Let's try this again...

Ok, so my last blog about a sports rivalry didn't exactly work out, but I'm not one to be detered (or to look up how to spell detered - take that, Mrs. VanOsdol)

Today's post points you toward a great article by Skip Bayless about Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. In it, Bayless discusses his hopes that these two players will both play up to their best at the same time and give us a truly great golf spectacle.

The article's a good one, but the part that really gets me is about a third of the way down:

Which brings me, like their drivers colliding with their golf balls, to my point: Most fans root for Tiger or for Phil for some reason other than their games. Rivalries do that to humans.

Come on, admit it.

Tiger last won a U.S. Open in 2002 -- when Phil finished second.You like Phil because you're tired of Tiger's winning all the time. Or you like Phil because you think he's always a candidate for Father and Husband of the Year. You like him because he's always smiling on the course and he's always so likeable in interviews. You like him because you'd like to live next door to him and play golf with him on Saturdays.

Hey, let's be realistic, maybe you like him because he needs to wear a lot more sun block than Tiger does.

Or maybe you're a Tiger fan because you're a dad and you think you're training your son to be another Tiger. Maybe you like him because you're a mom and Tiger seems like such a nice young man in commercials and interviews. Maybe you like him because you're a minority or -- let's be honest -- because you're white and you don't think Tiger "acts black." Or maybe you like him because you're his age or younger and he's like watching a thunderstorm when he hits a great shot or a bad shot.

Can Phil follow his Masters title with another major victory?The truth is, that side of Tiger is the only real side either of these guys shows in public. The Tiger you see (and hear) on the course is the real guy. He can be a spoiled, temperamental fit- and club-thrower whose language can be as foul as his father's (who taught him). But the intangible greatness of Tiger Woods is that he can channel that anger into heightened concentration and resolve.

So the Tiger you see in front of a microphone or camera is basically acting. That goes double for Phil. Both are basically playing a highly trained role to give you, the upscale, golf-watching consumer, what you need: The confidence -- or illusion -- that you can trust the products they endorse because they're nice young men.

They certainly can be.

But the gut feeling here is that most Tiger fans or Phil fans would be shocked if they could become invisible and follow these two around in their private lives. This certainly isn't to say either of these guys has committed an unsolved murder. No, it's just that neither could live up to the image they've created with the media's help and many fans' gullibility.

In particular, it's the first part of that, the boldness of Bayless to say about Phil...

Hey, let's be realistic, maybe you like him because he needs to wear a lot more sun block than Tiger does.

...and about Tiger...

Maybe you like him because you're a minority or -- let's be honest -- because you're white and you don't think Tiger "acts black."

Wow. Those are very powerful and honest and amazing statements to see a major sports writer put into print.

I am floored.

And my honest feeling is that he's absolutely correct when he write that...

Most fans root for Tiger or for Phil for some reason other than their games. Rivalries do that to humans.

I'm not sure it's rivalries that do that to humans, I think it's just who we are.

I hate the Yankees, well, I dislike the Yankees, well, I kind of casually root against them. They're not bad people from what I've ever known, but they just win too much for my tastes. The team has too much money and spends it. It gets old. It's classist, I know, and I'm okay with that.

It's true of us all. We have biases...Bayless does a great job reminding us of that...

And let's, be honest, you're totally welcome to root against either Phil or Tiger because of who they each married...