An Emotional ROLLER-COASTER

My mind feels young, but my body feels older and older every day.

I’m 31 in my bones and joints. If I don’t stretch before I jog, I get sore. If I sleep the wrong way, my back hurts — the whole nine yards.

But anyone who knows me knows that I’m 16 years old at heart — even with all of the headaches.

It’s hard to explain. I’m not immature. I can handle my business like an adult. But I like to see the good in people, and I don’t like confrontation, nor any of the political non-sense that I was able to hide from when I was a young kid growing up.

That’s not realistic, nor long-lasting. I know that as I get older, I’ll grow into my career and as that happens, those little bits of my childhood will start to fade away.

Medically, heck, I can’t do anything I used to do. Gone are the days of eating doritos at 2 a.m. while watching Netflix. Heck, gone is staying up until 2 a.m. altogether.

But every once in a while, there’s a little sparkle of my youth that flashes before my eyes. And when it happens, I grab it and hold onto it for as long as I can before it dissipates and then it’s back to life in the real world again.

One of those moments happened a couple weekends ago out in a golf course in Atlanta, Georgia.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a fan of all sports and athletic competitions, but I’m a true, real-to-life diehard for the Houston Rockets, Atlanta Braves, LSU athletics and Tiger Woods.

I’ve loved Tiger since he was in the amateurs. I remember watching him battle Matt Kuchar in the amateur ranks in 1996, before deciding to turn pro.

For all of the big moments he’s had in the 20-plus year since then, I’ve been there — sitting in my living room with my nerves in a bundle, trying to root on my favorite individual professional athlete.

I like the guy’s swagger and vibe. To me, when he’s playing, golf is more fun.

There’s more energy, more people, greater emotion from the players — the full nine yards.

He’s done more for the sport than anyone in the history of it can ever say that they’ve done. Popularity has risen exponentially throughout his career in the game and guys who used to make $200,000 per win are now making $1.5 million per win — all because of Tiger Woods, his triumphs and the way the game of golf has grown around him.

But Father Time is undefeated. We know this.

Much like I’ve grown older and don’t move as well, so has Tiger. Much like I have had medical issues, so has Tiger.

And for a while, there was an inkling that the great prized athlete that I’ve watched for all of my childhood would never be the same again on the golf course.

And I’ll be honest, that idea stunk! And it still makes me kind of bummed out — even to this day.

But there’s a little twinkle left in the star.

Tiger had his back fused last year — a last-ditch effort to live without pain. Forget golf for a second, the dude was just trying to be able to sit, stand, lie down or do anything without feeling pain.

At the time of his decision to get the fusion, many thought it was the end of Tiger Woods.

I always had my reservations. I knew the competitor and I knew the wonderful things that modern medicine can do to a man.

But there were still doubts nonetheless.

A lot of those doubts were erased a couple weekends ago during the Tour Championship.

For that week, Tiger wasn’t an old, dented can anymore. He was an experienced, seasoned golfer with fire.

He hit flawless drives, precise irons and his putter suddenly had magic in it again.

From the first few shots of the first round, I knew Tiger had some pep in his step. And it never fizzled. He led going into the weekend, then into Sunday.

Once there, it was a spectacle I’ll always remember. For one day, I wasn’t 31. I was 16 again.

For one day, I was the junk food eating, youthful kid that I was throughout my childhood life.

From about 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on that Sunday, Tiger Woods was back.

He won the Tour Championship by a couple shots. The scene on the 17th and 18th holes was nothing short of magical as herds of people swarmed the final group, engulfing the 18th green to watch the legendary athlete polish off another win — the 80th of his tour career.

I ate it all up — every last bite.

I don’t know what happens from here. I can make predictions, but who knows if they will be true.

I think Tiger Woods is still today not 100 percent healed from his surgery in terms of mobility. I believe he will continue to get stronger and more flexible and with that flexibility, I believe he will return to the top of the sport and win several more times.

Will he ever replicate his successes from the early 2000s? No, of course not. But do I think he has a couple Major Championships still in his bag? Sure, why not? The Tour Championship was the Top 30 players in the world, so what’s different?

But no matter how it all shakes out, I will remember this weekend — the one where all of the question marks were erased and where I could be a kid again.

That was sweet. It’s been a long, emotional roller-coaster for us Tiger fanatics, but finally, at long last, we got one!

And it felt pretty damned good!

An Emotional ROLLER-COASTERAn Emotional ROLLER-COASTER

Within the context of our pages, Nan aging Editor Casey Gisctair tries to be processional, But those around the offices of Rushing Media know the real guy and he is, well, sort of a dork – in a good way, of course. This week, he details how it felt to be a “kid again,” watching Tiger Woods compete and win.

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