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© Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.Tiger Woods says he lets family down as affair rumors surface
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some14some
A kind suggestion: As a moral obligation to the soceity he should retire from Professional Golf and live a private life behind closed doors with his beloved family.
numbskull
Here we go again. Another apology to the public over a private affair. The public should be tho ones apologizing for being nosey, busy-bodies and slaves to their own jealousy.
If you desire an affair, do it. Just be responsible about it. Stop living vicariously through others, and pretending you are not jealous as your brown nose scans the tabloids.
Unlike Tiger, I have no need to be popular with the masses, so they only get the truth. Tiger did nothing wrong. In fact, he was wronged by the public. If not for them this never would have happened.
Badsey
http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2009/12/tiger-woods-sexual-text-messages-new-cheating-scandal-girl
-Tiger likes the skanky gold-digga types.
Hawkeye
I saw this coming days ago and told my J-wife that Tiger's wife grabbed his balls and putter in a fit of rage over him having and affair. Tiger left the house with his wife swinging the club at him and breaking out a car window. Tiger panicked, backed into the fire hydrant, gunned it and hit the tree. Wife breaks another car window and opens the door, takes Tiger down to the ground with a whack to his noggin with the club and that folks is why Tiger is hiding his injuries from the public.
numbskull
I prefer the moral obligation that people grow up and mind their own business.
kirakira25
This is a private matter. If he was a TV evangelist preaching the moral high ground that would be different, but he is a golfer, and never pretended to be perfect - the media set him up with that image.
YuriOtani
If Tigers wife attack him she needs to go to jail. A pity Tiger is going to become the poster boy for violence against husbands. The rest of it is a PRIVATE matter between husband and wife. He is not a politician, government employee or preacher. Leave the Tiger and his family alone!
ratpack
some14some at 07:24 AM JST - 3rd December A kind suggestion: As a moral obligation to the soceity he should retire from Professional Golf............LOL what a dicky comment
Sarge
Tiger sent this cocktail waitress 300 text messages? He's dumber than I thought.
Altria
Text messages make it so easy to cheat, but you're totally screwed if someone reads them.
Do people really expect celebrities to turn down the hordes of groupies throwing themselves at them, year in year out?
TokyoGas
Tiger should have had this chick vetted. She's a gut spiller and he is not the first celeb she had relations with.
LFRAgain
Oh, whatever. What Woods does in his personal life has abolutely nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not he should pursue a professional career as a golfer. Period.
There is no moral obligation here, explicit or otherwise, for someone to suffer professionally for marital infidelity. This is a private matter between Woods and his wife, and no one else.
USNinJapan2
numbskull
I prefer the moral obligation that people grow up and mind their own business.
Amen.
Junnama
I would prefer atheletes weren't paid millions of dollars every year in sponsorships simply to maintain their image. I would propose a deal where Tiger gives up his sponsorship deals and everyone will leave him alone. Do you think he would go for it?
LoveUSA
Very dumb indeed.
numbskull
Sponsorships will be dropped at the discretion of the companies giving them. Please don't try to over-do your position on the high horse. People like yourself have too much influence already. Don't tempt the rest of us to knock you down off that high horse so much.
I am sure he will lose the kid's cereal contracts, as if kids even have a concept of what is happening. But his offers for golf club, cell phone and condom sponsorships might explode off the charts.
Junnama
High horse, huh? Just telling you the other side of the story...
Tiger wants privacy and "no scrutiny" but wants the money that goes with fame...can't have it both ways!
I don't think I'm saying anything ground-breaking here.
sfjp330
Possibly Tiger might lose some sponsorship but what does it matter? He's a human being that made mistake in his personal life. Big deal. Who else can cause the Tiger effect? We didn't need the overwhelming worldwide reaction to Woods' return to prove that Tiger has the ability to singlehandedly make or break the business of professional golf. No other athlete in history has enjoyed Woods' ability to bring in the casual fan, elevate ratings and attendance, and sell lots of merchandise. Tiger is still a true superstar that made billion dollars already.
LoveUSA
I man with kids should never cheat. otherwise he is a liar with no conscience. I bet he was stalking the women on their phones.
perspective
When will men celebrities ever learn that nothing they do is ever private, that women just wait for the chance to screw one so they can write a book and try to extort money through a civil suit?
Junnama
Now who's on the high horse? No, there was never golf before Woods and they will shut the tour when he leaves...
numbskull
Hardly! You suggested a deal where Woods loses all his sponsorships based solely on the opinion of yourself and like-minded people! The only way to do that would be either a law or a uniform culture of moralist shunning. Sorry, but the days of allowing the opinion of Puritanicals with their scarlet letters of shame to become law and mass hysteria are long dead. And by suggesting it you invite much deserved attacks.
numbskull
They already know. What they do is spit in the eye of the people who can't mind their business and so do I. The difference between Woods and myself is that he spits in their eye with a phoney apology they don't deserve and they will probably lap that up.
yasukuni
I don't understand why everyone thinks its their business. He and his wife and daughter should be left alone to sort things out as they see fit. As for endorsements, that's up to the companies involved, but for me, I wouldn't buy a brand of camera or chocolate because a great golfer is in the commercial anyway. If a person hasn't broken the law, I can't see why they need to resign. That goes for golfers, tele-evanglelists, CEO's, and even politicians. Regardless of what some people think, neither Tiger, nor other famous people usually tell others they are perfect anyway. If people put as much time into fixing up crime and real problems the world would be a better place. Lastly, people who kiss and tell shouldn't be given the time of day.
Junnama
Dude, take a chill pill. What, is Tiger a relative or something?
I already knew the answer to my rhetorical question: Tiger will never accept such a deal, so he has to accept the scrutiny.
That's the fact of celebrity: Tiger's image is a very valuable asset, he just foolishly damaged it, and is busy trying repair the damage. This is business not moralizing. If you can't see that, I can't help it...
combinibento
Tiger should have at least tempted to model his transgressions after those of Eliot Spitzer. Tiger should have known not to risk his reputation on a young, dim-witted 21 year old barmaid-slut from San Diego. Spitzer, on the other hand, paid the finest professionals in the escorting industry for sexual satisfaction while at the same never having his identity known by his partners. Of course there is no one who does not know Tiger Woods, but there are professional escorts out there who know how to keep a secret. Tiger Woods made $110,000,000 last year alone in endorsements; he could have avoided this mess by spending it, and his time, on someone with a bit more class than Ms. Grubbs. That said, he is still hands-down the best in the sport, well spoken, smart and articulate and his image will not suffer too dramatically.
smartacus
Jesper Parnevik should shut up. One day, he might be in the public eye for some indiscretion.
skipthesong
man, I don't know why anyone is hitting on the obvious. Take a look at the women he is "alleged" to have been with.. he deserves a high five and his wife should be instead of getting all hyped asking him NOT to leave her. Let's face it, I'm married almost 9 years now and I'm starting to look at my wife a little different, even though she is still fine, she's not as fine as she once was. Men are men and we sometimes want to get a bit on the side. Its human.
Now, where I want to say Tiger is stupid is with all the money he has, he uses a phone where his wife has access to? That's dumb!
to the poster: a man who cheats on his wife is a liar" No, not if he gets caught. And for the other poster, "some San Diego slut" hey, she's a human being too, and a good looking one at that. What do you have against sluts from San Diego?
presto345
He did not only let his family down, but everyone who supported him. He has been stripped of his clear cut image, I would say. He may be a good golfer, but that does not mean he is a good human being. He has shown himself to the world now the way he really is. He will have to deal with the consequences. It's a private matter? No way. He is a public figure who has amassed a fortune off the public, or where else does the money come from? From the companies? Yeah, yeah, and where does that fortune come from? He could start by giving some of his wealth back.
yasukuni
Junnama. He's not a relative. Just giving my 2 cents like everyone else. And I still say people are busybodies.
herefornow
numbskull -- as usual, I'll choose to disagree with your opinion. Respectfully, saying Tiger is simply a golfer, and therefore deserves his privacy is simply stupid. The truth is that most of Tiger's estimated $1 billion fortune came from endorsements from companies like GM (Buick), Amex, ATT, etc. And, many of these companies paid him millions of dollars a year because of the squeeky-clean, morally upright image he put forward -- all of which just happened to be a fraud. What's more the money for these fees is built into the cost of what the public paid for these companies goods and services. So, IMO, the public has every right to know what Mr. "Holier than thou", has really been up to. he got rich off of their hero worship of him, so now they should know the truth. And, smartacus, Parnevik has every right to his opinion, since he introduced Woods to Elin in the first place. Looks like he married her just because she was the perfect role-model wife, while the leggy, blond, slutty-type is really what turns him on.
Junnama
yasukuni, sorry I was replying to numbskull - I should have been clear about that...
LFRAgain
Skip,
While I don't necessarily agree with everything you wrote, I still have to give you a well-earned thumbs-up for a perfect reply to most of the posts that made me think, "What the hell?" today. Well done, sir.
yasukuni
Junnama, thanks Dude.
skipthesong
IMHLO, tiger should live in Japan... this has got to be the easiest place on earth to get away with things like this.... This is after all JAPAN TODAY! Now, if only had been an imported husband and had come here like a lot of people - single or just with a girl man I would have had a blast.
The next nanny or house keeper my wife hires, I'm doing the interviews!
LFRAgain
Junnama,
A poster wrote this:
To which you replied:
With regard to the phrase “High Horse,” I give you the immortal words of Inigo Montoya: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Being on a high horse means to make comments from a position of presumed higher moral or ethical authority. Like posters here berating Woods for having an affair, and further suggesting he should just quit pro-golf if he doesn’t like the scrutiny that came as a result of its revelation. Without knowing the reasons behind the affair -- and yes, there usually are reasons, not all of them lame -- to presume to judge Woods based on moral or ethical values would be considered speaking from a “high horse,”
Making a comment about Woods arguable influence over the financial success or failure of professional golf is simply the expression of an opinion, with no moral or ethical values attached whatsoever.
LFRAgain
Junnama,
No, Woods want the money that goes with being one of the best golfers in the world. The fame is incidental.
I am and will always be firmly in the camp of "Just because s/he's famous doesn't mean it's automatically my business."
yasukuni
Presto, see here is my problem with all of this. I never gave Tiger any money. Did you?
Yes he may have let his family down, but not those who supported him. Did you support him? In what way? Did you donate money so he could buy another golf club? Gave him some tips on putting? Why do you feel so let down that the best golfer in the world wasn't morally pure? If he was cheating at golf I could understand.
Herefornow. Funny, I never heard Tiger say he was holier than anyone.
Guess what people! Some personal trainers eat big macs, and there are dentists that don't floss. Maybe the posters here are very young....? Cute, I suppose.
nath
Think he loved her? The lover I mean? Think she loved him?? Yeah the lover again. Or did the "lover" just want his money??? I would guess he loved her more, wonder how much love is still available? It's all in the endorsements?? hmmm, Then where do lovers live?
Tiger might not need all the endorsements and it might be better for him, so if I meet a woman while I'm married, fall in love but do nothing about it because of endorsements am I a brave honest man?? Good luck, oh and Tiger, I probably like you more now.
whatsgoinon
So he had an affair. Yes, he's famous so the media's having a field day - that's what they do, but it's up to his wife to be the real judge and jury and come up with whatever verdict she so desires. As for the rest of us, it's none of our business. As for knowing better, sure, he and every other married person should know better. Affairs happen. When you're famous and in the spot light you definitely have more scrutiny, but you also have a LOT more temptation. Will he lose sponsors? Maybe a couple, but it doesn't look like it, according to this article. The police have said there was no alcohol involved and violence has been ruled out (drinking and driving or violence would probably have been big sponsor droppers). All that leaves is an affair, which everyone will forget pretty soon anyway - except his wife -
Altria
Too bad he seems to prefer blond bimbos. But yeah, as long as you don't run off and desert your family, shagging someone else occasionally hardly raises an eyebrow here.
numbskull
I never said he was simply a golfer, but he still deserves his privacy regardless. EVERYBODY who is not a criminal does, and saying otherwise is stupid.
Say what? A fraud? Sir, you don't know what a fraud is. Woods is welcome to project any damned image he wants. He never claimed to be a squeaky clean role model. He was asked to be such as part of the endorsements. He was endorsed because people saw money in endorsing him. It was his fame and his golfing ability that led them there. The endorsements do not, I repeat, DO NOT give them any control over his private life. They darned well they are taking a risk when they make the endorsements.
And there is one reason why there was any risk: because some people ride moral high horses! If not for those people nobody would even care enough to have the audacity to delve into his private life in the first place, and this paparazzi crap never would have been printed!
The one thing that moralists and high horsemen never want to admit is that most of the great people in the world do things like take drugs, have affairs, gamble, etc. etc. The true squeaky clean people always limit themselves, and thus live limited lives outside of the spotlight. If you want squeaky clean role models, they are to be found among the mediocre. It takes a damn fool to expect great people to be so limited. And it takes a jealous nosey confused-about-their-own-desires puritanical to make to much of other people's affairs.
numbskull
Correction: He was not asked.
Junnama
I mean it in the sense of "Cha-bozu". Those who wish to shine themselves in the brilliance of Tiger's golf game and then imply that people have no right to judge him because he can "break" the game he is part of, are most definitely on a high horse!
They are claiming "Woods is Golf" and we have no right to judge that and therefore themselves!
combinibento
skip,
I assume that was directed at me. First, I have absolutely nothing against San Diego sluts. I have something against just the ones, like this one, that will come out and publicize (allegedly) intimate relations someone which were obviously meant to be kept private. The point of my post, genius, is that a man who makes his living off his image now as much as he does on his golf swing, you'd that for an indiscretion like this he would pick and chose only most trustworthy women he can find. They do exist. But it is highly unlikely you'll find such a thing in your average waitress at San Diego's Tilted Kilt in the Gaslamp.
herefornow
numbskull -- huh? No where did I even imply that Woods or any other great person/celebrity is not entitled to have some serious faults in their private life. (I would be the last peson to do so, as a matter of fact.) So, your "puritanical" reference is WAY off target. What I did state, and will repeat, is that someone who has made an estimated $1 billion by deliberately putting himself in the public's eye, is fair game for the court of public opinion. And his plea for privacy, for me anyway, falls on deaf ears, as nothing more than hypocracy. How many times over the past three years, while he was banging his cocktail waitress, has he paraded his wife and family in front of the cameras? And, are you not smart enough to believe that was deliberately done to re-inforce his image/increase his endorsement value? (Didn't People magazine do an exclusive photo shoot when his daughter was born? Do you think they would have done that if they has known he was having "transgressions"?) So, in my opinion, that was fraud, since he knew that was all just for show. Sorry, live by the sword, die by the sword. You use the press for personal gain as he has done, and they have every right to bite back.
Altria
New advertising angles...
Nike: Just Do It - but don't get caught
Gatorade: If only I'd stuck to Gatorade instead of cocktails...
EA Sports: Tiger Woods Off-Road Racing 2010
Gillete: When you're as smooth as me, you'll have a few close shaves with the wife
AT&T: I got the new model with the locking function!
herefornow
Altria -- great stuff. I wonder if those 300 or so text messages he supposedly sent the cocktail waitress were courtesy of AT&T. No wonder they declined comment. It also helps explain why he was always drinking so much Gatorade -- had to keep those bodily fluids up.
Beelzebub
Par for the course I guess.
numbskull
herefornow: So, in my opinion, that was fraud, since he knew that was all just for show.
Okay, so now you are saying it is impossible he loves his wife and family? This is you projecting your limitations on others. Some people who have mistresses love both wife and mistress. In fact, some guys have no mistress but still don't love their wife! Some love one but not the other. Who knows what where his affections lie? You judge him by your own insufficient yardstick.
You see, if not for people judging him via themselves, there would have been no need to sponsor him based on this image of purity that you seem to think was fraudulently projected. And if he did commit a fraud it was because of the lame need of some people to see that purity else tear him down.
The whole thing begins with people deciding what is right and wrong, not for themselves, but for others. None of this could exist without that. I say we should all have the freedom to live as we chose in these private matters, free of judgement and the public eye, and every aspect of this story stems from the fact that people judge and ride high horses and stick their noses in where it does not belong.
There really is no middle ground. Either you support freedom of sexual and relationship choice, or you support some form of public meddling in people's sex lives. As soon as you start looking for a "pure" person to sponsor, you start the ball rolling toward being judgemental and butting into what is not your business. Its not the business decision of looking for a person with a "pure" image, its a problem of people demanding that image when they have no right. Everyone should be able to conduct their sex lives free of outside influences with the exception of the law. Anything else is an attempt to force lifestyles on people, and then whining when you find it did not stick after all.
skipthesong
combinibento: Ok, I misread your post and you are right to call her
sundoor
It's not cheating if you're single. 007 is not married and neither am I.
herefornow
numbskull -- nice rant, but you miss the key point. As soon as Tiger Woods decided to selectively allow People magazine and others into his private life, obviously with positive PR goals in mind, he loses the right to claim "privacy" now. You can't have it both ways. He deliberately promoted the wholesome, all-american husband and father image, so now he must be man enough to face the consequences of his shortcomings. I am making no moral judgement as to what is right or wrong. I am simply stating that the man has apparently been a hypocrite and fraud for at least the past three years in order to line his pockets via endorsements. (And I guarantee you ALL of his endorsement contracts include a "morals clause", which corporate attornies are reviewing as we speak.) Doesn't make him any less of a great golfer, but certainly makes him less of a man and role model.
Madverts
"It's not cheating if you're single. 007 is not married and neither am I."
It is if your partner is married!
5SpeedRacer5
The whole Tiger Woods saga is a live by the sword die by the sword tale.
I suspect that there is a huge pool of schadenfreude at work in the comments above. Is he black, well yes and no. He married a beautiful woman. Was that a great idea, well yes and no. Is it great to have money? yes and no. Fame? Yes and no.
I have never admired or emulated Tiger Woods. He has done some special things and now he is having problems that a lot of people in Africa, Thailand, and gated suburban enclaves have had since the beginning of time. He is just a human. As far as I know, I have never bought anything endorsed by Tiger Woods, so I don't even have to feel used or defrauded.
If anything, it is very very comforting to know that OTHER people also think that Swedish supermodels get boring after awhile. I thought I was the only person in the world who felt that way. It is nice to have company.
skipthesong
so take heed cheaters!!" What's that movie with mike douglas and the one chick he picks up goes all ballistic on him? that would make you think twice.
Junnama
Oh, no no no. "Being the best golfer" is purse for tourney wins. Carefully cultivating an image to sell for corporate endorsements is "fame". Tiger has without a doubt cultivated his image for "fame" and done fabulously well at it.
The tally count is tourney wins: $100 million. The tally count for corporate endorsments: $1 billion
He can't have it both ways...
numbskull
herefornow, first you say "I am making no moral judgement as to what is right or wrong." then go on to say "certainly makes him less of a man and role model."
Part of the reason ridiculous "one man one woman" type morality has persisted is people like yourself working over-time to make ridiculous arguments stand up. Those two quotes above are hopelessly interconnected. How can you make no moral judgement on one hand, but say he is a bad role-model and less of a man on the other? You can't. But you blithely roll on and hope we don't notice.
You may not realize it yourself, but you are promoting an agenda of meddling. Why can't you just leave us alone like we leave you alone? I could just as easily say a guy is less of a man for being a monogamous fool and slave to a single woman! I don't. So why can't the moralists also just shut up?
That is just ludicrous. People mag and every other paparazzi would have printed this whether he ever did an interview or not. And since he did an interview, is he supposed to show the press where he keeps his sex toys and porn too? Geez man! Is he a hypocrite and fraud for not doing that? That is precisely where your logic goes! Damn his wife and damn his kids! He is not entitled to the lies and false images everyone else uses to protect them because he is famous and making money off his fame? What a schlock dude.
OneForAll
numbskull. Chill. I would say that it would be nice if we were non relational and did not need the traditional family for the continuance of our species. But we do. Everyone will be hurt here in that family. Why cause such pain to the people you love? Why would one make pain as part of your family, by choice? And how long will it take for the hurt to heal, if it even will? I wish that family the best. There is no honor in making choices that cause such pain to the ones you love.
For not being any of our business, we all have a lot to say about it. I guess I am just a numbskull too.
numbskull
You should aim that at someone else. Everybody is entitled to run their lives as they want. Its people contorting to try and force personal decisions on others that gets my gander up, and rightly so.
You mean like making the choice to demand monogamy? Monogamy has caused me pain. I am not kidding. It causes a lot of men pain. But the opposite causes women pain. Either way somebody gets pain for the pleasure of someone else. The answer is simple: Everybody cheats responsibly and everybody shuts their traps.
LFRAgain
Junnama,
Oh, no, no, no. Do you want to know how Tiger Woods convinced companies to spend fortunes securing him for endorsements? He did it via the following:
71 PGA Tour wins 38 European Tour wins 2 Japan Golf Tour wins 1 Asian Tour wins 1 PGA Tour of Australasia wins 15 other various professional wins And 21 amateur wins
In addition, Woods he earned the lowest career scoring average and the most career earnings of any player in PGA Tour history, became one of only five players to have won all four professional major championships in his career (and was the youngest to do so), and managed to be the only player to have won all four professional major championships in a row.
Woods also went on to set a number of records, including winning a record 29.7% of his professional starts on the PGA Tour, and become the only golfer ever to have won the U.S. Amateur three times consecutively.
Furthermore, Woods also won the all-time record for most consecutive cuts made (142), a feat considered by many to be “one of the most remarkable golf accomplishments of all time, given the margin by which he broke the old record and given that during the streak, the next longest streak by any other player was usually only in the 10s or 20s.” [Wikipedia]
To many people, Wood is for all intents and purposes the God of Golf.
I don’t even like golf, and I can recognize this is where his fame comes from.
No matter how you try to cut it, you're trying to make it sound like Woods' success at securing record-breaking endorsements has to do with some imagined cultivation of a "clean cut" image, and the truth of the matter is that when people look at their Nike golf shoes in the closet, their Buick Rendezvous SUV in the driveway, their Gillette razor on the bathroom sink, or take a sip of Tiger Woods Gatorade, or a bite of Wheaties from the box with Tiger's face plastered on the front, you can bet as sure as the sun rises in the east and water is wet, they most certainly don’t think, “Gee wiz, I really do aspire to be as clean-cut and pure as Tiger and this endorsed product reminds me daily of that dream.” but rather, “Hot damn, what a frackin’ amazing golfer! How the heck does he keep doing that?!”
His notoriety from being a phenomenal golfer -- no, not a phenomenal husband. No, not a phenomenal father. -- does not automatically make his family life and troulbes an open book for the media vultures looking for the next Brittney Spears train wreck, or the lowbrow public that craves that sort of sordid gossip to bring meaning to their otherwise boring and insignificant existences.
OneForAll
Numbskull : Welcome to the AIDS club. kidding. You must have heard those jokes. LFRAgain-Quite right. What a great golfer. I will make no golf jokes out of respect for his accomplishments....difficult though not to.
Junnama
Athletes similarly accomplished as Woods (Annika Sorenstam, Roger Federer, anyone) have never achieved anywhere remotely near his level of endorsements. Tiger hard and diligent work cultivating his image is undeniable.
Anyway, who said Woods had to open his family life like a book? He doesn't, but his griping (and simliarly poster's griping here) about the downside of celebrity culture is disingenuious to put it mildly (when Tiger has been a huge receipient of the upside).
numbskull
herefornow
the downside started with the butt sniffers who can't mind their own business. I am thinking because they got no business of their own to mind.
LFRagain, slam dunk! The people who paid more attention his family life than his golfing, well, it shows right where their heads are at. The man is golfer. Anyone who that let him be more than that to them is a moron.
milkyway
"Crashing Tiger, Hidden Mistress"
some14some
71 PGA Tour wins 38 European Tour wins 2 Japan Golf Tour wins 1 Asian Tour wins 1 PGA Tour of Australasia wins 15 other various professional wins And 21 amateur wins
and all these records are washed out by few pretty women ! what a great gambler...oh no... world renowned golfer(?)
sharky1
Trash journalism...get out of the dude's life and let him and his family take care of the own private business!
ca1ic0cat
What's the difference between a golf ball and a car?
Tiger can drive a golf ball 300 yards and not hit a tree....
Tiger makes his money by being in the public eye. That's the problem with being a celebrity, you can't turn it off when you do something stupid. It's starting to look like Tiger was serially stupid though. He could retire and take his family off to some island but I doubt he will.
I don't really care about how this turns out but all this crying that Tiger doesn't deserve the publicity? That's how he makes his money!
This tiger is a cheetah. I wonder if he uses a foot wedge too?
kp123
I recall an old Japanese proverb that forewarns the male species about involving themselves with women : Hanzai no kage ni onna ari (There is a woman in the shaddow of every crime and misdeed (sic.)" that fits pretty well with Tiger's predicament. However, it will not detract Tiger from being the world's greatest golfer. Personal and professional lives are separate.
herefornow
numbskull -- Do yourself a favor, read some very well-thought-out opinions on this issue from folks like Rick Reilly, John Feinstein, Christine Brennan and others on other web sites. (She useses the term charade, where I used fraud. Big deal.) And you might be surprised that others agree that someone making 90% of his estimated fortune from endorsements has very little right to blame the media, and invasion of his privacy, for his problems. Which makes LFRAgian's point totally mute. As I said previously, every single one of his endorsement contracts contains a morals clause, which he willingly violated -- but took the money anyway. If these companies were only concerned about his life on the golf course, they would not have that clause in there. Honestly, do you think Chevron is happy that they have their name associated with his this week? And if you don't think his silence is at least in part driven by his desire to avoid legal issues regarding these contracts, then you are naive, or blind to reality.
bokudayo
There's a new video out about the voice messages.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEkomaBTppY
Junnama
Reports out there that he and his wife are renegotiating their pre-nuptial...but remember this is not business...
combinibento
Can someone explain just how you can "take your name off your phone"?? I don't get it.
jason6
As long as he plays good golf after this incident, everything should be fine. The world loves a winner, no matter how many women he has.
lostrune2
combinibento,
Probably meant off the phone answering machine.
Could still just look it up on White Pages though.
jason6,
Most likely. People don't even hold it against Kobe Bryant anymore.
bokudayo
apparently his wife wants 5 million to stay in the marriage.
he could walk away and pay her nothing, probably, but there are feelings (always messy) and public image (too late?)
either way, he's landed in the rough with this shot... badam bum
OneForAll
King David. "The Greek word for converting means: to rethink-to question one's own and common way of living; to allow God to enter into the criteria of one's life; to not merely judge according to the current opinions." You all know the story. I hope that this situation turns out the same for Tiger Woods. I think it will.
numbskull
So what legal issues do you think will arise from failing to abide by morality clauses in contracts? You think he could be successfully sued for the actions of a third party? Or perhaps for doing something that is not illegal? Nobody even tried to sue Kate Moss for doing cocaine while under morality clauses!
Tiger just does not want to lose his contracts and is also thinking of his family. He might even be considering the reputations of his sponsors. Legal trouble? Give me a break! I don't care what famous names you drop. Half of what they say is not to inform us but to promote themselves! And they can do that well with incorrect but appealing info...given enough gullible fools. Duh!
Tiger will probably lose sponsorships for this and the morality clauses will allow the sponsors to drop Tiger without further adieu. In fact the morality clauses prevent legal recourse and trouble far more than cause any. They protect companies from being sued, not dictate behavior in any legally enforcable way. All Tiger stands to lose is future revenue and his family.
Who looks naive and blind to reality now? Looks like you brought only a knife to a gun-fight to me!
numbskull
By your own monetary evaluation, Tiger has every right to blame the media! Those ungrateful SOBs have made far more money off him than he has them. Their desire to idolize him is even more significant than any desire he could ever have to idolize himself.
If he appeared as something he wasn't, the greedy unscrupulouts media holds most of the blame, next the idiot masses who lapped that crap up, and lastly, Tiger himself. Tiger didn't beg people to come for interviews and print stories. They came on their own. They wanted something more than just a golfer, and no surprise, they found one!
flyingfish
tiger has got what he deserved. you cant create a false image for yourself and make money off it and then complain when you get found out
ratpack
I kinda think Tiger has nothing to worry about was the smoke settles. It will be back to business on the golf course.
Sarge
Just saw SNL's parody of Tiger and his wife at a press conference - har!
herefornow
numbskull -- amazing that you could be that far off base. But now that the number of Tiger's "transgressions" has hit like 8 or 9, including a porn star, I would hope even you would agree with flyingfish. Tiger and his minion of PR/image folks was perpetuating a total lie, portraying him as the devoted husband and father. They used the press for that. And, now, its payback time. And, Sarge, you are right, the SNL skit is laugh-out-loud funny. Can't wait to see this week's. They may have to bring in extra cast to have enough gals to be his lovers.
kumasan1969
He did a terrible thing as a husband and a father, but he has not done anything bad to us. I think media should leave them alone and have the family decide what to do with this problem, we don't have any rights to interfere with their private lives.
Makkun70
A man needs to sow his oats. Fair play to Tiger for doing what all us men do once in a while. Shame he got caught, but them's the breaks..
combinibento
I can understand it is not great as a husband, but why does this reflect negatively as a father? For all we know he could be the best dad in the world. Cheating on your wife is not cheating on your kids.
BuddhismTech
I am never, never a fan of this American golf player since the very first time I ever heard about him in 1990s. Wow. His true colors is finally revealing to amuse and shock the public. I am not surprised at all and keeping everything to myself.
I am heavily sympathizing with his European wife, who is probably realizing that she is marrying to a wrong guy who has a completely distinctive background and born in America. A humanistic male or female need to take into consideration when not to quickly admit a person due to his/her recognization, power, achievement, and money. Personality, similiarity, and background come first. His mistake is teaching men, including myself (despite that I am a single and unmarried man), a very valuable lesson.
He is reminding me of Noriko Sakai of Japan very much, but at a potentially worse scale: paparazzi, rapidly declination of positive reputation, advertisement withdrawal, and sponsor losses. A sex scandal is a big deal to America, as a drug scandal is to Japan.
dolphingirl
combinibento: I have to disagree with you on that. If he was cheating on his wife, then he was also betraying his family and therefore his children too. Young kids can be very sensitive and they can know when something is not right. Although it's possible he didn't neglect his children, I think it's pretty hard to split your attention so many ways and still maintain a good relationship with them.
Buddhism tech: I think you are definitely right about America loving their sex scandals. As long as celebs aren't committing felonies, I say leave them alone and let them live their lives. Besides, I like to see them as real people rather than the perfect-innocent image the media gives them. They are human and they make mistakes. So what?!
MrUSA
I love Tiger. He's world class athlete and a role model for children. He shows us all that if you put in a lot of effort, you can be successful.
USARonin
I think CNN says the number of women he's been playin' hide the salamin with is now over twenty.
I didn't care about Mister Woods before, and I'm tryin' hard not to now.
It's hard to avoid it with all the breakin' email news alerts I get from a number of TV and newspaper organizations.
Several days ago if someone had said Mister Woods was a 'role model', I'd've shrugged my shoulders and said, "If you say so..."
Now? No way, Jose.
I'm curious... Is a golfer a 'world class athelete'? -Ain't heard that said out loud before.
MrUSA
Tiger Woods is a golfer who is a world class athlete.
USARonin
MrUSA, one thing's for sure.
Mr. Woods - I'm unwillin'ly findin' out - is a heckuva lot more than a golfer... and it seems to be all dark, bad stuff.
For one, I didn't know 'Ambien' may have another attraction beyond gettin' someone to sleep.
MrUSA
He likes women and women like him. Nothing wrong with that.
USARonin
MrUSA, well, apparantly Mrs. Woods believes there's somethin' wrong with Mister Woods havin' other women 'like' him outside of their marital bed.
I'm glad Mr. Woods is inclined towards the female of our specia accordin' to the media and you.
-coulda been worse.
MrUSA
It's Mr. Woods' adult decision to do what he does. I personally wouldn't do it, but if he wants to, why should we care?
USARonin
MrUSA, I don't care. But you held him up as a 'role model' and took his wife out of the equation when it comes to his extra-marital behaviors.
I often have the news on in the background on TV, on the radio, on the radio in the Hummer... I get email breakin' news from liberal and conservative news outlets.
I don't care. I can't get away from Mr Woods and his personal problems. I didn't care about him before. I want to get back to that.
kumasan1969
combinibento,
Being a good husband to one's wife is a part of responsibilities as a father. So as being honest to people. It is a father's responsibility to build and maintain a good/strong family environment.
If you cannot take the responsibility as your child's role model, don't be a parent.