Sports

Public too eager to catch Tiger by his tale

How did the man with the golden touch lose so much in a matter of days?

Being that the Midas touch is both a curse and blessing, perhaps it’s not so surprising that Tiger Woods, who had a very public and successful – if not perfect – image built up over more than two decades, is in the midst of a torrential downfall that seemingly happened in an instant.

On the surface, Woods had for so long appeared to have everything in place. From his close relationship with his father to an adoring wife and children, Woods was living a picturesque life by most people’s standards.

His commercials often showed off his more-humorous side and reinforced the notion that Woods was anything but the stoic image he eschewed in public.

Now, given the allegations of infidelity following a surreal car wreck last week and an ambiguous statement, which was tantamount to a confession, everything he’s been about has been brought into question.

Should it be? No, because at the moment, what the public knows is limited, and even in a worst-case scenario, Woods is guilty of something other athletes have owned up to and recovered from.’

Kobe Bryant’s bout of infidelity in 2003 serves as the closest example of what may be transpiring.

But the problem for Woods is that when you fall from Mount Olympus, it’s something everyone sees. Maybe he thought he could fix things privately, and that by keeping quiet following the wreck he was doing the right thing for his family by protecting them from the media.

In either case, it hasn’t worked. The media and the public crave answers, and the void filled by Wood’s silence was filled by our social network-fueled, TMZ-crazed World Wide Web, which was all too happy to oblige.

In fact, with the surge of ‘information’ that’s been leaked over the past few days – including a recorded phone message, photos and text messages – the only thing that’s surprising is that all this didn’t come out sooner.

So from here, what happens? It’s unlikely that having mostly unraveled the mystery of Wood’s late-night car crash will stop the media from continuing to stake out Woods’ house and looking into even the most fringe allegations of people claiming to have had affairs with Woods.

There’s no law that says he should come out and air all his dirty laundry for the world to see, but it does seem in his own best interest to do so, if for no other reason than to quell the media mob, giving him and his family a chance at privacy.

After all, when Charles Barkley is sounding like the voice of reason on damage control, something has been turned upside down. With Woods of all people receiving bad press, how could it not be?

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