Tiger Woods: Can Tiger Help Your Business Make More Money?

Tiger is busy these days, so I am going to have to fill in for him with an explanation.

Over the last 48 hours, he was chasing a man the press referred to as a chain smoking duck from Argentina and for some reason, couldn't quite catch him.

Then the media questioned why the 12 time major champion had the audacity to finish second. Heavens!

And then Tiger, no doubt mentally and physically exhausted, returned home just in time to meet his wife in the delivery room and welcome their new daughter, Sam, to their less than dull world.

Through, it all, Tiger almost won a major golf tournament.

The writers and broadcasters weren't impressed.

Second place? Tiger Woods coming in second? He must be losing his touch.

Consistent with the traditional Father's Day timing of the US Open, it reminded me of two experiences with my dad.

One was what he used to say about newspaper writers.

They are only trying to sell papers.

Secondly, I was reminded of my seminal sporting event, Yankees vs the A's, almost 50 summers ago in Yankee Stadium.

We were walking back to our car, when a pedestrian, asked us who had won the game inside.

"The Yankees," I proudly gushed.

The passer by wasn't impressed.

They always win. Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for General Motors.

Of course, at 8 years old, I had no idea what the heck he was talking about.

It is only with the passage of time, that I understood that many New Yorkers had grown bored with the Yankees success and expected them to win.

Almost 50 seasons later, I can appreciate the analogy of baseball and life.

The Yankees would hit bottom in the same way that all of us face the highs and lows in life, even General Motors.

And now back to Tiger Woods.

With a new baby on board and two majors, the British Open and the PGA Championship still to play in 2007, I predict Tiger will win one of them, if not both and continue his assault on Jack Nicklaus's Ruthian record of 18 majors (Tiger has 12 and counting).

And the scribes will proudly announce:

Tiger is back!

In fact, Tiger never left.

It's only the media who lost connection with their senses.

Tiger was battling a monster golf course at Oakmont and a due date for his first child.

And he almost pulled it off.

Second place in the US Open?

First place in the delivery room?

I think that it is daily double Tiger can live with.

But don't count out one of the greatest mental imagery athlete of this or any generation.

Just sit back and watch him play.

Because you won't see the likes of him often pass this way again.

So savor the experience.

Steve Tarde is a CPA who shows business owners how to increase sales immediately by connecting with customers through mental imagery. Hire Steve to maximize your sales through his teaching your past, current and future customers to master the mental game of golf and life. (Contact Steve at stevetarde@yahoo.com)

Curt Schilling Comes up Short But Statistics Lie!

Curt Schilling pitched a beauty under the Oakland sun today, but why has the media become inveterate liars?

I admit it. I am a CPA and numerologist and all that. I even teach my students to use mental imagery to capture important numbers in their mind.

So why am I so down on the Schilling headline?

Because it is a lie.

Those who turned to ESPNEWS on Thursday afternoon, saw it under the BREAKING NEWS banner.

CURT SCHILLING LOSES NO HITTER AFTER 8.2 INNINGS

 

That is a bold faced lie.

Any CPA, mathematician or scientist will attest to that.

An inning is divided into 3 outs. 8.2 innings means 8 innings and 20% of the final inning. Does 20% equal 2 outs in the ninth inning? No! But that's how many outs Schilling retired in the 9^th.

In fact, more accurately, Schilling lost his no hitter after 8.67 innings (rounded).

But since ESPN and all media outlets believe Americans to be too dense to comprehend what the heck 8.67 would equate to, baseballs statisticians have universally considered 8.1 innings to mean 8 and 1/3. And 8.2 innings =8 innings and two outs in the 9^th or 8.2.

So now kids all over America are reading mathematical lies in the newspaper and once lies are printed in the paper, they tend to become accepted as truth.

Turn to the editorial page for proof of that.

I wonder if more than 10% of the nation's sports media would know that a third of an inning does not equal .1 or one tenth.

Would it be so difficult for the media to refer to a no hitter which falls one out short as they once did in baseball lore, as 8 and 2/3 innings?

Is it too much to ask for box stores to break out the fractional font?

Can't we return to the day when 8.2=8.2 and 8.666666=8.666666?

So I thank Curt Schilling for falling one out short of pitching a no hitter.

But you didn't lose the no no after 8.2.

You lost it after 8 2/3 or 8.666666.

Can we please get it right?

 

 

 

 

Taryne Mowatt Sports Psychology MVP

I am in the sports psychology business and tonight was one of those special nights.

Championships were decided in two sports within seconds of each other.

In Oklahoma City, the University of Arizona Wildcats won their eighth national championship, behind the gritty pitching of the symbol of championship mind, a Corona lady by the name of Taryne Mowatt. Today, Taryne is the talk of women's softball.

In Anaheim, California, the Anaheim Ducks, once the Mighty Ducks, won the very first Stanley Cup ever in the state of California.

But I am a sucker for the ladies and have been following the women's game passionately, since helping a player on the ASU team in the 1994 season.

Coming into this World Series, I had no interest in any particular team.

Actually, that's not true.

I was inclined to root against the Arizona Wildcats.

After all, they had won seven national championships and had won the year before.

Tennessee, one of my basketball favorites, hadn't won a single championship and had a senior pitcher, Monica Abbott, who was the college player of the year in 2007.

I was determined to remain objective, but I had sneaked a peek the week before when I saw Mowatt pitch for the first time in the qualifier to the Series.

In the very first inning, the Lady Wildcats went down 5-0 and lost their All American CF who slammed into the fence chasing a fly ball, broke her nose and would be lost for the team for the rest of the weekend.

Yet, Arizona came back to win.

Witnessing that championship heart, I wondered if Arizona had enough to go all the way or would they leave their energy in Tuscon.

You had to like Tennessee's chances when they beat Arizona and bounced the Wilscats into the loser's bracket.

And still the Arizona ladies wouldn't qyuit.

They came out of the loser's bracket and miraculously, joined Tennessee in the championship final (best two out of 3).

And what did the Cats do in game one?

Of course, they lost again.

This team knew how to paint themselves into a corner.

What's more important, the champions that they were and would become again, they knew how to get out of that corner.

Going into game 2 of the championship round, Arizona hadn't scored a single run against prized Tennessee lefty Monica Abbott.

She had shut them out 1-0 and 3-0.

In fact, Abbott hadn't given up a run in winning four straight games.

So what chance did Arizona have.

They scored one run against Abbott in the second championship game.

It came in the 10^th inning.

It was the only run of the game.

The Wildcats won 1-0.

Mowatt escaped trouble all night long.

But she wouldn't cave in.

The heart of a champion.

So, now it was one game for the national championship.

Arizona had won seven previously.

Tennessee had won several in basketball, but zero in softball.

But I was hooked on Taryne and like a fool, could not get free.

Finally, Arizona exploded and solved Abbott.

It took them four games to get to the superstar.

When the dust had lifted, they led 5-0.

It was more than Taryne needed and the Wildcats had their 8^th national title.

Once again, Mowatt had pitched herself out of countless jams.

Bases loaded. Two on, none out. Two on, one out.

You name it, Taryne pitched out of it.

She pitched 8 games in seven days.

And when it was all over, she was the last pitcher standing.

I teach others how to radiate in the spotlight and show the championship heart they have within them to take over games and reach their true potential.

Watching Taryne Mowatt for a week in Oklahoma City, I realized I couldn't teach her a thing.

Not a single thing.

Taryne has it all.

Enjoy your national championship and MVP title, Taryne.

Probably more than any player in the history of college softball, you earned it.

Wow, did you earn it.

Hockey?

Did somebody win a hockey game tonight?

I guess so, but my eyes were fixed on a young woman and her team who would never give in.

In the end, their persistence earned them a championship and it is one I will never forget.