Virginia Is For Families

And he has stress fractures too. But he tore his ACL last year after the British Open. So he has been playing on a torn ligament for almost a year! Here’s what his father, Earl, had to say this past weekend in a commercial for Nike about his son:

I’d say, ‘Tiger, I promise you,’” Earl says as we look upon his son’s unmistakably steely gaze, “‘that you’ll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life.’ And he hasn’t. And he never will.”

Earl, of course, died some time ago but his words are still around. And now we are starting to see exactly what he meant when he said those words.

Tiger did have surgery for cartilage damage.

“He did not play overseas late last year for the first time since 2003, hopeful that rest could allow him to play more this year. But the pain intensified through the Masters, where he finished second, and Woods said the cartilage damage developed from the ACL injury.”

–Yahoo Sports

So his damaged ACL brought about some cartilage damage and he had that fixed. But the damaged ACL was not repaired. Why? Maybe because it would have required him to stop playing golf this year. He would have missed the US OPEN.

This year’s US OPEN is special for Tiger. He grew up in the area. He has won a lot of tournaments at Torrey Pines.

“Although I will miss the rest of the 2008 season, I’m thrilled with the fact that last week was such a special tournament,” Woods said.

So he walked around on a torn ligament for almost a year so he could play in THIS tournament. It’s not going to get better by itself. He knew he would have to have surgery but he postponed it so he could play this past weekend. And then he found out he had stress fractures too! The doctors told him not to do it according to his coach Hank Haney.

“Tiger looked at the doctor and said, ‘I’m playing in the U.S. Open, and I’m going to win.’ And then he started putting on his shoes,” Haney said. “He looked at me and said, ‘Come on, Hank. We’ll just putt today.”

Tiger made his knee worse by postponing his ACL surgery. He dealt with the pain in order to play in the US OPEN.

The question is did he INCREASE the risk to his golfing career by doing things the way he did them. I guess it just depends on how much his knee can take before it becomes dysfunctional.

I doubt that anybody knows the answer to that question. But it’s clear that Tiger is not being too cautious about his situation.

Apparently life is a lot like the thirteen hole on the final round of the US OPEN to this great champion. He should have laid up but he went with the wood even after his adversary found the tall grass. He was hurt by that decision. He had to go to a playoff.

And then he won. He moved off the thirteen majors and all the unlucky inferences you can draw from that number.

He doesn’t believe in luck. He believes in Tiger Woods.

He believed that he was going to win the US OPEN.

And he did. Along with six or seven other tournaments. Now he can rest and do his rehab. So he can come back next year and win some more tournaments.

Don’t be surprised if you see some of the PGA pros on the tour with this guy taking up bowling next year. It must be incredibly demoralizing to wake up today and realize that you haven’t won any tournaments while Tiger has been winning a bunch with a torn ligament and other damage to his knee and leg.

I’d say, ‘Tiger, I promise you,’” Earl says as we look upon his son’s unmistakably steely gaze, “‘that you’ll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life.’

And he hasn’t. And he never will.”

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I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home…. I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby. ~Nancie J. Carmody

Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner. ~Author Unknown

Just a cheerful photo to end the blogging day on a positive note. Part of my problem is that I manage to get down on myself for not being better at doing so many things. From fixing toilets to making software work the way it is supposed to I generally fail miserably. And I have a father who can fix anything.

Well, he might not be able to fix the space shuttle if it was supposed to fly tomorrow.

The recent video I posted here about the doctor who had a stroke was very informative because it went into great detail about the left and right sides of the brain. Some of us use one side a great deal more than the other. Fortunately or unfortunately blogging usually requires that we use BOTH sides in equal measure.

It’s a balancing act only a Libra could really appreciate.

What side of your brain do you use more? Do you feel frustrated sometimes because you have trouble fixing things? Why don’t they have more courses in school about how to fix stuff that is going to break down on us?

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The only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber has already been cut and attached together in the form of furniture, finished and put inside boxes. ~Dave Barry

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Susan Sharon Stone has a problem. She said something about the recent earthquake being the result of bad karma. Because the Chinese have done so much damage to Tibet. And now about a billion people are mad at her. But maybe Tibet is doing some damage to China.

Using an extraordinary weapon that can cause massive earthquakes and is invisible.

That’s pretty cool I say. I would worry about it being used against us someday unless we can figure out how to ID it so we can send a cruise missile to MEET IT.

Karma is an interesting concept and I try not to mess around with it. I worry about stepping on bugs if I see them before I step on them. If I just hear the crunch I am not too worried. It’s the intention part that can mess you up.

Sharon says this:

“I’m not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don’t think anyone should be unkind to anyone else,” Stone said in Cannes, according to footage widely available on YouTube.

If she is talking about the government then I have to agree with her. But I don’t think they were tossed about by the earthquake. Unfortunately.

The Karma weapon perhaps needs some fine tuning. It’s range finder is off by a few thousand miles.

And then she says:

“I’ve been concerned about how should we deal with the Olympics, because they are not being nice to the Dalai Lama, who is a good friend of mine,” she said.

Don’t you wish you could say that? I do.

Be nice to the Dalai Lama who is a good friend of mine. Because I don’t like my friends having their countries taken over by communist governments. And if they do I might get upset.

And I might not be nice to you even though I believe we should all be nice to each other.

I wish I could call up Mr. Lama and have a nice chat with him. I have seen him on television and he seems to be very good natured. Maybe he talks with God. Maybe he is God. I don’t know. But it would be nice to talk with him and get a feeling for who he might be.

Do you think he controls the Karma weapon? Because somebody has to pull the trigger.

If he does maybe he should practice a bit more. Or go to an eye doctor for a checkup. Maybe he could put a bullseye up on his wall and type BEIJING in the center.

Isn’t that where they are having the Olympics? Is Sharon Stone going to be there when it opens?

Lord this could get complicated.

“Sharon Stone was bounced up in the air and came down on her head the other day when a 4.5 earthquake hit the Olympic Village just prior to the Opening Ceremonies.”

Practice, practice. Someday it will be a useful weapon. Maybe. But it still has a long way to go.

This is a fascinating talk by someone who is exceptionally qualified to talk about an experience many of us fear having one day. I really understand my left brain vs my right brain a whole lot better after listening to this lady.