a subset of derek

Ok, since people feel compelled to comment about Tiger Woods and make him an emblem of all things perceived to be right and good, only to be hoodwinked , I have to speak on this.

“If there’s been a consistent narrative to this year and every other in this decade, it’s that most of us, Bernanke included, have been so easily bamboozled. The men who played us for suckers, whether at Citigroup or Fannie Mae, at the White House or Ted Haggard’s megachurch, are the real movers and shakers of this century’s history so far. That’s why the obvious person of the year is Tiger Woods. His sham beatific image, questioned by almost no one until it collapsed, is nothing if not the farcical reductio ad absurdum of the decade’s flimflams, from the cancerous (the subprime mortgage) to the inane (balloon boy).”

To paraphrase Ron Artest from his blog post, unless your name is Jesus Christ, you’re not perfect.  I agree 100% with our Laker friend.

Instead of painting Tiger’s indiscretions as a fleecing of America like the housing crisis or some of this country’s actions this decade since 9/11/2001 (two questionable theaters of war, one shady election–2000 is technically last decade, questionable response after America’s worst natural disaster — Hurricane Katrina), let’s see it for what it is: a talented man that let his desires blind him on several occasions from what really matters. Many people in the financial realm didn’t just find the temptation of greed too much to resist, they engaged in economic assault on a mass group of people (via predatory lending) which, coupled with an expensive war and oil price instability, turned our economy to this (link semi-NSFW).
Tiger Woods is not an exemplar of bad behavior.  He has made a good home for his wife and family and he is exceptional at his job. He is merely a mirror of our shortcomings.  We may never know what it is like to be a billionaire or many of the other things he has accomplished in his short 33 years but we all know what it is like to deal with temptation and many of us have made the wrong choices when faced with temptation and hurt folks we love.

We are also not victims of Tiger’s indiscretions.  We may never see him pick up another club and ply his craft again but he has already cemented his legacy as one of the best, if not the best, to ever grace the links, even at 33.  His wife, kids, his mistresses (to a lesser extent) and himself are the victims here. The sponsors bet that Tiger was something nobody is (perfect) and it’s their failure, not his.

Tiger didn’t screw us (no pun intended), he is us.