-NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown is Unhappy with Tiger Woods on Social Issues
On the most recent episode of HBO’s Real Sports former Cleveland Brown running back and NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown did what he normally does. He took his annual swipe at 14-time Grand Slam title winner Tiger Woods. For reasons known only to Brown he seems to stay quiet for most of the year, only to make occasional appearances on media outlets to say how Woods does not do enough to promote social change for those at the bottom on society.
“You know what’s so interesting about Tiger to me?” Brown said. “If it was just a matter of me looking at an individual that’s a monster competitor −this cat is a mamajama, he is a killer. He’ll run over you, he’ll kick your [butt]. But as an individual for social change … terrible−terrible. Because he can get away with teaching kids to play golf, and that’s his contribution. And in the real world, man, I can’t teach no kids to play golf and that’s my contribution, if I got that kind of power.”
Brown has also historically and in the same Real Sports piece belittled Michael Jordan for the same thing. Woods recently responded to the comments by Brown to ESPN’s Michael Wilbon.
“I think I do a pretty good job as it is, what we’re trying to do with the Foundation,” Woods said about his Tiger Woods Foundation. “How many kids we’ve helped …what we’re trying to do not just here in the United States, but what my mom’s doing in Thailand, all these different things that we’ve done.
“What we’ve done so far has been very good, very efficient,” Woods continued. (It’s) taught a lot of kids how to get back and learn, learn how to lead, learn how to give back. Learn how to teach others, have confidence in themselves to be able to do all these different things, and have these attributes going forward. That takes time. And I think we’ve done it right.”
-Tiger Woods has Continually Been Attacked by Jim Brown on Social Issues
Woods also estimated that his foundation has seen as many as 10 million children participate in the programs offered. To be fair with Brown he grew up in a much different time when African American people were fighting just to be treated like equal citizens. He was born in 1936 and played in the NFL from 1957-1965−right in the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. People like Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and to some extent Jim Brown fought and suffered greatly so that people like Jordan and Woods could become the superstars that they are today.
But Brown needs to stop this sad and tired ripping of Woods. Every time he does he just comes off as a mad old man. Just because Woods is not vocal on social issues whenever he speaks to a media outlet does not mean he is not helping the poor and powerless. Brown has also hinted that Woods does not do enough for those of his “race,” which Brown has always incorrectly identified as African American like himself. For the record Woods is one-quarter Thai, one-quarter Chinese, one-quarter African American, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch.
Brown wants every powerful person who looks like him to live their life the same way he did−constantly speaking out in somewhat violent terms about racial and social injustice. Well Brown not everyone should do everything the way you did it. For one thing Woods has never been arrested and for vandalism and domestic-violence has Brown was in 1999. Brown was sentenced to pay a $1,800 fine, three years of probation, community service, and ordered to attend anger-management counseling. When Brown did not attend the counseling he was jailed for 180 days.
In my opinion Woods had done a great job as a role-model for today’s youths of all races and ethnicities. He is a married man with one child who has never had any hints of trouble with the law. On top of that he has his foundation that has helped millions of children and is expanding its efforts. Brown may have been a socially pioneer in his time, but today he is way off-base when it comes to this issue. He needs to stop these pathetic attacks of Woods who is my opinion a much better man than he is.
-Source nydailynews.com
Nice!