A Lesson in Handling Hype: From Tiger Woods to Barack Obama

Hype might be one of the dirtiest four-letter words in the English language. All over life, but especially in professional sports, there are individuals who bear the burden of wearing the label "chosen" or "great" with little on their resume having earned much of the credit being given them.

Last night, one such individual was voted the next President of the United States.

It was noted by a number of media pundits last night that it was barely over four years ago that Barack Obama was an unheralded state legislator that took the command of the biggest stage of his life at the Democratic Convention in 2004 to bring excitement to a crowd of apathetic voters. He delivered that night, and has been soaring every since.

But now he has reached the pinnacle: the Presidency. As a sports enthusiast, Obama can look into the not too distant past to see what hype has meant to some athletes that did, and didn't, handle the pressure of being what ESPN has come to refer to as "Next."

Certainly, there are those who will point back to the Sam Bowies and Len Biases of the world and say there will always be pressure on those who aren't mentally able to handle it. But there are others, albeit few, that have been projected to reach the stars and did so.

In perhaps the purest comparison to date that we can draw from to give President-elect Obama some idea of what he's gotten himself into is the dawn of the Tiger Era in the PGA.

Woods came into a white man's game and brought thunder and lightning with him. He hit the ball a mile off the tee, had a legitimate short game, and dominated everyone he saw growing up and through his days at Stanford.

But when he burst onto the PGA scene, there were those that questioned whether or not the kid could cut it AND carry the burden of a perceived color barrier with him.

I don't need to waste much space on what Woods has done since becoming a professional. The man hasn't played in a tournament in over six months and he's still in the top five money earning golfers on the planet this year. He destroyed expectations and brought crowds with him.

The movie "Happy Gilmore" is a comedic look at the impact of an energetic young golfer on the stiff, old man's world that was professional golf; add the fact that Tiger was a hybrid of roughly a dozen nationalities and skin tones and he wasn't close to the norm on the tour.

Nobody will forget Fuzzy Zoeller making race into an issue when it had been successfully avoided, either. Tiger won the Masters, and Zoeller made his now infamous comment regarding Woods' selections for the champions' dinner the next year.

Woods, ever the dignified symbol of class, simply voiced a parental disappointment in Zoeller for not treating him as a peer or opponent.

How did Tiger do it? He stayed focus, almost to a fault, on his game and improving. He is perhaps the most competitive athlete still active on earth, in a class with perhaps only Michael Jordan.

Woods also kept himself surrounded by people that kept him true to himself and what he wanted to accomplish. He's a driven, powerful force of a man, but the support around him is what has helped him to continue his career at the pace he has established.

Not until a broken leg and destroyed knee kept him from... oh, wait, it didn't keep him from winning a major. But it has kept him on the sidelines this year, with the anticipation for his return growing with every televised event that's viewed by under 100 people.

Obama could learn a great deal from Tiger's approach to being not only the most dominant golfer in over 20 years, but also one that doesn't fit into the colorless history of the role.

There will be many in the country and, indeed, the world, that will have similar questions about him being prepared for the presidency as they did with Woods as a golfer. Not all of these questions will be centered on his race, but some will be. Others will be about his thin resume.

As a proud Chicagoan, my eyes filled watching nearly 200,000 people fill Grant Park last night in support of their political choice. Obama held that crowd, and the millions watching from home in the palm of his hand as he took history by the reigns and began living up to the hype he has created around himself.

I did not vote for Barack Obama, but I am indeed filled with hope today that the world's reaction to what we all saw last night is that the same sleeping giant that was awakened at Pearl Harbor over 60 years ago has stirred again.

Much like Woods, Obama has done something truly remarkable. Where Woods swelled crowds at little known events in small towns across America to watch him walk after a little white ball for four hours, Obama has radically changed the face of American politics.

Now the hard part begins for our new President. Obama has simply "gone pro;" Tiger's legend had a foundation when he arrived, but the book has been written by winning tournaments. Now Obama needs to learn from Woods' example and fill the pages of the history books.

Creating the hype isn't as hard as living up to it, but some are up to the challenge. Here's hoping our 44th President is one of those who is.