This afternoon I am straying from music a bit. I’ve attached an mp3 at the bottom, but only because the file I’m posting messed up last week when I tried to use it.

Sport Studies as a college major is not what people may think of when hearing its title. In my experience it is fairly close to being the opposite of what many may ascertain it to be. Instead of taking intramural gym classes in an effort to become a phys-ed teacher, like most believe when I tell them what my college major was, what I in fact studied pertained to many social issues and their relation to sport, since sport dominates such a major part of society. I had sport classes in relation to gender issues, the civil rights movement, philosophy and many other facets of the discipline many refer to as liberal arts.

To this time I have refrained from providing my own commentary pertaining to Tiger Woods. But I certainly do have my opinions, though none of them are related to his personal life. As it is, I think Tiger is fairly similar to another transcendent athlete that was employed by Nike, Michael Jordan. Both were/still are enormously wealthy individuals with a platform to make honest-to-goodness change within societal bounds and both have neglected to do so in their careers, intent instead upon raking in cash and cavorting with loose women while avoiding any sense of social responsibility. I never really liked Michael Jordan precisely because of this, along with the overwhelming sense of him just simply being a dick. On the contrary, I always somewhat rooted for Tiger. Perhaps it was the sport each athlete played; the construct of golf is of a different nature than that of basketball. Tiger is an outsider in the golf world, and Jordan was not outwardly as such in basketball.

With news that Tiger Woods is planning on returning to the PGA at Augusta National for The Masters, which for the unitiated is the most prestigious golf tournament in the world at what is most likely the most prestigious country club, I now choose to give my two cents because I feel he has let a golden opportunity pass by. As a person who has made his disregard for women plainly clear, what better way to repent than by supporting women with a way that only he of all people could truly do? What if Tiger Woods were to boycott The Masters until Augusta made the choice to allow women into its membership, as it currently is still rather reluctant to do? Wouldn’t the club have to acquiesce? Undoubtedly his first event back will be one of the highest rated events on television in golf history and the promoters would certainly not pass up the opportunity to have the world’s best player, after having missed half a year of golf, skip their tournament. The publicity, both positive and negative will be astronomical with or without such an ultimatum. I can’t think of any other possible way this wouldn’t be the biggest story in the world on that particular week.

Tiger, you have a platform very few others will have the chance to rise to. When would be a better time to gain a sense of responsibility and make some change for good at least once in your life? No one will ever have a better opportunity to make a demonstration such as this better than you will right now. Just do it.

Local Natives – Shape Shifter (mp3) from Gorilla Manor