It's been twelve hours since Tiger talked, and predictably people have been asking for my reaction. I've been hesitant to share it for fear of sounding... I don't know... naive? Something like that. You see, I came away from the Tiger Woods press conference feeling much the way I felt a couple of months ago when the scandal first broke and Tiger's transgressions first came to light: I like Tiger Woods.
The affairs, and the arrogance... the deception and duplicitous behavior, somehow... for some reason... didn't stop me from liking him. In fact, I now realize they could probably tell me that Tiger Woods was a serial killer ... and I'd still like him. That's because when I say I like him what I actually mean is ... I have a soft spot in my heart for him. And it seems I probably always will.
That's the only way I know to explain it. Perhaps it's a kind of denial... but not really. Because I'm totally aware of the irony. Here's the thing: Starting on the morning of November 28, one scorned woman after another appeared on the scene. They all seemed to have layered hair, pouty lips, and pushed-up, pneumatic breasts. They brought with them ever-more-salacious stories of sex and deception, illustrated by a battery voice mails and text messages. The tabloids, and the tabloid-inspired golf bloggers, covered the story and its cast of characters in minute detail. Relentlessly. As they should have, because that's their job. Ultimately they were joined by disgruntled members of the very golf media that had once routinely... and happily..."given Tiger Woods a proverbial "pass".
Motivated by years of pent-up resentment ... or by abject fear in these journalistically tumultuous time....this diverse group of golf content-creators dug for dirt and rehashed the most provocative stories coming out of the Tiger Woods rumor mill. Complete with timelines, surprise revelations and photoshopped spreads of the most marketable mistresses.
The group narrative got louder by the week, forming a collective crescendo of increasingly yellowish journalism. And I read it. Most of it anyway, because I'm supposed to be a golf scribbler of sorts myself.
And that's when it began to dawn on me: Through it all... through eighty plus days of continuous, tabloid-tainted coverage, I could not shake the good Tiger. The little guy on the Mike Douglas show who grew up to become an extraordinary champion at a uniquely difficult and honorable sport. The man who resonated with every race and nationality because he seemed to represent them all. The benevolent, supremely confident, extremely capable, professional golfer with the warm smile.
Throughout the apologetic, awkward, much anticipated press conference, that Tiger just wouldn't go away. And he will not go away now. Because during those years before the scandal, that Tiger did exist. If only in my mind, as an ideal. And I feel like I'm better for it.
I always cry when I see that Nike ad with Tiger and Earl. I cried before that scandal and I cry now.
ReplyDeletePatricia, sorry I missed you at the PGA Show...as if we would simply "run into each other" in that madhouse.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, thanks for the post. Liking Tiger does not make you gullible, it's just your feeling. While I don't at all condone Tiger's actions, and never really had a "soft spot" for him, I find my opinion of him changed very little through this whole scandal as well.
Upon reflection, I realized that was because I enjoyed watching him golf, and his occasionally very frank and entertaining post round interviews. Off the course, he was just another celebrity with whom I am 100% unacquainted. So, when he decided to stray from the bonds of holy matrimony, well...perhaps those who believed the image are the ones who are gullible, eh?
Keep on writing!
I believe Mr. Woods did what he could yesterday. Despite being robotic and almost painful to watch, he said WAY more than I thought he would.
ReplyDeleteI found it a little disturbing that some writers thought he was playing the "blame the media" game. I didn't see it that way.
NO ONE SHOULD FOLLOW A SMALL CHILD TO SCHOOL TO GET A STORY! NO MATTER WHO THEIR PARENTS ARE.
I'm anxious to see Mr. Woods return to golf, but I think that might be later than I originally hoped it would.
For now, move along folks. There's nothing else to see here. It's golf season for goodness sake!
I agree with Heather and I hope that all of us who follow golf can indeed find that other story, or stories. It's human nature to want one big superhero, one person who's undeniably The Best in Everything. The problem happens when we realize there is no such one person. I think we need to find our future stories in more than one person.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I think is going to happen: he's going to get his marriage back together. I don't know what Elin Woods is like (does anyone?) but as a woman I tend to think she want's to make it work. Then he'll start playing again and will be just as good or better. THEN they'll go on Oprah and do the interview some media people were expecting yesterday. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it.
ReplyDeletevery nice, very honest post Patricia. We're trying to look at it that way too. We faced a dilemma when this story broke. Our eight-year-old was Tiger's number one fan, and we had been all too happy to use Tiger as a roll model. The questions started coming and we've had to roll back the roll model talk, but we still try to emphasize the positive, and focus on the inspiring things that we always loved in Tiger because even if Tiger the man is not what he seemed, the values we looked up to him for are still the ones we want our son to have.
ReplyDeleteLike Heather, I think he did the best he could yesterday. Other than when speaking about golf, Tiger is not comfortable in front of a microphone. I always thought even his ads were a little stiff.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine having to admit to the entire planet being powerless over a sex addiction and how it has virtually made your life unmanageable?
I believe he is sincere. I believe he is contrite. I believe he will change and grow from this experience.
There are many out there who would not have been satisfied regardless of what he said and to whom. Even if he had a full press conference with unlimited questions, the 'haters' would still be out there.
I hope main stream golf journalists in general and the GWAA, in particular, soon begin to understand how they are losing traction and becoming irrelevant in the 2010 golf world.
Tiger called himself reckless and irresponsible yesterday, which is maybe an understatement. I thing a lot of the problems he had were from never being reckless and irresponsible when it's OK to be. As in - when your a kid or when your in college or at least before you have a wife and family. That's the problem with parents who try to form their kids into star athletes. They don't let them have a normal childhood.
ReplyDeleteI hear you Golf Girl, I know more than I ever wanted to know about Tiger's transgressions and about his weakness, dishonesty and sleaziness, but I still feel inspired when I see old photos and footage of Tiger. Not only golf-wise but character-wise. At first I felt like I had to keep reminding myself what a flawed man he turned out to be, but now I just accept that I'm admiring what he represented and there's nothing wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteGirls like bad boys.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I would love to see Tiger at the Masters. And I think that's the one thing that golf fans agree on. You might hate him for what he did; you might not care; you might have been upset and now you've forgiven him. But regardless, I haven't heard any golf fans say they plan to boycott golf if he comes back. I think most want him to. Golf might have lost some casual fans who liked him because of his celebrity status - not his golfing ability.
ReplyDeleteBut again, here's hoping for a Masters comeback.
It's all very sad. I think it's good you can still have a good feeling for Tiger. There doesn't seem to be much empathy for him at the moment. I can understand why some are angry. But I'm not sure I totally understand why some fans are so indignant about Tiger's scandal and personal problems. Has he caused them to lose their job? Did he steal their wife? Did his millions come from their pockets? (The few times I may have bought Nike products had absolutely nothing to do with Tiger.) I do get the whole disconnect between the brand and the man. He's really made a mess of his life off the course. It's very disappointing. Still, there's such a visceral reaction and a kind of viciousness and "let's sharpen the knives" mentality to a lot of the coverage. I do understand that the media need to tell the story; Tiger can't hide anymore. I do not fault that. I just think the sometimes gleeful dismantling of the man is disturbing. And as I've said before, although I respect his golf prowess, I'm not even a Tiger fan. Some of his on-course behavior has really bugged me over the years.
ReplyDeleteI'm certain to the be in a minority camp when I say this, but why does Tiger have to apologize to any of us? He's never had to apologize for an errant drive or pushed putt, how is this any different?
ReplyDeleteOutside of his wife and family, he has no responsibility to apologize to me for his infidelity. It's a family matter and we should be embarrassed to think that it's us that deserve a "sorry".
I think it's worth making the point that he did NOT cheat at his sport unlike McGuire, Sosa, and Marion Jones; cases where apologies ARE necessary.
I personally miss watching The Best Golfer in the world competing at his craft and can't wait to see him donning his Sunday red in the near future.
Great post Patricia - I hope he returns to form and lets his golf clubs do the talking once more.
Perhaps Tiger felt the need to apologise to the public for the blatant misrepresentation of the TW brand. Knowing that a squeaky clean family image would maximise sales, when the reality was somewhat different. How do parents now feel when their kids are walking around in TW Nike t-shirts? Perhaps not the role model they were sold.
ReplyDeleteTiger is still the best golfer of his generation.
Refugee- you speak the truth about bad boys. Hope you found that out early.
ReplyDeleteAlas- with me, I found out later on. Wish I knew it when I was young and still trying to be a "nice boy." It's become much too hard trying to be "a bad boy" now that I am older.
Of course I carry that burden along with a shorter backswing now.