I watch Tiger jump through the hoops set up by the media and then wait for the criticism from that media that Tiger didn't do exactly what they wanted him to do. Never mind that he didn't create a list of untouchable subjects or, as is unbelievably more prevalent, request editorial control. He can, as is his constitutional right, not answer questions that may tend to incriminate him. I'm not saying that he committed a crime, but if he answers the questions posed, he may be subjected to renewed charges by some overzealous state's attorney who thinks it's time to get her/his name in the papers.
For a while, I was giving the golf and sports media a pass and laying this all on the tabloid press. Incredibly, the most outraged media are the golf and sports media. Why? Because they feel that Tiger needs to give them the story that nobody else will get. Funny how the media claims that Tiger shouldn't get a free pass because he has managed to make everyone that works with, near, or around him way much more money than before. What's funny is that Tiger isn't giving the golf and sports media a pass and they are screaming "unfair."
Doesn't it appear to any sane person watching that Tiger Woods could slice his wrist on national t.v. and still be criticized for not opening up enough? I watch these sports "journalists" say that what more can you expect from him. According to them his interviews were controlled and he "dodged" questions by claiming they were private. How dare he think that he can have a private conversation with his wife or undergoing therapy without it being fodder for the media. One of these clowns actually had the nerve to say that Tiger had to tell us what he was being treated for because it is important to admit he has a disease. Gimme a break. Does whatever therapy he is undergoing have to be disclosed to all these media clowns? Hell no.
They all claim that they just want to know about golf, but he's told them when he's going to return. He's told them how much he misses the game. He's told them that everything that's happened is his own fault. He won't tell them what happened in his home before his car accident and he won't tell them how the accident occurred. Anyone that thinks s/he has a right to know those things is simply feeding their own prurient interests. There's no "need to know" here. This is all "wants to know." To some it would be interesting for Tiger to list all his mistresses and maybe give them a grade in their sexual skills and overall prowess. Is that news? Sure it is, if you're the National Enquirer or TMZ, but it isn't anybody's business. No one is entitled to know about his private life now anymore than before.
He didn't make this public; he didn't "use" his family to hone his image by greeting them on the final hole of a tournament; he didn't lie to the public. Did he do things secretively that he was obviously ashamed of? You bet. But if the public never found out about these affairs and he continued living that way, what we know then. It wouldn't matter as long as he continued to play up to his standards. I am of the opinion that he could not have continued that lifestyle and play golf at his high level. This may have been a man knowing he couldn't keep up this pretense sub-consciously wanting to get caught. He did. It's over. He doesn't have a squeaky clean image anymore. So what? He doesn't care. As everyone has said, if you liked him before, you still do and if you didn't, you still won't.
What's fun is watching all the Tiger haters who had to keep their hate to a minimum because they couldn't sustain a factual argument that he wasn't as good as everyone was saying. Now, they get to point to his refusal to allow them to poke and prod his personal life as a character flaw that underlies his weaknesses and the fact that he isn't too good to be true. One particular hater has said that what we saw in his interviews was just "the same old Tiger." Controlling and robotic. What this person was saying was that Tiger hasn't changed his ways without saying that Tiger is lying about changing his ways. It's easy to hide behind subliminal references so that you can have plausible deniability. You know, I didn't mean that; I was only saying that he wasn't revealing important information. Baloney. This is a person who once said he was tired of watching the saturation of Tiger on television coverage because he really wanted to see more of Paul Goydos. Paul Goydos?!?!?!?!?
Another on-air "personality" did a stand-up report from the Accenture Championship, in ranting about the timing of Tiger's public statement, that Tiger was "preventing" him from discussing Mike Weir's great putting round because of the timing of the statement. That's it! Tiger made me do it. Maybe if we strap Tiger to a chair and dunk him in a river and he doesn't drown, he's a witch. Here's the problem, the best and most interesting character in golf is one and the same: Tiger Woods. These clowns love to get attention by being contrarians and attacking Tiger. The problem with that is: they're in the minority. The players for the most part like Tiger. The media for the most part like him. Yeah, he limits his availability, but no one can refute that he gets at least ten times more requests for interviews and appearances than any other golfer. So if he controls his availability, he's not selfish. He needs time to himself as well as practice time. Tiger is just the latest "you-can't-win-for-losing" celebrity. I guarantee you that if Tiger said, "I'll answer every question everyone has at one press conference", somebody would be upset and characterize him as "controlling" and "robotic." Leave the man alone and let him do what we all want: play golf!
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