Week in Review - Sunday: Patrick Dresslar

Tiger Woods Takes a Break

Living here in New York I am disgusted to wake up each morning and get on the subway to see every newspaper in town with a new headline about Tiger Woods.  I mean, really?  This is getting old.  With a war in Afghanistan and health care legislation so close to being passed, the New York Post and Daily News find it necessary to plaster Tiger on their front pages every day?  This must stop.

Anyway, I digress.  Tiger Woods' image is certainly tarnished after the truth of his character has been revealed in such dramatic fashion, but he will be fine.  He is not the first, nor will he be the last, sports figure to commit adultery.  Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez and Kobe Bryant just to name a few, and these are all mega sports icons.  Each individual's image has been repaired since their moral transgressions.  It is an intelligent move for Woods to take a break from the game to allow the media blitz to subside before he takes to the links again.  He has admitted his error and America will forgive him because that's what we do.    He will lose advertising partnerships and more than likely lose his family, so the damage is severe.  He needs to take the time to become a better person and father, and we need to give him the space to do so.  I understand that he makes his money in the public sphere and should therefore be held accountable as a role model, but the media goes too far.  Cover the story and then give the man his privacy.  Even though he is a billionaire and arguably the most recognized sports icon in the world, Tiger Woods is a golfer first and foremost.  And when he returns, he will continue to be the best golfer in the game.

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