Right to Privacy?
As seen on every news channel recently, the question continues to be asked “Does Tiger deserve to handle this situation privately?” My initial answer is absolutely. If anyone else was in the same situation they would be able to handle it behind closed doors without anyone knowing about the situation. Such is not the case for someone like Tiger Woods, but should it be?
I don’t think it should. For a person like Tiger Woods, who earns upwards of 100 million dollars a year comes enormous expectations. Expectations from the companies who pay him these sums of money. These companies aren’t just paying him to play golf. They are paying him to represent their company 24/7. There are no breaks when you earn these huge endorsement deals. But more importantly expectations from kids who look up to Tiger Woods. Tiger has always done incredible work for kids throughout the country and by no means do I not think he will continue to do so. But he needs to step up right now. He can use this situation to teach kids a valuable lesson, which is how you handle adversity.
He was told most likely by his PR team to hide for a few days and hope that everything will blow over. Well that didn’t work out and now he has backpedaled into a mediocre apology. He needs to show his face and handle the situation head on. I don’t like it when people put out well written press releases or interviews where they read a statement written by someone else. Get on a camera and tell everyone that you screwed up and how you will fix it. Everyone screws up. Although we tend to think your perfect on the golf course at times…we now know that you are not perfect off the course. But that’s ok…just don’t try to pass the blame off on the media or the situation your in. Blame yourself and we will accept your apology.
Look at the steroid situation in baseball. Andy Pettitte came out and admitted he uses steroids and now he is a hero again in New York after bringing back another title. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have too much pride to admit any wrong doing and the public has vilified them. As much as athletes like to rip the media and the public for false perceptions…these perceptions are what make them the millions of dollars. Nike doesn’t pay Tiger Woods hundreds of millions of dollars for how he acts behind closed doors (none of us know who this person is…at least we didn’t until a few days ago). Nike pays him because of the perception the public has of him. If its a good perception…which it always has been of Tiger Woods, then he stands to make a lot of money as he has. Be a man and take the situation head on by yourself, without the help of the “Tiger Team,” and everyone will appreciate the fact that yes you are human like the rest of us.
Perception is reality
Jorde
well put!
Agreed on all accounts. Tiger is looked upon by many people including children and now he’s public image is completely ruined. He’s always going to have this on his “record” and unfortunately to most, he won’t be remembered for winning 3 US Jr. Am’s, 3 US Am’s, and probably eventually having the most wins on tour…. he’ll be remembered for this.
I think his time off in Sweden will be good for him, hopefully he can keep his pants up.
On a side note, best quote yet from from Marlon Wayans: “This shows how great a golfer Tiger Woods is, cuz looking at these busted chicks, apparently this brotha is blind and still the #1 golfer.”
DC – I’m out!
TK,
Thank you buddy.
DC,
I completely agree. Ill still watch him just as much as I used to because he is incredible to watch but can’t help but look at him differently as a person. It is what it is.
Thanks for the input guys.
Jorde
It’s refreshing to see a clean, well written blog about golf. I look forward to keeping up and I wish you the best of luck.
Thanks Tom. I’m not going to lie…I am very fired up about your blog and upcoming year in general. Great premise to the whole thing…stir things up a bit! Can’t wait for the e-books to start coming out. You going to hit the Texas swing?
Ryan
I actually have a great friend who lives in Bedford, literally right in between the locations for the Byron Nelson and the Crowne Plaza. I’m really looking forward to the Texas swing, as I’m a huge fan of Ben Hogan…and…well…to be honest, if I MAKE it to the Texas swing, I’ll be really fired up myself because that will mean that my little adventure is starting to catch on and I might actually be able to sell enough e-books to make it through the whole season.
I won’t mind sleeping in my car, taking truck-stop showers, eating out of cans, whatever…if anything, it should provide some good reading. I just really want to make it the whole way. So I’m really psyched that you’re psyched–that’s what it’s all about.
But take care, and have a great Christmas and New Year’s.
Just a thought here…are you considering doing any video on your trip? I would be definitely interested in watching some footage as well. We got a golf site coming out soon (and a better blog!) and I’ll definitely do what I can to help get the word out about your mission. Best of luck man!
Ryan
Thanks, man. I was considering getting a hidden camera involved, but the phrase “defamation of character” comes to mind, even if what I might show would be 100% the truth.
Still, I haven’t ruled out the possibility of a camera, even if it is simply for a video journal from the road that I can share. I’m still thinking about it.
What kind of footage would you be interested in?
Ha. No I wasn’t thinking like that. I was thinking more along the lines of something outside of your tour stuff. Film different places on your trip…if your going from Pebble Beach to LA maybe you get some footage of Hearst Castle on the drive down. Maybe you have a beer with some locals at a Morro Bay golf course…a great muny on the drive. When your in Palm Springs…walk the downtown area and film it. Not many people know what downtown Palm Springs is like. This is something I would be really interested in watching. You have the chance to really get a taste of golf around the country…not just the Tour. You could have a little two-pronged attack. The premise of your trip is awesome…I just think adding more of the actual trip details would be very entertaining to me. That would be something I would dream of doing kind of like playing the Top 100…instead its going to all the Tour Events. Write an actual book after about your whole trip. Another thing I definitely would buy! Hope that helps!
That certainly does. Thanks so much. I’m sure amongst all of the cities, campgrounds, hostel’s, truck-stops, and whatever else, I’m sure to find something else to talk about or share aside from golf. My only concern–and I’d like to think I’m more tech savvy than this–is compressing video’s so I can upload them onto the site. The host I currently use limits my uploads to 100 mb…and I was just fooling around the other day, filming the winter wonderland that is the northeast to send to some friends in FL…the movie was a little over 4 minutes long, and it was like 436 mb. I can’t e-mail or upload that to anyone. So either I limit my video’s to 30-45 seconds…or is there a way to compress them? Should I just not use my digital camera and get a better device for video?