Tiger...Best Ever

STRAFFAN, Ireland -- "Tiger Woods is the greatest individual athlete of our time."

That's what I wrote Sunday, Aug. 20, the day Woods vaporized the PGA Championship field, went Tom Brady's jersey number on the majors, and then celebrated his third consecutive victory and 51st Tour win by … flying to Houston to pick up his new labradoodle puppy, Yogi! (Memo to Tiger: please tell me the labradoodle and dog name were Elin's idea.)

Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Tip of the cap: Woods is second to Sam Snead in career wins.

Since then, Woods has stretched his PGA Tour win streak to five and put a choke chain around the money list lead. If he doesn't win the Tour's Player of the Year award it will only be because Pac-10 replay officials oversaw the balloting.

Now Woods is here at The K Club, site of the 2006 Ryder Cup. Not much is expected of him. Just carry the USA team against the favored Euros. You know, the usual.

Win or lose this week, Woods' golf legacy is as secure as a safety deposit box. Jack Nicklaus loyalists will argue the Golden Bear is the greatest golfer of all time until someone breaks his record of 18 major victories. Fair enough, except deep down I'm not sure even Nicklaus himself believes that.

Woods is the best the game has ever seen. He's the best any game has seen. Nothing has happened since that August day at Medinah Country Club to change my mind. If anything, I feel even better about the first line of this column, especially after he won two more tournaments after the PGA Championship (no post-major letdown for Eldrick).

Of course, back in August it took about Reggie Bush's 40-yard dash time before the e-mails began pouring into my Outlook mailbox. There were hundreds and hundreds of them. Most of the e-mailers wondered if my brain cells had been removed at birth. The angrier ones wanted to know if I'd like to chug some antifreeze, then chase it down with a shot of battery acid.

Sports fans, sports talk show hosts and sports columnists simply can't wrap their arms around the idea that a golfer -- and they say it in such a dismissive way -- can be the greatest individual athlete of our time. In fact, many of them barely consider Woods an athlete at all.

He doesn't run, jump, sweat, or even carry his own bag. That's the gist of the non-athlete argument. Of course, neither did John Kruk, but nobody seemed to mind. And don't even get me started about designated hitters.

Woods' swing speed is about 130 miles per hour. Yours isn't. Put a hockey stick in his hands and you wouldn't say a peep. But a golf club, and he's a non-athlete, eh?

You don't hit a golf ball as long and straight as Woods, who's all of 6-foot-1, 185 pounds, without being a world-class athlete. His ability to swing that hard and hit a ball that pure is as Angelina Jolie-gorgeous as Ryan Howard doing the same thing with a baseball.

On GolfDigest.com is an e-mail Q&A with Woods. A 14-year-old golfer asked Woods if he was ridiculed as a young golfer.

"Oh, yeah," wrote Woods. "They'd say, 'Golf is a wussy sport … non-athletic … takes no skill to play. The beauty of it is that I knew how difficult golf was."

It is difficult, exasperatingly so. If it wasn't, Michael Jordan would be on the PGA Tour. I'm not saying Woods could ever play another professional sport, but I am saying I don't see one former NBA, MLB, NHL, etc., star on the PGA Tour. However, I do see them shooting 91s at the Lake Tahoe celebrity tournament every year.

No, Woods doesn't jump. Neither did Larry Bird. You could barely slip a piece of typing paper under Bird's Converses when his feet left the ground. Big deal.

And, no, Woods doesn't carry his own bag. This is an issue why? When Albert Pujols hits a home run, he doesn't lug his bat around the bases with him. Baseball's equivalent of a caddie -- the bat boy -- picks it up and places it back in a container in the dugout. Hmmm.

Anybody who thinks Woods isn't an athlete probably thinks Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn't an athlete. After all, Junior just sits on his butt and people in fire suits hand him refreshments with a long pole. And then all he does is make a bunch of left turns, right?

Greatness isn't defined by how hard your sweat glands work, or whether you can run a 4.4 40. There are lots of bad football players who are fast and can soak a jersey. Greatness is about individual artistry, about separating yourself first from your peers, and then from everyone else in the sporting world.

Woods has done that. And he's done it in an individual sport that doesn't allow cheating or coaching during play. He's done it with 10-deep galleries that are close enough to tug at his shirt collar. And Woods doesn't have any teammates to bail him out when he's scuffling. There are no Tiger-aires.

What about Jim Thorpe, Dan Gable or Lance Armstrong? What about Roger Federer, Carl Lewis or Edwin Moses? Aren't they Woods' superior?

Sorry, but their level of individual dominance simply doesn't match what Woods has done, and will continue to do.

Woods is 30. You know why he's in such great shape? Weight lifting.

Lifting trophy, after trophy, after trophy.

What do you think?

Currently Reading Dark Justice By Jack Higgins see related

When She Said, "I Do."

The following is a story I wrote on LU women's soccer's senior team captain, Mandee Wheelock. It appeared in the football opener's game program, and then again at www.libertyflames.com

I welcome your comments...Enjoy!

*****************************

Sparx - A Look Back...

So I'm sitting here, late at night (or early in the mornin', depending on how you look at it), and I stumbled over something that caught my eye: "The Fall '06 LU IMS Women's Basketball season begins September 20th." (Liberty Student Life webpage)

And for the first time in a long time, any meaning that statement has for me is strictly nostalgic.

Nearly three years ago, I was in the Schilling Center, watching women's intramural basketball games before the Student Center was little more than a pipe dream. Lisa Hall asked me, "Do you think we could do this?" And I asked her what she meant.

Standing nearby, Kendall Dressner chimed in, "Yeah, don't you think we could do this?"

I said, "I fail to see how this involves me."

"Well you know a lot of people, Josh," replied Lisa. "You could help us put a team together, and then coach us!"

"Yeah!" agreed Kendall, excitedly.

And I quickly liked the idea, too. So I immediately went to work. I knew Chelsea Moneymaker, a 6-foot, four-sport star from Buena Vista. I asked her, and she was in. I also knew Rebecca Spencer, another 6-footer who loved to run, and we had our front line.

Paige Cheek was a 5-9 guard who loved the open floor. She made us a super-fast team on the fast break. Kristin Faxon joined us, too, giving us depth at guard. Both girls were in incredible shape, as they were freshmen from the LU women's soccer team.

Lindsay Phelps and Bethany Benson rounded out the roster for us. They came on board a week before the season started, as two other recruits had decided to play for another team.

We finished something like third that semester. But something far greater happened. Not to sound selfish or anything, but that season was mine in a sort of way. I fell in love with coaching, specifically coaching young ladies. And, I've loved it ever since.

Now, let me be clear. Though I fought the stereotypes and assumptions of others, I was nothing close to some boyfriend helping out his girlfriend’s team (I've never dated any of the girls I coached.) Nor was I someone taking IMS too seriously; I never went to any lengths not accepted, and in most cases, requested by the young ladies on my teams.

Near the end of that first season, I went to work seriously recruiting for the Fall. I had the late spring and all summer to put together a team, and I was darn sure I was going to scout hard and find dedicated, tough players who wanted to win badly.

I saw Kim Hall play the first time against us, and after watching that blonde pony-tail sway back and forth, violently at times, all over that court, passing and cutting and slashing and shooting, I knew I had to have her, and she agreed to join us. Two other soccer athletes, Rebekah Gruber and Becky Harrison, loved the idea of a dedicated IMS squad, and jumped at the chance at the first inquiry of their interest in joining.

Colette Desmarais was my sister's roommate in the Fall. A freshman, CD liked playing, but only for a semester as she eventually pursued other interests.  Shannon Forbes, a thrower on the track & field team, joined us as well, and we had our fall roster.

Lisa Hall, Spencer, Benson, Phelps, Cheek, Faxon, and Dressner all left for their own reasons, some joining other teams, some following life in another direction.

That summer, softball player Erika Rasmussen committed to playing for us. A two-time all-state player from Kentucky, Rasmussen would have been probably the most talented athlete to ever play for the Sparx, had she ever donned the blue and black jersey. But the week school began, she was forced to find a job. Incidentally, she found one with IMS as a referee, and she would be a staple on the court of many Sparx games in many semesters to come. Ironic, huh?

So we had our fall roster, and we split it in half. We did so not because of any in-fighting. Quite the contrary, with no place for indoor games with the construction of the new Student Center delayed, the IMS decided to do a 3-on-3 outdoor league. We finished 2nd and 3rd. A new team in the league, who was to become out arch-rivals the Fire-ballerz, won that year.

In the spring, I was lucky enough to assemble a team that was, in my opinion, my most talented group of individuals. Kim Hall, Gruber, Harrison, and Shannon Forbes returned.

We added 5-10 center Ashley Walker, and 5-1 guard Swannicia Swann, two who were so dedicated from the very beginning. We also added a pair of scoring machines in track & field team members Cherith Miller and Tracy Tyler. Finally we added softball player Gertie Jeffries. Miller was our leading scorer that semester, Jeffries just as lethal, while Tyler actually never played in a game, enduring an arm injury just before the season and never being cleared before the track & field coaches pulled all their athletes from IMS sports. Softball quickly followed suit, taking Gertie away from us. We lost four players in a week, and we had played just 5 games of our 15-game schedule. We weren't really sure what we were going to do with just 6 players left.

And then Kit walked back into the Sparx' life. The 5-5 guard breathed new life into a dejected squad, and we rallied around each other, winning 13 games along the way. That team didn't win a championship, but I think they achieved so much more by surviving what could have been a fatal predicament.

That Fall, now the Fall of 2005, Chelsea Moneymaker, still with the team for now the longest consecutive amount of semesters that anyone would ever play for the team, continued her reign as a dominating presence in the paint. Also added to the roster were freshmen Kristin Collins, Rachael Choate, and Ashley Tayon. The trio was a vibrant group that brought life to every occasion.

Forbes, Walker, Harrison (Now Born, after marrying Jonathan over the summer), Dressner, and Hall all remained with the team as well. That semester, the team went toe-to-toe again with the Fire-ballerz, again falling just short of a championship.

In the midst of that season, I was offered a coaching job at New Covenant High School in Lynchburg. The contact between the school and me came through Rebekah Gruber, then a part-time teacher at the school whom they had first approached about the opening. She declined, but then dropped my name, saying to the A.D. that I might be interested.

The job, a full-time varsity head coaching position, was a step up in my career, and so I considered it long and hard. After giving it its due consideration, I decided to accept the job, and my first call was actually to Kendall "Kit" Dressner, whom I'd always said would make a fantastic assistant coach. Kit accepted my offer to her to assist me, and came to fall in love with our girls at NCS. The big question then became the question of the Sparx.

Initially, I was dead-set on coaching both teams, as their seasons actually overlapped very little. But as I did encounter that little overlap, I began to realize just how much dedication each position required. In January between semesters, I wrestled with the decision.

Just when I thought I made my mind up to cease coaching the Sparx, I met a young lady who forced me to reconsider. Her name was Megan Webber. I'd actually met her once before, briefly at one of my early-season high school games when she came along with Lisa Hall. Megan then appeared at my home one Sunday afternoon in January with Lisa to watch her beloved Steelers play football. As Lisa and I rehashed old basketball tales, Megan became more interested in the idea of playing for a team like the Sparx. Her excitement about the possibility was what forced me to reconsider (I hadn't yet told anyone of my decision at that time to no longer coach the Sparx).

I began putting together a roster in my head that night. I knew Kit would still play if I coached, and Becky Harrison would still be onboard. I wondered about the freshmen, and it later became clear that only Rachael would remain with the team. Counting Megan, that gave us only four.

But I’d seen something earlier that Sunday afternoon that at first I thought couldn’t be true. As I watched Megan become excited about an IMS team that took things a bit more seriously, I saw a light in Lisa’s eye. More than just a reminiscent one, it appeared to me she was tossing the idea around in her own head. But I knew she’d never ask. We joked about it all the time, but “Would he ever take me seriously?” she probably wondered to herself.

So I talked to her later that night, and she was onboard, too. Now I knew I was in trouble. I’d decided I wasn’t going to coach the Sparx anymore. What was I doing, I thought to myself. I was putting together another roster – that’s what!

Cassy Stephenson, a scrappy, rail-thin, 5-10 combo guard from Texas had been begging to play for us for the better part of the previous semester. She loved our tenacity and how seriously we took the game. Basketball was her life, and I’d fallen in love with her gutsy style of play the first time I saw her play. I checked back in with her, and she accepted my offer to play for us very excitedly.

I still wasn’t comfortable with just six, but then an unlikely name came across my attention. Rebekah Gruber, now Smyth after marrying Clell, had expressed an interest in joining us. Now, we had our seven.

When I said earlier I was again putting together a roster, I wasn’t as clear as I critically needed to be. What I put together in that Spring semester of 2006 was truly a team. That group of seven girls bonded like no other I had ever coach, before or since. They redefined the word TEAM for me, my favorite word in the whole sport. Truly, they made my end to coaching the Sparx a bittersweet one.

So many girls have affected me through this team. Over three years, the Sparx became an IMS institution, its faces changing often, but its goals remaining steadfast nonetheless. We were a group of individuals come together for the purpose of getting the most out of our intramural experience. We honored the true meaning of the game, and also that of the word “team.” We weren’t some pick-up team in a rec-league. We worked hard at what we did. We were all the type who appreciated taking what we loved seriously. And we all grew from the relationships formed and bonded between us, both on and off the court.

So many girls….

(In the order they appeared)

Lisa Hall graduated from LU in the Spring of ’06 with a teacher licensure and a degree in education. She is teaching a fifth grade class at an elementary school in Williamsburg, Va., now, near her hometown of Newport News…

Kendall Dressner is still my assistant coach at New Covenant. She lives in Lynchburg, and will graduate in December from LU with a degree in Sport Management. She played as many semesters for me as anyone else, tying one other young lady for that “honor”…

That other young lady was Chelsea Moneymaker, who held down the center position for the Sparx for nearly its entire existence. She lives in Lynchburg with roommate and frequent fan of the Sparx, Brandi Collins. The two have a dog named Laila. Chelsea continues to study Nursing at LU…

Rebekah Spencer played just that first semester with us. I see her occasionally around campus, the last time in the Library when Lisa and I happened to cross her path for a brief chat. She’s still an independent thinker with a cheerful smile. She’s always been a tireless worker in all that she does…

Paige and Kristin are in their senior seasons with the Liberty women’s soccer team. Paige, a defender, scored a game-winning goal last season against Birmingham-Southern. Kristin, or K-Fax as we’ve come to call her, scored her first career goal just the other night against Longwood. She’s a midfielder. Both will graduate in the Spring…

I lost touch with Lindsay Phelps shortly after she left the team. I haven’t seen or heard from her in over two years…

Bethany Benson, and her boyfriend Josh, transferred together to a university in Michigan which specializes in missions (I forget its name). I still remember her hugging me in the cafeteria just before she left, so genuinely thanking me for what I’d done for her. While I’m still not entirely sure what that could have been, I do know that for me and all the other Sparx girls that semester, and she was a bright and smiling face every moment of every day. She had such an ebullient outlook on life, and I can only believe those attributes have carried her far in life thus far. I have not heard from her since she left LU…

Kim Hall was one of the true faces of our team for quite awhile. I recall one IMS official claiming it was “so weird” seeing us out there without her running the point. Kim still to this day ranks as one of the players who reminded me so much of myself on the basketball floor. Gutsy, fiery, and a little bit cocky, there’s was nothing she didn’t believe she could do. She told me just the other day her schedule would permit her again to play, and was sorry to hear I wouldn’t be coaching the Sparx any longer. She’s set to marry her fiancé Mike on January 5^th…

Rebekah Gruber, as mentioned before, is now Rebekah Smyth, after marrying longtime boyfriend Clell last summer. The two of them continue to reside in Lynchburg. Rebekah graduated from LU last year as well, with a degree in Graphic Design…

Becky Harrison, also changing names within the last year herself, married Jonathan Born last summer. Jonathan always amazed me with his support of Becky in her endeavors, becoming a de facto assistant coach with his presence at so many games, and so many hallway-meetings in the Student Center. Probably the most physical player to ever play for the Sparx (and a guard, no less!) she and Jonathan now live very close to me in Rustburg…

I feel it necessary to also mention two great friends and fans of the Sparx. Susie Reyes and Kat Newcomer were the Sparx’ best fans through the years, constantly coming to games and supporting the girls. Ket even had a job – keeping me in my coaching box. An impossible job it was, but she took a unique pride in it. Haha, those two girls were great…

Colette Desmarais still attends Liberty, living off-campus with mutual friend Laura Hannol. Colette and my sister are best friends, even after enduing each other’s antics that freshman year together in dorm 19-1…

Shannon Forbes is no longer a thrower on the LU track & field team. She is now an RA at Liberty. Shannon always has had a great heart, showing not only a great love for the Lord, but also a great understanding of the hearts of her teammates. She was missed sorely last semester by the team…

Erika Rasmussen still officiates for IMS. She became a more consistent performer last season for LU’s softball team…

Ashley Walker and Swannicia Swann, even in this writing, are as inseparable as ever. It’s rare to see one without the other nearby. Both have told me recently how much they miss the Sparx. Both were also often the life of the Sparx’ party , freely belting out in song and laughing out loud with teammates. They are both still students at Liberty…

I lost touch with Cherith not too long ago. She played against us for another team in the Spring, meaning she must not be throwing on the track & field team anymore. She still scored a ton of points against us, and her team almost beat ours! Almost…

Tracy Tyler quit the track & field time soon after the IMS restriction, but not to play with us. She went to work full-time with Liberty’s Building Services, as some sort of shift manager or supervisor, I believe. She’s still a full-time student as well, and is dating Brent Rich, a friend of mine from her hometown of Mechanicsville, Virginia…

Gertie Jeffries transferred to a school in Texas after that year. The school specialized in finance, her field of study, and also had a softball team. Her full name being Gertrude, she now asks people to call her Trudee instead of Gertie…

Kristin Collins is now a sophomore at LU. She has accepted my offer to join Kit and me at New Covenant as a second assistant coach this coming season. She’ll help out Kit with the JV team, as well as the both of us with the varsity girls. She’s happy in her relationship with fellow LCA-grad Matt Miles, who is also a student at LU. The two of them are so cute together! She’ll probably try to kill me for saying that…

Rachael Choate, affectionately referred to as “the Baby” that last semester for being the only freshman, is now a sophomore at Liberty, living now on East Campus. She sustained a concussion during a game in her first semester with us (Fall ’05), and this coach snuck out of his dorm to be by her bedside. Fun times! Not so fun now is that doctors believe she may have fractured her back in that hard fall to the floor so many months ago, and it went unnoticed by the ER doctors that night. She is in need of our prayers as she recovers now. Rest assured, she’s still smiling and laughing, because no measure of pain could keep her from smiling! She created a slideshow put to music for the team at our end-of-season cookout that final semester together, bringing just about everyone a tear to their eye…

Ashley Tayon played just that lone semester (Fall ’05) with the Sparx, and unfortunately, she played sparingly at that. She had as much understanding of her role within the team as any player ever, starter or reserve, that I coached for the Sparx. She could inject energy into any setting, always smiling, and always enjoying herself. She has a great heart, and will surely do well in life…

Megan Webber was a coach’s dream. First, she loved the game and truly played it the way it’s supposed to be played. She led the team in that mantra throughout the final semester. Standing 6’ and possessing ball skills not normal for a young lady her height, Megan could dominate games at times. What made her so valuable to coaches, especially this one, was her coach’s mind on the court. She viewed the game from an objective viewpoint, seeing it as five pieces against another five, rather than choosing to view it from just her own personal vantage point. Often she would chime in my ear about something going on out on the court, and often because I was watching so many things at once, it was before I even noticed it. My prediction for her is that somewhere, somehow, she’ll get into coaching. And once does, the sky’s the limit for her…

Cassy Stephenson became roommates with Kit for a few months, the two forming a quick and close bond over just a short time period. Cassy recently enlisted in the Army, though, and is in training now. She hopes to become an MP and travel the world…

I am still, with Kit and Kristin by my side, the head coach of the girls’ basketball program at New Covenant. With the Sparx, I found my career passion for life, and each girl has had a hand in carving me into the coach I am today. At NCS, I continue forming that career and passion within my life, much of it happening under the watchful and curious eye of many Sparx alumni. The truth is, I am who I am because of all of them. I thank you all for that.

So let the season begin. We miss it, and I miss all of you. Yes, as I said, nostalgic….

Go Sparx!

I love you…

Currently Watching Capote see related

Coachability

First, very good movie, pictured above, that I just watched, "Capote." Anyone seen it? Not great, but very good...

A lot of players think they are being coachable when they play hard, or when they listen and nod, and are able to verbally regurgitate the lessons learned.

The Coachable players are the ones who do listen, but take it a step further and apply the lessons - the ones who are tkaing a coach's words and trying to get better, not just repeat the lines over and over.

I just finished my final week of the 2006 Josh Keys Basketball Camps at New Covenant H.S. here in Lynchburg. We had an amazing group, and it made it tough to choose some of the award winners. By the middle of the last day, I still hadn't chosen who would win the camp's highest award, the Gryphon Award. in the end, my decision came down to the camper who had applied more that particular week, and I was upset because the only reason the other camper in the running hadn't applied as much was that she'd played for me a year and already made a ton of progress. So the winner, a rising seventh grade, female lefty point guard, desrved it, but it was a difficult decision.

A lot of other good came from camp. I worked with my senior point guard, and her older brother, a graduate who played on the boys team. Working close with them was good times. We also raised a good chunk of money for the girl's bball program. THAT I'm very excited about. Our fundraising goal is $5,000 by October 1, but there's a lot that could be done with half of that. There's also a great growing interes tin basketball throughout the school on the girls side. With JV and Varsity combined, we could have as many as 25 or more girls come out for it in the Fall - record numbers! So, we're doing very well as a program.

The best thing that came during the week is this. Hard work without talent is a shame. But, talent without hard work - that's a tragedy.

Currently Reading Raise the Roof By Pat Summitt see related

I hate that word, "girl"...

Pat Summitt is the head coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols women's basketball team. At Tennessee, she has led the Lady Vols to 5 national championships, including three in a row from 1996 to 1998. The 1998 team, including Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings, Semeka Randall, Ace Clement, and Kellie Jolly, is considering by many, including this high school coach, to be the greatest college women's basketball team of all time. (39-0 record, National Champions). I finished her book, pictured above, this past weekend. In it she said, "I hate that word, "girl." I knew what she meant, and I couldn't agree more.

Sound harsh? Well, depends on what I mean. First, let me say what I don't mean. I don't mean "female." I don't mean someone who wears a skirt, has children, and maybe takes up being a housewife. I'm not talking about someone who runs like a girl, throws like a girl, cries like a girl, or any of those other traditionally negative uses. Crying is fine with me. It shows passion. I've never told my high school they couldn't cry. All I said was that as much as possible, don't let your opponent see it. Crying is highly emotional, and that's good. It can show an array of emotions. But also, it is a letting go, a realization that something is happening, good or bad...and the tears come most often when the one crying them realizes there's no stopping that particular good or bad. For us, tears came in our locker room. Hold onto them until then...

When I say I don't like the word "girl," I'm making a much finer distinction. My problem with it begins with the fact that the word "little" all-too-often precedes it.

I'm talking about someone who was taught not to keep score. I'm talking about someone who believes the world is divided into Boy and Girl. A girl thinks that competitiveness is the opposite of refinement. A girl isn't bothered by the limitations society imposes on her. A girl refuses to sweat openly, and doesn't get mad, or cry, or care if she loses.

Don't get me wrong. I love little girls. Maybe God will give me one or a few of them someday. (Hey, just because she'd be my daughter doesn't mean she would have to be competitive or love basketball. Though, of course, my influence would naturally guide her otherwise.) With little girls, you can dress 'em up, put little bows in their hair, and make them just as cute as can be. And, its true that if I have one or more of them, they'll have their big daddy wrapped completely around their little girly finger.

But, as a coach, I don't have much use for girls. Young women, or my preferred word, young ladies - that's what I need. The first thing I hope to tell all my teams of ladies is that we cannot - CANNOT - win with girls. We win with competitors.