Seeking sports’ new hero we can all look up to

That was an interesting quote from Rory McIlroy about his rival, his idol and, as you interpret it, of sports as a whole. “He is the hero we all looked up to,” McIlroy said about, who else, Tiger Woods.

The players know. The fans know. The folks in management, the people who run the events, who own the teams, who make the deals, certainly know.

Did some observer really tell us that sports were the opera of the poor, long before the time when if you couldn’t afford a night at the Met you most likely could afford a day with the Mets?

Now, from arias to home runs, everything is high-priced. Including the salaries or, in the case of DeShaun Watson, the fine he must pay, $5 million, just to get back on the field after accusations of sexual misconduct. Sex sells.

The numbers make us crazy. And also help make our games what they’ve become, a fascinating blend of star power and high finance.

Maybe when President Biden is talking billions, we don’t even shrug if ballplayers or quarterbacks are talking millions.

ESPN knows. So do the other networks. Who do we want to see? Or, according to the ratings, who do the networks, the producers, the directors, believe who we ought to see?

Sometimes it seemed the only female tennis player was Serena Williams, the only pro golfer Tiger Woods, the only quarterback Tom Brady. Enough already. Or was it not enough?

The Lakers just re-signed LeBron James for two more years, and for $97 million. Bill Plaschke, the fine L.A. Times sports columnist, thought it was a bad deal. The Lakers were mediocre (or worse) with James last season, so why bring him back?

Because he is basketball in Los Angeles, the second biggest TV market in the land. It doesn’t so much matter what the Lakers accomplish, but what James can accomplish. The so-called ultimate team game is dominated by individuals. As are all our games.

You know the famous Michael Jordan response when he was told there is no “I” in team. “But,” he pointed out so accurately, “there is in win.”

Golf has been beholden to Tiger for a quarter-century. People who didn’t care much for golf still cared about Tiger. Or Serena in tennis. Or Brady in the NFL. Or Ronaldo in soccer. Or Justin Verlander in baseball.

Night and day, our games are on, mornings from the Premier League, evenings from some ballpark or tennis complex. Who’s going to bring us in? Who’s going to keep us there?

That’s a question pro golf faces essentially with the rebel LIV Tour challenging the established PGA Tour.

Go after the big names, pay them big bucks — though to Tiger’s credit, he turned down something like $700 million from the Saudi LIV group. The hope to create the excitement that will resonate when new TV contracts are decided.

Woods is very much a part of the action, as he should be. “His voice carries further than anyone else’s in the game of golf,” said McIlroy, who has a significant voice of his own, about Tiger.

The hero golf looked up to is in the process of stepping away. Yet, who knows what’s around the next field or diamond, or court or fairway.

Some 50 years ago, in what turned out to be his last column, the great Red Smith closed, “I told myself not to worry. Someday there will be another Joe DiMaggio.”

There hasn’t been, but there’s been a Hank Aaron. And a Roger Federer, a Michael Jordan, a Tiger Woods, a John Elway, a Joe Montana and so many others.

We await the greatness that was. The hero we can all look up to.