It's a dirty shame that Tiger Woods' squeaky-clean image got hit by the freight train that is adultery. I mean, did you ever expect this would be the kind of trouble you'd hear Tiger getting into? How could it be possible? The world's first billion-dollar athlete. One of, if not THE, most recognizable people on this planet. A beautiful (and seemingly happy) family. Skill and ability to play his sport unlike any other person ever to walk the planet. Mental toughness. Up until his strange car wreck on Nov. 27th, I'm sure there were plenty of men willing to trade places with him. I'm not so sure I can say the same now.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
After hearing the voicemail that Tiger left Jamiee Grubbs, a cocktail waitress and reality show participant (Tool Academy? Are you serious, Tiger??) who he allegedly had an affair with, it's amazing to see how such a hard athlete and competitor can turn into such a scared and weak man trying desperately not to get caught in the act.
Check out this blast from Jesper Parnevik, the Swedish golfer who set up Elin Nordegren with Tiger (she was working as Parnevik's au pair):
"I would be especially sad about it since I'm kind of -- I feel really sorry for Elin -- since me and my wife were at fault for hooking her up with him. We probably thought he was a better guy than he is. I would probably need to apologize to her and hope she uses a driver next time instead of the 3-iron."
OUCH.
Now the Tiger Woods brand will never really be quite the same. This "transgression" may be overlooked after some time, but the reality is that because Tiger worked so tirelessly for so many years to maintain this clean image, it ends up impacting him that much more. I personally don't think this will really affect the rest of his playing career that much. It's a good thing (for him) that this happened at the butt-end of the season and not in the middle of June. The way I look at it, he has 4 solid month of downtime before The Masters to get this behind him and get his bearings straight.
What really has most people's heads wrapped around that same tree as his Escalade was how careless and foolish he had to be to think he could get away with something like this. How on Earth could such a popular and recognizable person with everything going his way think this somehow wouldn't be leaked out or be discovered?
A very small part of me has always thought that Tiger's life was too perfect. I always hoped he wouldn't be stupid enough to somehow jeopardize all of the good stuff he has, like the 155ft. yacht or the silo of gold coins and cash to swim in (a la Scrooge McDuck, a personal goal of mine, but that's another story). Talk about a character flaw.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
