Is it acceptable to be tired of Tiger Woods?
I certainly am. I watched some of Sunday’s Masters coverage, and I was disgusted by Woods’s numerous childish outbursts when his shots didn’t go as he wished. His complaint of “Tiger Woods, you suck!” was a sentiment I could agree with, but I found his shout of “Jesus!” offensive, as I’m sure many others did. If he’s such a Buddhist nowadays, as he claims to be, he should be angry at his own god, not mine.
I understand that much is at stake during these tournaments and that none of us is perfect in language usage or anything else, but when you know that you’re going to be heard by millions of people, it’s your responsibility to keep a lid on it. Plus, do you really want to look like a jerk? Other golfers restrained themselves, and Woods should be expected to do so as well.
Especially given that he promised to do so. That so annoyed CBS golf announcer Jim Nantz that he criticized Woods on WFAN radio yesterday:
If I said what he said on the air, I would be fired. I read in the USA Today and it was called “mild language.” Someone on my broadcast dismissed it as him having a camera in his face. Well, guess what? Phil Mickelson had a camera in his face all week and did you even hear him come close to approaching that? He didn’t hit every shot the way he wanted. Have you ever heard Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus use that kind of language? What are the parameters between what’s right or wrong?
Nantz made the important—but commonly ignored—point that we should all aspire to an even higher standard of conduct in our public than in private, for our private actions hurt only a few, whereas public behavior can affect hundreds, thousands, or millions, for good or ill:
How about the father and son who are standing right there by the tee? How about the hundreds of people who are around that tee who hear that? How about the hundreds of letters I’ve gotten through the years from people who have been outraged at the language they’ve heard there and have written me and said, ‘Why don’t you guys ever say something about that?
Woods acts in this infantile manner in the public arena because he has always gotten away with it. It’s time he was treated like everyone else—and Nantz is to be commended for calling him to account.
I have to get in on this one. Being a fanatical golfer myself, I’ve put up with the wooden Tiger, the attitude Tiger, the offensive Tiger (especially when he blurts out my Lord and Savior’s name as if it were an expletive), the sex fiend Tiger (because I’m a guy), the unfaithful Tiger,the contrite Tiger, the entitlement Tiger, because I know personally how hard golf is and he is likely the greatest golfer of all time.
But after this Master’s I just don’t like or respect the guy, not at all. I’ve read the shorter web version of Vanity Fair’s story called “Tiger Woods Inconvenient Women,” and it’s a portrait of Tiger that frankly disgusts me. Not the sex, but that he is a liar.
He was asked point blank in last Monday’s news conference if any of his handlers, agent, caddy, etc., know about his women, and he said no, that he’d deceived everyone. Here are are a couple paragraphs:
The Enablers
• Woods has said in recent interviews that no one in his inner circle knew about his affairs, but Seal’s reporting contradicts that. Woods’s mistress Jamie Jungers says, “Every time I would fly out to see [Tiger] or schedule itineraries or anything, I would always go through Bryon [Bell],” Woods’s childhood friend and the president of Tiger Woods Design. (Bell did not respond to requests for comment.)
• According to Woods’s mistress Mindy Lawton, when she alerted Tiger to the fact that The National Enquirer had caught on to their affair, he put her in contact with his agent, Mark Steinberg, of IMG Worldwide. After Lawton explained to him what had transpired (see below), Steinberg said, “We’ll take care of it.” (Steinberg did not respond to requests for comment.)
Now I don’t trust these women as far as I can throw them, but it strains credulity to think no one around him knew he was such a scum bag. Their stories ring true, his don’t.
In the long line of golf’s greats, from Bobby Jones, to Walter Hagen, to Sam Snead, to Byron Nelson, to Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, Tiger Woods is a disgrace.
The whole issue with language gets so blown out of proportion. Whatever happened to “sticks and stones?” They’re just words people, I think this video demonstrates that point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wkj7nybWic
…If you don’t laugh at that, you take yourself WAY too seriously. Just turn the other cheek if it really bothers you that much.
I’d rather Tiger be himself than a fake. Where is it written that professional athletes have to be nice? They just have to be excellent at the sport they play.
I’d prefer people hate me for who I am than love me for who they think I should be.
I disagree entirely, Anne. I don’t think Mr. Woods is fundamentally a jerk and incapable of being better. Quite the contrary. His ability to control his golf game suggests that his will is strong, and if he truly wishes to control his temper he is quite likely fully capable of doing so.
The choice is not whether to be oneself or not; it is what kind of self one chooses to be. We do have a choice in these matters, and our choice of standards will determine how laudable a level of conduct we will reach. If we hold ourselves to low standards, we will be despicable and rightly despised. If we hold ourselves to high standards, we will be honorable and will be honored by those whose opinions are worth having.
We’ll have to agree to disagree. I don’t think Tiger cares at all what people think of him. He’s just doing what he needs to in order to keep the money flowing – good for him!
Anne, I’m sure you’re doing a bang-up job raising your daughter, and I commend you for it. However, people are indeed influenced by persons other than their parents, and I certainly appreciate it when individuals help in this effort by holding themselves to a high standard of conduct both publicly and privately.
Woods failed to do that last weekend after promising that he would act in an exemplary fashion. The broken promise is particularly egregious. If he had said that he was planning to curse during the match and that CBS and the TV audience could just go bugger themselves, then I imagine that CBS would indeed have turned off the mikes during his play, or warned viewers of the potential of hearing blue language emanating from the master golfer.
But Woods instead stated that he would conduct himself admirably. He did not keep that promise. Breaking promises is wrong, and outbursts of temper and cursing in public are rude and likewise wrong. Wrong is wrong. We may, like you, decide to ignore it or forgive it, but it’s still wrong.
Thus I think that Jim Nantz makes a valid point in bringing up the issue of how public behavior affects children.
Now, do we as human beings have a right not to be offended? Certainly not. Yet does that excuse others for being offensive? Just as surely, no. Woods was wrong to act like a jerk, and he should be criticized for it.
It’s time for Tiger Woods to grow up and act like a man. That will end the criticism and extend the adulation. It’s not a difficult thing to accomplish, should he deem the rewards sufficiently enticing.
Seriously? Don’t mic the golfers if you don’t want to hear what they say. What’s wrong with showing emotion while playing a game you are passionate about? I’m so sick of the morality police. My young daughter has heard all sorts of foul language but knows not to use it because I teach her what is appropriate and how she should behave including the type of language she should use and don’t expect famous athletes to parent my child nor influence her behavior – it’s not their job.
Many people these days seem to think they have the right to not be offended. They don’t, but they do have the right to free speech.
JohnD:
JIm Nantz isn’t saying h’s “saint or holy.” He’s saying he’s held to a higher standard on the same broadcasts that Tiger is on — and rightly so.
Where was Jim Nantz all these years? Is he trying to kick somebody when he/she is way down in his/her life?
This is crazy, is TWs worse than Janet Jackson? or some stupid actors who say anything on TV but not accounted for their actions. This is how media changes course from its legit work to the tabloids work. Can Jim Nantz tell us that he is saint or holy? God this is the twenty first century where you are entitled to spend the night watching those creepy #### movies. Haven’t you done that and try to act like one? This has been said not only once but many times from the CEOs to Political party leaders, from priests to house wives. What is different with TWs now? I bet you if you had 1% of TWs ‘ wealth, you would try to rule the world. Let’s be real and let the truth come out loud. Inferiority complex should not be our guidance and let the truth be told. Let’s see ourselves through the mirror and tell if we are flawless!!!!
Yes, Jim, he did drop an F-bomb, and I think it was way over the top. I agree that Woods has become so habitually intemperate that he can’t be gracious even when he knows that he should and fully intends to. That’s what happens when we habitually allow bad behavior: it creates bad habits.
Moral rules are so simple and make such sense; it’s a pity our society has become so jaded as to think such things don’t matter until the outcomes become egregious.
I couldn’t agree more, Sam. I’m also pretty certain I heard Tiger throw out an F-bomb, as well.
Arguably worse was the post-round interview with the kindly and widely respected Peter Kostis after Tiger signed his scorecard. Kostis didn’t go anywhere near all the controversy that surrounds Tiger, and he still acted petulant and pissy. Very ungracious. He should have simply composed himself and thanked the fans for giving him such a warm welcome back to the world of golf. Instead, he bitched about how he hit tons of bad shots and didn’t do what he came to do — win.
The only “tough” question from Kostis came when he asked Tiger about his temper, especially considering the fact that just days earlier, Tiger said he’d make an effort to show more respect to the game and to the fans. (The subtext of the question being: You kinda broke that promise, Tiger.) Tiger’s response: “People are making too big a deal about that.” What a jerk.
I could hear Tiger’s PR people cringing from the comfort of my couch. How could they not have gone over what he SHOULD SAY in his post-round interview broadcast to millions of people? Here’s what the advice they probably gave him (and which Tiger obviously ignored): Smile, Tiger. I know you’ll be a little hot if you played poorly and didn’t win. Too bad. Try some acting — you know, the kind of acting you did for all those floozies who you convinced were “special.” Or the acting you pulled off all those years to keep your wife in the dark. So NO MATTER WHAT … smile. Say you just didn’t play well enough to win. Say you were disappointed. But also MAKE SURE YOU SAY THANKS to the fans who supported you so heartily all week. And if you curse and get called on it, just suck it up and apologize. Say you’ll try to do better at controlling your emotions. The end.
Instead, Tiger only cemented his reputation as a world-class jerk. If Jim Nantz is running you down, you know you’ve screwed up. Sheesh.