Oh, The Times They Aren’t A - Changin’

In the interest of Black History Month, Tiger Woods is teaching us all a lesson.

The lesson?  Golf stinks without him.  Sorry Fuzzy Zoeller, but it’s true.

If you’re a sports fan like me, you’ll watch just about any game or event if it’s on TV.  I watch as much sports as my girlfriend can stomach, and since I’ve been known to occasionally watch bowling on Sunday, she can be pretty tolerant.

In fact, when the NFL doesn’t rule our Sundays, my favorite thing to watch on TV is golf.  There is no greater stress relief then kicking back in your recliner with a Reuben and a cold glass of iced tea and watching the final round of any tournament that’s on.  I started watching golf years ago in high school.  I’d get too stressed about Monday to enjoy my Sunday, so I found watching golf to be a very soothing Sunday activity.

Do you know how many tournaments I’ve watched since Tiger had his knee surgery last year?  Zero.  Do you know how much I’ve missed Tiger-less golf?  Not a bit.  Tiger-less golf is like sugar-free Kool-Aid, it looks like a worthy substitute, but falls just short.  Tiger makes golf more compelling, competitive and interesting to watch.  He turns guys like Rocco Mediate into overnight celebrities.

The same goes for women’s tennis, and just when it looked like the Williams’ era was entering its twilight years, Serena won her 10^th Grand Slam title this year at the Australian Open, where she also took the doubles title with her sister, Venus.

At 27, Serena is the top ranked women’s player on the tour.  Venus isn’t far behind at number six.  Not bad for a pair of siblings who grew up in Compton, California, where they learned the game on courts as eroded as their surroundings, tennis courts that were only about a mile away from the murder of their half-sister, Yetunde Price, in 2003.

Both sisters went pro at the age of 14, and I hate to think where women’s tennis would be without them.  Can you even have a Grand Slam tournament without Venus or Serena?  Since 2001, they have played each other seven times in Grand Slam finals.     

Tiger and the Williams sisters have accomplished incredible things as minority figures in their professions.  This week, however, women’s tennis showed it’s not quite ready for a pat on the back. 

Israeli tennis star Shahar Peer was denied entry into the United Arab Emirates to play in the Dubai Tennis Championships, a tournament which features all of the top 10 ranked women and a $2 million purse.  Organizers of the tournament said they feared riots and other security issues if Peer were allowed to play after the recent escalating violence in the Gaza Strip.

So let me get this straight Dubai, you won’t allow an Israeli tennis player to do her job, but you’ll honor Michael Jackson’s money and give him sanctuary?  For shame!  The Wall Street Journal Europe has pulled its sponsorship of the tournament and the Tennis Channel will not televise it.

The men’s portion of the Dubai tournament starts next week, and the UAE has already said they’re allowing Israeli player Andy Ram to enter.  If you’re Ram, would you even want to play there?  Would you really feel welcome, or for that matter, safe?  What if Ram plays and actually wins the whole thing?  I have one word for that awards ceremony, awk-ward!

I’ll be the first to admit, coming from a Jewish family where the patriarch served in the Israeli Army, the Middle East isn’t always the most tranquil subject at our dinner table, but I wouldn’t stop a Muslim from shopping in my store if I owned one or playing in my event if I ran one.  Have we learned nothing from Jackie Robinson?  Sports should have no barriers, colored or political.  I prefer SportsCenter to the evening news because on SportsCenter, I can get away from politics, tanks and grenades and stick to the news that really matters: Steroids.     

If we can’t set aside our differences on the court, the field, the diamond, the rink or the pitch, then have we really come that far as people?  Have the times really changed that much?