Mike Greenberg: ‘Tiger Woods is the most exciting athlete in the world to watch’ | Get Up! | ESPN

in his absolutely brilliant routine about golf and if you've never

watch

ed it youtube today robin williams said he could be quieter i'm trying to listen to how the grass grows the well earned reputation this game has in this country for stuffiness and boredom make the next even more remarkable true statement and that is that

tiger

woods

is the

most

exciting

at least in the

world

to

watch

, i just can't explain the reasons why, beyond all the obvious things, the uniqueness of his background, the perfect storm of celebrity and infamy in his own public life, the unequaled brilliance on the course followed by the great fall, and now, just when everyone had given up, the comeback and redemption, all of these factors have conspired to make watching it difficult. a must see.

TV makes the Valspar feel like the Ryder Cup made the fourth and least appreciated PGA Championship feel like the Super Bowl now there are many eminently watchable

athlete

s in the

world

today Serena Williams LeBron James Cristiano Ronaldo when they are playing it it feels different than anyone else but the

tiger

effect is something on a whole other level even in 2018 when there is no currency more valuable than celebrity tiger

woods

playing golf has become like beyonce at coachella it is something that makes people have I talked to you in months and I sent you a text and I said are you seeing this now?

I could rattle off a bunch of TV ratings like the fact that the Sunday broadcast was up 69 percent year-over-year, the best rating they've had for the pga since 2009 when not coincidentally, Tiger Woods was last relevant on it. and his Twitter stats like the fact that Tiger, his name, has been tweeted over 50,000 times since Sunday, but with this guy, those numbers just don't tell the story, he's the kind of star that comes around once. in a generation and the good news if you love golf is that in his case it looks like we're going to see it twice so here's the question and Meena.

I'll start with you. I may be overdoing it. your mind or did it seem like sunday was an event that everyone stopped and paid attention to solely because he was involved in it did you really stay in the 3m and watch beyonce. I could tell Mike yes, I mean this was the other way around for me who watched all of Sunday yesterday and I don't watch golf regularly and I think that's obviously a testament to a phenomenon that happens across the country, a washout of principle Well, it was

exciting

for me because as you mentioned. It didn't feel like something unique, it felt like something that could happen again, it felt like the start of a renaissance, a trend and I think that's what we want from Tiger Woods, the feeling that he's not just back, but that Daelin has made a full return, I feel like you mock my love for this game all the time, but I know you well enough to know that you were wowed.

I pay attention. I was one of those people who received text messages. Woods and I even took time out of my day to pay attention to Eldrick's performance and he did admirably well. Here's what I mean: you're right about all the things the Tiger affects and what he does to our society, but a lot. that has to do with golf it's also a gentleman's game you can play from 8 to 80 you don't have to be in top physical shape in theory to compete but it was also a gentleman's game it's the country club it's polo there a lot of people get laid and so Tiger is the guy this is the ultimate lightning rod because while he has achieved all-time greatness in 14 majors he didn't necessarily win on Sunday so now all of a sudden it becomes a talking point that brings us into the game and rightly so because we want to see that level of redemption for someone who's only 42 that he's shown us every time I mean, he was in the grill room at a golf club when he walked in when they showed it on CBS he just came in that day with his hat backwards and his sunglasses and people are chewing the people on a spit on tv is cheering it's like yelling yeah a tiger like it's a wrestler being led to a ring there is no other person in that sport in my life that has generated that kind of reaction and I don't think it's so out of proportion to the normal reaction in that sport that I don't think there's any other

athlete

that has that kind of effect in any other sport I would say Serena may be the closest but you're right there's no one that has that economic effect that he has but there's something a little bit daunting for me watching him and it's exciting it's wonderful but then you look at the other golfers and they're not diverse you know the demographics haven't changed that much and you thought there might be this Tiger effect for generations to come and then you see the competition and they're younger they're athletic but there's only one Tiger Woods still and he's kind of decision where you saw that influx of young players, but it wasn't necessarily the influx of young players of color that are playing on tour and that's one of the effects that I felt that Tiger Woods could bring to golf that hasn't necessarily translate maybe he's too good maybe he won't yet we'll wait and see the final point I'll make on the subject is anyone who tells you right now that Tiger Woods isn't back ignore their opinion because what they're talking about coming back to be something we'll never see again in our lifetime they're talking about going back to 2000 tiger woods not only will it never be that again no one we'll see will it be that again he was that he was the best golf there ever was so hopefully he or whatever that is unrealistic, right now he is legitimately one of the best players in the world and a threat to win every tournament he plays in, that is a billion times what anyone would have won. it was expected of him six months ago so many critics so many cynics have simplified the whole process and only count the majors only count the rings they don't understand that what Tiger did on Sunday was phenomenal I guess it was considered one more win because he didn't win it everything, but at the same time he took home a lot of money in his pocket, yes, I'm done.

Golf is a sport in which not everyone who plays very well always wins.