Deadman's picture

    Tiger Chasing Tail Just Par for the Course

    I'm shocked by this whole Tiger Woods scandal. Not by Tiger's behavior, of course, but by the silence that seems to be accompanying it, at least in my circle of friends on Facebook.

    I really expected to be bombarded today with status updates addressing the emerging Tiger Woods scandal. I expected them to be mainly from women expressing some degree of disappointment or outrage. Instead, I only saw one status update that fit the bill.

    Maybe my Facebook friends just aren't indicative of society at large, but to me, this lack of response is a much bigger shock than anything that's happened in TigerWorld over the past week.

    I mean, let's be real, on the surface, this is a fascinating story - on a 1-10 scale rating the salaciousness of celebrity scandals, this rates an 11 at least. This is Eliot Spitzer, plus Kobe Bryant, plus Nick Hogan, plus Hugh Grant, all thrown into one juicy mixing pot.

    You've got your billionaire sports hero, a rare breed of athlete at the top of his game, one of if not the best in his sport ever, beloved by millions and the beneficiary of a squeaky clean public image. You've got your super hot chick for a wife, a couple of cute kids, and a seemingly perfect life.

    And in the space of a week's time, it's all come crashing down, literally, with a late-night car accident that allegedly followed a particularly intense marital dispute, which allegedly followed a series of affairs Tiger has had with one or more women (The specifics are still annoyingly vague, but Tiger has admitted to 'transgressions' on his Web site - note the plural use of the word).

    Usually, in these kinds of situations, the outrage you hear from America's peanut galleries is deafening - which to my ears resembles the sound of thousands of glass houses falling down as judgmental people throw their sad, schadenfreude-filled stones.

    But maybe, just maybe, we're starting to learn that perfection is a myth, and idol worship a waste of time. That no matter how superhuman Tiger is on the golf course, that off of it, he is just like the rest of us, utterly flawed and remarkably human. Monogamy may or may not be the most moral path for humans, but it certainly is not the natural path. In my opinion, it would be more shocking if Tiger actually hewed to his carefully constructed image and didn't succumb to the temptations that must surround him at every corner.

    Is Tiger a hypocrite because he actively helped cultivate that sparkling family man image? Of course.

    Should his behavior in anyway take away from his accomplishments on the golf course? Of course not.

    Does Tiger really have a right to expect privacy at this time when he has earned hundreds of millions of dollars from regular folk who bought into the Tiger mystique? That's a much tougher question to answer. Tiger made the vast majority of his fortune off the golf course, selling not just his athletic prowess but a story and image that he was incapable of living up to. If he wishes to keep raking in the sponsorship millions, he may have some 'splainin to do.

    But it's also past time we question why we fall for these obviously man-made mythologies in the first place. For now, I'm considering the relative silence on this issue a small sign of progress.

    Comments

    I agree. In fact, I think the media has, for once, overestimated public interest in a sex scandal.

    But think about how Woods makes a living. He's a vessel for affluent older men to enjoy vicarious fantasies of wealth, success, and physical vigor. The fact that he tomcats around with relatively-to-strikingly beautiful women doesn't really interfere with that. Probably it should.


    Uh, maybe we're starting to learn that perfection is a myth? Sports figures have never been held up as paragons of virtue and any time it was ever revealed, the women were portrayed as whores and the men were forgiven.

    some athletes you're probably right, but tiger i think is a bit of an odd bird in that he was seen as more than an incredible athelete, but a transcendent individual. he was definitely looked at differently, which is why so many people were disappointed at his inability to get involved with racial issues.

    im not just talking about philandering athletes here either - im talking about all celebrities, and i dont think all of them were forgiven.

    im not sure i agree that gender has much of a role here, although i guess that's the double standard that exists throughout society generally - men who play around are just being men while the women they play with are whorish homewreckers.

     

     


    Agreed, there's a gender distinction in how perceptions of these things play out. But the basis of the double standard is not really sex; it's class: wealth and power. Men still have a lot more of both and so -- like the victors in war -- they script the scenarios. The wealth/power gap exists in all social strata, but is most glaringly obvious among the uber-rich: Woodses, Trumps, Lettermans, Jacksons, Hefners.

    They are different from you and me: they can afford to indulge any and all of their proclivities, whether for good or what ordinary mortals would label vices. And it's unfair to single out the men for blame. There are fewer obscenely rich women to survey -- Leona Helmsley and that Pulitzer heir come to mind -- but I'd suggest their behavior is every bit as hedonistic. Poor people pay taxes and follow moral strictures; it was ever thus.

    So if you have a billion dollars and the object of your lust is a cocktail waitress, yeah, she is going to look like a whore and -- if she blabs -- a homewrecker. Why would you want to structure it any other way? In the context of the options open to him, the fact Tiger even tried to have a normal home and family life (and more or less succeeded up until now) is admirable.


    I just don't get why a hot stud like Tiger in the prime of life would saddle himself down by marrying the hired help when he could have been enjoying the pleasures of the flesh around the world with hot women of his choice.   Makes no sense.   I tell you, no sense at all.


    apparently, he thought he could have it all. which makes a ton of sense. especially for someone as successful and catered to as Tiger, and especially if he wanted the traditional family.


    All I know is I wanna see his BIRTH CERTIFICATE!

    WHERE'S HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE (LONG FORM)?

    So-called "Tiger MOHAMMED Woods."

    Can't golf for shit, neither. Only won because of ACORN!


    love ya quinn. did you hear tiger officially changed his name to Cheetah? (just heard that one!)


    I'm with quinn. Even without Mohammed, what kind of name is Tiger Woods? It's totally made up.


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