This 27-second video - showing a trick play in a middle-school football game - has been viewed 11.8 million times on Youtube.
Compare that to the audience for the following:
Obama inauguration speech, 4.6 million views.
Ray Lewis Old Spice Body Wash Commercial, 2.2 million.
Tiger Woods confessional press conference, 285,000.
Tina Fey reacts to winning Mark Twain Prize for Comedy, 63,000.
Future House Majority Leader John Boehner Pays Tribute to Marines and Wounded Warriors, 676
Showing posts with label tiger woods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tiger woods. Show all posts
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
After apology Tiger reminds us he cares about kids
Two references to kids during this morning's Tiger Woods' (I let the whole world down) speech. That was about one too many.
What he said about being a hero to kids - and how that's over - showed humility.
"Parents used to point to me as a role model for their kids. I owe all those families a special apology. I want to say to them: I am truly sorry. "
A tortured detour in the text about Tiger's kids' golf foundation was way out of place.
"To everyone involved in my foundation, including my staff and most important the young students we reach, our work is more important than ever. Thirteen years ago, my dad and I envisioned young people achieving their dreams through education. This work remains unchanged and will continue to grow. To the Learning Center students in Southern California to the Earl Woods Scholars in Washington DC, millions of kids have changed their lives. I am dedicated to making sure that continues."
In a speech about marital infidelity?
Tiger isn't the only fallen athlete seeking salvation in being nice to kids. Brett Singer had a great piece on this.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Do kids need sports training at 6? Ask Y.E. Yang
Granted, Tiger Woods (with a two-stroke lead with 18 holes to play) beats Y.E. Yang in a major championship 98 times out of 100. Maybe 99.
Still, I couldn't help noticing the contrasting life stories of these two, after Yang's improbable victory in the PGA Championship Sunday.
Woods who got a golf club, then his baby teeth. Brought along in the sport by a dad consumed with raising a champion. At 2, appeared on the Mike Douglas Show. At 3, had a nine-hole score of 48. At age five, featured in Golf Digest and on ABC's That's Incredible. Winner of the Junior World Championships six times. A prodigy in every sense of the word.
Yang who played many sports as a kid - baseball, basketball, soccer, volleyball - but never golf. Who had no interest in the sport whatsoever, in part because his father regarded golf as elitist. Who did not touch a club until age 19, and then only because he'd taken a lousy job picking up balls at a country club. Who until he had turned pro and advanced to playing tournaments was almost entirely self-taught.
So, respectfully, I ask, do we really need to sign up our six-year-olds for travel soccer?
Still, I couldn't help noticing the contrasting life stories of these two, after Yang's improbable victory in the PGA Championship Sunday.
Woods who got a golf club, then his baby teeth. Brought along in the sport by a dad consumed with raising a champion. At 2, appeared on the Mike Douglas Show. At 3, had a nine-hole score of 48. At age five, featured in Golf Digest and on ABC's That's Incredible. Winner of the Junior World Championships six times. A prodigy in every sense of the word.
Yang who played many sports as a kid - baseball, basketball, soccer, volleyball - but never golf. Who had no interest in the sport whatsoever, in part because his father regarded golf as elitist. Who did not touch a club until age 19, and then only because he'd taken a lousy job picking up balls at a country club. Who until he had turned pro and advanced to playing tournaments was almost entirely self-taught.
So, respectfully, I ask, do we really need to sign up our six-year-olds for travel soccer?
Friday, June 19, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Bryce Harper and other can't-miss teen athletes
Raise your hand if you'd heard of Bryce Harper three weeks ago. I hadn't. Then came the Sports Illustrated cover. Then, Sunday, Harper's dad held a news conference to announce that his son, a high school baseball prodigy, maybe THE prodigy of the past 30 years, had opted to drop out of school after his sophomore year (at 16), take the GED, enroll at a community college - all part of an accelerated plan to qualify by 2010 for the Major League Baseball amateur draft.
Ron Harper must have been feeling a bit embattled because he was quoted saying this: "People question your parenting and what you're doing. Honestly, we don't think it's that big a deal. He's not leaving school to go work in a fast food restaurant. Bryce is a good kid. He's smart and he's going to get his education."
Who can say whether this will work out for Bryce. There are LeBrons and Tigers out there who make a strong case that some kids are going to be superstars sooner or later, so why not sooner? Yet when I hear about can't-miss teens, I can't help thinking about the ones who do miss. There are a lot more of those than there are LeBrons and Tigers.
Eight years ago, I wrote an article for BusinessWeek about a golfing phenom, Ty Tryon. Tryon was 17 when he dropped out of high school, signed rich sponsorship deals with Callaway Golf and Target, and headed off for the PGA Tour. It wouldn't have been fair for Ty's parents to hold back their gifted son. He had that much talent. His prospects were so bright. Or so the story went.
Ty is still trying to qualify for the PGA Tour.
Ron Harper must have been feeling a bit embattled because he was quoted saying this: "People question your parenting and what you're doing. Honestly, we don't think it's that big a deal. He's not leaving school to go work in a fast food restaurant. Bryce is a good kid. He's smart and he's going to get his education."
Who can say whether this will work out for Bryce. There are LeBrons and Tigers out there who make a strong case that some kids are going to be superstars sooner or later, so why not sooner? Yet when I hear about can't-miss teens, I can't help thinking about the ones who do miss. There are a lot more of those than there are LeBrons and Tigers.
Eight years ago, I wrote an article for BusinessWeek about a golfing phenom, Ty Tryon. Tryon was 17 when he dropped out of high school, signed rich sponsorship deals with Callaway Golf and Target, and headed off for the PGA Tour. It wouldn't have been fair for Ty's parents to hold back their gifted son. He had that much talent. His prospects were so bright. Or so the story went.
Ty is still trying to qualify for the PGA Tour.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Why did you pitch your son while he was hurt?
I'm posting a QandA about Until It Hurts and some of the thinking that went into the book. The article appears at Sportsletter.org.
David Davis, who conducted the interview, posed some interesting questions from 'What do you think is the lesson of Tiger Woods' story?" to "In the book, you write about being your son's baseball coach and having him pitch in a game when he had tendonitis. Why did you have him pitch while he was hurt?" (Well, because it was playoff time?).
It's a very good overview of the book.
David Davis, who conducted the interview, posed some interesting questions from 'What do you think is the lesson of Tiger Woods' story?" to "In the book, you write about being your son's baseball coach and having him pitch in a game when he had tendonitis. Why did you have him pitch while he was hurt?" (Well, because it was playoff time?).
It's a very good overview of the book.
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