Tyler McCabe, Sports Writer
The Associated Press voted Tiger Woods as Athlete of the decade on Wednesday, December 9th. Woods received 56 of the 142 votes from AP members. Lance Armstrong finished second in the voting with 33 votes, and tennis player Roger Federer finished third with 25 votes. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps got fourth with 13 votes, and fifth place went to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady with six votes and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt earning sixth place with four votes.
Tiger Woods has changed and dominated the sport of golf since he joined the PGA tour in 1996. With 71 wins, 12 majors, and a 30% winning percentage (highest in golf), not only has he dominated, he has shown a lot of toughness as well. He won the U.S. Open with an injured knee, and shortly after, was voted 2009 Player of the Year. He was ranked number one in the world for all but 32 weeks of the decade. He used those 32 weeks to change his swing.
After the accident outside of his home in November and the allegations of his affairs with other women, Woods announced that he would be taking an indefinite leave from professional golf. Shortly after the announcement, AT&T dropped their sponsorship, as well as Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer. Nike Golf and PepsiCo Inc.’s Gatorade has not dropped their sponsorship of Woods. Electronic Arts Inc., which puts out the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR video games, has announced that they plan to stand behind Woods despite his actions off the golf course.
Tiger Woods’ persona has definitely changed over the last few months. People have changed their opinions about him, but others think his outside life should not affect the fact that he is Athlete of the Decade. Ceramics teacher Jason Linduska said, “He is an amazing athlete and he deserves the award but his actions were wrong and immoral.”
Junior Courtney Hennings said, “It’s nobody’s business.”
Athletes are certainly role models in their sport, but do athlete’s actions take away from their sport and affect people’s opinion of said athlete? Sophomore A.J. Keil said, “Everyone makes mistakes. Just because he is a world-class athlete should not matter.”
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