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In 1996, Sports Illustrated named a 20-year-old Tiger Woods its Sportsman of the Year, and Gary Smith's accompanying story portrayed a young man who somehow combined the best parts of Doogie Howser and Buddha. It seemed like a stretch.
And today, of course, it looks downright absurd. We know now that Tiger's father, Earl, was a sly old chiseler, and that his fingerprints were all over the messianic hooey heaped onto Tiger in those days. Earl was running a terrific con, and Sports Illustrated was maybe his greatest mark. Here are the 10 most outlandish selections from the story.
