Opinion : Tiger shows chink in the armor : Sidney Herald, Sidney, Montana

Tiger shows chink in the armor

Published on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 3:16 PM MST

Seeing things the right way
Jacque Best

The perfect man. The envy of all. Rich. Talented. Lovely wife and family. Tiger Woods, considered by most as the world’s best golfer and the subject of millions of dollars in product endorsements, has come out of the closet.

Unlike most married men who stray and have a single affair, Woods apparently had dozens of extramarital partners.

His well-rehearsed and totally phony “apology” was aimed at his product sponsors and not at his millions of admirers. His well-rehearsed “apology” had all the sincerity of Obama’s pledge of transparency and bipartinship in the health care debate. It was phony from beginning to end – including the hug from Mom. The only thing worse than the hug was his sudden conversion to Buddhism. The mea culpa was scripted and well-rehearsed. You could literally see Tiger reading the script and heed the prompts. “Look up.” “Pause.” “Look sincere.” “Look penitent.”

It was obvious to any neutral observer that his “apology” was directed to his many sponsors, not to his wife, his family or his admirers. When he was saying, “I apologize sincerely,” he was thinking, “open your wallets,” to his sponsors.

What makes Tiger’s “apology” unique is his claim that “the devil made me do it.” He claims to be satyriasis (a diagnosis not generally recognized by physiologists or psychiatrists), the male equivalent of “nymphomania.”

Tiger’s “disorder” is cast as medical, not moral. He refuses to recognize that it was his selfishness and his deception that brought his perfect world tumbling down. He claims to be “sexually compulsive.” He is in “rehab” to break his “sexually compulsive” behavior.

Give me a break Tiger – you cheated and got caught. You’re no more “sexually compulsive” than any other cheating husband.

Nowadays people don’t cheat, lie or steal. They are “sexually compulsive,” suffer from “compulsive lying disorder” or are kleptomaniac.

No longer do people admit to being unfaithful, they now claim “the devil made me do it” (you may insert “the sexually compulsive illness” as Tiger has done). They check in to some plush rehab center and avoid public scrutiny.

Tiger Woods may be the greatest golfer of all time, but he is also a plain old cheat and a liar. As long as he claims his conduct was a medical disorder he will never truly accept sins and will continue to be selfish and narcissist.

Suck it up Tiger. Admit you committed multiple adulteries and that you lied, but don’t give us that “devil made me do it” bull. You did it because it was pleasurable and you are selfish and self-centered. You may be a millionaire many times over and you may have a following of millions of adoring fans, but to me you are just another liar and cheater who won’t accept responsibility for your actions.

You may be the world’s greatest golfer, but you double-bogeyed this so-called “apology.” Your wife should have wrapped the golf club around your cheating neck instead of using it on your car!

Jacque Best is a retired lawyer in Sidney.

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Comments

The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of the Sidney Herald.

this guys comments scare me wrote on Mar 26, 2010 7:14 AM:

" this is a perfect example why america is like it is, guys like him telling other people we should live like him, can you have any doubt about his hatered? what a hateful person "

whatever wrote on Mar 18, 2010 7:12 AM:

" The only one Tiger has to apologize to is his wife... Why should the people of the world need one? We are not married to the man we just watch play golf....We did not exchange vows with him - she did.... Doe the affairs he had change the fact that he is a great golfer? I think not. "

Mont wrote on Mar 17, 2010 5:37 PM:

" Tiger's apology came out because he wants to play golf......... "

Please wrote on Mar 17, 2010 10:46 AM:

" So many things wrong with this article:

1. When did Tiger ever blame this situation on the devil? From my account he took responsibility for his actions by not blaming it on a sexual addiction or the devil. In fact I don't believe the words "devil" or "addiction to sex" appeared anywhere in his statement.

2. How is his apology phony? Put yourself in his shoes (which I know is sometimes very difficult for many Holier than thou conservatives) but wouldn't you want to take control of the situation as much as possible? Of course reading a prepared statement is going to look a little "phony" but its better than getting on the podium unprepared getting ambushed by reporters. Tiger has never been great with the media to begin with and has always been very private (now we know why)

3. How do you figure Tiger is suddenly a convert to Buddhism? Tiger's mother is a mix of Asian backgrounds (Thai and Chinese) and has studied Buddhism for a majority of her life. I'm sure she tried to surround her family with many of those teachings growin up as well.

Obviously, what he did was wrong, but I'm sure many others would do the same thing in this situation. Imagine yourself as multi-millionaire, mid-20's, and the most recognizable face in sports - would you be the perfect citizen?

At least we all have a worthy role model in Sarah Palin! - sarcasm intended! "

Seriously wrote on Mar 16, 2010 1:02 PM:

" I love how he goes on about how it is a private matter, yet he made very a public apology. Ummmm, who cares. You aren't sorry you did it. You are sorry you got caught. Sorry he did it means he would have done it once but he did it multiple times. I hope they spare us and not waste any more of our time and talk about real news not what some rich golfer does in his personal life. "

Get a Life wrote on Mar 14, 2010 7:37 PM:

" Jacque, get a life!! Cheating is wrong but please, I think he is paying enough just by the torcher his family has and will continue to go through. Many men or women have cheated and do not get splattered all over the media. He may be in the public eye and some consider him a roll model but who isn't. Everyone is a roll model to someone. The only law he broke was between him, God and his family. I really don't care how his apology was, he didn't have to do it. Just think if every person had to publicaly apologies for infadelity. It would be never ending.

Do you ever write about something positive or do you try to make everyone as miserable as you seem to be? You complain about what YOU think is bad in life. Why don't you discuss something uplifting for once. "

LK wrote on Mar 11, 2010 8:55 AM:

" phony or not it was still an apology...most people are taking the fact that he DID it (phony or not )as a sort of joke... Regardless of whether it was for his sponsors or not it WAS an apology, now yes i can agree it was pretty fake. but think of it this way he didnt HAVE to do it, and really i find it entertaining that even now people are making fodder of it, considering if you wanted a TRUE analysis of it you could go listen to say fox sports or any other sports radio for that matter and get a better opinion on this subject....I throw out most of this article mainly due to my agreeance with Justjaque and not okay....its really kind of entertaining that Mr Bests articles usually are fairly close in nature (pertaining to a few certain subjects) "

Not Okay wrote on Mar 10, 2010 5:06 PM:

" Just want to throw this out there...has Jacque written an article that is not about a successful black man? Black as in African American. "

JustJacque wrote on Mar 10, 2010 5:05 PM:

" I was intrigued by a comment Jacque made in this article. No, it's not the one where he manages to bash Obama in an article written about Tiger Woods! And I quote, "Unlike most married men who stray and have a single affair...". This disturbed me. Is this to imply that most married men stray at least once? Does this mean it's okay in the author's mind as long as it's only once? "

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