TIGER Woods has come clean and apologised. Or has he? Many are highly critical of the stilted, one-sided TV appearance he made, suggesting it was aimed more at his lapsed merchandising contracts than anything else.
I wonder how many share my discomfort at his extra-marital activities becoming an international topic instead of a matter for his own conscience and his family circle. But there's a strong counter-view that he cooked his own goose (if the expression may be pardoned) and there are fiercely strong anti-Woods sentiments in influential quarters.
Here are some extracts from what columnist Dan Jenkins has to say in Golf Digest.
"I'm still having trouble getting past the video games and Fruit Loops. That's if I'm to believe the report that Tiger was so distraught after his indoor athleticism became public - and turned into what some people call a Shakespearean tragedy - that he crawled into deep, lonely hiding and occupied his time playing video games and eating Fruit Loops.
"Maybe it is true, and that's why Tiger's agent, Mark Steinberg of IMG, said to the media at one point: 'Give the kid a break.'
"Kid?
"Tiger Woods was a month away from 34 years of age when his debutantes began turning up in the news. He was a grown man with a wife and two children. Well, we supposed he had a wife, but that was before we learned she was only an ornament.
"Kid?
"Kids flew B-17s in daylight bombing raids over Germany in World War II. Kids fought in
"Now excuse me a moment while I try to envision Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, and Jack Nicklaus playing video games and eating Fruit Loops while they try to deal with a career problem. Of course, Hogan, Palmer, and Nicklaus never set themselves up to become future statues in
"They were never what Tiger allowed himself to become from the start: spoiled, pampered, hidden, guarded, orchestrated, and entitled.
"I'll tell you what Hogan, Palmer, Nicklaus were at their peak. They were every bit as popular as Tiger, they endured similar demands on their time, but they handled it courteously, often with ease and enjoyment.
"They were accessible, likeable, knowable, conversant, as gracious in loss as they were in victory, and, above all, amazingly helpful to those of us in the print lodge who covered them.
"That was their brand. All the things Tiger never was.
"As for Tiger's brand, boy, did that take a hit. Never in my knowledge of history has any famous personality - in sports, showbiz, or politics - ever fallen so far so fast. Tiger Woods is graveyard dead, as the Southern expression goes.
"Life as Tiger has known it is over. His reputation is ruined, possibly forever.
"Sure, he can come back and even win again, if he mans up, but if he does he will only be a hero to the 'you-da-man' and 'get-in-the-hole' crowd. And I can't imagine him coming back as a 'humbled man.'
"I covered Tiger winning his 14 professional majors, but I can't say I know him. I knew the smile he put on for TV. I knew the orchestrated remarks he granted us in his press room interviews.
"I once made an effort to get to know the old silicone collector. Tried to arrange dinners with him for a little Q-and-A, on or off the record, his choice.
"But the closest I ever got was this word from his agent: 'We have nothing to gain.'
"Now it's too late. I'm busy."
That's socking it. Graveyard dead. Poor old Tiger.
Headline of the week
"Man shoots neighbor with machete" - The Miami Herald.
Tailpiece
WHAT'S yellow, sticky and deadly dangerous?
Shark-infested custard.
Last word
I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly.
GRAHAM LINSCOTT
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