Don't forget to sign your race card at the end of the round, Tiger
The Tiger thing is bottoming out, and we're getting to the real sediment: race. An African-American Washington Post columnist chided Tiger for going for the Hugh Hefner classic Barbie type, that is, blonde and white. Tiger has experimented with a greater variety of swing planes than he has women.
Now comes one Terence Moore, who writes that Tiger is not getting backing from the African-American community because he alienated his roots when he called himself a Cablinasian in 1997.
So he could not expect the support of the Revs. Al and Jesse. He could not feel the love from the community that O.J., Michael Vick and Barry Bonds got.
Of course, there is a critical difference between Tiger and the others. Tiger never claimed he was innocent (or if he did via silence, it was for about a minute). Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson specialize in defending the guilty. Like Tawana Brawley and the woman who accused the Duke lacrosse team of rape.
So the ministers' expertise would be useless here. As for the black community at large,
maybe Tiger is a pioneer in this regard. Maybe he is going to help us get beyond race. His "transgressions" transcend race. We are all one, a community of sinners.
But Terence Moore wants to hold onto the racial distinctions. He pines for the old days, when the "community" would stand behind the black athlete, no matter what. "They (the athletes) had folks in barbershops throughout African-American communities talking about conspiracies," Moore writes. Yes, but in the movie Barbershop, when the blacks are talking among themselves, don't they admit O.J. was guilty and that Rev. Jackson is something of a con artist? But you can understand blacks wanting to dole it out. Because two wrongs make a Rev. Wright.
Tiger Woods was childish toward his wife, but that he's not making a racial issue out of it, well, that's progress.
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There is no way Tiger appears in any commercials again. All his advertising oozes wholesomeness. You might be able to look at him as a golfer again, but you couldn't watch him in a mini-van as a family man. In fact, Tiger has probably wrecked it for all golfers. The days of the young wife, any wife, running up to the 18th green with kids in tow to congratulate daddy are done.
Maybe Tiger should go the Darth Vader route. Become even more sullen on the course than he already is. Refuse to give even perfunctory answers to questions. No endorsements. Just play golf. Maybe you'd catch him laughing with a fellow competitor or his caddy. And you'd wish you could be in on the conversation like when Letterman cups his hand by the side of his mouth and whispers something to a guest as the show goes to commercial. Tiger could make himself even more attractive to a public greedy for scraps of his personality. And he could just deny the public. Nothing but golf. It would be liberating. He could concentrate on winning all four majors this year.
3 Comments
goodoldnumbernine said:
you want some serious commmentary? bruce has got game. well said!
Mark R said:
I beg to differ, Bruce. Certainly Tiger is still attractive for endorsements.
How about condoms? As far as I know, no illegitimate children yet. Dang! The things work!
Or for an answering machine - "Yep! Crystal Clear voice messages!"
Or for Ashley Madison's web site.
Yes, Tiger can still appeal to a certain target audience for certain advertisers.
Apres Ski said:
One of the girlfriends did really try to get pregnant, but the Golf Gods said no!! I guess that's the silver lining so far in all of this.
As long as Tiger continues to win tournaments, no one will care! Kobe won for the Lakers, A-Rod & Jeter won for the Yankees. People are now calling Kate Hudson, A-Rod's good luck charm. People want winners and they don't care how they get there . . . as long as they "do get there".
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