Tuesday, December 15, 2009

As sports scandals go, Tiger Woods is tops

As sports scandals go, Tiger Woods is tops

The biggest news as the Tiger Woods scandal played out for the third week on gossip sites and chat boards everywhere wasn't really news.

It might not have even been his wife, Elin, not that it matters much anymore.

A 2-day-old photo of a blonde woman in sunglasses pumping gas into an SUV outside Orlando went viral — which is about all that seems to matter anymore — because, gasp, the woman was not wearing a wedding ring.

Perhaps you've heard that Woods and his wife, Elin, are having marital problems.

There's really not a lot more to the whole thing except for the scale of what happened and the size of the stage it has been playing out on. The greatest golfer ever is exposed as perhaps one of the greatest philanderers ever and, of course, we want to know all the sordid details.

Transgressions. Infidelity. Sins. Woods has used all three words himself in postings on his Web site owning up to some of his actions.

If only he had cheated on the golf course instead of off it. Marked down a 4 when it should have been a 5, or maybe kicked a ball from behind a tree when no one was looking.

He might have recovered from that. A lot of baseball players who cheated with steroids certainly have.

But he'll never really recover from this.

"In a lot of ways Tiger Woods has broken the hearts of a lot of people who looked at him as a role model who was above all those things," said Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida. "It was just so far out of bounds with what anyone considers normal behavior."

Indeed, this scandal is more about celebrity than sport. This wasn't Pete Rose betting on baseball, Bill Belichick spying on his opponents or Marion Jones bulking up to win Olympic gold.

But it is Tiger Woods. And that's all that matters.

"I don't know if there was anybody ever like Tiger Woods," Lapchick said. "We had an African-American athlete who totally transcended race and dominated a sport maybe like no one else who seemed to have this perfect life. It turned out not to be true."

Count Lapchick among those who initially thought Woods would largely escape much fallout from the accident and early reports of infidelity. Those in a graduate class he teaches in sports management thought so, too, predicting Woods would be welcomed back warmly when he returned to the course.

That was before every day brought another revelation, and more and more women were linked with Woods. Now his students have changed their minds, and Lapchick has, too.

Woods' sponsors are apparently coming to the same conclusion. No matter that few people know what Accenture does, the consulting company knows it doesn't want to be associated with Woods anymore.

And although AT&T doesn't mind spending millions to be a part of the 2012 U.S. Olympic effort, does the company really want Woods to make his return — whenever that might be — with its logo still on his golf bag?

What astounds Lapchick — who is not only a distinguished academic but a pioneer for racial equality in sports — is how the Woods scandal has morphed into something never before seen in sports. Even the sexual assault charges against Kobe Bryant — while arguably more serious — didn't create nearly this kind of frenzy.

Bryant has rebounded to a large degree, helped by the passing of time and his dominance on the basketball court. He has his endorsements back, and no one asks him any more what happened that night in a Colorado hotel.

There are, however, still some who remember the repulsive details of the allegations who will never cheer for Bryant again.

Like Bryant, what Woods did had nothing to do with sports. Still, it might end up being the biggest scandal ever in sports.

Nothing else comes close.

"It's so far the opposite of what we thought that it makes it so much more dramatic," Lapchick said. "I think it will always be with him."

For Tiger, games are over

For Tiger, games are over


A few weeks shy of his 34th birthday, golf's Peter Pan has finally grown up.

By announcing that he's taking an extended leave of absence from that which has meant so much and provided him with even more, Woods is acknowledging, maybe for the first time, that golf's just a game.

A wondrous and alluring one, to be sure, but in the end, coaxing a little white ball into a hole is far from the most important thing in life.

It's a lesson most of us learn in disappointment when the time comes to apply for a job and finally let go of those childhood dreams. Tiger's had to learn it in a much uglier way and I'm not sure which of us, in the end, has been luckier.

He's a proud man and I'm sure he'd be willing to trade many, many of his dollars in order to erase the ridicule and humiliation he's suffered through over the past fortnight.

Golf's going to miss him only in days ending in 'y' but he will be back, whether it be at Torrey Pines for the San Diego Open in six weeks or for the Masters in April. In the meantime, with the star on hiatus, we're going to have to content ourselves with the understudies as they try to keep the show going.

Not a particularly heartening scenario, I know — especially given the disaster that was the Tiger-less second half of 2008 — but Woods has a marriage to save, a family to try to keep together and a soul that needs healing.

In other words, his priorities are no longer those of an adolescent.

Friday's mea culpa statement on his Web site — I don't know about you but I'd still prefer to watch him speak those words, which would only amplify the humanity in them — gives great hope that the salvaging of the Woods family has begun.

It's heartening, for me, to learn that it's even possible.

I was far from convinced that Elin would be even willing to take him back. As hard as this has been on him, I can't imagine what it's been like to listen to women with very little going for them tell of not just sex but sharing intimacies with her husband.

The sex, in a sense, could be excused as a physical need, but what a betrayal it is to learn that your husband was cuddling with another woman in your matrimonial bed while watching a movie.

It's heartening, too, that Woods is no longer hiding behind cold, lawyerly words like "transgressions" but for the first time admits to "my infidelity."

Personally, I would have gone with the plural given the procession of women crawling out from beneath the sheets, but that's splitting hairs.

The overarching point is that Tiger Woods is finally taking full responsibility for his own actions, which is all any of us could ask of another human being.

And, really, it's the only way to forgiveness, which I think is what Woods ultimately seeks.

"I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father and person," Woods wrote.

That last part is for us, his public.

The Tiger Woods we've all known for the past 13 years, ever since he introduced himself with that mesmerizing, Hello, world, commercial has gone.

If he ever existed.

In that sense, the upheaval of the past two weeks may prove to be a blessing.

Woods will no longer need to project himself as perfect because we all know now in far too much detail that he's not.

And the paranoid handlers around him won't need to act like there's a Machiavellian cabal lurking around every corner to expose his imperfections.

Of course, it's not all going to be a bed of roses because at some point, Woods will make his return to competitive golf and, for the first time, we'll be watching him more than his golf ball. He'll have to deal with questions and they'll be difficult. He's also going to have to deal with the fact that he may no longer be the crowd favorite. Not everyone will be willing to forgive him his sins.

Be sure, it's going to be a long journey back for Tiger Woods, not just back to golf but back as a husband and a father.

A long road but shorter now that he's taken the first step.

More Women in the Tiger Woods Scandal

More Women in the Tiger Woods Scandal

As the Tiger Woods story continues to evolve and escalate, more and more and more (and more) women who aren't named Mrs. Woods have come into the fray claiming they've had affairs with the golf great. Last week there were three. But now, at least four (and maybe more) women have been thrown into the mix, some by their own admission and others by tabloid sources. It can be quite confusing -- so many mistresses, so little time -- so PopEater took the time to break down each alleged Tiger poacher and the stories swirling around them. Let's start with the newest name after the jump.

Who: Jamie Jungers
Occupation: Waitress and Aspiring Model
Age: 26
Alleged Length of Affair: 18 Months
How She 'Knew' Tiger: According to the Daily Mirror, Jungers allegedly met Woods at a party in Las Vegas, where he apparently sent a message to her that he wanted to meet. Naturally, romping ensued. The report states that the golfer and Jungers would meet up at his California home for trysts over the next year and a half.

Credible? Going on her looks and occupation (waitress), it seems to add up.


Who: Mindy Lawton
Occupation: Waitress or Manager at Perkins Restaurant
Age: 36
Alleged Length of Affair: 1 Year
How She 'Knew' Tiger: The cougar of the Tiger family, Lawton is also the most descriptive. The chain restaurant employee told the News of the World that she "sometimes looked like a rag doll after we'd made love." She also uses the term "well-endowed" to describe the golf icon, whom she claims would frequent her eatery near his Orlando estate. Shockingly, she says the Tiger affair occurred during his wife Elin's first pregnancy and that they would have wild sex at his mansion.

Credible?
We're gonna go out on a limb here and say not so much. For starters, would gazillionaire Tiger really frequent a Perkins (no offense)?


Who: Holly Sampson
Occupation: Soft Porn Actress
Age: 36
How She 'Knew' Tiger: The details are hazy (ie, non-existent), but the Daily Mail referenced the star of 'OMG, Stop Tickling Me' as yet another Tiger mistress. Her lawyer exclaimed, "She has no comment on the matter," which is not a denial. Due to a lack of other info on this one, we'll just rattle off some more of her film credits: 'Flying Solo 2,' 'Diary of a Horny Housewife,' 'Descent Into Bondage' ...

Credible? No naughty tales from unnamed sources? No details on when they met or how long they may have flung? We'll wait on this one.



Who: Jaimee Grubbs
Occupation: Cocktail Waitress / Reality Star
Age: 24
Alleged Length of Affair: 31 months
How She 'Knew' Tiger: In a massive Us Weekly exclusive, Grubbs -- who was recently on VH1's 'Tool Academy' -- claims that she and Tiger had at least 20 sexual encounters, though she didn't divulge exactly what that means. Even worse for the golf great, she claims to have voicemails and text messages that will only bolster her claims of an affair. Us even has one of the voicemails, in which Tiger tells Grubbs: ""I need you to do me a huge favor. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and may be calling you."

Credible? Oh, the voicemails. Yes, her claims are believable.