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Alan Abelson, RIP
May 10, 2013 | 20 comments
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South Carolina on My Mind
April 30, 2013 | 31 comments
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Dream Sequences
April 26, 2013 | 62 comments
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Just Like a Woman
April 25, 2013 | 35 comments
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Missing So Many
April 19, 2013 | 41 comments
A Further Perspective
The Manchurian Tiger
Tiger Woods has been tortured enough.
When I watched Tiger Woods’ “confession” recently, I was horrified. I was not horrified by his having many girlfriends and mistresses. I’ve been in Hollywood close to forty years now, and I know what fame and money can bring in the way of sexual connections and people pleasers. Obviously, his having had so many romances while married is a bad thing, and he certainly is answering for it painfully. But that, too, is not what horrified me.
It was Tiger Woods’ appearance that horrified me. He looked drugged, brain-washed, as if he had been the victim of North Korean brainwashing during the Korean War. He looked like what I imagine the prisoners of the Thought Police would have looked like in George Orwell’s 1984. He looked as if he had been beaten to a pulp and then made to be humiliated in front of the world.
Again, I don’t get it. What he did is shameful, but it’s between the Tiger and his wife. He did not break any laws that I know of. He is not a public servant. He didn’t beat anyone up. He didn’t steal any money. He didn’t commit treason. He’s the greatest golfer there ever was. I know a lot of good golfers who have many girlfriends. Why is The Tiger being made a spectacle in front of the world?
Why can movie stars and rock stars and billionaire playboys have this kind of love life every day for their whole lives and no one says a word, and when one of the great athletes of all time does it, he gets crucified? Why, in the most basic sense, is it anything but gossip and why does it deserve this much attention, not to say this much torment of the Tiger and his wife?
There are big issues in the world today: wars, terrorism, a major, big recession, terrible unemployment, people losing their homes, serious fraud on Wall Street. Have we forgotten all of this?
The Tiger tried to live a rock star sex life. So what? This is between him and his wife. Let’s butt the heck out and get on to serious work, or just minding our own business. This man has been tortured enough.
About the Author
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes “Ben Stein’s Diary” for every issue of The American Spectator.
D| 2.23.10 @ 7:01AM
Amen! Bill Clinton cheated on his wife and daughter throughout his marriage, lied under oath, and it was just all about sex, no?
The left wanted Tiger to be one of thier icons and Tiger has never bought into it; this is the media's chance to get back at him.
Alan Brooks| 2.23.10 @ 3:26PM
Agreed. Besides we've heard so much about satyrs-- both famous and not-- in the past 45 years (starting with Profumo) that it is boring. I wish sex were exciting rather than tawdry; but, to be perfectly cynical, it is a good thing: to paraphrase a 1964 review of 'Last Exit To Brooklyn';
this book is so disgusting it should be permitted continue in publication, so as to be read to cure readers of an interest in sex.
How does that relate to Tiger? Not much.
But every time I hear of something such as... you KNOW... I think oh no, not another adolescent/childish/infantile, and tawdrily- commercialized, sex scandal.
Why don't these allegedly 'liberal' commentators go on TV wearing diapers? All this stuff is basically goo goo ga ga-- as people confuse being young in head with being young of heart.
Gerloff| 2.26.10 @ 3:50PM
D; You are exactly correct.Tiger was invited as a speaker at the inauguration,Tiger,I assume,didn't say the right things about obuma!BINGO--on the
HATE-LIST. These so called journalists,the cowardly administration,and the no-nothing--do-
nothing phony white-house male now are going
to try to destroy Tigers' reputation.These people
have been sexually assaulting AMERICA for years. OH,that's O.K. though,AYE???
bob doerner| 2.27.10 @ 12:15PM
lol how the hell did politics get tied into this......yes he did look drugged and brainwashed,pretty much like any of the lunatic fringe of either political party........none of this crap about tiger really matters, his absence from pro golf just means some of the "also ran" players get a chance to win
Ned| 2.23.10 @ 7:26AM
I agree Ben, but this is nothing, wait until the new porn movie "Tiger's Wood" comes out. Did I say comes out?
Pete| 2.23.10 @ 11:01AM
Nicely done, Ned. There are so many possibilities.
"Straight in the Hole"
"Tiger without a cup"
"Tiger: Masters and Slaves"
"Tiger: Too Many Strokes"
or simply, "The Chronicles of Infideldrick"
Ned| 2.23.10 @ 11:25AM
Pete, I know, can you imagine him ever playing golf again. The commentators will have a heyday.
"Tiger's caddy pulls out his putter", "I'm afraid he's in the ruff on that one".
It will be like Tony Soprano teasing Junior about going down all over again, or like the many code words that can no longer be said about former President Clinton without having a smirk on your face.
Pete| 2.23.10 @ 12:09PM
A guy can barely have a cigar any more without a joke being made....
At the end of the day, if Tiger had been a race card player, Jesse Jackson buddy, vocal Obama supporter, etc...the media would never have turned on him like they have. After all, what does the left care about real marriage or infidelity? Traditional marriage to them is the enemy; they spend their time and effort promoting "alternative lifestyles" as normal, desirable, chic and oh so mainstream. Two moms, two dads, NAMBLA, condoms for 10yr olds, all fair game. Despite his lack of morals, I still tend to respect that part of him that refused to go along with what was "expected" of him because of his pigmentation. (unless that, too, was a calculated part of his public image) It will be interesting to see if this all changes going forward: will he change to suck up to the leftist media?
Alan Brooks| 2.23.10 @ 8:10PM
It simply seems boring. What was daring in 1964 or '65 is now old hat. Old wood.
Petrified old wood. Rock hard petrified...
that's enough.
stu| 2.23.10 @ 7:27AM
Doh! I'm embarassed that it never occurred to me D. You are so spot on!
Le Marteau| 2.23.10 @ 7:28AM
> This man has been tortured enough.
The only torture he suffers is that that he brings upon himself, and that which he allows. His "Manchurian" affect was completely of his own doing and a mark of his subjugation to the standards of others.
What you saw, Ben, was not a man, but a minion. Of a subject... a servant. And it was, and is, within his power to deny those shackles.
SpiralArchitect| 2.23.10 @ 3:37PM
First and mosst important Tiger is not "the greatest golfer there ever was. " But this discussion is not about golf or we would be speaking of the likes of Ben Hogan.
Second, Tiger, some say is a (golf) machine. He certainly was created for one purpose; golf. I think it is terrible that his father made a decision of what his son should become and say to it from the eariest possible moment of the young boys life.
Robert Redford was 'the Natural' but Bobby Jones was a natural - likely the greates golfer of all time.
Back to you...
CK | 2.23.10 @ 7:35AM
The world stopped for Tiger Woods. I think we are screwed up. I will pray for him.
Richard Baker| 2.23.10 @ 7:51AM
What amazes me is the vehemence of the public attacks on Tiger, especially from the lefties. My only question to those who endlessly and ruthlessly attack him is this. Are you jealous? He did VERY wrong but it's time to get on with life and let him re-assemble the destruction of his life. That there had been this much hue and cry over Slick Willy.
Stuart Koehl| 2.23.10 @ 8:08AM
The media's vehemence can only be explained by the paradox that those who do not believe in sin also do not believe in forgiveness. Except for those with whom they agree, of course. That's different.
Cris Worth| 2.23.10 @ 8:14AM
I wish Tiger would explain the car mishap. Just a few questions:
1. Why did he leave in the middle of the night and where was he going?
2. Did Tiger know it is illegal to drive in Florida in your bare feet?
3.What was the causal effect of hitting a bush, hitting a hedge, driving up a curb and running over a fire hydrant then continuing along and hitting a tree on his neighbor's property. Under the influence? In flight and injured due to a fight?
4. What/who smashed the car's rear and side windwows?
5. What was happening in the Wood's household just prior to the car mishap and why was Tiger and Elin up so late?
6. What was Elin doing in a golf cart? Rescue? Pursuit?
Just a few questions to ponder. Perhaps Elin will talk someday.
frosty| 2.23.10 @ 10:06AM
Don't leave out the most improtant question:
1. Why would you think he owes you any explanation?
Cris Worth| 2.23.10 @ 11:00AM
Just a few more questions:
7. What injuries was Tiger treated for in the hospital? Was he injured in the car accident? Before the accident? or both?
8. Did the police impound and examine the car and make a conclusion what caused the damage to the rear and side windows?
9. Where is the car now? Will/can an independent third party examine the car and make their own conclusions?
10. When Tiger was lucid a few hours after the accident why didn't he talk to the police...why didn't he talk to the police the next day then the next?
Funny thing frosty another famous celebrity four decades ago had a strange car mishap involving a woman which had a major impact on himself on his particular profession politics and yet was not fully explained and remains a mystery today. I see history repeating itself a celebrity in a strange car mishap involving a woman which had a major impact on himself on his particular profession golf and yet was not fully explained and remains a mystery today. It's de ja vu all over again.
Jamie W.| 2.24.10 @ 12:58AM
CW - the difference is that a woman DIED in Chappaquiddick. In the car of a man who subsequently made decision s that affected everyone in the US and arguably the world. Tiger Woods is a friggin' GOLF PLAYER. No one died or was even seriously injured, and the most profound decision he's likely to make professionally involves whether to use a wood or an iron. If you don't get that, I feel sorry for you and your moral equivalence.
I don't care what happened that night; it's Tiger's personal business and I hope he fixes whatever is wrong in his life.
Cris Worth| 2.24.10 @ 6:23AM
JW - on the contrary. Tiger's car mishap revealed the salacious side of his life and became the story of the year. Just a GOLF PLAYER, are you friggin crazy? Tiger is the top celebrity on the planet and the greatest sports icon EVER.
Cris Worth| 3.12.10 @ 7:28PM
Since you mentioned it Ted once bellowed “Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law? Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty?" He was obviously describing his hypocritical self at Chappaquiddick. And now we have that present super celebrity Tiger and his car smashing act. Just a few more questions:
What happened to the security videotape of the early stages of the car mishap, Tiger leaving the home - Elin perhaps following him - Elin perhaps smashing the car with a golf club - Tiger driving off smashing into a bush - Elin driving a golf cart perhaps in pursuit?
Why didn't the district attorney issue search warrants of the house and the hospital for Tiger's medical records?
Why did the police close the case so fast when there was suspicion of domestic violence and so many loose ends and unasked and unanswered questions?
Was the ambulance crew who suspected domestic violence and would not let Elin ride with them interviewed by the police?
Driving in your bare feet is against the law, was that part of the $164 fine?
It’s simple the video would tell us if Elin smashed the car rear window in the driveway in hot pursuit of Tiger or not.
Give credit where credit is due Ted was right there is another justice system for the high and mighty and Tiger is the mightiest of them all.
Jack| 2.26.10 @ 1:05PM
"...What was the causal effect of hitting a bush, hitting a hedge, driving up a curb and running over a fire hydrant then continuing along and hitting a tree on his neighbor's property?..."
I think, Jim, that it's the result of Tiger allowing his shoulder to open up on the backswing. Many a fine round of golf has been damaged by the failure to keep everything 'zipped up,' as it were. Now, over to 15 where Mike Weir has a tricky 12-footer for a birdie and the outright lead...
Cris Worth| 3.1.10 @ 8:54AM
Tiger had nobody around this time to move a boulder resulting in a sextuple bogey.
John Wyckoff| 3.5.10 @ 8:44PM
What business is it of yours? It's people like ypu that need to get a life.
Mick Lee| 2.23.10 @ 8:18AM
Sorry Ben. Can't go with you on this one. The second Tiger took the first dollar from his first endorsement he sold most if not all of his privacy away. Tiger was selling his image as a great golfer and admirable man--an example parents point out to their children.
Crashing his car in the middle of the night on Thanksgiving began the process of undoing Tiger's persona. The more we learned about the matter. The more we found out what we had just been told was a lie. The more we learned that Tiger's image was a fabrication. What's more, Tiger is engaging in the witchcraft cure for that weird thing called "sexual addiction". Gee, you mean all those women who were so eager to drop their pants because Tiger was rich and famous had nothing to do with it?
So now we have the media machine constantly taking measure of the man. Too damn bad. When Tiger "comes back" he'll use that very same machine to spread his "recovery and resurrection" story to the public. He'll appear on The View and hearts will melt as he talks about being true to your one and only. We will be sold the image that Tiger is a better man than we are because "he went through the storm" and came out on the other side.
In the meantime, even more women will be eager to drop their pants.
Jimmy Carter| 2.23.10 @ 11:06AM
Exactly.
Seek| 2.23.10 @ 12:06PM
When a celebrity endorses a product, he still has a right to a private life, no more or less than the rest of us. And I might ask, who are all these women who have come out of the woodwork to tell all to the media? How much were they paid?
Beyond a certain point, shame is an ugly tool of social control. But if we're going to apply it, we should remember it still takes two to tango.
SpiralArchtect| 2.23.10 @ 3:42PM
Have you ever heard of John Daley?
Thomas| 2.23.10 @ 8:37AM
Tiger Woods is not being tortured. He is torturing himself. Tiger Woods could have chosen to live a private life in any profession that he chose. He did not. He chose to market Tiger Woods the image. He accepted payment for being, no only a very fine golfer, but for being a paragon of virtue, embodying all of the noblest attributes of humanity. That he turned out to be a fairly common run of the mill human being is not unusual. And just as people will buy a Toyota if they think it is virtually flawless, so will they turn away from one if it is shown to be heavily flawed.
Now, Mr. Woods is trying to salvage Tiger Woods, the business, by wearing sack-cloth and ashes and begging for forgiveness from the public. If this was really just between Tiger and his wife, there would be no need to apologize to the rest of us.
I'm sorry, but Tiger Woods is scourging himself, and for his own reasons.
Doorgunner| 2.23.10 @ 8:42AM
Was someone just off-camera, holding a gun on him? No?
Well, then I'll continue to view him as I always have: another huckster trying to sell his "image."
The man plays golf really, really well. That's it. If you ever gave him any consideration more than that, you've a juvenile mentality susceptible to the marketing machinations of pretty typical "Mad Men"... gee, who sponsors THAT show? I gotta get me some of that!
Tim| 2.23.10 @ 8:43AM
"Look ere ye leap for as ye sow, so shall ye reap."
What matters most to God? That a man be a good husband, a good father, or a good golfer?
Crispin| 2.23.10 @ 8:51AM
Rich man screws up and wants to recover image.
Bah.
Rich man gets caught and tries to regain sponsers(money) is more like it.
Who cares anymore? The fact that "it's okay" if you are rich is BS, but the country has been buying it for awhile now (Clinton sold it and made it fully official).
R Martin| 2.23.10 @ 9:17AM
The answer to all of Mr. Stein's "whys?" is simple: human nature. This article on a matter of little consequence has attracted 13 responses above, while William Tucker's piece, an excellent bit of research on the history of health care insurance, has attracted none as I write this. Prurience trumps economics every time.
Tim| 2.23.10 @ 9:50AM
Prurience? No, metaphysics. Ethics.
“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? “For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Tom Davis| 2.23.10 @ 9:40AM
I like Ben Stein, but he's way off on this one. Sure, there are many golfers that can happily bang every broad in sight, but they probably aren't on their way to becoming billionaires. Tiger made tons of money because he was the best golfer in the world, and because he crafted an image of class. He's welcome to become the bad boy of golf, but he likely won't be pulling in 50 million plus a year. You can't have it all ...
Evelyn| 2.23.10 @ 10:51AM
Tiger has probably been "brainwashed" into thinking that he is a sex addict. How glamorous. The truth may be more like he is an immature jerk with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement who needs to grow up.
Tiger's golf brilliance gave him fame. Fame brings on all sorts of attractive undesirables--women who would not have given a tall geek with no discernible personality the time of day had he not been famous. He didn't have the maturity and values to cope.
Sorry, but the fact that Tiger's shenanigans literally spilled out onto the street strips away any expectation of privacy.
Yosemeti Sam| 2.23.10 @ 10:55AM
Re column - "Is our Children Learning?"
To American Spectator:
Appears I strike Liberal/Leftist nerves.
Do you or do you not validate email addresses
with posts?
You let an asshole - pardon the shorthand -
speak as if he were me.
Get your AS act together!
Do you have hacker firewalls - at all?
If not - moving on!
AS Webmaster - what's up with this compromise?
Dasboot| 2.23.10 @ 11:22AM
I find it sad to watch female commentators crucify Tiger for his infidelities when I know that they would jump at the chance to get with him if they could even at the moment they speak. I agree with the author. I mean, the guy is a billionaire athlete; one of the most famous men in the entire world. What did his wife really expect? If she wanted a stable relationship she could have got with some average joe like me. But that would never happen. Women want things that can't exist together in the same time and space.
Reinhard| 2.23.10 @ 12:55PM
Athlete??? You must be kidding. Golf is a game that requires skill, yes, but minor athletic prowess. You might as well call Nascar racing.
Dasboot| 2.23.10 @ 1:53PM
True- I should have used ' ' around athlete. Golf is a leisure activity, not really a sport.
Tim| 2.23.10 @ 4:49PM
Tiger's an "athelete" all right, just not as a golfer...
scott| 2.23.10 @ 11:23AM
Tiger's biggest problem is that he's not a victim.
If he was a drug addict, drunk, and/or part of the racial grievance industry, there would be an implied threat to lay off. He could do the apology circuit and move on. Should have hit the sauce, crack pipe, or the needle, Tiger--that fits the usual accepted image of the black athlete. Hell, it would have saved your marriage.
Yes, I understand he's married, and that makes a difference from the usual philanderer, but how many married Hollywood actors/actresses, sports figures, rappers, etc., are engaged in orgies right now as we speak?
People reply, knee-jerk fashion, "Yes, but he has an image to uphold." Yes, he's supposed to be squeaky clean, while CEOs of the companies that sponsor him and network people have a ball. The man is surrounded by hypocrites. *Gasp*...a married man is sleeping around...who does that? He's a "sex addict". Actually, as far as young millionaires/billionaires go, his monthly average of conquests is nothing to brag about.
I guess golf is the only sport that doesn't allow unethical, and/or criminal behavior. C'est la vie.
Would a white golfer be treated the same? Good question. However, isn't Tiger's image more that of a white golfer's?
Start your own golf league, Tiger; maybe in S. America, China, wherever. Hell, maybe you could buy the PGA.
Pingback| 2.23.10 @ 11:45AM
Wizards and Matt Besler: Thanks, Tiger Rock Taekwondo! | Kansas City Wizards MLS Anno links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 2.23.10 @ 11:45AM
Elmer Smith: A triple bogey for Tiger, PR team – Philadelphia Daily News | World Onli links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Brian B| 2.23.10 @ 11:49AM
"Romance"? "Love life"?
Strange descriptions of what he was up to.
He misbehaved egregiously and is suffering the consequences.
If his public apology was part of a genuine attempt to change then he has a good chance of eliminating the self imposed "torture".
If it was PR then he'll be right back in the same boat down the road.
If he does continue in the same vein it'll be hard to see the difference between him and John Daly except that Daly's weakness wrecks his golf. Not sure the effects on those who love him will be much different.
KS| 2.23.10 @ 5:17PM
The words "romance" and "love life" jarred me, too.
"I know a lot of good golfers who have many girlfriends." Ben, do you mean married golfers with many mistresses? If true, it's still bad.
Pat| 2.23.10 @ 12:33PM
C'mon Ben, torturing Tiger is all part of the entertainment. Like you, many American men want to be Tiger when they eventually grow up, playing a fun game for a living, making millions for a few hours work, marrying the beautiful blonde bikini model, living in fabulous luxury, yachts, planes, cars - Ben, it's a life every man dreams of - seeing Tiger take a media whipping definitely helps with the jealousy and applies a soothing lotion to the burning envy for some temporary relief.
And the sacred American family celebrated in myth and story - Tiger betrayed our collective family values, he strayed, he embarrassed his wife, the mother of his children. But, c'mon Ben, she isn't divorcing him yet, she married him for his money, she's still collecting on the original bill - do you really believe she fell in love with his knowledge of Swedish folk songs or his secret recipe for planked salmon? And didn't Tiger's various lovers eagerly assist in his quest to be the greatest adulterer ever to play the game - but the media could care less about whether they're sorry - no one wants to hear their confession on national television - although the tabloids printed their story for bored shoppers to read in the grocery store.
As usual, the celebrity's kids are the only innocents in this dreary comedy and will have to live with the scandal, being asked questions for years to come, having to be kept out of the public eye and away from inquiring minds in the media. If we're not aborting the celebrity kids, we're creating a wonderful home life where the parents cheat on each other, do drugs and hire others to raise their children.
Ben, have a little compassion for Tiger's kids and some admiration for all the everyday moms and dads who can't score a 3 under par on the 17th hole but do a pretty good jobs of giving their children a stable marriage and a decent home life.
Doctor Right| 2.23.10 @ 1:14PM
Tiger Woods is a spoiled jerk. Always has been, always will be. He's rude, arrogant, and a real scumbag.
I couldn't care less about his apology, though, because I couldn't are less about him.
The real story is about the fools that our society elects as our heroes. Tiger Woods is a golfer...Nothing more. He hits a little plastic ball around a green field with a big metal stick. Big whoop.
ronco| 2.23.10 @ 2:06PM
Several years ago I saw Tiger angrily push a very young, obviously adoring fan out of his way during a fit of anger. I guessed then that he wasn't what his well crafted image (made with his cooperation) portrayed him to be. His behavior on the golf course has gotten worse since then. He is arrogant, spoiled and rude. Happy when he wins and mean when he doesn't. His arrogance led him to believe he could live a double life. More fool, him. A 24/7 newscycle eats people like Tiger alive.
By the way, Ben. He didn't look brainwashed to me. He just looked mad because he had to do his mea culpa publicly. His handlers demanded it to get the big bucks back eventually.
Cal Mark| 2.23.10 @ 2:18PM
Tiger Woods has taken a much deserved fall. Great golfer, dishonest man: hoisted on his own petard!
He exploited fake wholesomeness for 8-figure endorsement deals. Worst of all, he exploited his family (his wife bears some blame here, too) as part of the image.
But the image was a lie, meaning that the marketing was, too. It is an insult to anyone influenced to buy products in any part because Mr. Squeaky Clean endorsed them.
Bottom line: if the image Woods traded on hadn't been a phony marketing ploy, or if he had been using some other image (Mr. Obsessive Golfer, for instance), no one would care.
darcy| 2.23.10 @ 5:23PM
Pardon me, but it's not only about Tiger and his wife.
He sold himself as a paragon of virtue, the family man, with supremely-gifted athletic skills -- and he employed his talents within a sport widely considered a "gentleman's" game. He crafted an image to maximize his earning potential, despite that doing so made him a first-rate hypocrit.
I, for one, cannot imagine the long-suffering wife of either the couch-potato golfer or the one who frequents the golf links to be happy that her honey spends so much time away from the family -- and now has in the back of his mind that the greatest practitioner of said sport was a world-class philanderer. Sets a bad example, don't ya know.
Our degraded culture may think little of it; but I rather think that Tiger will have to drink the whole nasty cup he prepared for himself.
JmsA| 2.23.10 @ 6:20PM
So much for the culture of false idol worshipping; when will we learn?
Bobby| 2.23.10 @ 8:51PM
One aspect of this spectacle that I think many of you don't realize is how American this whole episode is.
No other country or culture in the world would expect/require / put up with this kind of ritual public humiliation/faux confession.
Scary.
darcy| 2.23.10 @ 9:57PM
Oh, come on now, Bobby. You mean the dissolute French, or Germans, or other European-types would cast a withering glance our way because we're not like them?
Oh, yes, let's all just jump in a cesspool of erotic desire and have at it. I mean, really, what quaint notions: fidelity; honor; integrity; truthfulness.
What a bunch of saps these Americans are, when the world is there for your taking if you just shut down permanently any notion of decency.
Randy B| 2.23.10 @ 11:51PM
Come on, we all know this has nothing to do with anyone's care for Tiger's personal business.
It's all about 'the business of Tiger'.
It is first, the fodder thst makes the media machine go 'round, and second, to get an 'official' patch up so Tiger's endorsements and sponsorships may get back to the business of investing in the Tiger image machine, get their ad biz back on track, and get the cash flow back into Tiger's life.
As my teen's would say, duh!
WAKE UP| 2.23.10 @ 11:55PM
Toger can't even get being black right.
WAKE UP| 2.23.10 @ 11:56PM
Excuse typo: Tiger, not Toger . I'd hate to be misunderstood :)
Pingback| 2.24.10 @ 3:59AM
Go…CC Tigers!: Tiger Notes | Houston Aeros AHL Announcer links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Richard Baker| 2.24.10 @ 4:06AM
Reinhard:
I forgot. Your version of a sport is curling. Try playing in a golf tournament and tell one and all how minor the athleticism is. My friends who do don't consider it so minor. And please tell me how many former Formula 1 drivers are racing in NASCAR, again?
RTHORNE | 2.26.10 @ 9:45AM
WRONG!
woods LIED to millions of children, fans and sponsors! He even went against his buddhist religion. It's not a private matter when one DECEIVES the public let alone his wife. Unless woods accepts (Yeshua) Jesus he will never overcome his SEXUAL PERVERSIONS. I'll watch the first time he plays to see the response, then never again will I view golf. I can only imagine what the other golfers wives think about their husbands now. Golf will never be the same....
Terri| 2.26.10 @ 9:52AM
I really like Ben Stein, but I'm surprised at how short-sighted this piece is.
It's all about money. Golfers are very conservative, generally speaking, at El Tigre is hoping to win his endorsements back. He's also probably groveling in the hopes his wife will come back to him. I hope she keeps her distance. The man has an addiction. Most people who go through rehab have a relapse--over and over again.
jb| 2.26.10 @ 10:45AM
WTF~! The man is just a golfer, not a world leader. It's not like he's really important in the grand scheme of things. If he died tomorrow nothing in our world would change.
Sorry you got caught Tiger, you shoulda kept your trousers zipped. Nobody who actually has a job feels sorry for you. Just another spoiled rich guy who can't keep his sh*t together.
Kell Brigan| 2.26.10 @ 10:45AM
"Again, I don't get it. What he did is shameful, but it's between the Tiger and his wife. He did not break any laws that I know of. He is not a public servant. He didn't beat anyone up. He didn't steal any money. He didn't commit treason. He's the greatest golfer there ever was. "
One of my rules these past, oh, eight years or so is that whenever Clinton gets mentioned, I get to mention Schwarzenegger. Clinton was an arse, but not a criminal. Clinton was a jerk, but not violent.
Schwarzenegger did breaks laws, lots of them. Some estimates are that if he were appropriate tried and incarcerated, he'd be in jail for over twenty years. Schwarzenegger is a public servant. Schwarzenegger did, very much, beat women up, including throwing Virginia Miller into a wall when she fought to get his hands out of her genitals. Schwarzenegger also has stolen money, including diverting money donated to charity toward his political campaigns, and misusing numerous California programs and funds to sell himself and his image. And, as a frequent user of steroids, amphetamines, and numerous illegal "recreational" drugs, Schwarzenegger is far, far from a "great" athelete, or even any athelete at all; he's just a bottle of pills how once upon a time could lift stuff.
So, where's the demand for his apology? When's he going to show up in public in sackcloth and ashes? (He claims to be Catholic, too. Wouldn't Lent be the perfect time to admit his shame, resign from public office, and spend the rest of his life trying to not wind up in Hell?) And, where are all the articles and columns condemning him, and continually referencing him (as so many phonies who don't give a flying hoot about women -- yes, I mean you D -- bring up Clinton-who-never-beat-up-anyone.)
Hypocrites. Hypocrites. Hypocrites. Start screaming for Schwarzenegger to go to jail, or shut up.
MattZ| 2.26.10 @ 10:53AM
I think the outrage stems from the fact that he used his family as a prop to help his career and finances, and now it's revealed to be a complete lie. Just like John Edwards, the World's Worst Dad, or any of those douchebag holier-than-thou "family values" politicians that gets caught up in an unsavoury sex scandal.
AlabamaDave| 2.26.10 @ 11:39AM
Yawn. Must be a lot of new folks on here. Ben does this every so often. Having been part of the moral squalor that is Hollywood, he occasionally defends their lifestyle. His defense amounts to this: It is a different society that you regular people don't understand so therefore you are not qualified to pass judgement on the famous or even the would-be famous.
As you were.
Aman Singh| 2.26.10 @ 2:54PM
Ben Stein makes a valid point, one that's occurred to me as well. What Tiger did (if he did everthing that's claimed?, since this is a trial to mould public opinion) is entirely his business, and one that I would have preferred to have no knowledge of. But coming back to the point of why Tiger has been singled out for such treatment despite his being the greatest golfer that ever lived lies in this sentence itself. It is because he is the greatest golfer that ever lived. To most normal people, Tiger Woods is an inspiration. To the muck rackers, he is a living repudiation of everything they do not believe man is capable of, namely success, achievement, pride, and above all, joy. The muck rackers need to destroy such an achievement for it forces them to look inwards into their souls. If man is a being of self-made soul, then the muck rackers never made an attempt to forge theirs. It is this fact that Tiger Woods, through his mere existence, forces them to confess. That thought fills them with terror. For if a man is forced to confess to himself that he's spent his life destroying values, in the next moment he would be either insane, commit suicide, or would psychologically lose the will to function. It is to this truth about themselves that Tiger Woods brings the muck rackers close to accepting, the muck rackers who've made a living out of well, racking muck.
And yes, as Ben Stein validly points out, there are many more important issues out there that one must really be devoting one's energy to either reporting or unraveling, I will point that in any issue, however, the motivation of any real villain is the same - A destruction of values as such.
same.
Al | 2.26.10 @ 3:19PM
Unfortunately we live in a hypocritical society, where with no surprise, those who are quick to point fingers and demand '"apologies" from Tiger, are possibly guilty of engagement in questionable acts themselves.
BARB BF| 2.26.10 @ 3:56PM
I gave up on Tiger Woods some years ago...when he felt the need to invent a whole new race for himself...then, someone from the website
http://wearerespectablenegroes......mentioned along w/Tiger's addiction to White women, a link to Tiger's very unfunny racists jokes about Blacks and not funny jokes about lesbians...which were reported in the 1997 Esquire interview.
Tiger Woods Life Story Biography - Tiger Woods Interview 1997 - Esquire
The next morning — this morning — a limousine picked him up at his mother's house, and it took him to a photo shoot for the magazine cover that is only going to get him laid 296 times in the next year, if he so chooses. He gave the photographer an hour. One single hour. Sixty minutes, flat, in front of the camera. In the studio, which was wedged into a Long Beach alley behind a copy store and next to Andre's Detailing Shop (if you happen to need an Aztec firebird on your hood in a hurry, Andre's your man), Tiger was dressed in very sharp clothes by four lovely women who attended to his every need and who flirted with him at about warp nine. Tiger responded. Tiger told us all some jokes.
This is one of the jokes that Tiger told:
The Little Rascals are at school. The teacher wants them to use various words in sentences. The first word is love. Spanky answers, "I love dogs." The second word is respect. Alfalfa answers, "I respect how much Spanky loves dogs." The third word is dictate. There is a pause in the room. Finally, Buckwheat puts up his hand.
"Hey, Darla," says Buckwheat. "How my dick ta'te?"
He was rolling now. The women were laughing. They were also still flirting. The clothes were sharp, and the photographer was firing away like the last machine gunner at Passchendaele. And Tiger told jokes. Tiger has not been 21 years old for a month yet, and he tells jokes that most 21-year-olds would tell around the keg in the dormitory late on a Saturday night. He tells jokes that a lot of arrested 45-year-olds will tell at the clubhouse bar as the gin begins to soften Saturday afternoon into Saturday evening.
This is one of he jokes that Tiger told:
He puts the tips of his expensive shoes together, and he rubs them up and down against each other. "What's this?" he asks the women, who do not know the answer.
"It's a black guy taking off his condom," Tiger explains.
He tells jokes that are going to become something else entirely when they appear in this magazine because he is not most 21-year-olds, and because he is not going to be a 45-year-old club pro with a nose spidered red and hands palsied with the gin yips in the morning, and because — through his own efforts, the efforts of his father, his management team and his shoe company, and through some of the most bizarre sporting prose ever concocted — he's become the center of a secular cult, the tenets of which hold that something beyond golf is at work here, something that will help redeem golf from its racist past, something that will help redeem America from its racist past, something that will bring a new era of grace and civility upon the land, and something that will, along the way, produce in Tiger Woods the greatest golfer in the history of the planet. It has been stated — flatly, and by people who ought to know better — that the hand of God is working through Tiger Woods in order to make this world a better place for us all.
Is that blasphemous?
Is it?
There is no place in the gospel of the church of Tiger Woods for jokes like this one:
Why do two lesbians always get where they're going faster than two gay guys?
Because the lesbians are always going sixty-nine.
Is that blasphemous?
Is it?
It is an interesting question, one that was made sharper when Tiger looked at me and said, "Hey, you can't write this."
"Too late," I told him, and I was dead serious, but everybody laughed because everybody knows there's no place in the gospel of Tiger for these sorts of jokes. And Tiger gave the photographer his hour, and we were back in the car with Vincent and heading back toward Tiger's mother's house. "Well, what did you think of the shoot?" Tiger asks, yawning, because being ferried by a limousine and being handled by beautiful women and being photographed for a magazine cover that will get him laid 296 times in the next year, if he so chooses, can be very exhaustive work. "The key to it," he says, "is to give them a time and to stick to it. If I say I'm there for an hour, I'm there, on time, for an hour. If they ask for more, I say, 'Hell, fuck no.' And I'm out of there."
Read more: http://www.esquire.com/feature.....z0cWy0FO2p
Edwardo| 2.26.10 @ 4:41PM
would someone take note that Ronco, and Rthore and a few others pretty much said that Tiger is an ass., not to put words in there mouth, but if it looks like a fish, and swims like and fish, and breaths like a fish, its probably a fish.
A pen| 2.26.10 @ 5:50PM
Despite all the meddling by interested parties, Mr Woods is a sports icon who disgraced his entire sport if not sports all together. That he apologized does in no way remove the fact that trust is built, not begged or bought. If the veracity of that is in question just ask his wife, she is the only one that matters. I am amazed that all people want is to see him unblemished in an instant and to be fair he should be marked for life having done the same to his wife and children. Enough with the self interested bogey man, play and pay it's the moral way.
harry Schaffner| 2.27.10 @ 6:37PM
As a trial lawyer I know that a question asked with a "why"is a statement of disagreement. You repeated use of the word "why" makes clear your opinion. I agree with you that it is enough already. And likewise I agree he looked like an actor from a 1950's Zombie movie at the non-press conference. He is being 'managed' in his crisis, as it were.
Not that it is right, and not that the media are not totally two-faced and sanctimonious about such matters (as if they don't have tawdry sex lives), but Tiger did put himself in play by being a huckster for so many products (as you are too, I might add). And while allowing himself to be a brand he was more than unwilling to be open with the press and this is their revenge. Despite the fact that we no longer use ink, it is still the case that you cannot win a fight with the guy who buys ink by the barrel.
Tiger made mountains of money giving personal testimonial to an enormous array of products. He put himself in play not as a golfer, but as a pitchman. What's good for the goose is good ....
Tom in Michigan| 2.28.10 @ 12:16PM
How much of this is because Tiger has refused to buy into the minority-as-victim mentality? Are the media tools beating up on him because he’s refused to tow the Leftist line? Why did they basically give Michael Jackson a pass for his allegedly much more grievous offenses? How about the way some NBA players have carried on even while married? Was Magic Johnson excoriated so? Am I way off base here? If so, please let me know how (Please don’t waste your time or mine by just calling me racist)?
LJC| 3.2.10 @ 12:30PM
I am willing to give Tiger a pass(the French do his kind of stuff all the time), but I'm waiting for the deserved destruction of Mr. Sheen for almost doing an OJ with a knife on his wife. What I wait for is the full story on Vince McMahon and what he knew about the steroids that drove Chris Benoit to kill himself and his family. And let us not forget Vince the shamwow guy who beat up a hooker.
Hugh Jascz| 3.2.10 @ 4:46PM
Your last sentence gives you away, Stein. Did you think that writing a column about this in a publication would help us ignore it better? This from the man who hosted a lurid TV spectacle showcasing losers willing to show everyone in the country how much they wanted Ben Stein's money?
Denise| 3.3.10 @ 11:11PM
Thank you Ben. Absolutely right.