The problem with icons is they are destined to fall from grace. But, it never fails — placing humans on pedestals always leaves shards of glass at somebody’s feet.
Gregg Doyel, CBS.com’s national columnist, is standing in the shards of Tiger Woods’ pre-sex scandal personae. It seems his ideology of the old Tiger is preventing even an infinitesimal amount of forgiveness from being tossed Tiger’s way. Once an ardent fan, Doyle asks the golfer, “Please, Tiger, do us a favor — don’t win the Masters.”
At this point, Doyle is more disappointing than the Ambien-popping Tiger Woods. No one is denying Doyle the right to disappointment, but neither should he wish for Tiger to fail at the legal trade that earns him and his fractured family a living. For something as American as golf, that’s just foreign. Perhaps, like Elin Woods, Doyle now understands Woods is just a man — and that’s all he really ever was.
Philandering husbands may look like they got away with carnage. A husband that possessed any humanity knows he didn’t get away with anything — particularly if children are involved. Our disdain for their infidelity demands we wear blinders that colors their reality. Truthfully, they lost plenty, and like Tiger, they know it and work is the one stabilizer they have left. Name disparaged by former in-laws, friends and gossips, their one cradle-to-grave possession quickly becomes an albatross that can make life difficult for the entire family. Think: “Madoff.” An effort at reconciliation leads to divorce in slow motion; the salvage mission is reduced to the epitome of marital failure.
The post-divorce Don Draper character on AMC’s “Mad Men” was forced to relocate from his nice Georgian-style home in upstate New York to a dark walk-up in the city. Everything about the apartment reminds Don that he misses his kids, his house — if not his marriage, his wife. Eerily, Don and Tiger have much in common. Physically ailing with the world making note and salivating at their demise, their incomes have been severely affected while their financial commitments increased exponentially. A bevy of beauties replace trusted friendships lost as odd MAC-slathered support systems.
Let the man play golf and wish for nothing more than a good game. When it’s over, be grateful it’s not your life in the green jacket that could easily be a straightjacket.
