Come on Tiger, be Tiger again

Posted Feb 20, 2010 by Tom McEwen

Updated Feb 20, 2010 at 09:15 PM

Peter Pureheart asked for the world to forgive him for an indiscretion or two and in time, most of the world will do that.

Most will also agree to go along with Tiger Wood’s announced remorse for his infidelity and indiscretions.  It always has and will again.  Tiger Woods announced in an arranged interview on Friday he was guilty of fooling around and that he should not have done that. 

He has thought, like the rest of us, that confessions such as this spare more of the rod. 

It will.  Woods appeared to have been a model athlete, good to great at times, modest, appreciative of his fans and the world as he came out of nowhere to become as powerful a man in sports as there is today.  Now, for whatever the reasons, he has confessed, then he was sorry, and suggested he won’t fool around outside of his marriage with other women again.  He is far from being the first to have fulfilled these adventures, asked for forgiveness and been approved for more pursuits in golf.

Gosh, he is good at golf.  Gosh, he’s been good to the media and with the public. He can not only play but he has been able to appreciate success, not to let it affect him and keep his feet on the ground, and his eyes straight ahead.

Slips!

Idle Tiger Woods, the best in the world at what he does, and what he sells.  He can hit it farther, higher, longer, more accurately, than anyone in golf these days.  He was very nearly flawless and he was from a flawless family, a Mama and a Daddy who saw to it that he loved the game and taught him to love his fans, unless that was a natural embracement.  Not only that, his wife, Elin, who so far has stuck by his side, though she was not with him when he made his confession.  The Woods and their children live in Orlando and seem not ever to have been snoots.  At tournaments, Tiger Woods has always been accommodating, always appreciative of his fans and sponsors.  Frankly, I don’t know of anything Tiger Woods has done against the grain, until now. 

And even now, he held a public press conference for invited reporters in Orlando at his home, to make the announcement that he had strayed. He said in a press conference he would not take questions, that he would address the issues, and now will address them again, again, and again. 

His sponsors generally have been supportive.  Most of them will stick with him, Woods has always been so public and he probably can handle this circumstance well.  He never dodged controversy in these matters of fact and is unlikely to change that role.  I have known Tiger Woods since he came on the tour, and his fourteen championship wins and his extraordinary times. 

And all of us who knew him were surprised as these revelations of infidelity and his fleeting apologies.  Most of us in sports have forgiven those in that profession for more or for less. These next weeks will be important to see how Tiger handles himself.  Notably, his mother was with him at his public confession. His wife was not, and has not yet explained how her position will be with their children.  She has appeared to be heartstruck, wouldn’t you be when your most public of sport star-achievers made such painful decisions as he has lately to find another dance partner at times.

Tiger Woods is one of the great sports athlete of America, one of the most appreciative.  All who follow his career hope that he will follow through with his stated aim to be a good man and father and husband again, as well as the world’s finest at what he does.

This is a shocker for us all.

Please no after shocks.