Just as she and I were finishing up, my grandmother stopped by the house. The three of us sat around for a while, drinking coffee and bullshitting. Then my sister walked in the door.
"Did you watch the Tiger Woods press conference?" she asked.
"No, I didn't. Damn. I forgot all about it," I told her.
Being the sports fanatic I am, I never (and I mean never) miss one of these fallen-star-apologizes-to-the-public-for-misstep-type episodes. It's hard not to. Besides the historical significance, and the fact that it's live, I'm always intrigued by the aura surrounding such events.
I watched every episode of the Roger Clemens saga unfold. I tuned in when Michael Vick apologized. But my personal favorite was the Alex Rodriquez/Peter Gammons interview. In fact, I must have watched it five times within the two hours after it aired.
Why? Because the singularity of these moments are undeniable.
Not that I promote press conference-worthy poor behavior from those in the spotlight, but I like to read someone's body language, listen to the tone in their voice, and see for myself just how sorry they are.
Plus, it's fascinating to see fiery, egotistical mega-stars look human once in a while. It helps to keep my imagination (and therefore my expectations of such persons) in check. After all, while the expression may sound trite, no one is perfect -- regardless of how the media portrays them.
As for the Tiger press conference this morning, I certainly hadn't intended to miss it. It could have simply been a matter of me forgetting. Or maybe I'm just tired of this broken record of a story.
Either way, I suppose it proves how little I care about Tiger Woods' personal life, or what he has to say to the world about his highly-publicized sexual encounters.
Though I strongly disagree with his actions, I have no problem with Tiger Woods the person. He did nothing to hurt me. Am I disappointed in him? Sure. But I'm disappointed in any one of the six billion-plus earthlings that consciously hurts another human being.
I'm interested in Tigers Woods the golfer. I don't want to watch him have sex. I want to watch him dominate on Sundays. I want to see him break every golf record that stands unbroken today.
I liked Tiger Woods before news of his car crash on Thanksgiving night, and I'll stand by him in the future. Why shouldn't I? I know many good people who have committed (or been an accessory to) adultery, some who've torn families apart. As a matter of fact, we all do.
That's why I don't understand the animosity towards Tiger. How can someone have such a high approval rating one day, and then such a low approval rating the next?
Here's my theory: Because most people are unhappy (to some degree) with the lives they lead, they feel it's necessary to inject drama into everyday life. They get far too high when something positive happens, and then far too low when something negative happens.
This surely keeps things interesting -- but at what cost?
These melodramatic individuals -- which, incidentally, are the majority of Americans -- let their emotions get the best of them, leading to rash behavior. Instead of taking the time to think rationally, they finger-point and blurt out whatever is running through their senseless minds at the moment.
Take the Tiger situation, for example. Angry people all over the country insisted that Tiger Woods was a wimp, a sissy, a coward, a coached-up PR droid that was too [insert your favorite phrase or adjective here] to hold a Q&A at this morning's press conference. They felt that a prepared speech wasn't enough.
Whoa, let's back up for a moment.
Now that we've come to realize that we all know at least one genuinely good person that's cheated on his/her spouse in the past, let's think about how many of those people have had to sit down in front of millions upon millions of viewers on both the television and the Internet in countries all over the world.
My guess? Zero.
However, that was only step one in the long line of punishment (fair or not) that Tiger Woods will walk. Personally, I believe that what Tiger did today was more than enough. Did he have to apologize to the public? No. Does he have to explain himself? Of course not.
There are many people who suddenly hate The World's Greatest Golfer. The funny thing is, many of these same people thought so highly of him just a few months ago.
Now of these Tiger-haters, I'm going to assume that the majority is Christian. Living in the United States of America, that's a fair assumption, no?
Well if that is indeed the case, how can so much hatred, ridicule and judgment be placed upon Tiger? As I'm sure any Bible enthusiast could tell you, quoting the book of Matthew (in modern English): "Do not judge, or you too will be judged."
Despite my many reservations for this holy book, that certainly seems like one fine rule to me. Yet most Americans (the majority of which are Christian) can or do not follow this simple creed, the so-called word of god.
But before I branch off even further, exposing the many contradictions in America's holy book, let me re-focus my attention to the problem at hand...
In situations like this, the Tiger Woods scandal, the general public (for reasons that are beyond me) feels this arrogant entitlement. It wants to know everything about everything, immediately. It has no patience for a lapse in time nor a lack of detail.
I wonder where this sense of entitlement arises. It's as if Tiger and Elin Woods' marriage has some bearing on us, the public, and we therefore need to know every detail of this never-ending story.
It's one thing if our government is lying to us, and we demand from it the truth. But to expect the same from a professional golfer seems utterly silly.
Undoubtedly, this wouldn't be the story it is today if the person in question wasn't the world's most recognizable athlete, as very few people on the planet command this much media attention.
But does Tiger's worldwide popularity give us a right to pry into him?
Even if this story never reached the eyes and ears of the public, Tiger Woods was in trouble. He did the crime (or crimes, I suppose) and would have to deal with the consequences of his actions, regardless of whether or not we, the public, knew about them.
It's difficult to decide whether or not the punishment matches the crime when it comes to moral dilemmas such as this -- because honestly, who's to say? But it's hard for me to imagine that Tiger Woods deserves to be judged by the general population the way he has.
No comments:
Post a Comment