Sports Sunday: Do we have to like the athletes we root for?

Tiger made a run Sunday at The Masters that had a lot of people rooting for him. Were you one of them? (Image from intotherough.co.uk)

During Sunday’s final round of the Masters, I learned a few things about Tiger Woods:

• Fans are still rooting for him to be in contention even if he doesn’t win. I asked my Facebook friends if they would root for Tiger if he got close today and most wanted to see him in the running.
• That Sunday red shirt still works pretty well. Woods made a heckuva run today.
• Woods isn’t all the way back. Despite his run Sunday, he couldn’t put together the perfect round Charl Shwartzel did and his Saturday drop off really hurt.
• Woods is still an egotistical a-hole. If Saturday’s whining on the course didn’t confirm that, his Sunday post-round interview with Bill Macatee where he gave curt 2-3 word answers and was obviously pissed off was just another example of Tiger letting his ego and temper get the best of him.

Which leads me to the question in the title of this post — Do we have to like the athletes we root for? Woods is a bad example for me, because while I’ve always respected his game and the way he competes, I’ve never really liked the guy. When he was winning majors as regularly as you and I go for an oil change, I was always rooting for the guy challenging him. But that’s just me.

I know a lot of people who were and still are huge fans of Woods. And it seems like they’re able to separate what he does off the course with the 300-plus yard drives, unbelievable pitch shots and long birdie puts he’s able to sink on it.

I’ve been on the other side of the fence as well. For instance, George Brett will always be a hero to me. He was the best player on my favorite team I grew up rooting for — the 1985 Kansas City Royals. I’ve never met George before but several people — including my brother who waited on him at a local Mexican restaurant a few times — described Brett as a cocky and arrogant guy who ordered people around. So I might not have liked hanging out with that version of George, but that never effected how I thought of him. Brett and Frank White are still my two favorite baseball players of all time. And they probably always will be.

Do you think team versus individual in sports may have something to do with peoples’ perception too? If one or two players on a team rub you the wrong way, you’re still rooting for the name on the front of the jersey. A local sports radio guy in KC — Kevin Kietzman — has been talking a lot recently about how people root for the team brands more than the players when it comes to NFL football. That’s his reasoning for why the players have the most to lose by an NFL lockout. Anyway, I think that’s actually true for most team sports, with maybe the exception of the NBA.

I’m a Royals fan, not a Joakim Soria fan. I’m a North Carolina Tar Heels basketball fan, not a Harrison Barnes fan. And I’m a Northwestern fan, not a Dan Persa fan. What I mean by that is I like those players, but if they left my favorite teams right now I would still root for the same teams.

Golf is different. Tiger is his own team. When he plays like he did Friday and Sunday, he’s fun to watch. But it’s hard for me to root for a guy who just doesn’t seem to give a rip about anyone else but himself.

So what do you think? Is it important for you to like the athletes you root for? Do you still root for Tiger on Sundays?

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