Tigerwoodsias

Has any celebrity of the worldwide stature of Tiger Woods ever seen his reputation collapse so quickly and so completely?

Lo, how the mighty have fallen. It's enough to put one in a poetic mood.

"Tigerwoodsias"

I met a golfer from a foreign port
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of tin
Stand in a sand trap. Near them in the dirt,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose grin
And twinkly eye and boyish air of sport
Tell that its sculptor well those passions cut
Which yet survive, stamped on that frozen face,
The heart that drove the ball and sank the putt.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Tigerwoodsias, I set the pace:
Look on my scores, ye duffers, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Around the bole
Of that colossal wreck, unswept and bare,
The sand trap stretches toward the eighteenth hole".

Comments

[pmprescott]

As an avid golfer and Woods fan, I'm rather disappointed that this may ruin his game for a year or two and ruin his chance at breaking more records.
John Daly gambles most of his money away and everyone yawns. He still has his endorsements. Woods gets flayed alive for succumbing to groupies, as if other athletes, rock stars or politicians haven't found a beautiful woman willing to have sex irresistible.

[william]

A great golfer kept giving tiger advice to settle down have a family and this will help win more tournaments. This proved to be bad advice. Unsolicited advice is often wrong advice.

Now if he does a good job of pr he can come out of this. Never with the image he had before but I did not watch him play because of his image but his ability to hit shots that stagger the mind.

One has to be a golfer to fully appreciate his abilities. Tiger did for golf what Jordan did for basketball. And more.

Speaking from a spiritual sense there is a lot more going on here in tiger’s mind then just sensualism or whatever. You can bet the kitchen sink that there are some opportunities for tiger to learn some profound lessons in life from these experiences.

[Michael Prescott]

"John Daly gambles most of his money away and everyone yawns."

One reason people yawn is that most of them, myself included, have no idea who John Daly is.

By contrast, Tiger Woods is probably the most famous athlete in the world.

[william]

I think I read somewhere that when tiger plays there is 40% more that watch on TV and 40% more in attendance. That is a huge draw. Tiger is a stimulus package that I am not sure we have ever seen in sports.

Folks that watch golf and play golf tend to be on the middle to upper end of the income scale so it is an advertisers dream to reach that many people. But as the good books say fame, power, and wealth can be as harsh of lessons as poverty.

Plus what would Nike golf be without tiger. Once while playing golf a friend and I saw a guy shaking a tree while we waited for him so we could tee off on the seventh hole. I told my friend that guy putting that much effort into getting his ball out of that tree must have a Nike ball caught in the tree.

So we caught up with him and sure enough it was a Nike; when they first came out they were pricey. Tiger more than anyone has made Nike golf very profitable.

[Zetetic_chick]

The case of Woods is interesting.

It seems the Woods news have made richier the owners of Yahoo, because the searches about him have increased considerably.

Even a videogame called "Tiger Hunting" have been developed. Check this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/03/tiger-woods-video-game-ti_n_378814.html

Although I don't justify bad or incorrect behaviour, I wonder if Woods is an "exceptional" case bewteen the most famous and rich people of this world (including celebrities of sports, Hollywood, politicians, rock stars, etc.)

I think a lot of people are making money with Woods' case.

Maybe some companies have interest in promoting that, because they're affecting companies like Nike and others - which are sponsors of Woods.

Thus competing companies would have an economic interest in affecting Nike and others to, eventually, when all of these pass, get a chance as sponsors of Woods.

Recently I read two supossed golfers who declared negative things about Woods. But the news was false- they never declared such things.

Being famous and superior in whatever field has a price- envy. And when you give them a chance, your detractors and enemies will run you over. Thus if you're exposing you to the world, you should be very careful.

As the saying says "The envious man thinks that if his neighbor breaks a leg, he will be able to walk better himself”

I wonder how many of Wood's critics are morally justified to crucify him by behaviours that possibly they have had (or would like to have) too.

PS.
I think celebrities, especially sport celebrities, should be examples of good conduct and action; they're role models, especially for kinds. I think it's undisputable.

But it's sad when the whole reputation of a person is destroyed not only by his own mistakes but by the media with unescrupulous criticisms and by other people with their own personal interests.

Maybe in our society, it's better to be unknown for the general public... nobody will be after you waiting for one of your mistakes.

[The Major]

I always think that a person's relationship status is their own concern and not for other people to judge. We don't know the state of his marriage so who are we to judge?

I share the same way of thinking as Zetetic Chick in that I wonder how virtuous his detractors really are? Is the media world a haven for those who want to live an honourable life?

I've never been one for thinking that a marriage should be honoured whatever the cost. My parents are separated and it was the best solution in the long-term no matter how rubbish it felt at the time. Some people may point to marriage breakdowns as a contributing factor to social decline. Maybe it is. However, I would add that the concept of marriage and divorce is in a transistional stage at the moment.

I think marriage should be respected but it shouldn't be a prison either.

Sorry, gone off on one there!

[Zerdini]

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave."

- Thomas Gray

[Art]

Women found the combination of his good looks, youth, and all that money to be irresistible. I have never had that problem because the real me is overweight and no where near wealth.

The real Art:
http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j110/1HappyFool/REHP-RECF%20Friends/Ariechert/

[Ben]

Very funny, Michael - though maybe "the nineteenth hole" might be even more apt?

[dmduncan]

The story started when he drove into a fire hydrant and then ran into a tree. You seriously think the media is going to ignore a story like that when the person driving the car was Tiger Woods? Or that they will suddenly and conspicuously drop the story when they uncover the root cause of the drama?

I have no interest either in golf or the people who play it, and yet even I thought the story was interesting when it was first reported.

He chose the life he has, and with that life he married the media, for better or worse. And now it’s worse. Too bad.

He can always choose another life if he finds the relationship between himself and the media more unsatisfying than rewarding.

[Michael Tymn]

As I see it, celebrity worship is a big part of what is wrong with the world today. They have become our "gods."

Movie actors -- who do nothing more than act like real people -- are more admired than the people they portray, while athletes -- who are pretend warriors -- are looked up to by the real warriors. (Athletics started as practice for war.) I've seen real soldiers standing in line to get an autograph from a pretend combatant. We can no longer distinguish the real from the unreal.

I don't think Tiger has fallen from grace as much as some of the media has suggested, at least among the male population. After all, Hugh Heffner was high on the list of most-admired men a few years back. If his lifestyle is to be admired, why not Tiger's?

[Andrew Paquette]

In the case of Tiger Woods, the image he projected, from his personal publicity to his advertising, was one of clean cut honest normalcy. This is why the story is so big. He could have been a girl-chasing drunken gambler all along and no one would have blinked an eye, as long as that is what they expected. Because his public image was so different, the story is much more compelling and more destructive to that false image.

AP

[dmduncan]

The public has the attention span of a Pavlov dog. He could've been busted stewing neighbors in a backyard vat, and in a few years not many would care so long as he kept amazing them on the golf course.

And yes, movie stars have become some of the modern gods. So have politicians. So have automobiles. I could do a book on how car commercials portray automobiles as objects worthy of veneration. Used to be that the stars aligned to herald the birth of a prophet or important person.

Now they align to introduce a new car.

Of course, they are only important because they haul butts around, so the object really being worshiped is the driver, for whom the car is an avatar.

[.]

'And yes,movie stars have become some of the modern god's.'

Yes and ninety per-cent of them are phonies in every sense of the word. Plastic, corrupted, zilch principles.
I don't care what their next film is going to be because I didn't watch the last one.
Not interested in their future projects and how much filthy lucre they can collect.
I wouldn't walk around the corner to see any of them(there not all bad but...)

Off with their heads. Well, maybe that's a bit harsh.
Off with their ego's.

[Zetetic_chick]

"In the case of Tiger Woods, the image he projected, from his personal publicity to his advertising, was one of clean cut honest normalcy. This is why the story is so big."

Andrew has a good point. I guess that if Dennis Rodman is caught in an action similar to that of Woods, nobody would be astonished and the story wouldn't be so important or shocking. And not because Rodman is not very famous, but because actions like those would be reasonably expected from someone like him.

Woods' recent actions were seen as a shocking contradiction with his public image.

If you're a friend of a liar, and he tells you a lie, you won't be surprised. In fact, if you're smart, you'd expect lies from him.

But if your friend is someone who "always tells the truth" and a 100% reliable and honest person, and then you find him spreading malicious lies about you, then you'd be surprised and shocked.

I think this is the point of Andrew, and I agree.

The media hava used that to make a party.

[Michael Tymn]

A front-page story in Friday's USA Today states that thousands of fans have camped out overnight, sometimes in bitter cold temperatures, for a chance to shake hands with Sarah Palin. Here again, I beleive the celebrity = god syndrome is playing out. It is as if by shaking hands with Sarah Palin, getting her autograph, having a picture taken with her, one has touched the Infinite. I don't get it.

[Zetetic_chick]

I just read Woods' comments on his situation:

"I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone.

Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete, I have been dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means. For the last week, my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives. The stories in particular that physical violence played any role in the car accident were utterly false and malicious. Elin has always done more to support our family and shown more grace than anyone could possibly expect.

But no matter how intense curiosity about public figures can be, there is an important and deep principle at stake which is the right to some simple, human measure of privacy. I realize there are some who don't share my view on that. But for me, the virtue of privacy is one that must be protected in matters that are intimate and within one's own family. Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions.

Whatever regrets I have about letting my family down have been shared with and felt by us alone. I have given this a lot of reflection and thought and I believe that there is a point at which I must stick to that principle even though it's difficult.

I will strive to be a better person and the husband and father that my family deserves. For all of those who have supported me over the years, I offer my profound apology."

http://web.tigerwoods.com/news/article/200912027740572/news/

[dmduncan]

In other words, "it's hard for me to avoid public humiliation and fool all you people when I can't keep you focused on my athletic prowess, and I wish the media would cooperate with me on this."

It would be nice if we could all just get what we wanted without any tradeoffs.

It seemed for a moment he was on the cusp of his own personal apocalypse, the revelation was nigh, the music was stirring and the sun was about to dawn on a strange new world for him....and then the orchestra fell flat and he blamed the media.

He didn't seem to complain about the media when it piled only tribute at his feet. Now it's their fault that he's humiliated?

It wasn't the media who made it public, it was Woods — when he struck a hydrant and a tree on his neighbors property, when his wife busted out a window on the car with a golf club, and when the police got involved.

[Rob O]

I do not in any way condone what Woods has done, but I do think his media burning has a very Roman circus feel to it - the crowd built up their hero and were content to cheer him on, but are just as quick to call for his blood now he's fallen.

.........back to lurking.

[.]

Movie actors -who do nothing more than act like real people-are more admired than the people they portray- Michael Tymn.

I agree, and I don't 'get it,'(on the second Sarah Palin point) either.

It's as if you just have to get your face on the telly and suddenly your worthy of worship. Suddenly you have hoards of screaming faces and outstretched hands trying to touch some 'stardust.'

Hell, I'll bet they even believe that these 'stars' no longer even have the same crude bodily functions that us mortals are stuck with.

[dmduncan]

Yes, there are many parallels between America and ancient Rome. After just finishing the horrifying "One Second After" and now reading the EMP commission's report on American vulnerability to an EMP strike, I'm hoping we don't have our asses handed to us by the barbarians as the Romans did in 476 AD.

[J. Carson Black]

MP - it would have been easier to write the poem if it had been about Ozzie Osborne.