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Tiger Woods decided to emerge from three months of hibernation today to deliver an apologetic message regarding his marital indiscretions. Personally, I was wondering why he had to make a public apology. The incident was between Tiger and his family. As someone who is more of an admirer of Tiger’s golfing talents than a “fan,” he certainly didn’t owe me an apology. I could care less other than feeling sorry the whole incident(s) happened in the first place.

Tiger Woods / Photo: Newscom

Nevertheless, I understand a lot of people have invested in Tiger’s “empire” and he did owe them some kind of explanation for the bizarre turn of events that led him into seclusion, rehab and—embarrassingly—the front page of the supermarket tabloids after a Thanksgiving Day 2009 car crash. I just thought it could have been better handled from the start. And from there, it’s really none of our business.

ESPN.com was doing a poll as to whether Tiger’s apology was sincere or insincere. Kind of like when Michael Vick went on 60 Minutes to talk about why he killed dogs for fun. I think Tiger is sincerely sorry for his actions, but the way he delivered his message was a disaster. Tiger has always tried to be a private person, protecting any emotion about his personal life. So today he seemed extremely robotic and uncomfortable. During some parts of the “speech,” it almost seemed as though what was written on the paper in front of him also included commands like “Pause and stare at camera,” “Sound angry” and “Pretend to be choked up.” It was either that or Tiger is the worst public speaker ever. It was difficult to watch. As long as the whole thing was staged, you would’ve thought he would’ve been coached up to present it differently. If you haven’t seen it yet, save yourself the agony and just read the transcript.

I won’t get into the whole “athletes are role models” discussion here. But I’ve been around professional athletes long enough (and I’ve read enough books written by athletes) to know this kind of thing (marital infidelity), sadly, goes on all the time in professional sports. Obviously, it’s the wrong road to go down. But it also doesn’t give us the right to judge. Tiger did what he did. He got caught. He’s responsible for his actions. He has to pay the price now. His image is ruined. His marriage and family life as he knew it are in serious jeopardy. And that’s just the beginning of the bad. There’s just nothing good about this situation except to hope it gets better—that he and his family can pull their lives back together. So, if we insist on being involved, maybe we can spend our time being hopeful and prayerful for the guy rather than bashing him.

Source: ESPN.com

Post from: EveryJoe

Why Does Tiger Woods Owe Me an Apology?

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