My friend LocutisPrime has written a very thoughtful and even alarming post about Tiger's state of mind. Specifically, he states that he regretfully feels that we'll see Tiger dead within a year, probably by his own hand, if not from a downward spiral of drugs and/or alcohol (we'll leave AIDS or other STD's aside for the moment). I respectfully disagree.
It has come to light that Tiger has been carrying on multiple affairs while married. Some of these women say they've been involved with Tiger since before he was married. I have simply the opposite opinion of my friend LocutisPrime. I think that Tiger never took his marriage vows seriously in the first place, and he's not really worried about the end of his marriage. He's simply plotting his come-back to the tour. He might be worried about his kids...but I somehow doubt that, as little regard he's paid to the risks of his behavior.
Look: Tiger may be the greatest golfer of all time. He can come back on tour, win tourneys and keep making big bucks. So what if he loses a few sponsors? He's worth $1 billion, according to Forbes. Even if he loses $300 million to Elin, he can still use simply the interest on his $700 million to fly around on private jets and pay $15,000 per night for hookers, er, escorts. If he were a single man, all other men would be jealous.
Think of what's going to happen at golf tourneys that he attends. When I go to the Byron Nelson, my wife's going to tell me "I had better not see you on TV applauding for Tiger". And countless wives around the world will watch the TV on Sunday afternoons more carefully, making sure that hubbies are rooting for Phil or even John Daly instead of Tiger. Maybe the next time he's walking up the 18th fairway toward the green, all the fans will simply turn their backs on him and remain silent. That would be a "golf highlight".
I find it preposterous to think that we let a dog-killing torturer back into the NFL and cheer him on, but we won't welcome Tiger back onto the PGA tour. I call B.S. on that one.
At the end of the day, Tiger will take his lumps, write a check to Elin, and play golf. What happens when he breaks the all-time records of wins in major tourneys? Or when he wins a few Grand-Slams? We'll be there, cheering on his ability, not his judgment. I don't agree with what he does with his putter off of the course, but I sure respect it on the course.
I'll be cheering for someone else, but I also think that Tiger should be allowed to play. After all, it's not like he bet on baseball games or anything. He'll check himself into sex and drug rehab, and come out a changed man. Even Rush can come back from drug abuse!
So, respectfully, I don't buy that he's on a downward spiral. He's got a billion to keep him afloat until he spins his way back onto the tour. I just don't think he cares that much for women's feelings. Hell, he bought and paid for those women - he thinks of them as so much merchandise in Macy's windows - so he has as low an opinion of them as they do of themselves for selling out their bodies. Why should he be worried if he's hurt another one? It's the kids that are going to suffer.
Perhaps a golfing divorce court judge will rule that 50% of his future winnings go to his kids...now that would get us all cheering him on again.
Me? I'll be cheering for Lefty...
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2 comments:
Tex, I appreciate your critique of my musings and I sincerely respect your opinion and reflections on the matter. However, I must respectfully disagree with your perspectives of how this all shakes out for Tiger.
Yes, he is worth a billion dollars and yes, even if Elin gets half, he will still have enough money to sustain a lifestyle that you or I can only dream of. But that is not what really matters in this scenario IMO.
In the bible, Jesus said that money was the root of all evil and as such, money is not the answer to Tiger's problems at this point. If anything, money is at the root of all of his problems. Money was the enabler that allowed him to do what he did.
And the irony remains, regardless of how much money he now has, has left, or can potentially earn in the future, he can never buy back either his family, his reputation or his image among fans, friends or family.
There are tangibles in this life that cannot be bought or repaired with money.
My points concerning Tiger go beyond the money and the philandering. My points address who he is and who he was prior to this debacle.
Can Tiger return to the links and play again? Most certainly. Can Tiger return to the links and ever play at the same level that he once do did? I don't believe so. The people won't let him. More specifically, the (NASCAR) fans and others that constantly haunt the links and are already shouting the ubiquitous "get in the hole!" every time he or anyone else takes a putt or swings.
What do you think these people will do when the man tries to return to the game? I can promise you that it won't be pretty and neither will the media interviews that he is presently hiding from. And I can promise you that the game of golf is a mental game and this dilemma will be so thoroughly embedded into his mind, as to make it all but impossible for him to concentrate on what he needs to in order to play.
Tiger's scandal has not only affected him, it has affected potentially thousands, both directly associated with him and his foundation, but also the other tour golfers, the PGA and on down the line.
As for the sponsors? the very thing that made Tiger a multimillion dollar commodity, is no longer there. The sponsors are slowly pulling away as will his biggest sponsor Nike before this is over.
More......
In the end, the reality remains......"sponsors pay out the big bucks to have their brand associated with the brand or personality of the idol or celebrity." And in this case, Tiger's brand and his marketability has been completely destroyed IMO. He can never get that back and every tiome they attempt to show an image of him flashing that supposedly wholesome smile, people will remember who he is and what he did.
As for the NFL and Michael Vick? Vick will make what? A couple of million a year at best. That is a long way from the 100 million that Tiger was raking in. And Vick was a thug before his fall and he remains one today. The fact that he has a couple of million thug fans in a country of 300 million speaks only to the make up of our society in general IMO.
The simple fact is, I don't have to be loved by the entire country. All I have to do is to get a couple of million people to buy into my persona or supposed talent, and I can make a descent living from here on out. The Dixie Chicks more than proved that reality.
But that reality of thug mentality with Vick and others, is like comparing apples and oranges as it concerns Tiger's fall from Grace IMO.
My points in my original blog remain a troubling potential reality IMO. I certainly hope that Tiger can find a life on the other side of what he has now destroyed. But somehow, I know down deep inside that it will never be as the greatest golfer of his generation anymore.
That was then, this is now and what once was can never be again. I know that and several dozen million of his fans know that. And more importantly, Tiger knows that. And that is what is and will eat at him.
Personally, I don't think that Tiger sincerely cares about his wife or his two small children. He couldn't have and yet done what we all now know that he has done.
If it was as simple as paying Elin 300-400 million dollars and getting back on the tour? Then I might agree with you, but it isn't that simple.
And all the money that he has or all the money that he has left after the end of his marriage, cannot buy back for him the image that he once had with the world.
As for the way I see Tiger's reaction? If Tiger was a Michael Vick or a Charles Barkley, or Michael Jordan, or a Kobi Bryant? Then the emotional level of what has happened would roll off his back like it has theirs and he would be right back out there. But Tiger is not them.
Tiger is not made like they are. The man was not raised in their world. He simply cannot be judged or compared on a comparable level along side of either of them or others IMO.
Therefore, in the end, short of Tiger finding God or God revealing himself to Tiger in the depths of his despair, in the end Tiger has no place to turn IMO.
And that is what I feel will lead to his death. Either directly or indirectly.
Thanks again for your complimentary references to my blog and for the opportunity to share an intra-blog discussion.
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