Tiger Woods is the biggest icon in the sports world today.
No athlete has transcended his sport the way the man with the most famous fist pump ever has transcended the game of golf. Countless fans tune in to golf tournaments only to check Tiger's progress. His popularity has made several other golfers rich because of his appeal as a marketing instrument.
Sure, soccer start Cristiano Ronaldo can attract a crowd of 80,000 to Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu for his introduction as a member of Real Madrid, but no casual soccer fans (is there such a thing?) tune in just to watch Ronaldo or any other soccer player.
Kobe Bryant? LeBron James? Though Kobe apparently is doing quite well as Yao Ming's replacement in China, he's about five more consecutive titles away from erasing his tarnished 2004.
The King? Not so regal these days. First, he disses the Orlando Magic after they bounced his Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Eastern Conference finals. Then he has a videotape confiscasted of Xavier sophomore Jordan Crawford two-hand dunking on The Posterized One during a pickup basketball game earlier this week.
Manny Ramirez? Maybe for the first five innings, but ... no. Tom Brady? Not even with his super-model love life.
Only Jack Nicklaus' 18 Grand Slam titles is, for now, preventing Tiger from dominating the conversation as the all-time greatest golfer. Yet, for all Tiger's accomplishments, 68 titles, 14 majors at age 33, he's simply not the greatest athlete of his generation.
That honor belongs to Roger Federer.
American tennis fans, (all six of us) probably are asking, "Who?"
And at the risk of offending all those golf gallery guys that shout, "Get in the hole!" before Tiger even makes a practice swing off the tee, Federer's accomplishments simply are more impressive.
For those who missed Swisstory in the making, Federer beat Andy Roddick in a five-set epic Wimbledon final that set the record for the number of games (16-14 in a fifth set for the ages) to capture an unprecendented 15th Grand Slam championship.
Unlike Tiger, Federer also has the record for majors won in his sport. Federer has only 60 titles overall, so it could be argued that the two are virtually deadlocked.
Naysayers of Federer also will point to the emergence of Rafael Nadal. Had Nadal, who had replaced Federer as the No. 1-ranked player, not been suffering from a knee injury that hampered him in the French Open and kept him out of Wimbledon, Federer likely still would be stuck on 13 majors -- one behind Pete Sampras.
Injuries, however, are part of the game, and Federer himself had to overcome a bout of mononucleosis in 2008.
But what makes Federer's feat greater than Tiger's is this: Federer's foes get the chance to beat Federer on the court. Woods' foes don't have the same opportunity -- even in match-play competition.
No one can study tape and formulate a game plan to combat Tiger's play in the rough, to stop his magic from sand traps.
Tiger's rivals are playing against the Tiger mystique. We see it weekly when Tiger is in the final pairing on Sunday. His playing partners inevitably fall apart because they think they have to play perfectly to beat Woods.
All his partners invariably take shots on the course they normally wouldn't take, causing their downfall.
Federer? Foes can study his few weaknesses. They can improve upon their own weaknesses to nullify Federer's strengths. That's how a younger, stronger Nadal finally surpassed Federer. He kept learning in every head-to-head match until he discovered how to beat Federer.
But Nadal broke down, which is part of a true champion's makeup. That's not to say that Nadal won't inevitably pass Federer, but his injury just put Federer that much farther ahead in majors won.
Opponents simply can attack the Federer mystique more easily than they can Tiger's. A large part of Wood's success lies in the mind tricks his greatness plays on his foes. They build his invincibility as much as his game does.
Federer's foes find cracks in his game with every ace, service winner or passing shot. If they raise their game, they have a shot at beating Rog.
Even if Tiger's tour mates raise their game, that doesn't necessarily correlate into beating him, and that's often too difficult a scenario to overcome.
Which makes Federer's accomplishment too difficult to deny.
Meaning Tiger must make due with "only" being Icon bar none.
Keywords: Cristiano Ronaldo, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Manny Ramirez, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady
