I've been asked by more than a few friends why I have yet to opine on the recent troubled times of pro golfer Tiger Woods. After all, I have written many sparkling blog posts about Woods and his becoming the greatest golfer, if not most accomplished athlete, in my lifetime.
But literally within a two week span, Tiger has had perhaps the largest fall from grace suffered by a celebrity.
If one were to mention Tiger's name last month, there are a myriad of things which would come to mind. Like the fact his 14 major championships in thirteen years rank him second behind only Jack Nicklaus. Or the massive wealth Tiger had accumulated through lucrative endorsement deals, the largest courtesy of Nike. And if all that weren't enough, he was married to the smokin' hot Elin Nordegren, a Swedish supermodel with whom Tiger had two children.
But as the seedier, more slimy details surfaced regarding the multiple extramarital affairs in which Tiger has engaged, my initial reaction was utter shock. But then I quickly asked myself why I was so taken aback. I mean, I didn't know Tiger personally. I merely saw the utter phenom who did things on a golf course that had literally never been seen. So from that, how is it I could draw the conclusion that he was a man of integrity, a model citizen if you will? It's not unlike how I felt when I learned of the secret life of Kirby Puckett. I saw a gifted, jovial athlete on the baseball field but knew of literally nothing that took place in Puckett's personal life. And that is a life lesson that I have learned the hard way. No matter how genuine and polished a person may appear, we never know what goes on behind closed doors.
In an unprecedented collapse at this past summer's PGA Championship at Hazeltine, Tiger Woods lost despite having a two-stroke lead going into the final round. I can only guess that at this very moment he would give anything for that to be the most significant problem in his life.
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3 comments:
just stop calling him an athlete.
he's a Golfer.
Brad, I was looking at this another way this morning: Why should infidelity be any reason to lose fame? Notions of chastity, monogamy, and fidelity are just relics of an obsolete theocratic society, aren't they? Sex education in government schools has taught for years that humans are animals who need to satiate appetites, not control them. The flap over Tiger shows the liberal hypocrisy of promoting promiscuity through education and entertainment, then acting shocked when a celebrity lives out this ideal. Those of us who believe sex is for marriage have reason to be disappointed in Tiger, but those who demean marriage have no grounds on which to criticize him.
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