Tiger Woods - so so Popular

In contemporary culture, Tiger Woods is immensely popular due to his exceptional athletic abilities, his ability to open access to a sport formerly off-limits to African Americans, and because of his role-model and heroic status among Americans young and old

The following theoretical elements from popular culture will be incorporated into this study: heroes, stereotypes, and ?the American Dream?.Tiger Woods is popular because his athletic ability on the golf course is unparalleled in the history of golf.
Tiger Woods is popular because he is a young African-American male who helped open access to a sport formerly off-limits for young African-American males.Tiger Woods is popular because his status as a hero of the golf world, enabling Americans young and old to view him as a role-model and the embodiment of ?the American Dream? or ?the Myth of Success?.
Eldrick ?Tiger? Woods is an American hero, the embodiment of ?the American Dream?. Part African-American and part Thai, Tiger Woods is a hero to ethnic groups everywhere. He has become such a hero because of his superstar athletic abilities on the gold course ? ones that not only saw him become one of the few legitimate golf superstars but also helped him earn his image as a racial pioneer. He consistently drives the ball more than 300 yards and he draws large crowds to a sport not known for being popular among spectators.
Especially on television, but before the emergence of Tiger Woods few minorities gained access to the mainly white world of gold. Tiger?s ability to do so through sheer athletic skill, a winning smile, and loads of charm has catapulted him to hero status among minority children everywhere who view his success as an example of what their own efforts might one day yield. While many on the mainstream media label Tiger Woods ?black? or African-American, he is multiethnic and his ethnicity cuts across more than black-and-white racial lines. As his mother notes ?All the media try to put black in him. Why don?t they ask who half of Tiger is from? To say he is 100 percent black is to deny his heritage. To deny his grandmother and grandfather. To deny me!? (Rushin, 2000, 52). Tiger Woods is a hero and role-model in American society for more than his ethnicity or his golfing skills. He also is responsible for the wave of enthusiasm known as Tigermania due to his winning attitude, courage, and hard work.