Here we are again, watching the mighty stumble and fall. Tiger Wood’s admission today that he disappointed his family with “transgressions” that were not consistent with his “values”, all but validates the rumors of an affair with a 24 year old cocktail waitress. He says he will now work out his problems in private. Good luck with that.
Until now, is there anyone who didn’t wish they were Tiger Woods for at least a day? That gorgeous physique with the killer golf swing and a billion dollar bank account? What guy doesn’t think Wood’s wife is hot? Or what woman even? It was so perfect, it had to go, at least for a little while as the world adjusts to the reality Tiger Woods is really just a guy.
Like so many powerful men it is the people who have the most who risk the most. They approach the game of life as high rollers in Vegas prepared to lose it all. Is it power? Greed? Entitlement? Could Bill Clinton not have known he would be impeached for infidelity when he had sexual relations with that woman?
Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, the lawyer crusader with the smart and pretty wife who was elected in a landslide, lacked enough inside that he needed a call girl too. It cost him his job and his political future. I wonder if he wanted it in the first place, or he found himself on a train which was not going to stop until he derailed it.
And here was Tiger, just two months ago playing in the Notah Begay benefit golf tournament at Turningstone. According to the alleged mistress, Tiger was involved with her for two years. I watched him eat a sandwich out of his golf bag as another player teed off on the 15th at Atunyote. He seemed absorbed in the play, but looking back, maybe he was daydreaming about the next liaison with Jaimee Grubbs.
Tiger hasn’t run for office and he doesn’t owe us any explanation about his behavior. He’s just a hero. I don’t know any teenager who lamented the folly of President Clinton or Eliot Spitzer but my teenager announced tonight he doesn’t like Tiger “so much anymore”. Older folks who’ve endured the knocks of marriage and others who didn’t survive and moved on probably have more sympathy for Wood’s situation, but children still believe in perfect marriages along with perfect golf games and cool product endorsements.
Is there a person in the land who would trade places with the guy right now? He’s probably spending his fifth night on the couch; no more special than any other guy who strayed from his marriage. Infidelity has a way of recalibrating socio-economic scales. A dog house at the trailer park is probably not very different from the dog house at the mansion; they’re cramped places on the outside of everything, the house, the wife, the kids, the respect. There’s no promise of ever being allowed back in.
Remember the awkward stroll to the Presidential helicopter that first weekend after the news broke about President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky? First daughter Chelsea Clinton literally had to hold the marriage together for the planned vacation to Martha’s Vineyard. She stood between her parents and held their hands. We all watched and squirmed.
We squirmed while watching Silda Spitzer, tailored and composed with her Hermes scarf circled round her neck and bags beneath her eyes two feet behind her husband as he held a news conference about his “transgressions”.
And now we will watch the uneasy repair of the Wood’s marriage. On his website he said he couldn’t believe the appetite for details of his personal life with the tabloids. He ain’t seen nothing yet. It’s one thing to attract attention with a dazzling smile, a perfect swing and a long list of sponsors. But produce a soap opera in this Age of Reality TV, and you’ll find viewers you never knew existed.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
What I could not believe is, that he is the big news story. Four police officers were shot and killed and it is a 15 second story on the news. Tiger Woods crashes his car after a fight with his wife and it takes up the first 10 mins on the nightly news. Lets see, four people that saved people’s lives and protected society killed and the news feels that is not as big a story as Tiger Woods crashing his car. Where did our morals go??? I guess it is all about the bottom line and what sells advertisments.
i’m disappointed in Tiger, but not at all surprised at what is becoming the predicatable behavior of powerful men.
Ken good point and a common complaint about what makes news. You are right of course. Sadly, TV stations and newspapers know that police officers have been shot and killed in the past, but Tiger Woods has never strayed, at least not that we knew about. If you put a photo of Tiger and his alleged mistresses on a magazine cover, and the photos of the slain officers on another, people will buy Tiger probably 10 to 1. It’s not right, but as you noted, it’s the bottom line. Thanks for your thoughts.
Right Suze, Tiger’s got plenty of company. xo
Maureen-
Well, this is certainly a topic that evokes opinions, on many levels. When thinking of Tiger and asking “why,” there are many possibilities.
On one end: he never had a childhood like you and I. His entire life, under the tutelage of his father, was spent pursuing one thing – perfection in golf. He was never allowed to be normal, to grow up normal, and he is now expressing that.
On the other: he’s beyond rich, women fall all over him, he loves the “Vegas” life, and he does it because….he can … quite easily! A true wealth and power combo.
And somewhere in the vast middle, there are those who would say truly good persons, who struggle mightily with their feelings, emotions, and life circumstances, can and do become “involved” (on one or more levels) with another.
Where does Tiger fit in? Only Tiger and his wife know for sure. No matter what the appearance, one can’t judge by that alone. I am certainly not qualified to throw the first stone, or any stone.
I can only say amen to what you wrote: “Good luck with that” and “He ain’t seen nothing yet.” I do wish him and his family peace.
Don
Don, well put. I agree on all fronts. I wish them peace.
Good Mornin Maureen, I just got back from Myrtle Beach after a weeks outing and all this exciting news about the golf God Tiger hits a skid. Wow ! I am safe I guess because my game was still the same, I am out of money, and The War Department is still number one. Some of Tiger’s money sure could be used at Myrtle Beach it is sad to see things so slow a time at the resturants and hotels and links. Only the strong will survive for them and Tiger is going to have to show what he is made of !