Tiger

Wow, I haven't posted on here for over a week, which is disappointing.

I'm fresh off a two-day trip to Manhattan to see Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck with family and friends. Great times.

Yesterday, as probably everyone already knows, Tiger Woods made his highly anticipated first public statement about his numerous affairs. It seems like everyone I talk to, golf fan or not, has an opinion on Tiger and "the speech," so I figure it's my duty to join the fray.

First off, I think it was an important step for Tiger to come out of hibernation and get in front of the cameras. Tiger's right that this is first and foremost a matter between husband and wife, but as one of the most dominant, widely-celebrated professional athletes of our time, he's become an icon and a role model for lots of young kids. Whether or not Tiger wanted to become a role model is irrelevant; it simply comes with the territory. And he failed miserably at it.

Yesterday, he admitted that. But here's the thing: anyone can get in front of a camera and read a prepared statement. Tiger Woods stood in front of a tiny, sympathetic audience, read straight off of a piece of paper for 13 minutes, hugged his mother, and walked out of the room. He fielded no questions. He elaborated no further than he saw fit. That's fine, that's Tiger's prerogative, but it was no major achievement.

I went back and watched the speech again today, and I came away from this second viewing with my mind changed a bit: yesterday I thought the address was bad. I now think it was downright terrible. He was wooden, robotic...to the point where you had to wonder whether he had chopped up some onions before walking to the podium in order to generate the mistiness in his eyes.

As the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words, and this is a case in point. Tiger said a lot of things yesterday, but what matters are his actions from this point forward. Will he really recommit himself to his wife and his two little children, who he has hurt so badly with his selfish, disgusting actions? Is he really genuinely contrite? And as a golf fan, I also have to wonder whether he will truly seek to change his on-course behavior, which has all too often been petulant, ungracious, and disrespectful of the game, which as golfers are wont to say, is a "gentleman's" one.

In the interests of full disclosure, for those who don't know, I've never been a Tiger Woods fan. One of the reasons I root for ABT (Anybody But Tiger) is because I usually prefer the underdog in any sport, unless it's MY team (and hey, let's face it, when you're a Mets, Jets, and former Whalers fan, your team usually is the underdog anyway). But the main reason I never rooted for or liked Tiger is because of his demeanor on the course, a point that class-act Tom Watson made a few weeks back when he urged Tiger to not only make amends in his personal life but to manifest more openly and regularly a respect for the game in his professional endeavors. Kudos to Tom Watson for that statement.

Tiger fans usually engage in a kneejerk defense of Woods's club-throwing and cursing, brushing it aside because "he's just such a competitor" or "he settles for nothing less than perfection," but that's just a cop-out. There have been many golfing greats down through the years who played the game it was supposed to be played. They were role models. I'm talking about Arnold Palmer. Jack Nicklaus. Tom Watson. Gary Player. The list goes on, and while Tiger Woods has certainly earned a spot next to these men on the greatest golfers of all-time list, he is most certainly not worthy of a place anywhere near these guys on the role models/class-act list. And that's a shame.

So maybe yesterday was the beginning of Tiger growing up and embracing his status within the golfing world and, more broadly, the sports world. Time will tell. He said a lot of the right things, which he's done for much of his career, but his actions thus far have fallen far, far short of the mark both on the course and off of it. Does he really mean it this time? Can Tiger Woods change for the better?