When Will He Return?

I like Tiger Woods for his golf ability. Sure, he seemed to be a great guy, and probably still is, but like a lot of us he has his faults. I hope he gets himself right, and I hope his family finds peace. I also hope he finds his way back to the golf course in 2010. But I'm not one of those that feels like I have a right to know everything about his private life. Most of the national shows responded to his statement by concentrating on his apologies to his wife, family, etc. I was impressed that he apologized to kids and parents because Tiger realizes he is a role model. But beyond that, the rest is none of my business. I just want to know when we get to see him back in the game, carving up a tough U.S. Open course and bringing his opponents to their knees. He said this about his return: "I do plan to return to golf one day; I just don't know when that day will be. I don't rule out that it will be this year. When I do return, I need to make my behavior more respectful of the game."
That's when my ears perked up. I was really hoping he would be back soon, but the man has to make sure he's right for the long haul. Not ruling out this year doesn't sound like he'll be back very soon. As for his behavior being more respectful to the game, I hope he means off the course. I don't want to see him lose the fire he has on the course. I like watching athletes who seem to care, and get upset with themselves when they screw up.
The other thing to perk my ears, his denial of performance-enhancing drugs. Tiger said, "Some people have made up things that never happened. They said I used performance-enhancing drugs. This is completely and utterly false." This stems from Tiger being treated by Canadian sports medicine specialist Anthony Galea. Galea has been charged with selling performance-enhancing drugs to some of his clients. But Galea's involvement with Tiger is said to involve "blood spinning", a process to promote healing. In Tiger's case, it was his knee. Galea denies giving performance-enhancers to any of his clients. He says some HGH he was caught with was for his own personal use. Let's hope so.

One last thing on the Tiger apology, the room setup was quite odd and sterile. Was that blue curtain the same one Johnny Carson used to appear from on the old The Tonight Show set?

After three days, sanity has seemed to returned to the "fire Mick" sentiments of the hardcore UC fan base. The Bearcats really backed themselves into a corner though, and Sunday is a must-win. Then DePaul will be the next must-win. Then Mick and the Bearcats have to find a way to steal one from West Virginia, Villanova, or Georgetown.