Et tu, Tiger?

How the mighty have fallen.

The last of the untouchables has been caught with his pants down. A lot as been said about what actually happened and how Tiger managed to hit a fire hydrant and a tree all within metres of his driveway. None of that really concerns me. What does concern me is how all this came to pass. How did a guy who can get up and down from a garbage bin, get caught out like this? How did a person with so much to loose risk everything for a mulligan (or two, or three.....)?

The fact that Tiger was caught with somebody else does not surprise me. That's what the rich and the powerful do. What shocks me is that he was stupid enough to get caught! He with his unlimited resources, his private jets, his luxury yatchs and private islands, he with the savvy of a seasoned politician goes to Vegas for his hi-jinks???? Vegas? That's were the wannabes go. That's were the working class goes to live the life that they think the rich have. Imagine going to a club with your friends and bumping into T.W!!! What next? Barack and Michelle catching a performance of Cirque De Soleil?!

What I like is how T.W is handling the media madness. He has decided to hide. No interviews, no public apology (except on his website), no date with Barbara Walters tearfully begging the fans for forgiveness. The public has a short memory and in a few months some other joker will be caught with his hand in the cookie jar and then the hyenas will move on. Remember Kobe? He was accused of rape. A few years and a championship later all is forgotten.

One has to remember that Tiger has not had a normal childhood. When most teenagers are smoking behind the gym and talking about girls, he was winning the U.S Amateur (3 times). When most young men in their 20s are enjoying their new-found independence he was winning majors. He was married and had 2 children by the time he was 32. He has never had the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of being a successful, rich, world famous athlete (however forbidden they might be).

It will be interesting to see which Tiger shows up January for the first PGA tournament on his calender (Torrey Pines). Will we see a distracted Tiger? Will we see a Tiger who is suddenly vulnerable or will we see a Tiger with a sharper focus? If he does decide that the best way out of this is to win and win big then 2K10 might yet be the Year of Tiger. Remember that while he was in Australia having his alleged tryst with one of his mistresses, he trounced the field to win the tournament. Imagine what a hyper-focused Tiger will do.

Finally, it has been interesting hearing men talk about Tiger's misdeeds. Almost nobody I met talked about how they could not understand why he would cheat on his wife. All the talk was about how he was stupid enough to get caught! What does that say about all us married men?


I have written about why I think the rich and the powerful take such risks when they know that being caught would mean paying a high price indeed.
http://tinyurl.com/ycjtuv8

(have I finally "arrived" as blogger when I can refer to my own posts from the past?)