Tiger's "Transgression": A Wake Up Call for Fans

Why are we so shocked?

Why do we continue to pretend this couldn't happen to him (replace him with any professional athlete of your choice).

Why do we continue to expect anything different from any one individual given more money than God?

Biblically, money is the root of all evil.  Historically, money is an aphrodisiac that blinds the senses and self-control of 99.9 percent of those who obtain it in bunches.

Combine those qualities with a natural bent in all humans to grow disatisfied over time with any one thing and you have a recipe for failure.  The "grass is always greener" syndrome rings more true in Tiger Woods case than it ever has before.

Have you seen Elin Woods?

That wasn't enough for you Tiger?

There are a few truths to glean from what Tiger classifies as his "transgression" and "personal sin."  Monogamy is hard work made all the more difficult when you mix the lure of power money brings.  The grass is indeed always greener, but it is rarely worth the climb over the fence to get to it.

What drives a man with the power of the presidency of the United States to play cigar games with a young intern?

What drives a young man at the top of his game known globally with a wonderful family to risk it all for what amounts to a roll in the hay?

The drive, in both these cases and every other case of infidelity, comes from a blood flow in the wrong direction. 

Every man who ever walked the earth has dealt with the temptation to act when that blood starts flowing South.  Fighting the drive to fail is no failure.  Acting on it—when you have a wife and kid at home—is.

So then the question becomes not what drove them to it, but what made them think it was okay to act. 

President Kennedy famously had his lady-friends brought to the White House when ever the mood struck him.  They were escorted in by the Secret Service and everything was very hush-hush.

President Clinton must have figured with the title come the perks.

Babe Ruth was a playboy.  James Worthy paid for his escort with a credit card in Houston.  Rattling off the indiscretions of famous athletes here would take some time of course.  It's clear that Tiger Woods, like Bill Clinton, was simply following the model set before him.

They both were driven by the same thing that drives every man, they acted because they could.  They acted, in part, because history said they could and get away with it.  Falsely believing that somehow they were above the indiscretion.

Neither were.

Will athletes and men with power ever stop acting on their impulses?  There is a better chance of Hugh Hefner being ordained as pope than for that to happen.  Will some athlete and/or man of power step up and set the new model for behaviour moving forward? 

I certainly hope so.

I'm not proclaiming the need for athletes to declare their stand on virginity before marriage like Barry Sanders and AC Green did during their playing days.  Sanders recanted when word that he impregnated someone came out.  Green, by all accounts, stuck to his guns.

Instead I think It's time for us to understand that despite the fame, the money, the power, the amazing ability these men have—they are still men.  Men that are burdened with the same temptations everyone carrying the Y chromosome has.  Men carrying the additional burden of believing they are above it all.

Should Tiger lose his endorsements?  No, but he will lose some.  Should Tiger make changes in his life?  Clearly.  Should we be surprised this happened?  Sadly, no.