What Big Bird Can Teach Us About Tiger Woods

Patrick Reed may be forgotten by tomorrow morning. He won a thrilling 2018 Masters by one stroke. He fought off a late charge by Rickie Fowler, fended off Jordan Spieth vying for his second Green Jacket, and bested Irishman Rory McElroy who had an eye on immortality by becoming only the sixth golfer in history to complete the career Grand Slam.

If this is the only major Reed wins, though, he is more likely to be a footnote rather than a footprint. He'll be The King's Speech or The Artist, a winner relegated to a trivia question by a sport that's obsessed with one person's return to glory. Tiger Woods was a transcendent athlete who propelled the sport to unprecedented heights. After Michael Jordan retired in 1998, he was unquestionably America's most popular athlete. Only Derek Jeter was in the same discussion. Woods won 14 major titles during his reign, but won his last major when George W. Bush was still president. Ten years, and two presidents later, the golf world--really, the sports world, if we're being honest--is still holding its breath waiting for Tiger Woods to become Tiger Woods again. 

Woods made the cut at Augusta. But that's all he really did. He carted a +1 for the tournament. Not bad, honestly. But, at times, he looked every bit the oft-injured 42-year-old that he is today. Expectations weren't for Tiger Woods to finish around par this year. Golf fans wanted The Old Tiger Woods. Golf fans wanted Tiger Woods to compete again on Sunday with the azaleas in the background. To be in the final grouping. To put on the red polo, to icily stare down competitors like Jack Frost shooting lasers from his eyes and clubs. 

What golf fans got this weekend was reality. Every reigning major winner is under the age of 28, Patrick Reed now included. Tiger Woods is a middle-aged man with knee problems, back problems, marital problems and pill problems. Put simply, the The Old Tiger Woods isn't coming back because Tiger Woods is old. Despite what the sport thinks, golf is in a phenomenal place mainly because of what Woods built. Because of Woods, young people took up the sports in record numbers, and the fruits of that are now showing. Golf has Reed, Fowler, Spieth, and McElroy along with Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Jason Day every weekend. Golf has never had this much talent at one time. All of the aforementioned golfers are a threat to win a tournament every weekend. They are a threat to win majors. It's similar to where the NBA is right now. It would be absurd for basketball fans to cling to Michael Jordan when the game has LeBron, Curry, Durant, and Harden on a nightly basis. 

But that's where golf is. Clinging to the past, not recognizing that the future is incredible to watch. Tiger Woods isn't dead, but The Old Tiger Woods absolutely is. The question isn't whether Tiger Woods will come back. That's already been answered. After this weekend, it became obvious that he won't.

The question is how the sport will move on, and embrace its glorious present.

On Thanksgiving Day 1983, Sesame Street unflinchingly addressed death. The beloved Mr. Hooper, the long-time shopkeeper on the legendary children's show, died of a heart attack. Questions surfaced on how to deal with this. Would Mr. Hooper be written off? Would they say he moved to Florida? Would they replace him with a different actor? 

Nope. 

They told the truth. Will Lee, the actor who played the gruff but lovable Mr. Hooper, was dead. Mr. Hooper wouldn't return to Sesame Street. Ever. The adults had to figure out how to tell Big Bird.

"When people die, they don't come back," Susan (Loretta Long) explained to Big Bird.

"Ever?" asked Big Bird.

"No, never."

Like all of us, Big Bird has a hard time processing the finality of it all.

"But it won't be the same!" he lamented. Bob (Bob McGrath) spoke next.
"You know something? We can all be very happy that we got a chance to be with him, and to know him, and to love him a lot."

Here's what the sports world needs to understand. The Old Tiger Woods is dead. He's not coming back. Ever. The game is younger, the competition stronger, and Tiger Woods is neither of those things. He's broken down physically, and Father Time continues his cruel march of repossessing youth forever. 

It won't be the same for the golf world. It won't be the same for the sports world. But we can be very happy that we got a chance to be with him at the 1997 Masters when he won his first Green Jacket. We can be very happy that we got a chance to be with him at the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach when he lapped the field by 15 strokes, and was compared to Secretariat at the Belmont. We can be very happy we got a chance to be with him at the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines when he gutted out his final major victory on a broken leg. 

We loved him a lot. That's why it's so hard for the sports world to say goodbye. 

"We still have our memories," Olivia (Alaina Reed Hall) later reminded Big Bird. And we do. We can remember him and remember him and remember him as much as we want to. That's how Big Bird drew the pictures in the heralded Sesame Street sketch. That's how I'm writing this piece now. By remembering him. 

We will miss The Old Tiger Woods dearly. But the game must accept the fact that The Old Tiger Woods is just like Mr. Hooper. The Old Tiger Woods vacated the shop permanently, but left the shop in caring, wonderful hands. The sports world needs to accept this, remember the good times, but embrace the present. It's time to embrace Patrick Reed's first Green Jacket. It's time to embrace Rory McElroy's run at golf's most exclusive club. It's time to recognize that Jordan Spieth may end up with double-digit major titles by the time his career is finished. It's time to recognize that golf is in a wonderful place.

It's also time to move on from Tiger Woods. Because.

Just because.