Ever since that fateful night after Thanksgiving, Tiger Woods has been on
every newscast, newspaper and website. And I am sick and tired of it. But I am
mostly sick and tired of the reaction and the need to fan the flames.
To begin with, I'm not defending Tiger for his actions. Infidelity is a selfish act
no matter who commits it. And he'll have to see the error of his ways every
time he looks in the mirror or the eyes of his children. That said, I don't need
to hear every detail of what happened every single day. If you're not ESPN, The
Golf Channel or any other sports entity, back off. In case anyone forgot, there's
people either dying or dismembered in Afghanistan and Iraq, jobs are scarce
and Sarah "Bullwinkle" Palin is on the march. The outside antics of an athlete
can only keep me interested but for so long. And is it me, or are you
getting tired of different reporters and writers saying that Tiger should open
up and disclose everything? Rick Reilly of ESPN is telling everyone that Woods
should do an all-access interview, and invite people in his house to regain the
public. Rick, it's crap like that that made Michael Jordan treat you like a dirty
jock strap. Tiger did the right thing by taking a leave of absence.
And it's nobody's business in the first damn place. If he did open up and
spill his guts, there's always going to be people who will be skeptical. What
really makes me laugh is the amount of people who have jumped up to
throw dirt on Tiger or try to further tear him down.
Which brings me to this question: why is no one asking about all of these
women that are suddenly on TV and in newspapers blabbing about their
affairs with Tiger? We know the answer: in this day and age, no one cares
how they get their 15 minutes of fame. C'mon, you can't tell me that a
woman is going to keep all of these text messages just to be sentimental.
These are women who are social climbers of the lowest order. Women who
will give it up for a Starbucks gift card and a graham cracker. And before
you try to say they're victims, understand this: someone that public, you
know the major details of their life. They knew he was married. And they
still chose to sleep with him. You've even got a 'madam' on TV talking
about how he paid for sex!! If she was two shades darker with an address
off Slauson instead of being in Laurel Canyon with a bad lip collagen
treatment, she would've done time!! The media at large is part of the
problem in that you're condoning this nonsense by giving these fools
airtime. A situation like this always gives me the feeling that there's
parts of the American public that love to build someone up just to tear
them down dramatically.
How will I get out of this one?
Tiger, if anything, this should tell you something. You were due for a
karmic ass-kicking. You rose to the heights of a sport associated with
executives and people who had the money and time for it. And on the
way, with all of the talent and passion you have to win fourteen major
event championships, you also had arrogance. From cursing at fans
to having your caddy intimidate photographers and sniping at fellow
golfers. You got paid handsomely for the whole package by your
sponsors, three of which have decided to part ways after this affair
(no pun intended). When you make 170 million dollars from your
endorsements alone, that's going to cut back on your gambling trips.
But Tiger, you brought it on yourself. You've been playing up the
clean cut image for a while now. So much so that you've become
more whitebread than Wonder. (I'm saying my man-Cablinasian?!
Are you serious?) Your father groomed you for this ever since you
went on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, putter in tow. In
essence, you probably felt that these flings were easy. Situations
to make up for your percieved awkwardness. I mean, when you're
considered 'the Urkel of the golf world', having a woman fall at
your feet is bliss. But honestly, Tiger...a couple of these women
look more beat up than Manny Pacquiao's sparring gloves. I can
only hope that you and Elin take this time to repair the situation.
And that you take this time to absorb some humility. You'll find it
easier than the back nine at Augusta.