Does Tiger deserve a mulligan?

These are truly mind-boggling times we live in. With so many challenges facing the world today, why we would even choose to focus on such a non-issue is baffling. There’s no question that everyone loves a good train wreck; it’s just human nature. There’s a little Schadenfreude at work here. The common folk enjoy sitting down to a cup of coffee and a daily reminder that beautiful and buff celebrities also suffer life’s disappointments. They secretly gloat at the fact that looks, fame and fortune will not protect them from heartbreak, divorce or a bad hair day. It gives us mere mortals a chance to snicker. As Gore Vidal noted: “It’s not enough to succeed. Others must fail.”

That being said, the media frenzy surrounding Tiger’s “indiscretions” has been absolutely ridiculous. Yes, I suppose it’s news when the world’s greatest golfer suddenly proves not to be the squeaky clean prodigy he presented himself to be, but, rather, a unscrupulous womanizer who cheated on his wife with, not one, not two, but eleven women! I can understand the fascination with it, but the anger? I find it downright hilarious that some people are outraged, demanding bombastic apologies, urging sponsors to pull their endorsements. Really? Tiger let you down that much?

What is it with this celebrity-obsessed society that loves to worship false idols and then recoils in horror when they’re found to have feet of clay? They’re just athletes! Being able to hit a golf ball better than anyone else does not make you a role model. It just makes you a phenomenal athlete.

Does Tiger being a lousy two-timing husband with questionable taste in mistresses make him less of a golfer? No. Does Tiger being a lousy husband impact in any shape or form our personal lives? No. So why, pray tell, the demand for a public apology and the stripping of endorsements? It’s silly, irrational and reeks of moral judgment, which, at the end of the day, is not ours to make.

Does Tiger deserve a mulligan? Only his wife can answer that question. It’s her decision to make. We, Joe Public, are neither owed an apology, nor affected by the outcome. That family will still be picking up the pieces of the choices Tiger made long after we’ve ceased to care and moved on to the next scandal.

So, what’s changed, other than a couple of names on the cell phones of some professional athletes, who, no doubt, learned from Tiger’s debacle and frantically rushed to remove any incriminating evidence? Nothing. Tiger is still the world’s greatest golfer and the endorsements will still keep rolling in. Well… maybe with the exception of Nike. “Just Do It” might not be the most appropriate slogan for someone who seems to have perilously taken that advice to heart.