Not many legacies are easy to root for. The Yankees? Helllllll no. The Lakers, the Patriots, the Pistons, the Red Wings. The list goes on. Tiger Woods however, was always easy to like. He is one of the hardest working athletes in a sport where apparently you don’t need to be athletic at all (note this guy). His accessibility to the media, calm demeanor, and flat out domination of the sport makes him very easy to like. Not many people find themselves rooting against Tiger when he approaches a new record to shatter. In fact, there could soon be a deal with Crayola to call a new color “Sunday Red,” after the shade he wears before winning tournaments on the weekend.

It would appear that it is even easier to root for Tiger due to his recent health concerns. He had knee surgery in April and decided to make the U.S. Open his comeback tournament. But until recently hockey fans found themselves rooting for his first round partner, Phil Mickelson, rather than Tiger for his comments around the time of the Stanley Cup Finals.

At the beginning of the month he noted how he didn’t think anyone even watched hockey anymore during a press conference.  Tiger argued that it was “all about the Dodgers.” Yeah, that sub .500 team in Los Angeles whose season can officially start in LA once all the celebrities stop going to the Lakers games. Well apparently he was wrong, because ratings improved for the Stanley Cup Finals this year.

But recently Tiger kind of, sort of, redeemed himself by saying kind things about a sport that moves faster than his backswing. Now he “loves” hockey and said he enjoys seeing the game live. Personally, I’ll buy it when I see his invoice for Florida Panthers season tickets, but at least he’s making an effort. It’s more than most people care to do for hockey.

So I suppose now that Tiger has at least tried to make amends with hockey nation I can jump back on the Tiger Woods bandwagon. I mean the guy is coming off knee surgery. How can you not root for success?

Photo courtesy: Rapid City Journal