Posted on 12/10/2009 4:49:12 AM PST by Kaslin
"Tiger's finished."
"Define 'finished,'" I said to a friend in response to her assessment. Will Tiger Woods lose endorsements? Yes. How many and for how long remain open questions. Has the carefully groomed image of the contented family man who "has it all" gone supernova? Absolutely. Will he lose his wife, given her public humiliation and her shattered trust in her husband? Strong possibility.
But the history books are full of Act Twos.
Woods is a golfer. He is neither politician nor pastor. As he struggles to deal with his apparent inner demons/self-loathing/shame/embarrassment/dishonor, he can still golf. The curiosity factor alone means stratospheric ratings for his next tournament, especially if he's still contending on the final day. People unable to spell "golf" will tune in for his next event.
As bad as all of this is -- especially for his wife -- Woods hasn't killed anybody, at least that we know of. The more bizarre things become -- the growing number of alleged mistresses, his mother-in-law's hospitalization, the recklessness of his behavior -- new revelations may start producing diminishing returns in shock value. People will wonder whether he's a really rotten guy with a phony stage-managed image or a really sick guy who "needs help."
A friend and I recently watched a professional football game. The announcer mentioned a stellar player. My friend said, "I like him. He's amazing." I said, "Still standing, after being tried for murder." She thought I was joking. "And," I said, "he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for lying to the police." We Googled it. He not only lied to the police but told others to do so, as well.
Former President Bill Clinton is the only elected president ever to be impeached. He pleaded guilty to contempt of court for lying under oath and temporarily lost his law license. Does Clinton draw down the window shades, only to venture out under cover of night to go to the ATM? Please. He blamed the Republicans, who wanted to "overturn elections." Defenders said, "Everybody lies about sex." Had the Constitution permitted it, Clinton could have won a third term.
When Clinton first ran for president, he admitted on "60 Minutes" having had "problems with his marriage." People interpreted this to mean an acknowledgment of previous cheating with a promise to sin no more. But he did. He lied to the country about it. He lied about it under oath. Today he strolls around the globe, an elder statesman whose opinions are sought out and somberly considered.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, in the midst of Clinton's crisis, went to the White House to serve as a presidential "mentor." Jackson brought his visibly pregnant mistress, and both later posed for a group photograph in the Oval Office. When Jackson's scandal broke, he briefly closed shop. But he soon said, "The ground is no place for a champion. The ground is no place that I will wallow on." Back in business.
As to former President Richard Nixon, few have fallen from so high to so low so quickly. He went from the most powerful person on earth to a guy ACORN wouldn't hire. The only U.S. president to resign, Nixon did so just ahead of an impeachment posse, with a conviction in the Senate a near certainty. After leaving office, he got paid for an interview with David Frost, wrote a bunch of books and gave speeches on foreign policy. He sufficiently redeemed himself, to the point that by former President George W. Bush's second term, many Democrats thought Bush's "crimes" worthier of impeachment than those of Nixon.
As for Woods, he once had a favorable rating of nearly 85 percent. A recent poll still gave him a favorable rating of 60 percent. And Woods conceivably could even turn public opinion in his favor if he continues to excel on the golf course. "My, what an ability to focus!" etc.
There are many lessons here. There is the silliness of considering celebrities, about whom we really know very little, to be "role models." There is the envy, sometimes, of the lives of others when very little is as it seems.
Fortunate is the person who can look back at his or her life and say, "I would do it all again, the same way." My dad once said that to me. Most of us mortals have made mistakes, sometimes too many to count. Some mistakes have to do with career. Some have to do with money. Some have to do with other poor decisions and poor choices -- reconsidered, of course, with the benefit of hindsight.
But the ones that cause the most regret and the most pain have to do with the treatment of other people -- especially those who loved and trusted us. We finally discover the value and worth of what we once had and failed to appreciate. And now it's too late. Good luck, Mr. Woods.
If Tiger is a decent man deep down inside then he and his game will suffer.
If he’s a dirtbag he will be basically unaffected.
I guess my line of distinction (assuming I ruled the world) would be:
Hitler I’d shoot
Clinton I’d jail
Woods I’d just shun
Agreed. I am sure a lot of the sports persona is manufactured. To play at that level you have to have a killer instinct plus you have so many demands for time from people. I do give Phil credit for sepnding hours signing autographs. I would not do it. The person I know said he is a generally a good guy.
Based on what we have learned, Tiger is a rather unpleasant person.
Two guys I really like who are younger guys are Sean O’Hair and Nick Watney.
I’m not sure why this mesage is directed to me. My comment wasn’t about Tiger at all. My comment was about the article and how it was written. It was an excellent and interesting article written by a black man, discussing many other well known people in addition to Tiger. And discussing their foibles objectively, never once mentioning race in the process. Showing how it can be done.
I thought you might find it just as interesting, don't read anything else into it.
All correct actions, but for some reason, you probably would be powerless to do any except the last one in that list.
I am pretty sure someone tried, unsuccessfully the first two, else we wouldn't have had WW II and the impeachment of Clinton, all to no avail.
Easy enough for us to personally Shun Tiger, but very hard if not impossible to keep him from influencing the kids of the world, it is what they do, good or bad.
“And this bogey-golfer, one woman man, father, husband and grandfather will live a lifestyle he will never have.”
I’m speechless. Your wife is one lucky woman.
Thank you. But I think I'm the lucky one.
Other than the thrills and sensationalism of the tabloids, it's a private matter.
Although the mistresses revelations and kiss-n-tell deals will continue most likely.
He needs to confront the problems and settle down with ONE woman.
If he can't, he's in for a rough ride.
No, he isn’t.
“Although his wife is technically ‘alive’, she feels like she is dying, I’m sure. Her world has been destroyed.”
STD’s can prove to be fatal too, especially for women. Who knows what she’s been exposed to.
I agree about Ben Hogan.
I watched the movie about his life when I was a teenager — it was on TV one Saturday. Amazing man, and such talent and perseverance.
Oprah will stage-manage the illusion that it is the latter.
Yup. Golf back then was not really a high paying career. A lot of guys drove cross country for a tournament. Hogan in the fog, I believe, had a head on collission with a Greyhound bus. 1949 cars did not have a lot of safety features and medicine back then was not tha great. Just before impact he threw himself over his wife to protect her. IF he had not done that, he would have died and probably also his wife. He came back but he was practically crippled. No - Tiger Woods will never be in his league.
Hogan came back with a broken body and won 6 majors plus a grand slam and got a ticker tape parade in NY in 1953.
To this day, golfer marvel at Hogen’s swing, far more than you know who. Also his secrets. What is sort of neat is that he and his compatriot, Byron Nelson, were Texans. Both grew up fairly poor and were real gentlemen unlike you know who.
Plagiarize much? Your comment was taken word for word from Lisa Shiffer, who wrote a column yesterday on AmericanThinker.com. Rush Limbaugh even read part of it during his show yesterday. If you’re going to copy and paste, please give credit where credit is due and provide the source/attribution.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/12/tiger_barrack_and_the_law_of_t.html
You crack me up that you are using “you know who.” God forbid you mention the name....if you’re like me, you’ll get blasted if you dare criticize “you know who.” There are many on these threads who will blame anyone but, and slam those who find his behavior lacking!
Tiger fan boys are worse than Obama voters. Man they have drank the whole bowl of Kool Aide or Tiger GatorAde.
Tiger aka Eldrick is slime.
Aren’t we all...
But if you could pick only one...
I pity the lemmings who follow Opera. I never watch her and have cautioned my 3 daughters about her. Opera may have started out ‘meaning well’, but pretty much follows the liberal talking points.
Because I don’t watch her, I can’t imagine WHAT all she would say to Tiger. Does she condemn or make suggestions, or does she just go “uh huh, uh huh”?
Drudge says; TV viewership of Golf events is down 50% without Tiger!!
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