Sideline to Byline: ‘Tiger’ uplifts discussion on mental health
The eye of the tiger: what every athlete is supposed to have. Unwavering focus, extreme discipline and a mental toughness to handle any competition. Often sports documentaries praise the mental makeup of some of our greatest athletes, the mindsets that push them to abilities beyond what we think are humanly possible. The new Tiger Woods documentary, however, opened a dialogue that I think can’t be ignored: Despite their seemingly otherworldly abilities, athletes have mental health problems too.
Released on HBO Max in January and set to air on television Feb. 9, “Tiger” takes a dive into one of the golf world’s most beloved — and most controversial — figures of all time: Tiger Woods. The documentary, directed by Matthew Heineman and Matthew Hamacheck, relies on thousands of hours of archival footage coupled with interviews from those in and out of Tiger’s whirlwind career.
It’s the exact opposite of a gushy Golf channel piece — and that’s exactly what I love about it. The filmmakers dug into his infamous relationship with his father, Earl Woods, who ever since Tiger was four claimed his son would be the world’s next golf messiah. Tiger’s life was fueled by his father’s approval and tortured by the man’s meticulous control over his son’s image.
Tiger struggled to craft his own identity outside of his father’s pre-planned vision of a golf robot, and the film frames Tiger’s dramatic fall from grace through the lens of a man lost in grief, drug addiction and sex addiction: all true forms of mental illness.
In the context of a sport padded by PR and proper manners, the filmmakers’ choice to frame Woods in this light was nothing but brave, and I argue almost necessary.
Mental health’s relevancy in U.S. public discourse rose throughout the pandemic in all fields, and sports should not be excluded. Both professional and collegiate players now play under not only the pressure to perform well but under the threat of contracting a deadly virus. Athletes have expressed their grief over loved ones who died from the coronavirus, and others have made incredible sacrifices to separate themselves from their support system to play their game.
It’s true sports media highlights the context of the pandemic while covering the daily cycle of games, but the discussion on what the mental impact of these circumstances are has been relatively mute in comparison. Athletes are expected to perform at superhuman levels while a virus physically debilitates millions of others. That is an exhausting and complex situation to face, and athletes with mental health struggles need a space of understanding to grapple with such a devastating reality.
In a September letter in the Players Tribune, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love penned an essay on how the year took a toll on those in high pressure situations. Love had to learn to differentiate his success in sports from his sense of love and self worth — something Tiger apparently never had the opportunity to do growing up.
“The truth is, the deepest sense of joy and peace that I’ve gained in my life doesn’t have anything to do with basketball,” Love wrote. “It definitely doesn’t have anything to do with money or fame or achievement. You don’t achieve your way out of depression.”
Championships and records make for great media coverage, but it’s time that the whole, complete picture got more coverage — a picture where an athlete’s humanity is put into the frame first and not just their performance.
2020 taught us that sports can be taken away in an instant. A player’s career can end with the snap of one bone or a diagnosis that prevents them from ever playing again. What happens when their worth is built solely on their stats sheet and athletic performance? Their very human struggles with mental illness or with life can become vilified and mocked if it takes them off the court.
We can’t kid ourselves into thinking that a player performing at their peak ability means that they are also at their peak of happiness. Athletes need to know that it is valid to not play because of mental health concerns, that being a pro athlete can be just as much the dream as it is anxiety inducing. “Tiger” shows that if these feelings aren’t validated, then they’re inevitably going to break.
People need to know they’re not alone, and both athletes and sports media have the power to amplify that message. There is nothing wrong with idolizing athletes and praising mental toughness, but this platform has the same capacity to raise awareness on how hard a life in sports can be.
Taylor Mills is a sophomore writing about sports media. She is also a Sports Editor at the Daily Trojan. Her column, “Sideline to Byline,” runs every other Monday.