Tiger Woods is that Tiger’s story as a professional athlete may still be far from its final chapter. This week, Tiger returned to Augusta National for The Masters. While he put together one of his best rounds of golf in a long while on Saturday, he entered Sunday with a slim chance to climb to the top of the leader board, trailing Jordan Spieth, a 21-year-old who is conjuring up images from Tiger’s legendary run at The Masters in 1997.
Tyson won two heavyweight titles upon his return from prison, but never won another fight against anyone who wasn’t a tomato can. Tiger has won several tournaments since Thanksgiving 2009, but none of them majors, which he claims is all he cares about.
There’s still time for Tiger to rewrite the ending to his book; hopefully this weekend taught us there might be just enough ink left in the pen for one last story of redemption.