During the declining years of her life, my grandmother, Zona Dutton, became quite a sports fan.

Forced to give up her job by increasing physical difficulties — she worked at the Presbyterian College dining hall until well into her 80s — Granny ignored my urgings to remain as active as possible, and as I feared, she holed up in her apartment, watching TV, shelling pecans, crocheting and fretting that the end was growing near … which it was.

Granny was a certified workaholic, and she ultimately couldn’t go on without the invigorating effect of work. She had worked all her life. At 80, she could’ve passed for 65, but when she died in 2003, having outlived her husband by 22 years, she looked 88.

My grandmother watched the Atlanta Braves every night, and yet I’ve never been sure she knew how many outs there were in an inning. Her Braves hero was Chipper Jones. She knew that I wrote about NASCAR for a living, so she watched the races and developed an affinity for Jeff Gordon. Her loyalty was unwavering and unaffected by my frequent visits. She knew I’d written a book about Tony Stewart, but she had little use for Stewart.

Knowledge that my favorite team was the Boston Red Sox — even knowledge that it had been the favorite team of my father, who died 10 years before her — didn’t undermine her love of the Braves.

Inexplicably, my grandmother loved Tiger Woods. She thought he was wonderful and found him gracious, sportsmanlike and respectful. She grew up hard, joining the work force during the Great Depression. She wasn’t particularly enlightened in the field of civil rights, though, in fairness, she had extremely close friends who were black for her entire life.

And theirs, too, undoubtedly.

I’m sort of glad she didn’t live to see one of her heroes disgraced. She loved Tiger because, I think, she found him as faultless in mannerisms as he was on the golf course. Oddly, he was a hero to her.

On the other hand, she weathered a much smaller scandal involving Jones, her favorite ballplayer, whose marital indiscretions surfaced one year during, I think, spring training. She never mentioned it. I certainly never mentioned it. She kept on pulling for him.

So I think, if still alive, she’d forgive Tiger. I’d just hate to see her have to.

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