Acting White: No More Tigers

Tiger Woods is back playing golf for now, and those who love him better enjoy it while it last. Those long drives have taken their toll on the knees and we are witnessing the beginning of the end of one of the greatest golfers that ever played the game. But the question of the day is why I believe no black golfer will likely ever replace the spot he’s owned at the top, and why so few will even make the cut to try.

To illustrate this I reach back to a lesser-known Russian sprinter from the Ukraine, Valeri Borzov (featured). Borzov was one lighting-fast white man who briefly held the gold-spot in the sprints at the time of the 1972 Olympics, and long after blacks had come to dominate the fast-twitch muscle-fiber events. But Borzov loved soccer and was a diligent student as well, so his track and field glory faded quickly, mostly by his lack of focus.

As Borzov was a sprinter who happened to be white, Tiger is a golfer who happens to be a physical and cultural admixture, largely black. We made him a hopeful breakthrough of future black professional golfers, but this has not happened, and makes no more sense than Russians expecting that Borzov was the beginning of more than a smidgen of Russian presence in the 100 and 200 meter sprints.

Golf is a game steeped in European culture, just as running and sprinting is steeped in primordial African and African-American culture. Earl Woods was a golf-maniac who got lucky in having a gifted son. Little else mattered than little Tiger with a club in his hand. But be clear that the elder and junior Woods were driven partly by the No Negros Allowed experience, just as the Politburo reveled in a fast Ukrainian crashing the podium gatherings of black Americans, something Hitler promised in 1942, but failed to do.

The up-shot is that we get all excited about first, Obama coming to mind, but the truth is that somewhere on the planet there will always exist persons of any ethnic background and possessing the gifts to unlock any door humanity can present. This is inclusive of different cultures advancing at different rates and to different heights, with disparities that coax out the best and worse. It is also why experiencing other cultures is so vital to progress, compared to living in a shell.

“Only an idiot would ever measure the heights of lovers by their physiques.”

James C. Collier

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