Salon.com > Robert Lipsyte

Tiger joins the Lost Boys

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:43:00 +0000

Of the three Lost Boys of SportsWorld – Tiger Woods, O.J. Simpson and Mike Tyson – I’ve always found Tiger the least appealing or interesting, yet the most poignant. He grew up before our eyes. At 2, he swung his cut-down club for Bob Hope on TV as his Zeus-ish Dad, Earl, beamed over him. By 5, Tiger was giving tips in Golf Digest. The real question he needed to answer, I came to think, was whether he truly loved golf or just wanted Earl to love him.

After all, how could you repay a dad who said, “There is no limit because he has the guidance. I don’t know yet exactly what form this will take. But he is the Chosen One.”

The Guiding One died in 2006, three years before the Chosen One cracked up and stopped winning major tournaments, four short of Jack Niklaus’ record of 18. Tiger’s mind was blown. I didn’t much care. This wasn’t Magic Johnson getting sick or Dale Earnhardt hitting the wall. This was a surly, entitled control freak who had intimidated the golfing media and gotten a pass in general because he made the 1-percenters even richer.

Can Tebow find salvation?

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:45:00 +0000

[UPDATED BELOW]

You don't need to be an evangelical Christian to care about the future of Tim Tebow. I’m a lapsed atheist myself. But with the resurrection of quarterback Peyton Manning in Denver, I wonder most about the future of the spiritual scrambler, who led the Broncos to the playoffs last year.

The Broncos signing Manning to replace Tebow is a no-brainer. He may be diminished by age and injury, but he is also the best quarterback of our time, not because he is a brilliant coach’s puppet (Tom Brady) or an on-field, off-field brute (Ben Roethlisberger) but by virtue of a fierce work ethic and a concentrated intelligence that is contagious and inspirational. Whatever is left at age 35 of him will make the Broncos better.

Through 14 years and two Super Bowls with the Indianapolis Colts, there was something reassuringly manly about Manning, his cool leadership, his laconic but friendly demeanor, his thoughtful professionalism, that evoked my role models on the Encore Westerns channel like Marshal Dillon and Wagonmaster Flint. (Something went out of American life when the legend of the western hero was replaced by the myth of the sports idol.)

Political lessons from this year’s Super Bowl

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:42:00 +0000

Most Americans won’t need a justification to watch Sunday’s game, but if you’re a Salon reader you might think, even in passing, that celebrating the holiest day of violence, consumerism and class warfare on your couch is a betrayal of your values or a waste of your time. You might even imagine that it would be better to take a hike, read a book or meditate.

Not this Sunday, buster. It’s an election season. You need to watch this game to fully understand how jobs, religion, leadership and healthcare dominate every American contest.

1. Joe Hill will be playing: Where else will be you be able to watch more than 100 young men, most of them African-American, working for high wages in a totally unionized shop? True, their jobs are dangerous (more on that later) and relatively short-term (typically three or four years), but they are also high profile. They can lead to TV gigs, even political office. Buffalo Bills quarterback Jack Kemp became a Republican congressman and vice-presidential candidate. The former New England Patriots running back and ESPN analyst Craig James is currently running for the Republican nomination for Senator from Texas, although to less than universal acclaim.

Why an NFL-less season would be good for America

Tue, 10 May 2011 17:45:00 +0000

There's nothing like a little dust-up between millionaires and billionaires to start us thousandaires yawning. And when the upcoming pro football season is in danger of being cancelled because of it, we're likely to say: a plague on both your mansions.

Too bad, because the current struggle between labor and management in the National Football League not only reflects the current attacks on unions across the country but conjures up, even if in cartoon fashion, some crucial American issues: racism, classism, sexism, recreational violence, and the health-care gap. No wonder football seems to have replaced baseball as the national pastime.

While the legalities of, and mathematics behind, the issues at the heart of the NFL dispute may be complex, the basic issues are not. The league's owners cry economic woe, while refusing to open their books. They insist on adding two games to the present regular season of 16 games and at the same time are trying to reduce the players' share of revenues. Moreover, they have been remarkably unwilling to guarantee long-term health benefits to the players, even as evidence mounts that dementia and early death are linked to the sort of brain trauma commonly suffered in football collisions.