Now that Tiger won't be golfing, will you watch?

If you were a member of my family, you were raised on sports.

There really wasn't a choice in the matter. It was pretty much our religion. Whether it was playing it or watching it, sports was everything for us.

I grew up with football, hockey, basketball and baseball ingrained in me with some tennis and Olympics mixed in. Those were the regulars.

But Golf? It barely made its way onto my radar.

The Masters might have been "a tradition unlike any other", but it wasn't a tradition in our house. Golf was viewed as more of a game than a sport. What I knew about golf and golf history I got from watching highlights and reading articles in Sports Illustrated. And that was only after reading every line in the magazine that wasn't about golf. It just was never of any interest to me or to anyone in my family.

Then came Tiger.

My sister and I were watching television and somehow got sucked in by this kid from Stanford who was playing in the USGA Championship. I never saw the USGA once before and I can't remember seeing it since, but seeing him once was enough to convince us this guy was different.

He made miraculous putts to fight back in matchplay and fist pumped his way to a win. He wasn't a gentleman out there like most golfers. This guy was a competitor.

Ever since then when Tiger was on the tube and had a chance on Sunday our eyes were glued to the screen.

My Dad is about as old school as old school can be. He's been a high school football coach whose teams are known for toughness and once threatened to beat the crap out of two coaches at my sister's t-ball game who were encouraging the girls on the other team to run over the catcher when they got to the plate. If you even mentioned the word golf around him he used to get a look of disgust on his face that was truly priceless.

Then came Tiger.

Now my Dad never misses a hole. He has the TW Nike shirts and the hat to go with it. He even took up the game that he said he could never get into. Our family now watches golf because of Tiger Woods.

I can tell you right now that none of us cared about golf before and now that Tiger has now announced he is taking an indefinite leave from the game I can say that I won't watch while he's gone.

I've never been a golf fan. I was a Tiger Woods fan. And despite his mistakes he has made in his personal life, I still am a fan of Tiger the athlete.

If he is not back by then, The Masters will go on without him and will still be called "a tradition unlike any other". But I won't be watching. I have a feeling that many others will be doing the same.