Tiger Woods, Either Better or Worse?

As you probably have heard ad nauseam at this point, Tiger Woods gave a 17 minute phone interview yesterday about golf his damn left knee.

The quote of the interview that struck me was this nugget.

"I've been trying to adjust over the years to alleviate some of the stress I put on my left leg,''' he said. "Basically, my left knee has been sore for 10, 12 years.

"It'll be nice to finally have a healthy leg.

Oh, a sore leg for 10-12 years, really? Isn't that crazy? I think some of the things he said in the interview were a touch exaggerated ("When I was practicing, it got to a point where I couldn't walk to the golf cart anymore,'' he said. "And that's not good when the cart is sitting 10 feet away.'') but if this is true, things could go one way or the other starting in 2009.

If Tiger's knee has hurt this bad for this long, an optimist might say he'll come back stronger, tougher, and without the wincing. He will be able to "pop" that left knee on his downswing and get full power without the pain. Hey, anyone up for a drink, Woods is going to dominate!!

The pessimist might interject that Woods will never be the same after surgery, pointing towards the likes of Ernie Els for an example (three majors before knee surgery, a big fat Baltimore baseball team since).

Or, if you were a doctor, per say, maybe you'd think this. "It'll be nice to finally have a healthy leg. Doctors have assured me my long-term health will be a heck of a lot better than it has been over the last decade, so I'm really looking forward to that and not feeling pain after I'm playing or while I'm playing." Oh, his doctor said that? Alright, maybe he'll be fine then (crawls in hole).

Anyway, as we continue to endure the long winter that is golf without Mr. Woods, the only thing we have in our arsenal right now is speculation. With that said, here is a list of people Woods should never hang out with -- Grant Hill, Anfernee Hardaway and Ken Griffey Jr.