MYOB, chump

Message to Jim Brown: You are not the moral conscience of every single black man who has ever played a sport.

I'm a day late posting on this subject, but in case you didn't hear about it, Jim Brown had this to say about the Tiger Woods "lynch" comment:

"He should have come out right away. Instead, he waited until it was politically correct [to comment]," Brown said.

Or maybe he waited to comment until he had given himself time to deliberate how he should respond. Maybe Tiger wanted to first give someone, whom he considers a good acquaintance, the chance to apologize and explain her intentions before publicly smearing her. Maybe Tiger Woods is not, in fact, the same person as Jim Brown and chooses to deal with controversy in a calculated, non-confrontational way.

Being an awesome golfer does not require Tiger Woods to play defender of the entire black population of the United States. Have you ever heard of the term, "above the fray," Jim Brown?

If you ask me, Tiger Woods has done something pretty remarkable for racial progress. Consider that he's absolutely revered within the world of golf--the most lily-white of all whiteman's pursuits--and he's reached that point, in part, because he's carried himself humbly and quietly and let his excellence in golf speak for itself. He has reached this point, in part, because he does not believe that his golf prowess necessarily transcends him to the role of social or political spokesperson.

Tiger Woods is worth millions--not just to himself but to many other entities with a financial stake in how he performs and, for better or worse, how he conducts himself. And guess what--he'd have probably never become so successful had he spewed Sharpton-esque nonsense everytime he had to the chance to speak on a racial issue or played race victim everytime things when wrong for him on the Tour or turned defensive and bitter when Fuzzy Zoeller vilely and personally insulted him in 1997.

Does he measure his words and stray from controversy in the public eye? Of course. But how dare you, Jim Brown, imply that it's all self-interested PR squeamishness. Maybe Tiger Woods feels a responsibility to those people who are financially invested in him. Or maybe that's just who Tiger Woods is as a person, power and money notwithstanding. Would that be such a horrible thing?

Please, Jim Brown, mind your own damned business, you sanctimonious ass.

(P.S.: Don't mistake this post for me actually caring about golf. I still don't.)