There's a great scene in the movie Superbad where Seth (Jonah Hill) has an exchange with Greg (Dave Franco) about Greg peeing his pants in elementary school. If you've seen the movie, you already know exactly what I'm talking about, and are probably chuckling. While Seth and Evan (Michael Cera)stand around during a gym class soccer game, Greg gets mad and Seth brings up the peeing incident.
"That was like eight years ago, asshole!" is what Greg says, to which Seth responds,
"People don't forget!"
It makes me laugh every time. I was put in mind of this scene this week with the news of Tiger Woods once again attaining the status of the number one golfer in the world. Sounds like a strange connection, I know. It's something that, even as a sports fan, and a golf fan, I probably would have taken only casual notice of, and not thought a whole lot about until The Masters— that is if Nike hadn't prevented me from such blissful ignorance. On the heels of Tiger regaining the ranking he first grabbed in 1997, the folks over at Nike released an ad that features Tiger, squatting to look at a putt, with a banner in large white letters that reads: "Winning Takes Care of Everything," and I remembered that Seth from Superbad is only partially right. People don't forget some things, while others we let casually slide away into oblivion. Where to begin with this "Winning Takes Care of Everything"?
I suppose it's hard to blame Nike for coming out with a slogan that sports culture has so wholeheartedly embraced, but that's the problem. Why have we embraced the sanctity of winning, and why are we so ready to forget someone's flaws when they're a "winner"? We can't blame Nike for saying something that is undeniably true, but what we can do is ask some questions of ourselves as sports fans, and as people.
How many people do you think are aware of the number of sexual assault accusations against Ben Roethlisberger? If you go up to a random person on the street and ask, some might get it right, and some might not. If you ask those same people how many Super Bowls he's won I'd be willing to bet that more of them could come up with two. For the record, two is the correct answer to both questions; an alarming symmetry. So why is it that we choose to forget about Big Ben's problems? It's a simple enough answer. The man, just like Tiger, is a winner. It can't be denied, and we have raised the status of winner to the most holy of holies. Just ask any kid whose ridden the pine for a winning little league team—what did the coach tell him was most important? He'll tell you, winning of course. We're taught, whether we'd like to believe it or not, that everything else is secondary. We snicker at sportsmanship awards, and laugh openly at the teams who lose, and whose players all actually play in the game.
Now, we don't forget everything, but what we do remember, again is influenced by the grail. Pete Rose is an excellent example. Pete Rose was an amazing baseball player, one of the best to ever play the game, but he broke the cardinal rule. He affected the outcome of the game. He screwed with the almighty; who wins, and who loses. How are we supposed to know who to vilify, and who to unconditionally love if we don't know who the true winner was? Pete messed that up, and he has paid for it dearly. Is there anyone out there that thinks being a gambling addict is worse than say, cheating on your wife with everyone in view? Or being accused of sexual assault (multiple times)? I'd wager not. And yet, there is little doubt that Ben Roethlisberger, Tiger Woods, or even Kobe Bryant, will all be voted in their sports' respective Halls of Fame. It doesn't seem that baseball will ever forgive Pete for what he did, because he messed with winning.
This is the same reason we're so fascinated, and disgusted with cheaters in sports. Lance Armstrong might be the most hated man in America. We loved him for being a winner, and we hate him for being a cheater. Lance tried to affect winning. Don't mess with our religion, Lance.
So this week, all Nike has really done is point out how we view sports, through some shrewd advertising, and I'd like to congratulate Tiger Woods on his regained #1 status. It's a remarkable achievement, by a remarkable athlete, but it doesn't change everything for me. His image, which to me it never appeared he tried all too sincerely to change, remains largely the same. But for most of us, what Nike is saying is the gospel truth. Should it be? I say no. I think we should all try to be a little bit more like Seth. Let's not forget.
Photo via Nike.
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