Catch a Tiger by the Toe

When golfer Tiger Woods crashed his SUV into a fire hydrant in a spat of reckless driving, it was a non-story to me. The intensity of the investigation seemed largely driven by his own celebrity, but when I heard that Woods finally apologized for "transgressions" in his personal life, I instantly became obvious to me that he was talking about more than a fender bender.

Rumors of marital discord between Woods and his wife soon surfaced after Woods refused to talk to authorities. Sure enough, Woods was cheating on his wife; he apparently stormed out of his Florida mansion in a huff and might even have been swung at by his wife with one of his own clubs. The media are playing this for all it's worth, if only because they probably don't want to talk about health care reform so much.

People aren't so much surprised that Woods is a philanderer as they are pleased to find that no, he's not as perfect as he seems? Hello? How many examples of errant athletes do I need? The 1998 U.S. men's hockey team, who trashed their hotel rooms at the Winter Olympics in Japan? The 1998 U.S. men's soccer team, who choked? Alex Rodriguez, for philandering and fooling around with Madonna? Amy Van Dyken, the swimmer, for spitting into the swimming lane of a competitor at the Summer Olympics? Most football players? Of course, Woods isn't perfect. For one thing, he can't drive under pressure. Not to mention pilot a car. (Golfing joke!) The big lie here was that he was perfect, and his image had been so carefully honed that his squeaky-clean persona was too good to be believed. It's disgusting that he's being torn down with glee and giddiness from the press, but he helped bring it on by projecting a public image he could not live up to. No wonder he wanted privacy - he didn't want to be found out.

Oh yeah, his SUV - that wasn't a Buick, wasn't it? ;-)

All right, that's all I'm going to say about that. I'd like to get back to more serious topics. And I have something to say about the surge in Afghanistan - I oppose it.