Saturday, February 20, 2010

Does Tiger Woods Owe Me Anything?


Yesterday I watched the first stage of the Tiger Woods apology tour. I wasn't alone, I heard that trading even slowed on Wall Street as he stood there reading his prepared statement before a select group of family, sponsors and sports management folks.

As I watched I didn't feel cynical, I thought he seemed sincere, and extremely uncomfortable. I could imagine nothing much worse for a guy than standing there, in front of his mother no less, talking about how he had extra martial relationships with not just one, but many women.

But what has struck me as much more interesting than his actual statement has been the inevitable aggressive post mortem that has transpired in the less than 24 hours since.

Angry news people and women he slept with, all critiquing and analyzing body language, weighing every word and examining every nuance with a scrutiny usually reserved for frame by frame examination of the Zapruder film. I half expected to see people with torches and pitchforks running through the street.

"I don't think he's really sorry!"

"Yeah, he seemed rehearsed!"

"He should have just spoken, not read something!"

"I hate him!"

What do these people want? Honestly, if I was ever in that situation I'd want a script too. I cannot imagine anything more humiliating than having to stand before the entire world talking about my sex life.

But other than those personally impacted by his choices - namely his wife, children, mom and co-workers, who does he owe? Certainly not me.

He screwed up. Big time. His behavior is beyond the pale in indiscretion, selfishness and insensitivity to his wife. No one deserves to ever be so disrespected, disregarded and mistreated. Elin and only Elin can decide if she can forgive him and work toward repairing their marriage. That choice is hers alone and is none of my business.

As for the women he cheated with who feel they too deserve an apology and more than they've gotten, I say, really????? Really???? You had relationships with a married man. You're not a victim, you made a choice. Tiger Woods is a celebrity, it's not like you didn't know he was married. To those who have cashed in on the fact that they slept with him I say, well, quid pro quo, ladies, - you have truly screwed each other.

Maybe I'm alone in my thinking, but I don't feel Tiger Woods owes me a thing. I don't deserve, need or want to know how many women he slept with, what they did, where they did it or why. There's only one person who deserves those answers and it's certainly not Oprah, Anderson Cooper or me.

1 comment:

Hallie Ephron said...

I agree, Candy - but it's the toxic downside of fame. It's the deal any truly famous person makes with the devil. To be parsed and microscopically analyzed and (inevitably) to be found to be not what we imagined him to be. So would that make any of us shun that kind of meteoric fame?