Tiger Does Not Owe Me An Apology, But I Want One Anyway

In a little over an hour Tiger Woods will take the podium and face America. He will face the whole world. He will not face the media. That has the media upset, as if they should expect something more from a person who has up until now picked and chosen when he talks to the media and how much he gives them. Tiger has been prepped by his PR team and will deliver a carefully thought-out and written statement. It will be dissected and examined by all forms of media outlets: network and 24 hour news, blogs, major sports networks/websites, and certainly by the general public.

We have generally stayed away from all Tiger talk on our blog, even before the Thanksgiving incident up until now. We did do one post on how Tiger apparently thought tipping was for the birds, and referenced his skill on the golf course. Other than that, we left it up to others to make judgments about what drives Tiger, how good he really is, or what went on in his personal life. However, everyone and their mother has an opinion on this topic. Seriously, we all have thoughts on what Tiger did and what he should do.

A common theme among the media yesterday was that Tiger does not owe us an apology, he owes his wife, his family, and his sponsors an apology. While what Tiger did affects those parties a lot more than any of us, it does not mean he has not dropped a bomb in the middle of the American sports landscape. He does not owe me an apology, but I want to hear him say it anyway.

Speaking of his wife, I cannot believe she is staying with him after all of this. I know there are those that disagree but in my mind the man repeatedly and willfully banged anything that would serve him pancakes while you gave him two children and stayed behind. At this point money should not be an issue, Elin will get paid either way, this is about recognizing that the person you married had no intention of being faithful. How do carry on an intimate realtionship with this man? The time for those two having any kind of romantic connection has come and gone, unless Elin can deprogram her brain and shove enough prescription drugs down her throat to be okay how with she has been treated. It seems that those who are trying to save the marriage have found a scapegoat in the form of sexual addiction and lay the a large part of the blame on that instead of Tiger. The sexual addiction excuse is beyond a joke. I am not saying sexual addiction does not exist, I am saying it was not the cause of Tiger's behavior. An addiction is something that cripples your life and prevents you from functioning. Ever watch the show Intervention? That, my friends, is addiction. Tiger was still able to play golf, and quite well mind you. He was able to do his charity work, keep himself in shape, grab a shave with Roger Federer, and keep his wife in the dark for years. He may have a problem, but not an addiction. I liken this tactic to the trend of coaches getting caught at on-campus parties and pulled over for DUIs suddenly coming out and saying they were alcoholics to soften the blow. For the most part it works, the public takes sympathy and accepts the apology; is it any wonder both Eustachy and Huggins are employed coaches right now?

The problem lies in many layers underneath the stoic face we know of Tiger's. It has to do with his past, the way he has been deified in sports culture, and the manner in which wealthy men/athletes conduct themselves. Basically it is the way business is done for the super rich, Tiger just had it blow up in his face. He may have been more blatant and less discreet about some of his choices of partners, but once he became a super athlete he had no reason to feel constrained by what the general masses consider proper social sexual etiquette.

You may ask why I post this right before the actual reading of the statement, and the answer is I don't care what Tiger says. I know he will apologize, act contrite, and make it clear that he wants to move on and get back to golf. In this case I accept Tiger's apology and I am glad he gave it. It is something he should have done long ago in my opinion. Sooner or later if you want to get back to where you one stood among the titans, you have to own up to your transgressions. The media will not be satisfied because once again Tiger will not entertain their pointed questions. Others will not be happy because they feel Tiger never needed to apologize to them and just want to see him play golf. I am perfectly fine with whatever Tiger says, because he will say he is sorry and that is all I needed to move on.