Tiger Woods vs. Michael Jordan

[12thMan]

I'm going to go ahead and say it Tiger Woods is the greatest athlete ever! Yep, I said it. For now let's leave out Gretzky, Ali, Ruth and a few of the other notables.

Let's narrow this discussion down to Tiger v. MJ, arguably the two greatest in our era for their respective sports. Up until Sunday I would have said MJ hands down. But as I was sitting on the bar stool something just clicked, almost like an epiphany of sorts, as I watched Tiger almost effortlessly stroke through the back nine. I really think he's pulled a number on the sports world that people will be talking about for decades.

I think MJ single handedly revitalized the NBA in so many ways. I also think that many of today's athletes in all sports can thank MJ for ushering in the era of big endorsement dollars. No athlete that I can think of has had quite the impact that Michael Jordan had on his sport, until Tiger came along. Of course my claims sound pre-mature, especially since Tiger hasn’t statically passed the Golden Bear who is still regarded by many the greatest golfer of all time. Some don’t even consider Tiger an athlete at all because all he does is swing a golf club and walks from one hole to the next. But to me anytime the body, the mind, and emotions are engaged together at once in the arena of competition I consider that individual an athlete. Plain and simple. Wilbon touched on something a couple of weeks ago that made sense, Tiger has opened up and generated interest in the sport of golf that didn’t previously exist.

I don’t know how many of the greats in other sports that have had quite the cultural effect while dominating the sport at the same.