Written by:  Jerad Merbitz

Well, it has been nearly 3 months since Tiger Woods crashed his SUV outside his home on Thanksgiving night. As we all know, he wasn’t rushing out to be first in line on Black Friday, he was trying to leave his home to avoid “discussions” with his wife about his alleged mistresses. The allegations, following that night, regarding Tiger Woods and his personal life have created a media circus that dwarfs even news from our ongoing war in Iraq/Afghanistan. Why you might ask? Because the American public is obsessed with celebrities and the lives they live. In Tiger’s case, the picture he painted for himself portrayed him to be the most honest, hard working, loving, and family man on the planet.  He had his priorities with religion and family firmly in place. As with most things that appear to be perfect, things are not always as they seem, and for Tiger, all the skeletons fell out of the closet at once.

Tiger’s apology was definitely warranted, but who was it most warranted for?  I don’t know about you, but while I was listening to him speak last Friday, it was almost as though a robot, dressed and looking like Tiger, had been brought in to deliver the speech. The more he spoke, the more it seemed he was performing a speech not written by him, but his publicist. In addition, even though he made a point to apologize to his friends and family, the whole speech seemed like an act that was aimed at his sponsors to prove to them he was on his way to recovery. That was most important right? Especially for the first athlete to ever reach the one billion dollar mark in earnings? One thing is for certain, Tiger was right on when he said he felt normal rules didn’t apply to him. Isn’t that the case for all celebrities who hit rock bottom? Look at Kobe Bryant for example. Many called him the next Michael Jordan and felt he could surpass his records much like people feel Tiger could one day pass Jack. In similar fashion though, Kobe let fame and fortune persuade him into believing he was entitled to things others were not. At the end of the day, both Kobe and Tiger now know, the so called “rules” do apply to everyone and no matter how God-like they think they are, they can’t do what they want when they want. This is the real world and when you make mistakes, it affects those closest to you, which brings me to my last point.

In Tiger’s closing statement, he looked into the camera, and said, “There are many people who believed in me. Today, I want to ask you for your help. I ask you to find room in your heart to one day believe in me again”. In the words of our favorite football analysts on ESPN, “C’mon MAN!” More than anything, Tiger need to speak to God, family, friends, and fans respectively and ask for forgiveness. As much as I would like to go on about how I think parents need to have a more active role in their children’s life and not rely on celebrities to be role models and set examples for their child’s lives, the truth of the matter is they are role models. If I had a dollar for every time I saw a child with a TW hat on or a Tiger head cover, I’d be a millionaire. Everyone is capable of greatness and good, but everyone is also capable of hurting others. I do believe Tiger can recover from this. If it’s any incentive, he should look at Kobe and see what he has done to recover. Last year for example, Kobe led his Lakers to their first Championship since the post-Shaq era and there wasn’t any word of whether Kobe was deserving of it because he cheated on his wife. Those who followed you, believed in you, and admired you can forgive you, but they need to feel you sincerely feel sorry for what you did and will work had to better yourself. For Tiger to fully recover, this is what has to happen.