Carried away

We crave the extreme these days, here in this demagogue's age. Every bad thing is the worst thing ever. Every good thing is the best thing ever. Achievements cannot be judged on their own merit; they are either the greatest discovery/victory/upset of all time, or they are nothing.

This is our reality in Trump's America, where shameless distortion and obvious falsehood are eagerly embraced, and perspective and nuance molder in shallow graves. And so of course what Tiger Woods did Sunday was the greatest athletic feat of all time, and of course Our Only Available President decided to go as over-the-top with it as so many others did.

What he did was, he announced he was awarding Tiger Woods a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The catty reaction to this was that this was because Tiger and OOAP have so much in common, like  golf and screwing porn stars. The other reactions generally hewed to two tracks.

"Yay, Tiger!" said those swept away by the moment.

"He's getting a Medal of Freedom for winning a golf tournament?" said those with a better handle on reality.

It is, in truth, as hard to fathom as so much else OOAP says and does. But it's also a window into who we are now. We are not only prisoners of the extreme, we are prisoners of the moment.

Look. That Tiger Woods coming from behind to win the Masters was riveting television was undeniable; if you didn't appreciate it, you don't appreciate sports and what is best about them. That it also culminated a remarkable comeback from 11 years of knee and neck and back injuries was equally undeniable.

Yet it did not come out of nowhere, and -- as the Blob noted yesterday -- it was not only not the greatest comeback in the history of sports, it might not have been the greatest comeback in the history of golf. Tiger was, after all, one of the betting favorites after finishing sixth and second in his last two majors and winning the Tour Championship last fall. It wasn't like he threw off his hospital gown, donned his red shirt and emerged straight out of post-op to shock the world.

To be sure, that he could go from barely walking two years ago to regaining his place at the top of the game is not something that happens often. But it does happen, to one degree or another, and has many times in many different sports. And it hasn't always come with the component of self-inflicted adversity that accompanies Woods' comeback tale.

The injuries were one thing; the cratering of his personal life because he was an incurable hound dog was solely on him. Not sure this is the sort of thing you reward with a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

So why is OOAP doing this?

I don't know. Who knows why he does anything?

The Blob's best guess: As America's Golf Cheat in Chief and notorious celebrity whore, he just wants to hang with Tiger for a day.

Good an explanation as you're likely to find.