I have reserved my comments about the Tiger Woods situation because I wanted to see the sports angle. he pulled out of his own tournament which is the sports part that I care about. The thing that sickens me the most about all of this is how we as a society have become slaves to tabloid journalism. When I was studying journalism in school, these type of stories were reserved for the seedy underbelly of journalist. Now people gladly watch and read the TMZ's, E! and Entertainment Tonight's of the world because they feel they need to know everything about a celebrity or in this case an athlete's life. I strongly agree with a part of Tiger statement, and that is somethings need to be kept in private so that a family can discuss, heal and move forward with it. Has our society become the sleazy that we want to know every salacious detail about ever person? Have we not learned our lessons from the Princess Di tragedy? These people need to stop trying to tear people down. It must make them feel better about themselves to try and destroy people. I did not know people lives were this bad where you would try and harm your fellow man.
I saw over the weekend how Yahoo had a headline about Elin, as if she was to blame for the accident. She was "the mysterious wife". It should not be about exposing spouses or children, they should be off limits. The irresponsible journalist out there really love to expose secrets lives instead of actually trying to find out facts about the story. With that said, Tiger's biggest mistake was trying to control the media and what came out. He is used to doing that with all the sports media outlets and rarely speaks in public forums. The media that is chasing him this time is a totally different beast he will stop at nothing to ruin him and his family. His wife is not a public figure. This is a daughter, wife and mother and these sleaze ball people should keep that in mind.
Tiger said he has personal failings and that he is working on those. He also promises to be a better husband and father and that is the most important thing for him. As children, we grow just wanting to make our parents proud. When you looked at him you saw a boy devoted to his father and mother. Tiger has now loss that innocence and he won't get that back from his public. He still has a chance with his children to keep that and that will make his parents proud.
I think people also saw perfection on the golf course and equated that to his personal life. Tiger Woods became a brand and when you saw the brand with the family, you saw perfection. He is still just a man and he fell. The brand will go on and he can still be perfect and do inhuman things on the golf course but now people see he is just a man. A lot of times, I believe we get those things confused when it comes to our athletes. They are not here to be role models to us or our children. They have faults and skeletons in their closets just like we do. You can celebrate the achievements, the wins and triumphs but remember to put it all in perspective. Their is only one perfect being and He is not on this earth.
To say I'm not disappointed in Tiger would not be truthful. As a black male its a little more difficult. Tiger introduced me to a game and a sport I never thought I could play. He broke down barriers for other minorities that encouraged us to play golf. He made golf more mainstream. I never watched a golf tournament until he won his first major at Augusta. I remember thinking how cool it was to see a person of color make history there. Will I still watch him play on Sunday's? Sure. Is there a little tarnish on his star? Yes. But I know that he can be forgiven and he can redeem himself because this is America and not everyone likes going through the garbage.
I saw over the weekend how Yahoo had a headline about Elin, as if she was to blame for the accident. She was "the mysterious wife". It should not be about exposing spouses or children, they should be off limits. The irresponsible journalist out there really love to expose secrets lives instead of actually trying to find out facts about the story. With that said, Tiger's biggest mistake was trying to control the media and what came out. He is used to doing that with all the sports media outlets and rarely speaks in public forums. The media that is chasing him this time is a totally different beast he will stop at nothing to ruin him and his family. His wife is not a public figure. This is a daughter, wife and mother and these sleaze ball people should keep that in mind.
Tiger said he has personal failings and that he is working on those. He also promises to be a better husband and father and that is the most important thing for him. As children, we grow just wanting to make our parents proud. When you looked at him you saw a boy devoted to his father and mother. Tiger has now loss that innocence and he won't get that back from his public. He still has a chance with his children to keep that and that will make his parents proud.
I think people also saw perfection on the golf course and equated that to his personal life. Tiger Woods became a brand and when you saw the brand with the family, you saw perfection. He is still just a man and he fell. The brand will go on and he can still be perfect and do inhuman things on the golf course but now people see he is just a man. A lot of times, I believe we get those things confused when it comes to our athletes. They are not here to be role models to us or our children. They have faults and skeletons in their closets just like we do. You can celebrate the achievements, the wins and triumphs but remember to put it all in perspective. Their is only one perfect being and He is not on this earth.
To say I'm not disappointed in Tiger would not be truthful. As a black male its a little more difficult. Tiger introduced me to a game and a sport I never thought I could play. He broke down barriers for other minorities that encouraged us to play golf. He made golf more mainstream. I never watched a golf tournament until he won his first major at Augusta. I remember thinking how cool it was to see a person of color make history there. Will I still watch him play on Sunday's? Sure. Is there a little tarnish on his star? Yes. But I know that he can be forgiven and he can redeem himself because this is America and not everyone likes going through the garbage.
Anyone remember Sir Charles's motto "I am NOT a role model"? His approach may have seemed odd, but the true to the fact. His message is, I am an athlete, my personal life is my business.
ReplyDeleteWe do live in a society in where dirty laundry is a BIG and profitable business. Why can't we admire and support their talent without being obsessed with their personal lives, because in the end if we are uninterested it won't sell.
Lastly, Tiger never gave the impression to any that he was anything else but a gifted golfer. He did not go around with scriptures in his blackout or promote himself as a perfect individual. I am sure that he is frequented wherever he goes with all manner of people who are just opportunistic.
I beleive Tiger will survive through this. This kind of attention is short lived. We must get on to the next celeb who is "exposed" and exploited in the tabloids.
Bill
"Kick em when the're up"
"Kick em when the're down"
"Kick em when the're up"
"Kick em all around"