Tiger's Statement, Trimmed
Regular readers of this blog might be shocked to learn that I worship at the temple of Chili Palmer, the great 20th century philosopher who once said to Leo Devoe the dry cleaner, "Never say anything unless you have to."
I share this in light of Tiger's statement today, which, contrary to Chili's belief, was necessary in some form. But after reading much of the media and fan reaction to the statement (negative), I offer you this edited version with a follow up question.
I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone.
Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete, I have been dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means. For the last week, my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives. The stories in particular that physical violence played any role in the car accident were utterly false and malicious. Elin has always done more to support our family and shown more grace than anyone could possibly expect.
I will strive to be a better person and the husband and father that my family deserves. For all of those who have supported me over the years, I offer my profound apology.
Might this, minus the lecture about privacy, have been better received?
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 06:54 PM
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Reader Comments (17)
The way i always heard it was: "Never write it if you can say it. Never say it if you can nod."
Also, who's working on the timeline...you know, the one that juxtaposes the birth of his kids with the 31-month liaison and majors/tournaments won and lost? It's sort of grotesque to consider, but isn't that what's next?
UGH!!! You are so right. I don't even want to figure out that time line, especially taking into consideration how old his kids are, when they were born, was his wife pregnant at the time, etc.
I simply can not comprehend someone's mentality who does these types of things.
Ugh!
Reminds me of the Warren Zevon song, "Poor Poor Pitiful Me".
Feel sorry for Tiger? Not really. Not that I condemn him for one of the most common transgressions of men, but I don't feel sorry for a guy who does whatever he wants to do and then whines when he is reminded that there are rules.
You nailed it.
So, nah, I don't think the wording matters much.
I find his whining about privacy ridiculous. He relinquished his "I'm just a golfer trying to do my job" card when he signed on with all his sponsors. THEN he became a public property. Your notoriety is good enough to earn you $100 mil per year, it's good enough for us to want to know more about you.
People might not be very interested in Tiger if he were "just a golfer." But chose to use his notoriety from golf to make more money outside of golf as a celebrity pitchman. So he can't complain about the crap that comes with being a celebrity.
There are a LOT of celebrities and successful sports people that decline the endorsements (or only do them overseas), just act/play, and the media leaves them alone. But having your own Nike brand, Tag Heuer, EASports, Gatorade, Buick, Upper Deck, whatever laser eye center -- you're drawing more attention to yourself. You'll get the attention -- it will make you big bucks AND give you BIG headaches.
I'm in Chicago and we've seen this all before with Michael Jordan. He and Pippen were 1 & 2 here for a long time. Jordan was Mr endorsement. Pippen was not. Media hunted Jordan. Did not Pippen.