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Woods Article

Dent

Dent

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This article was taken from the Montreal Gazette. Author unknown.

First of all, let me say quite clearly that I am **not** a fan of Tiger Woods. Never have been, never will be. I recognize that he can hit a golf ball quite well, for what that's worth. Lance Armstrong can ride a bike. Barry Bonds can hit a baseball. LeBron James can dunk a basketball. That doesn't make any of them heroes. Matter of fact, they're all about as far from being heroes as you can get.

Tiger Woods is a man whose life is built around greed and a ruthless, monomaniacal obsession with winning. No wonder he's obsessed with acquiring mistresses. The man has always had everything he ever wanted. Who is going to tell him no? When I read about Woods, all I see is stories about when he's going to return to the PGA Tour, how he's going to rehab his image (as though it's all about image and nothing else) why he's likely to come back better than ever. No one mentions that this was one twisted, greedy human being from the get-go. Tiger Woods is what happens when you turn your child into a machine.
Pity his father, Earl Woods, is no longer around to see the destruction he has wrought. The infant who was on television putting against Bob Hope when he was 2 years old, the 3-year-old who shot 48 for nine holes, the teenager who stepped into a multi-million-dollar Nike contract before he won his first pro
tournament, has finally broken out of the carefully constructed shell. Predictably.

What Tiger Woods, his father, his handlers and his sponsors failed to understand was the simplest of all truths: we are human. We are not robots. The human Woods kept trying to break through the robot. We caught glimpses and they weren't pleasant: The petulant child hurling his clubs and swearing when a shot goes awry. The swearing. The dirty, leering jokes. The arrogant brat who does his famous drive-by every time he passes the autograph hounds waiting after round, refusing to do a Phil Mickelson and spend 15 minutes signing autographs for the adoring gallery.

The greedy walking corporation who made it eminently clear from the beginning that he didn't care about the Asian sweatshop workers who were turning him into the wealthiest athlete on the planet. The American of mixed racial heritage who couldn't care less about politics at home, where people of colour have suffered and bled for 300 years.

The most outrageous thing I have heard said of Woods came from his father. Earl Woods predicted that Tiger would turn out to be one of the great men on the planet, like Gandhi or Nelson Mandela. Woods is a great golfer, whatever that is worth. He is not a great man, by any stretch of the imagination. Woods
doesn't begin to measure up to the athletes who were also great humans: Jackie Robinson, Jim Thorpe, Bill Russell, Babe Didrickson, Muhammad Ali, Jesse Owens, Rocket Richard. They had to fight real hatred and prejudice. They suffered real hurt.

Woods is a shill, nothing more or less. He works for anyone who will pay him. He'll peddle watches, golf balls, automobiles, consulting companies. And Woods will not trouble himself for one instant if he learns that a good part of his fortune is because of the labours of Asian workers making a few dollars a day. That's not his problem, as long as he can afford to cruise off into the sunset on a $20-million yacht named Privacy - a middle finger flipped at all the suckers who pay the bills.

The nearest parallel we have to Woods is Michael Jordan. Jordan was the first athlete to go global as a brand rather than as an iconic sports hero. He was the first anti-Muhammad Ali, the athlete who didn't give a damn about anything but himself. Jordan refused to take a stand against people like the racist
South Carolina senator Jesse Helms because racists buy Nikes, too. Now Woods has picked up where Jordan left off - and therein lies a cautionary tale. What was left of Jordan after his career was over was seen in his disgraceful speech when he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Jordan is now a bitter, angry, vengeful, vindictive man who used his Hall of Fame speech to slander all of his rivals and most of his one-time friends and teammates.

Someone wrote to me yesterday to say that "we" have torn down the icon that is Tiger Woods. Nothing could be more wrong. "We" might have built Tiger Woods into the monster of ego and greed he has become, but "we" had nothing to do with tearing him down. Woods did that himself, with his insatiable greed, his roving, relentless sexual appetite, his cynical use of his beautiful family as props to distract attention from what he was really doing.
In two or three years (if not sooner) most of this will be forgotten. Woods will be divorced, he'll have as many mistresses as he wants, he'll go back to winning majors, raking in millions and endorsing half the products on the planet. Why will he get away with it? Because sports fans want someone to worship, and
the bottom line is that they don't care if the man inside is worse than Tony Soprano.

If you want to help your children find heroes in the world of sport, stick to figures like Tony Dungy, Marc Trestman, Anthony Calvillo, Ben Cahoon, Jean Béliveau, Otis Grant, Clara Hughes. Remind your children that when Hughes won her gold medal in Turin in 2006, she immediately donated $10,000 to Right to Play, the charity that attempts to help African children through sport. If Tiger Woods was to donate a comparable portion of his personal fortune, it would come to $200 million or more. But he won't do it. That is one reason he's not a hero. Never has been, never will be.

Because for openers, if you're not a hero to your own family, you're nothing.
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I tend to agree with the author about the greed and the selfishness.
 
I like the read. It is pretty clear that the man had more respect for his golf/income than he did for his family. Of course he will be on top again, if his golf game has not suffered.
 
I agree with some of the article, but it may be a little over the top. It fails to mention the Tiger Woods Foundation, I think that has been a worth while project. I thought his tournament raised $$ for our troops... I'm sure (hope) there are other examples. I have a hard time believing anyone one is 100% good or 100% bad nowadays, there are too many shades of gray...
 
couldbeu said:
I agree with some of the article, but it may be a little over the top. It fails to mention the Tiger Woods Foundation, I think that has been a worth while project. I thought his tournament raised $$ for our troops... I'm sure (hope) there are other examples. I have a hard time believing anyone one is 100% good or 100% bad nowadays, there are too many shades of gray...
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Agreed. One thing that really sticks out to me is that Tiger does not tip when going to restaurants or places like that.
 
Dent said:
Agreed. One thing that really sticks out to me is that Tiger does not tip when going to restaurants or places like that.
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As my Dad once told me, you can tell a lot about the character of a man by the way he treats people who can do nothing for him.....people like waitresses, perhaps.

My dad got a lot smarter after I turned 25 and he seems wiser now. I wish he were alive so I could tell him how he guided the development of my character.
 
You'll have to forgive my ignorance as I'm not familiar with the athletes that the author names in his last paragraph as being "heroes in the world of sport", but what makes them any different to Tiger?

Everyone has a squeaky clean public image until it all comes crashing down around them. How much do we know about the private lives of these people? How much would we know if they were up to the kinds of things that Tiger's been up to over the last few years? Would we care if they were?

Surely the author must admit that every athlete's image is cultivated and manipulated to some extent? How are we the general public supposed to pick the wheat from the chaff? Are we just supposed to take the word of those in the media whose job it is to bring us these stories?

It seems to me the best way to go about it is to not idolise or deify any athlete for anything other than what they do in their respective fields of competition. Anything else is just folly and leads to the kind of public assasination we are seeing with Tiger now because Joe Average feels like he has been duped by the Mr Nice Guy image. I think this feeling is what is driving most commentators
 
Anth said:
Everyone has a squeaky clean public image until it all comes crashing down around them. How much do we know about the private lives of these people? How much would we know if they were up to the kinds of things that Tiger's been up to over the last few years? Would we care if they were?
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I agree with you that we would not care about what he has been up for very long but the one thing that makes Tiger stand out from any other public figure is that he did not stand up and be accountable for his actions and what happened so that he could clear the air about what was being said and his family.

Tiger has instead gone into hiding worried about his public image when all he had to do was stand infront of a camera and make a simple statement like "I've made some mistakes and for that I am sorry". That would be the end of the story and the media would move on...instead things are posted on his website and now the media is in a frenzy trying to "uncover" the real story because he will not meet them head on and tell them his story.
 
I agree. A commentator on radio the other day posed the question:

Has there been a bigger public relations/damage control disaster? From the moment the story broke, it seems Tiger and his people have made all the wrong moves. Whether IMG or Tiger himself is to blame for that I don't know...
 
I pity Tiger for the fact that all the money and fame in the world can't stop his children for someday knowing just what their Father is all about. He can't be a hero to them anyone no matter what he does. It's at least in my book it's important that you are some kind of hero to your children. I know my Dad was a hero to me and he was just your average joe who gave his family love and respect. That's was enough for me.
 
Thanks for posting the article Dent. Most of my friends and my family don't feel as strongly about Tiger's behavior as many of you here. I think it's because we admired his golf ability, but didn't confuse that with the man.
 
I feel where most of my frustration comes from, and I'm sure a lot of people can relate to this, is that we all looked up to him as an extraordinary athelete. Although he wasn't a saint, his poise on the golf course and his athletic ability made up for that. We admired him no matter what he did.

For him to go and do that sort of thing just throwing his reputation away, makes his true fans lash out.
 
Dent said:
I feel where most of my frustration comes from, and I'm sure a lot of people can relate to this, is that we all looked up to him as an extraordinary athelete. Although he wasn't a saint, his poise on the golf course and his athletic ability made up for that. We admired him no matter what he did.

For him to go and do that sort of thing just throwing his reputation away, makes his true fans lash out.
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I'm not sure that I understand what you're trying to say here.

I consider myself as one of his "true fans" and I'm not lashing out at him; quite the contrary in fact. It is frustrating and even disappointing, but just I see him as a man who obviously has issues and though he may not be presenting himself in the best light right now, I don't hold that against him and I certainly don't conflate any of his off-course actions with his achievements and abilities as a golfer.

I hope that he can get his life straightened out and I hope that those whom he has hurt along the way can find it in their hearts to forgive him, but I for one don't think any less of him. In fact, in some ways, seeing this happen to him makes him even more compelling because it demonstrates that even someone of his stature and station has faults just like the rest of us and that makes him a lot more "real" to me than he was before.

I can understand why some people may think less of him or that they may be less inclined to praise his accomplishments and I don't fault them for that. I just think that it's been far too overblown and that in the end, he's just as human as the rest of us and maybe that's what scares people.

I wish him well and I hope he gets back to playing golf soon.


-JP
 
I have never been a big TW fan, but his dad cheated on his mother, just like you know who. It is widely known that his dad had a similar problem. With that said, TW made his choices and now has to live with them.

Just as many of us made him greater than he was, we are probably making him worse than he really is. Such is life in this 21st century media centric world that we live in.

I would assume the author has not spoken to TW or Elin in any way and only knows TW as much as we do.

Again, I do not defend what he has done, but not many of us could survive what he goes thru on a day to day basis. Fame at such a young age seems to be unnatural and could cause all kinds of problems. I believe we should be giving this man a chance to recuperate and regain his standing in his family.

There are many people throughout history that have fallen under this. Let's see how he does and whether he can recover without getting into a frenzy.
 
Andy804 said:
I have never been a big TW fan, but his dad cheated on his mother, just like you know who. It is widely known that his dad had a similar problem. With that said, TW made his choices and now has to live with them.

Just as many of us made him greater than he was, we are probably making him worse than he really is. Such is life in this 21st century media centric world that we live in.

I would assume the author has not spoken to TW or Elin in any way and only knows TW as much as we do.

Again, I do not defend what he has done, but not many of us could survive what he goes thru on a day to day basis. Fame at such a young age seems to be unnatural and could cause all kinds of problems. I believe we should be giving this man a chance to recuperate and regain his standing in his family.

There are many people throughout history that have fallen under this. Let's see how he does and whether he can recover without getting into a frenzy.
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+1 Andy!

Your post is one of the more level-headed and fair-minded comments about this that I've read in quite while. I am not aware of any such stories about Tiger's dad, so I won't comment on that, but I will grant you "tree and the acorn" implication.

Other than that, I agree with everything else you wrote.

Good stuff! :thumb:



-JP
 
Dents comments are interesting in this situation because he is a young person, and a level headed and intelligent one if his participation in this forum is any indication.

I'm glad to see this type of behavior is disappointing to young people. It should be.

Kevin
 
I'm more disappointed in Tuger because he hasn't had ther guts to come forward aside from his paragraph or 2 on his website. Man up & get the interviews & questions out of the way, it's not like they are going to disappear because you hide out for X amount of time.
 
dynarider said:
I'm more disappointed in Tuger because he hasn't had ther guts to come forward aside from his paragraph or 2 on his website. Man up & get the interviews & questions out of the way, it's not like they are going to disappear because you hide out for X amount of time.
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He's kinda busy right now dyna, remember he's supposed to be in rehab for his "sex addiction." :D
 
That's what the quote marks were for. hehe
 
I know people like to giggle about it, but sex addiction is a real Honest-to-God addiction that is no different than being addicted to gambling, alcohol, drugs, etc..

I believe the clinical term is "Sexual Narcissism" and I once worked for someone who fit that description to a "T" and engaged in all of the behaviors that Tiger has. One of the definitions of addiction is, "The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or involved in something." and that certainly applied to my old boss and apparently to Tiger as well.

If Tiger jeopardized his family's stability because he lost millions in gambling debts, I suspect that people might take that more seriously because a gambling addiction conjures images of someone looking rather grim and stone-faced as their world crashes down around them while the image of a sex addict is likely seen as someone simply having too much fun.

Based on what I witnessed in the case of my old boss, there wasn't a whole lot of fun in his family's world from what I could tell and his kids suffered the most from it.


-JP
 
I think that's simply an excuse to cover up the OCD which all us males have to some degree.
 
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