Finally some news about Tiger that is actual, legitimate news.
The Associated Press has named him Athlete of the Decade.
Considering these awards span the entire sports world it is truly something to hang a hat on.
And when it comes to this award, like many of the tournaments Tiger enters, it was no contest. No one can lay claim to the type of dominance in their sport over the course of the last 10 years like Eldrick Woods can.
The only other two that a real case could be made for is Roger Federer and Lance Armstrong.
It stands in stark contrast to the manure he has found himself incased in since American Thanksgiving when his life came crashing in around him — and really he has no one to blame but himself.
But is an athlete’s infidelity really news?
No. It’s not.
This tawdry tripe is fodder for the tabloids.
It’s not information the world needs to know, and an athlete, no matter how much he is paid, is still entitled to some privacy — particularly when he has never gone out of his way to put his personal life in the public spectrum.
If this was someone like say Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner who proudly and publicly follows the straight and narrow and it was discovered he had multiple mistresses, then I could see that maybe being news.
But this is different.
Tiger has gone out of his way to protect that privacy. He was a mystery — apparently even to his wife.
But not anymore.
Thanks to the slingers of the salacious like TMZ and US Weekly, the intimate details of his private life have been splayed open for the world to see, and it has turned into a complete free-for-all.
The fact of the matter is he is a professional athlete. Sleeping around for athletes is as old as the term athlete itself.
L.A. Laker great Wilt Chamberlain is famous for bragging about his 20,000 conquests.
Former Chicago Cubs first baseman Mark Grace popularized the phrase “slump buster”. With his cure for a hitting slump being going to a bar, picking up the ugliest girl he could find and, well, let’s just say Tiger would obviously know what to do.
Even the exploits of Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth have in recent years become the stuff of legends.
There’s a reason there are puck bunnies. They exist in every sport and they all have different names for them.
Remember, though, these actions are not the sports world’s alone. From politics to wall street to Hollywood and every where in between sexual deviancy is ripe. The fact people seem to crave these stories is only proof of that.
But if the government doesn’t belong in our bedrooms, then why does the media?
Does this resolve Tiger from what he has done and make it OK? Absolutely not. We all have to answer for our sins.
It’s actual news value, however, is something I am failing to grasp yet the world seems to have an overeager hold of.
In fact the only real news that has come out of it is that it has forced Tiger to take an indefinite leave from golf as he tries to repair his relationship with his wife — which the latest reports have Elin Nordegren set to divorce Tiger. The news there is not knowing how long Tiger will be out, not because people sitting on the edge of their seats wondering if he can put his marriage back together, but the PGA is in negotiations with the TV networks over their next broadcasting deal, and with Tiger that deal is worth much more than sans-Woods.
I know we haven’t even got close to hearing the end of this, but I would be willing to bet Tiger is sitting there hoping for the next big celebrity to screw up soon to turn the tabloid’s bright lights off surrounding his name.
Even if that’s not a fate I’m sure he openly wishes on anybody.
jaldrich@www.reddeeradvocate.com