Tiger Woods Agonistes

The fissure in Tiger Woods' image has generated interesting reactions across the spectrum of society. Some of those reactions are peculiarly American, such as the need to build up heroes and then secretly enjoy seeing them knocked down, and others are just human nature--the titillation of getting too much information about the famous and beautiful people who spice up our humdrum lives.

It can be certain that Woods and his family, in Thanksgivings to come, will not look back at Turkey Day '09 as a pleasant memory, if they consider it at all. Despite his denials, it seems logical to assume that Woods was making a getaway that night from his vengeful, club-swinging wife, who managed to smash his back window before his escape was thwarted by a fire hydrant. Even clearer, due to his vague apology to the world, is that her anger stems from his serial adultery, as a parade of bimbos--mostly hostesses and strippers--have come forth selling their tales of Tiger between the sheets.

I think we're all caught off guard by this because Woods heretofore had seemed so bland. The two most common athletic pitchmen these days are he and Peyton Manning, and I think it's because they both were so inoffensive and wholesome. Woods' sponsors have indicated they are sticking with them, but there has to be some hesitancy in the ad departments, because it will be tough, for a while, for anyone to look at him and not think of a Swedish model coming after him with a 9-iron, or him making texts to the bimbo de jour.

Woods is a remarkable figure. He has become rich and famous (he may be the most famous athlete in the world) excelling in a sport that historically was out of reach of those of his race. In one of those weird contradictions of American culture, he is a black man (biracial, really) that has reached the pinnacle of success, along with other blacks such as Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, and Barack Obama, defying the odds with talent and hard work. There is something other-worldly about him, a man so dedicated to his job that one can conjure images of him exchanging his soul with Old Scratch at the crossroads. When he's interviewed there's the kind of aura around him that reminds me of royalty--he deigns to give interviews, and when he kids around with the reporter he comes off as stiff and unprepared to deal with normal humans. Of course, he is more normal than we want him to be.

Of course race has nothing to do with infidelity, that's endemic to all. But I would have never guessed. His marriage, Darwinian in its construct, what with a fabulously wealthy man marrying a fabulously beautiful woman, seemed boring and ideal. Still waters run deep, I guess. The word is emerging that sportswriters knew Woods was a hound, but kept it quiet (like they did in the old days with Jack Kennedy). The lid is off now, though. How the mighty do fall.