The Visor

Tiger Woods scandal is lesson for any would be cheater

December 15, 2009

Joe Easton

Tiger Woods’ abundantly successful career literally came to a crashing halt shortly after Thanksgiving. The billionaire golfer crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a tree near his house at 2:25 AM on Friday, Nov. 27– triggering the start of what is surely to be a thorn in his side for the rest of his professional career. As Tiger learned the hard way, America’s press soon concluded that he was cheating on his wife. Tiger held his silence for as long as possible before admitting to his “transgressions” that “his family doesn’t deserve from him” in his own words.

Big deal, right? We hear about scandals and cheaters from the tabloids on a regular basis, but the Tiger scandal should not be so easily gossiped and forgotten. The scandal itself is one story; Tiger’s poor management of the scandal is a different story altogether.

The media had no choice but to be critical of this case. Tiger has billions and billions of dollars; he had no reason not to address the Florida Highway Patrol for three days when his maximum fine was $164.

Tiger also pulled out of his own Chevron Challenge golf tournament to support the Tiger Woods Foundation, although his accident was so minor that the air bags did not deploy. Finally, Tiger lost control of a vehicle traveling too slowly to deploy air bags in the first place, and probably did not have an innocent reason for driving at 2:25 AM anyway.

The more Tiger tried to seclude himself, the stronger the tabloids attacked him. Tiger eventually put a few statements on his web site, admitting his wrongdoings, but not before his scandal made more national news than any of his career victories ever did. Tiger’s fatal flaw was in his handling of the situation.

Look at Sammy Sosa’s scandal back in 2003. He was caught using a corked bat, clearly illegal, to create an advantage for himself. Sosa quickly apologized for the bat and pleaded guilty for using it, but he added that it was an accident. Eventually he was only suspended for seven regular season games. Although the scandal hurt his credibility, he continued to play professional baseball for several more years. Tiger could have taken a leaf out of Sosa’s book and promptly apologized when he was caught red-handed.

Of course, I’m not trying to amount Tiger’s scandal to a corked bat. Regardless, Tiger still could have salvaged some respect for himself.

When NBA superstar Kobe Bryant was accused of rape several years ago, he hired a lawyer and settled the entire affair behind the closed doors of a courtroom. Kobe cheated on his wife and was charged with a heinous crime, plain and simple, but he handled his scandal with the importance that it deserved. Kobe’s charges were dropped before long. He’s even still married to his wife, Vanessa Bryant.

The bottom line is that Tiger cheated in his relationship with his wife. He could have avoided a lot of damage to his career by not being so suspicious while making a statement about the car accident, but he can no longer change his actions and I can’t help but feel that he is entirely guilty. Perhaps in due time the world will forgive Tiger for this, but the world should never forget this about Tiger.

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