Tiger's Nadir

Where were you when Tiger Woods finally appeared from behind the blue circus drapes to confess his adultery to the world? A day to remember? Hardly. A day to forget...I'm trying.

After three months of playing Osama Bin Laden-like hide and seek from the civilized world, Woods finally confronted the glare of the camera's red light. Standing in front of a stupefied audience of 40 representing the three F's of his life: family (mother only), "friends" and factotums, Woods admitted to his abhorant sexual behaviour for which he was totally responsible. He felt that the rules did not apply to him and that he felt "entitled" (to it all). He added confidently, with Buddha's help and another stay at the sex clinic, he will "regain my(his)balance." A return to professional golf is undetermined. Further, he asked us all "to find room in your heart to one day believe in me again." All the while watching this unreal theatre unfold, I'm bracing for his psychopathic/kiwi/caddy bursting wild-eyed from behind the curtains to mug all the clicking photographers.

Where do I begin? I'll try to keep this brief...impossible.

Woods had it all. Handsome and gifted, he was the #1 athlete in the world. He had money for generations, possessions and fame beyond measure. He dominated a very difficult and solitary sport, golf. He had home field advantage around the globe. Married to a Viking Venus. Father to two adorable children. And risked it all and then threw it all away...for now. Now he wears, the scarlet letter A for adultery and everybody in the world knows it, more importantly, he knows it. His corporate sponsors sure know it. His Madoffian fall is mind-numbing. He's gone from corporate icon to corporate poison in 3 months. No matter what happens in the future, the scarlet A will be his everlasting shame. He is damaged goods. Talk about a burdensome cross to carry...that is, if he feels matters of the heart and soul.

Speaking of feelings, I feel very sad for Woods and his victims. Sure, his downfall was self-inflicted but he had alot of "help" along the way. He was also a victim...a victim of his uber-controlled environment from early age to now. Let me explain.

The malleable Woods has never had his hand on his own tiller...ever! He never developed a true sense of himself. The Czars of his life have been his father, Earl, and his agent, IMG. Earl raised him in the manner that Earl wanted and then at the proper time handed his son over to the Darth Vader of agents, IMG. The deal was simple: Woods performed on the golf course and they took care of everything else. And what of Earl's and IMG's motives? Were they honorable? Were they moral? Or, was it all business? I suspect it was all business and all about the money. Woods, not realizing an alternative, feebly capitulated to it all. It was all so comfortable. Why question authority and obvious comfort. Woods believed he was bigger than life. Huger than the ordinary bourgeoisie, his father told him. It must be true. Earl christened his young son as "a deity", an avatar, one that will change the world. With all those tapes running continuously in one's head, one starts to believe this claptrap. As a direct result of Earl's and later IMG's Svengali-like control, Woods' lack of probity manifested in his everyday behaviour. From his tetchy antics on the golf course to his unsatiable appetite for sex, Woods was behaving very badly.

But what about his "friends" and employees, didn't they know what was going on? If so, why didn't they help Woods avert this eventual personal meltdown? I believe they did know. When you travel with the same people constantly you get to know those people very well...very personally. I believe Woods' "friends" and employees witnessed his self-destructive conduct. Maybe even participated in Woods "free for all" lifestyle. But friends help friends even if the friend is blind to it all, don't they? Business aside for once, did anybody close to Woods ever act with pure intentions, to act as a mirror, or is that concept too naive, too old school? Maybe and maybe not. I suppose maybe not in this case. For if somebody said something that the "deity" didn't like, you're on a one way COACH flight back to Cleveland forever...and that ain't good. Simply, I believe that some if not the whole team around Woods were complicit in ignoring if not encouraging his wrongful behaviour. As the saying goes, with "friends" like that who needs enemies.

What to do now? If Woods is sincere about changing his life around, I would suggest the following: be a man and bravely get rid of all those sychophants and parasites around you today. They did you no good. Leave all that you know and go....go somewhere new and challenging that has nothing to do with golf. Perhaps, attend a small college or university(avoid Stanford, another enabler). Study something that will expand your mind and enlarge your heart. Arrested development aside, begin the hard work of finding out who you are, really. If your family wants to go with you, fine. Forget golf, golf will survive. Golf has always been bigger than you as much as you may disbelieve. And if you ably return from this delayed "rite of passage", next time you're in front of a captive audience, you can speak ably from your developed center and not awkwardly from a vapid and soulless text. For that moment, we will all definitely remember where we were when you spoke.