The “No Curves” Zone: Love is a Battlefield — The Sports Edition
If your post-Thanksgiving meals were like mine, one topic dominated conversations around the dinner table. I’m not talking about the conversation about Aunt Martha’s lousy pumpkin pie, or grandpa’s personal hygiene problem. I’m confident most of us were talking about that small car accident that took place early Friday morning in Florida. Unless you were forking down cranberry sauce on Mars, the facts surrounding the event, and the resulting fallout, are well-known. What has been most revealing has been how this has become what could be called a “teachable moment.”
My first “teachable moment” involved my mother, who at 80 years old is still the wisest person I know. She smelled a rat immediately when the extent of Tiger’s injuries were revealed, especially when she heard the accident took place at 2:30 in the morning. My wife reserved judgment until she heard about the National Inquirer articles, linking Tiger to a woman in Australia. Then the question for her was did Elin hit him with a 7-iron or a sand wedge. My 11-year old daughter, after watching the news and listening to her elders, put it succintly: ” He’s rich, and he’s got a nice wife and kids. Tiger is dumb!”
My next “teachable moment” was a day later at the barber shop, where the discussion centered on how many other women were involved and what Tiger should do next. The view was that Tiger may be the greatest golfer that ever lived, but he was an amateur at juggling his women. We were particularly amused by the woman who told US Magazine how upset she was when she found out Tiger was sleeping around on her! Nothing worse than the “other woman” finding out there is another “other woman.” We arrived at the consensus that the pre-nup would be reworked, Tiger will be sleeping on the couch for an indeterminate period of time, and a trip to the Kobe Bryant wing of Tiffany’s is in order for the Christmas season.
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see there is a split on how men and women will look at all this. Tiger Woods is probably the most famous athlete in the world, but he and his family are certainly entitled to their privacy. He doesn’t owe anyone else any more that he has already said. He is not scheduled to play in a golf tournament until late January of next year. But this incident will continue to generate discussion among people who don’t know a sand trap from a sandwich.
