Tiger

Not entirely sure what to say here except the entire situation is unfortunate and disappointing - a huge understatement from his wife's perspective I'm sure. I have always enjoyed watching athletes who were/are at the top of their profession - Peyton Manning, Roger Federer, Michael Phelps, Kobe Bryant are current examples and athletes such as Cal Ripken, Jr., Andre Agassi, Michael Jordan and Barry Sanders are older examples. I love watching how they compete, their desire to not just succeed, but excel. I have learned a lot about what it means to be a champion from watching these guys. It means maintaining consistent excellence. I try to apply that to different areas of my life although I think I fail quite often.

Tiger Woods was probably the embodiment of all of that for me. His dad was a Green Beret who taught him how to be a champion. He gave him all the tools, which combined with his God-given talent to make him the greatest golfer of all time by his mid-30s. I loved watching him compete on Sunday afternoons...how he would seemingly will himself to win tournaments and so many others would fall by the wayside simply because they didn't believe in themselves as much as he believed in himself.

I didn't know much about Tiger's spiritual beliefs. I would guess he had some Buddhist influence from his Thai mom. He never mentioned God so that meant that his beliefs weren't very strong or he didn't want to offend anyone in his formidable fan base. Still, there were signs that something wasn't quite right. This was a guy whose father taught him to be incredibly tough mentally, to block out any and every distraction when he was competing. Yet, here was Tiger, time and again, seemingly annoyed by every camera click and fan cough as he was ready to swing. His propensity to swear after bad shots, and even toss/throw his club in disgust were becoming regular occurrences. In my opinion, these were signs of inner turmoil coming to the surface during times of stress...an indicator that something wasn't right on the inside.

Now we know what wasn't right. Tiger's heart and spirit were out of whack...and when your heart isn't right your thoughts and actions won't be right. No amount of PR or projecting a false self can ultimately cover up the truth. It's a shame. I know that my sports heroes are just that - sports heroes. There are occasionally really good sports hearoes like Cal Ripken but most have just as many issues as anyone else such as MJ's gambling and ego or Andre's meth use. I think I will continue to watch Tiger for awhile but now with a different purpose. I want to see how he holds up under all of this. Can he right the ship? Can he still be the player he was? Can he become the person he professes he should be?

It will be interesting...that's for sure. We are about to learn more about Tiger than we ever thought we could. The world will be watching.