Disgusting Indescretion
Another one of our generation's greatest role models, Tiger Woods, has descended into the mayhem of celebrity disaster as his "sexcapades" with an alleged 14 women outside of his marriage are revealed to the public. Most of us, and especially anyone who plays golf, know the details. Tiger was in mysterious one-car accident outside of his home several weeks ago. The search for the cause of the accident led to the discovery of a large sex scandal that comes as a shock to all who looked up to the Associated Press' Athlete of the Decade. The leaks of information began with Jaimee Grubbs, a cocktail waitress, and flowed right through Rachel Uchitel, a bartender and club owner. To add to the drama, several explicit text messages between Jaimee and Tiger were released, and make the entire thing purerly disappointing fact.
The shamed golfer is terrified that his wife is going to divorce him over his sexcapades and make his life miserable by moving to Sweden with their two young kids, a source close to Woods' camp told The Post yesterday. "He's only just coping -- he's on the edge," the well-placed source said. "He sees everything coming crashing down around him. His career, his family." Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, is refusing to speak to him, the source said -- and the two are now definitely living apart.
As an aspiring golfer, the news of this drama changed me. As a tenth birthday present, my parents sent me to New York to watch Tiger compete in the PGA Championships. I spent an entire week in awe of a man who had made my favorite passtime into a true sport by using physical and mental toughness to dominate his competition. Before that week, and everyday since, I have considered Tiger to be my greatest role model. At first, hearing of his indescretions disgusted me. I couldn't believe that I had looked up to someone with the potential for such a lack of respect for their wife and kids. I thought, "Tiger must be more mature than this because he acts mature as a golfer." But he is not. He did it. Now, I find myself looking for a place for Tiger as a personal role model. Can I still believe in him?
As time has gone by since the scandal broke, I have realized just who Tiger still is for me. First, he is the exact same golfer that he was a month ago, and for that I respect him unconditionally. As a human being, Tiger can still be considered a moral example: I will look to this incident as a lesson in what not to do as an adult. If Tiger fell into this mess, we must all be careful to consider the feelings of loved ones before making irrational and sexually-motivated choices. I think that Tiger is the perfect example of how power can corrupt. He now is grouped with Bill Clinton, David Beckham and others in showing us the potential of power and money; it can cause disaster. Tiger knows that his wife deserved better, and he will change. I still believe in him to do that much. Unfortunately, the all-around amazing man that was Tiger Woods can now only be considered professionally amazing.
