Whereas we always look for hope, Tiger Woods is serving up some
I get it.
We always hear that hope springs eternal. Yet sometimes kinks and knots develop in the hose that delivers the hope. We stumble into bad times.
Yet look around us today.
Spring is here and, if you’re a sunshine junkie like I am, summer is but a couple months away. Easter is close. It’s opening day for Major League Baseball.
Oh, yeah and The Masters golf tournament is underway.
Although Jan. 1 is the dawning of each new year, it feels like a new page is turning right now.
If you’re a college fanatic, especially if you’re a WVU Mountaineer fan, you’re hoping for that fresh start. The Athletic just published an article “documenting the (football) program’s decade adrift.”
Mountaineer head coach Neal Brown is struggling keeping his better players from the transfer portal. Yet there will be a new QB at the helm for West Virginia when the team visits rival Pitt on Sept. 1. The offensive line should be better. New offensive coordinator Graham Harrell was brought in. And then there was this from Brown at the recent pro day in Morgantown.
“We have a sense of urgency, without a doubt,” he said.
WVU’s basketball program had a terrible season, but, hey, head coach Bob Huggins was recently announced as one of 13 inductees into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. If anyone can restock a roster quickly, it should be him, correct?
There have been many changes around WVU athletics. Within the Big 12 not only is Oklahoma and Texas leaving, but so too is league commissioner Bob Bowlsby. Personally, I think the latter is reason for hope for the hobbled conference.
Otherwise, the WVU men’s soccer team is moving to the Sun Belt Conference, which should be fun. Athletic director Shane Lyons hired Dawn Plitzuweit from South Dakota to try and elevate the women’s program to a Top 25 stalwart.
But let’s go back to that Masters golf tournament.
And, specifically, to one of the golfers: Eldrick “Tiger” Woods.
He’s out there battling at Augusta National after more troubles than one can count.
And giving hope.
Judge him if you wish about his marital issues of 2010 that led to a self-imposed hiatus from golf. But also look at his injuries.
Perhaps I’m identifying more with Woods on this day because I’m recovering from the exact surgery — lumbar fusion – as his most recent setback.
While I’ve had two back surgeries, though, Woods had four between 2014 and 2017.
Woods, of course, returned to the top of his game by winning at the Tour Championship in 2018 and at The Masters in 2019.
Before, that is, he sustained serious leg injuries in 2021 after a single-car collision. There were compound fractures and a shattered ankle.
Yet on Thursday there he was competing in the Masters.
He was just missing a birdie on No. 5. He was making a birdie on No. 6. He was making a bogie on No. 8.
The point, however, is he was out there. Despite all, he was out there competing while throngs of fans surrounded him.
He is hope, friends. For me. For all of us.
Let us always carry that in our hearts.
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Mitch Vingle covered sports in West Virginia for 38 years. Follow Mitch on Twitter at @MitchVingle and be sure to check out the rest of Wheelhouse Creative’s website for your marketing and advertising needs. If interested, call us at 304-905-6005.