Tiger Woods Has Company in High Places

Always amazing that another great man, who appears to have everything that any man could ever desire, would fall victim to a series of sexual liaisons.

Words are slowly bubbling up and floating out across the networks that Tiger has always been a bit coarse with his language and had seemed discourteous to a number of people in the past. Those bubbles could never sail in the presence of his perfect aura - but once that is dinged, then those images begin to fit into place in the new puzzle we find before us.

The work of the National Inquirer, that media counterpart to the earthworms and vultures of nature, pays off again and it has found another one and pulled it out of the mud.

And so what? What business is it of ours that Tiger Woods screwed up? Spitzer, and Edwards and Sanford and Ensign and Baucus and Clinton (Bill), and all those countless others were different. They had taken oaths to enforce the nation’s laws. They presented themselves as candidates for offices of great worth. They sought and still seek the spotlight, they support transparency, they propound family values and present themselves as honest, trustworthy, reliable caretakers of our great values. We need to know about the personal integrity of these officeholders, but what about Tiger?

Tiger Wood’s problem is that he has come - through CONSIDERABLE effort on his own part - to present himself as one of the great role models of all time. Not just for the average golfers either, the guys who are in their twenties, thirties and beyond, but for their children and for kids in general. Fathers have pointed out Tiger Woods to their children. “You too can be like Tiger, someday.” The moral they learn is that if we work hard and learn, and do things right, we can all be like Tiger, and you can too! You can be just like Tiger is. Now what do these fathers say?

Tiger Woods also was a great participant in a significant breaking of a part of that old thing we used to call the “color barrier”. There were some things that black people just couldn’t do. Golf was one of them. Woods smashed that old concept to regions far beyond Pluto. A LOT of people, many, many of them who were white, took great pride in that, and were proud of Woods. And Tiger was such a fine man too, a wonderful role model again. And again, the role model part was played well and embellished by Woods.

One more thing. Sports itself seems to have fallen into the black hole of capitalistic commercialism. Drugs, money, advertising, testimonials and hype seem to fuel all the sports we have, reminding us all that the word "sport" has two definitions. One definition concerns the display of skill and ability, the other refers to making fun of something, to jest, to fool. So now Tiger has shown that he is making sport of us. He fools us, we pay him money, he fools us again. Then the fire hydrant appeared - or didn't appear - at least in time to avoid it.

So is it all about sex? I really don’t think so. I think it has to be a matter of power. These transgressors are people who see themselves as being beyond the masses. They can do things that “people” can’t do. Laws and values and such are for the ordinary folks. These immortals are well beyond that, at least in their own minds, and they can get away with anything because they are so good at what they do. Another thing. All these people have "protectors". These are the people who take care of the famous ones, they open the doors, make the phone calls, deliver alibis, and dispense smoke. They’re good too. But they’re not 100%, not 100% of the time.

What can Woods do now? Now that he has found that life itself is very like the game of golf in that it is also full of holes. Well, he has always been an example standing out there in the open waiting for followers to become part of his gallery. Let’s see if he has the ability to learn and play in this great new game that life has now laid out for him.