Were Tiger Woods' former caddy Steve Williams words racist?

Tiger Woods sacked his long-term caddy Steve Williams in July and when Steve Williams was asked why he celebrated his current employer's win so exuberantly he replied "It was my aim to shove it right up that black a*******."

Are those words racist? Is Steve Williams a racist? I cannot answer the latter question for sure, although it seems unlikely that a man who worked so closely with Tiger Woods for 12 years is a racist. I will however attempt to answer the first question. To my mind the insult in the comment was the word a*******, the word black was purely descriptive. Would I be more insulted because someone called me a "f***ing c***" as they did this weekend or a "f***ing Jewish c***"? I think that if I did not know the person then I would be more offended by the latter insult as I would wonder if they were anti-Semitic and if that was a reason for the insult. I have plenty of old friends who would use the word Jewish in a jokey insult but none of them are anti-Semitic.

Give Tiger a break!

Thanks to FL Pundit for the spot.

It's a night of oohs and aahs

It's the last round of The Masters and apart from a short break to watch who gets dropped from looking for a Dorothy (Over the Rainbow), have to keep Mrs NotaSheep happy, it's going to be golf all the way tonight.

By the way Bronte should not have been in the bottom three tonight, it was a travesty, I would have put Steph out myself but that's what comes of asking the UK public their opinion.

Back to the golf and Lee Westwood is not making it a relaxing evening, especially that 3rd shot at the seventh - ooooh, aaaah. Tiger's on a charge and Fred Couples & Phil Mickelson look threatening. I've been here watching golf majors too many times since Paul Lawrie won the Open in 1999 and as for The Masters since Nick Faldo in 1996.

What worries me is that people are making birdies (and dropping shots as well) whilst Lee seems determined to make as many pars as possible; you are going to need to make some birdies Lee - especially as Phil Mickelson has just drawn level after the eighth.

Some incredible golf over the last hour and can Lee make up the ground he has lost?

Anthony Kim - birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie - blimey!

Phil Mickelson recovery shot from the woods at the 13th - blimey squared!

But Lee Westwood birdies the 13th and Phil Mickelson misses his eagle put and then makes his birdie.

Phil Mickelson two ahead with four to play. Is Lee Westwood the only one of the top four not to have made an eagle today? Great par put at the 14th by Lee though.

Looks like another third for Lee Westwood, his fourth in Majors in the last eight tournaments...

Two behind going up the 18th fairway, looks like Lee Westwood is not going to break the UK's long draught. How long do we have to wait? Let's try willing Phil's second shot into the bunker.... hmm straight at the flag and I can't see him taking more than two from there, so either Lee pops this one in or he's not going to win... he's not going to win!

Earlier today I told Mrs NotaSheep that it would be bed by midnight and it looks like I was right. Bed by midnight and no British winner. How many birdies did Lee Westwood just miss today? Too many that's for sure, if only two or three had dropped. Ah well there's always the Open...

Will Andy Murray benefit from the curse of Gillette?

Thierry Henry disgraced for handling the ball in a football match.

Tiger Woods disgraced for having other women handle his balls off of the golf course.

The curse of Gillette? If so what terrible act will Roger Federer commit and will it be before, during or after the Australian Open Final? For Andy Murray a lot rests on this...

More seriously, I believe that Andy Murray can beat Roger Federer in the final but I am not sure that he will.

Googling

I have not written about Tiger Woods and his affairs as I have very little interest in how or why he cheatd on his wife, so far as I am aware he never claimed to be the perfect husband or sage on morality so I was surprised to find someone coming to this blog having googled (from Greece) LOVE AFFAIRS OF TIGGER WOODS. Maybe this was Winnie the Pooh I thought? But no it was my article entitled "The BBC love affair with Tiger Woods. It would seem that "of" and "with" do not narrow the field down that much for Google...

Who is the best golfer of all time?

Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods? I suck at golf plumps for Jack Nicklaus, I think that the BBC would disagree.

The BBC love affair with Tiger Woods

Before the Barack Obama love-in, the BBC had a deep love affair with Tiger Woods and the run-up to this year's Open at Turnberry was full of adulatory pieces about Tiger Woods. The most ridiculous was one I heard where an "expert" said he would rather take odd of 2-1 against on Tiger Woods winning than 7-2 on on anyone else winning, ridiculous. So when Tiger Woods didn't do the business yesterday the BBC pain was plain to all and as today's round comes to an end more attention is being paid to Tiger Woods' probable failure to make the cut than to the excellent chances of winning of British golfers like Lee Westwood. They must have noticed Lee Westwood, he has played in the same group as Tiger Woods on both of the first two days.

Tiger Woods and Barack Obama are both lauded by the BBC as black men who have succeeded against all the odds in a white man's world . Of course in reality Tiger Woods is one-quarter Chinese, one-quarter Thai, one-quarter African American, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch, whilst Barack Obama had a white mother whose racial heritage is often airbrushed in the stampede to glory in the first "black President of the USA".