Tiger Says He's Sorry: Now Let's Leave Him Alone

So, Tiger Woods has finally broken his silence. He’s come out and apologized to the world, fans, sponsors, family, and anyone else he could think of.

He looked and sounded contrite. He was emotional when necessary and, at times, just a little bit defiant.

It was carefully stage-managed, as is the way with these things in modern times, and delivered as a piece to camera in front of a hand-picked audience.

Of course, we’ve heard it all before. Barely a week goes by without some high profile person being paraded before the media to offer an apology for some indiscretion or malfeasance.

The pattern is well established. Blah, blah, blah, sorry. Blah, blah, blah, regret. Blah, blah, blah, disappointment. Blah, blah, blah, let down my family. No surprises really.

It’s not even surprising that Tiger refused to take questions. But at least delivered the statement in person.

He even went further than most efforts of this type. His language spoke to genuine contrition. He described his selfishness and self-indulgence and of his feeling of entitlement after years of hard work and sacrifice.

He spoke of his betrayal of his wife and family, but also of the institution of marriage. He left little unsaid.

Except, that is, the more salacious details of his misdeeds. The lewd details of his unfaithfulness—the who, the when, the where and, most of all, the why. That’s what really sells newspapers and magazines.

And, for that, the media assault continues. He has been attacked for his unwillingness to answer questions, but what other questions were there to ask and since when is he accountable to the media?

This is a matter between a man and his family. The fact that he is a sports star or celebrity is irrelevant. It is none of our business what goes on behind closed doors.
Indeed, he probably bears some resentment towards the media for turning his personal failings into a real-life soap opera. He didn’t sign up for that.

Nor did he sign up to have his family stalked by paparazzi. Pursuing his children is going way too far.

Media whores like the Osbournes, Brittney Spears, or Jessica Simpson open up their life for scrutiny and complain when that scrutiny exposes them for what they are. Tiger did no such thing.

It is one of the more “interesting” facets of modern society, that everyone can have an opinion on anything and, with new media, gets to express that opinion for the world to hear—and, yes, I appreciate the irony of that statement.

Tiger Woods no more owes us an explanation than he owes us a share of his earnings. Let’s leave him alone.