Dr. Charlie Blanchard's Weekly Golf Article
Tiger's Apology
HELLO WORLD: TIGER WOODS' PUBLIC APOLOGY RAISES MORE QUESTIONS
Last Friday Tiger Woods made a 13 minute public statement, live before a select group of 40 friends and associates, and broadcast to the world. It was scripted, deadpan and choreographed by IMG agent Mark Steinberg, with no reporters permitted to ask questions. Steinberg didn't chance it that Tiger would utter something to make him look bad. Originally the Golf Writers Association of America was asked to provide a Apool of three writers, but with no interview possibility they boycotted the event. A good friend and member of GWAA told me that the boycott sentiment of the writers was virtually unanimous, and that almost to a person the group had respect for Tiger's golf game, but not much for him as a person on account of his Asnobbish and supercilious attitude toward journalists. Still, the world's media did thoroughly cover Tiger's appearance, the first since the fateful middle-of-the-night car crash on November 27, mostly sequestered in a hotel a mile away from the clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass. For the statement there was only one TV camera permitted; but it, like Tiger, failed after only nine minutes.
There were two things missing in the room on Friday. One was Elin. Make of it what you will. Also MIA was Tiger's pitbull caddie Steve Williams, who may have glared into the camera warning everyone to give Tiger his privacy. By the way Tiger's enormous yacht is named Privacy. A note of anger oozing through, Tiger aggressively implored the paparazzi to leave his family alone. Not likely. It doesn't seem to matter if you like Tiger Woods or hate him, opinion is polarized more than ever. He projected as stiff, theatrical and arrogant to some; emotional, direct and honest to others. Words like Avulnerable, Aaccessible and Asensitive were conspicuously not heard, however. Tiger said he was sorry for the damage, pain and disappointment caused by his behavior. Was Tiger real? Was he sincere? Humble? Did the show work? I think not.
With a speech crafted in a fashion to seem candid, Tiger issued a blunt apology for his philandering. He admitted he was unfaithful and had cheated. The tabloids were right, as we suspected. AI thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to, confesses Tiger. AI felt that I ... deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. The 80's band Dire Straits nailed such celebrity license best with the line Amoney for nothing chicks for free.
The difficulty is that Tiger got busted. Now he's moving into his second month as an inpatient in an out-of-the-way sex addiction program that requires a medical diagnosis. Did he say he was sick? Did he say he had a medical condition that needed long term treatment? No. He said he was bad. His statements distinctly implied that he personally feels he has a character flaw. Earl Woods must be rolling over, since Earl thought Tiger was bigger than Jesus. As Fox Sports' Robert Lusetich put it, Athe pressure of being the perfect Tiger Woods can't be healthy and I think in some real way that charade contributed to his unraveling. AI have a lot of work to do, Tiger acknowledges, A(and) this path for me is Buddism. Classic celebrity narcissism at work. These thoughts would be recognizable by anyone familiar with addiction treatment programs, but not conforming to either the Twelve Steps or the medical model of disease. It strikes me that the most talented golfer ever is in hiding.
AI knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn't apply, explained Tiger. And the same seems to hold true of the media and big-time sports, both of which continually play by changing rules. Dog-torturer and spreader of genital herpes Michael Vick got a pass and is back, handsomely paid, in the NFL. Did the NBA erase Wilt Chamberlain from its hall of fame after he disclosed that he had bedded 20,000 women? Why is Pete Rose still signing baseball cards? Is there no shame any longer in our culture? Astonishingly fame and money can come to you even while you're in jail; O. J. Simpson should know. And the all-time bad-boy of sport, Mike Tyson, (yes, even worse than Tanya Harding, Kobe Bryant and David Beckham) still has sports groupies hanging on his every word. But my favorite is LPGA player Jackie Gallagher-Smith, who despite being married, used her caddie as a sperm donor because her husband couldn't produce. It's true, but you never heard of it. The media has treated Tiger unfairly, plain and simple, but he brought most of it on himself.
This is all because Tiger is different. Again, the normal rules don't apply. So far as we know Tiger hasn't committed any crime. Yet the public seems to feel he breached some kind of trust we had in his mega-celebrity role-model status, an image that has been promoted over the last ten years as larger-than-life. Even before that - even as a toddler - he was famous. Not raised as a normal kid, he never had a normal childhood. He was protected, managed, shielded. In college his friends knew him only remotely. On Tour he has friends but they don't know him. Even Tiger's handlers have shielded him up until now. He hasn't lived in a real world. One golf analyst complained bitterly that, despite Tiger's superficial contriteness, there is an authenticity issue. AWe still don't know who this guy is, moans Fox Sports' Mark Kriegel. Don't hold your breath, pal. Do we really know Jack? Trevino? No one ever knew Hogan. Are we entitled to know?
Here are my predictions. The speech was just the beginning. Brace yourself, this isn't going away. Elin will be rich, but not necessarily happy. There will be big-money lawsuits. Maybe paternity suits, palimony suits, grifter-style suits; and probably counter suits. In a first salvo, one of the mistresses, Playboy model Loredana Jolie Ferriolo, known as Amistress no.10, has demanded an apology from Tiger through her attorney as reported on cable news and in the N.Y. Post. There may even be suits filed when mean-spirited hecklers are thrown off golf courses in PGA tournaments when Tiger finally re-appears. But I think Tiger was on the money months ago when he told Sports Illustrated's Jamie Diaz that Awinning takes care of everything. If he can endure the taunting, jeers and mockery he probably will return to golf stronger than ever. Who knows when he'll be back, though. This will all be history and forgotten after Tiger wins his 15th major. The Tiger Woods brand, now in disarray, will be morphed and salvaged. Sports fans have a short attention span.
Golf Channel analyst Charlie Rymer said he thought Tiger was a Abroken person leading a Adouble life. I agree. As choreographed as the Friday appearance was, it makes me wonder why no one close to Tiger wasn't able to script his private life better. By electing to surround himself with yes-men may have been the worst mistake of all. The whole affair strikes me as merely part of a larger picture. We're seeing what happens when someone is bigger than big. As fans who idolize stars, do we deserve what we get? Or get what we deserve? I for one and very worried about the way corporations pitch their products with celebrities. I wonder about the role of personal Abrands in our culture, the use of Atreatment as a copout for famous wrongdoers, and the unbridled power of slick media image makers who can build and destroy so quickly. Society still confuses victory with virtue; fortune with freedom, celebrity with sincerity, power with perfection and winning with worth. Will they ever get it right? Will we?