It was revealed over this past week that Eldrick Tiger Woods had an car accident that probably stemmed from an argument at home. The basis of that argument, which your humble blogger in fact guessed very early on, was that Tiger's dirty laundry was aired (his is a philanderer) in the Enquirer and now other publications. It seems almost assured now based on different pieces of evidence (Tiger reportedly called his friend to say Elin 'went ghetto' on him and this voicemail) that his wife understandably went on a rampage against him.
Frankly put I would too. I cannot imagine being this seemingly modest, humble woman, marrying Tiger and then bearing him two children (who are still very young) and having him publicly destroy our marriage, family and union. Where can they even go from here? For me it would immediately be over and sadly there would be a lot of collateral damage (the kids and our family unit). It would be a no brainer. For me.
Where ever they do end up I do hope the public starts to take a few things to heart:
1. Our sports stars do not deserve the praise, money and attention we pay to them. They deserve limited attention for their talents on their field of play, but let's please get a balance back to appreciating our sports stars while appreciating our community leaders (teachers, doctors, librarians, other every-day heroes) as much or more.
2. No individual is perfect and we should not demand perfection. Through his career Michael Jordan, in conjunction with Nike and many other corporations, put forward a perfect face for a profit motive end. Tiger was the natural progression of this trend but like Mike and like many others (including this writer) he had flaws. Sadly Tiger's flaws, like Mike's (and unlike mine), affected their families greatly.
Were these flaws exacerbated by the perfect face they were trying to project? I can't know the answer to that but I will just say this: I always felt superior to Tiger Woods (and recently to MJ as well) in ways such as having true, deep and ongoing social concerns that I will share despite how they may affect me financially or career-wise. Granted my impact is much less thanks to the lower rung of society I inhabit but I like to think that even if I played ball sports well I would share these feelings freely.
The point is I felt superior in this arena, but now I feel like a far superior man, husband and father.
