Tiger Apologizes
In the litany of recent apologies, there is one that reigns supreme: Kobe Bryant. After he was accused of rape, he had his wife next to him, and apologized for cheating. In fact, after Kobe gave his wife a 4 million dollar ring, his wife stayed with him. Now, Kobe Bryant is one of the most popular athletes.
There's Alex Rodriguez, who, after his tearful apology, got back on track with Yankee fans and won a World Series. Now, A-Rod is back where he started--hated by baseball, loved by Yankee fans.
There's Roger Clemens, who, instead of apologizing for steroid use, became defiant, and sued his former trainer for defamation. Now, Roger Clemens is on the outside of the sports world looking in, an outcast, forgotten.
And, then there's Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods apologized today for his recent behavior that landed him in sex rehab. Reading Tiger Woods' apology, one would think that he nailed it. You'd think you could forgive him. After he says stuff like this, you want to forgive him:
I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in. I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn't apply. I never thought about who I was hurting. Instead, I thought only about myself. I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live by. I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn't have to go far to find them.
I was wrong. I was foolish. I don't get to play by different rules. The same boundaries that apply to everyone apply to me. I brought this shame on myself. I hurt my wife, my kids, my mother, my wife's family, my friends, my foundation, and kids all around the world who admired me.
You read that and say, "Maybe Tiger gets it". You read that and think, "He'll get back on track". Alas, apologies are not read. They are spoken. His orchestrated setting looked orchestrated. The awkward camera angles. The long pauses. Tiger didn't look human. He looked like a robot.
On paper, it was an apology, and a good one. On screen, however, it looked like a White House briefing. All business. When someone apologizes, you want to see emotion. You want to know they did something wrong. You tend to forget about the words. You focus on facial expression. In this case, there was none. He looked like he was a 10 year old boy, too nervous to speak in front of a crowd. You focus on hand gestures. Maybe he's animated. He wasn't. His hands were silent.
Maybe we're being too critical of Tiger. Maybe he was nervous. Maybe he was terrified. Still, the public, the sponsors, they don't care if you're nervous. They want you to cry. They want you to look human. They want you to say, "World, I'm sorry," wipe a single tear off your face, and answer questions from the media. They don't want you to speak in front of friends and family. They want you to speak to the public. They want you to look human.
There was one human moment, one that got lost amidst the post-speech analysis. After the speech, Tiger went straight to his mother, like a little boy looking for comfort after admitting his wrong, and going to the one person that will always love him. Sadly, for Tiger, the cameras didn't focus on that for long. They went right to analysis.
You see, Tiger is human. We just didn't get to see it. In an orchestrated news conference, he looked orchestrated. We wanted to see him deviate off script. A direct appeal to Elin. A direct appeal to his kids. A direct appeal to his fans. Maybe he should have had his kids there. We wanted to see him use hand gestures. We wanted to see him on the golf course.
Maybe it was the blue background that caught us off guard. We're used to seeing him in a sea of green. Maybe it was the lack of drama. Tiger is always right behind the leader, striking late and winning. This time, there is no winner, only a loser, and we knew that.
There are apologies that work, and apologies that don't. Some apologies propel an athlete back to where he belonged. Some apologies do nothing. Some apologies hurt an athlete more than the original act. This apology, however fake it may have been, might have hurt Tiger. We don't know when he will golf again. All we know is the same as what we started: Tiger is a robot. Now, we know he's one off the course too.
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I Won’t Watch Golf…
Without Tiger. And I know I speak for millions of others. How does golf respond? By aggressively marketing Phil Mickelson. Mickelson, arguably the second most popular golfer, has the chance to take over the game. The PGA should recognize this, and act accordingly. “
“Come see Phil take on the field in the Buick Invitational”
Phil Mickelson is all golf has right now. He’s, by all accounts, a family man. He’s the Anti-Tiger. It’s the only way golf can recover
Let’s Leave Tiger Alone
By now, you all know about Tiger Woods. That he cheated (multiple times) on his wife. The media is obsessed with it. Every New York tabloid has his face on the cover. Every news show has to have a Tiger Update. Here's what I say: Leave him alone. Yeah, he make a big mistake. No one should cheat on their wife/husband. It's not right. But, let's let him deal with this privately. We wouldn't want: "NewsFlash! Guy Has Affair! We'll Provide Up To The Minute Coverage On This Breaking Story"! No. Of course not. We don't want our private lives public. Tiger Woods doesn't want his private life public. So let's leave him alone. Let's let him deal with this in private. Let's keep this private matter private.
No! Watson!
Damn. All I can say. 59 year old Tom Watson came this close to winning the British Open. He missed a nine foot putt to win. Stewart Cink ended up winning in a playoff. This is the second year in the row that a legendary golfer came close to winning the British Open. Last year, it was Greg Norman. This year it was Watson. Both came so close. It's disappointing, because you want to see these great stories win. You're rooting so hard for them. And then they fall short. But the disappointment goes away, because you realize that Tom Watson is 59, that no one expected him to be even close to winning, let alone a putt away. It's great though. Maybe these legends will continue to give us thrills like this. Maybe not. At least we have Norman and Watson.
Tiger Won’t Miss the Cut, Right? He Can’t, Right? Oh Boy, He Might
There are some things that are certain in life: The Oakland Raiders will mess up the draft, Bill Belichick won't smile, pasta will always taste good, and Tiger Woods won't miss a cut at a Major Tournament. Well, a sign of the apocalypse might be upon us. Tiger is in serious danger of missing the cut at The British Open. He (at 1:40 EST) is 7-over. The projected cut line is +4. Tiger has only missed one cut at a Major Tournament before: The 2006 US Open after his father died. And that's understandable. Tiger is something consistent. He's a metaphor for consistency. He might not win every time out, but he's going to come damn close. So if Tiger misses the cut at the British Open this time around, I think everyone will forget that Tom Watson is in contention. Tiger missing the cut is historic. And the sad part is, I only really watch golf to see Tiger do the fist pump. Honestly. I like golf, but unless Tiger is winning or close to the lead, I have no interest. I won't watch the British Open if he's not it in. And that's sad. So please, Tiger, make the cut. Do it for golf, do it for you, but most of all, do it for me. Thanks.
Glover Wins US Open
After rain delays, darkness delays, the US Open that never seemed like it would end crowned its champion. His name? Lucas Glover. No, not Tiger, or Phil. Lucas Glover, 29, who hadn't won a tournament since 2005, won the US Open. Crazy. While some were hoping for Mickelson to win, for his cancer stricken wife, a very good guy won. Glover, who took time away from the sport after struggling, made all the shots when he had to, held off a surging Mickelson, and fought off two great rounds from Ricky Barnes.
There was part of me that thought Tiger would win, or at least make it interesting. He missed too many putts to do so. Still, it was a great US Open, filled with mud, rain, darkness, and an unlikely champ.
