Tiger and his Tail, er, Tale.

I have to lay out a few items - reveal the writer's biases - before commencing with the commentary suggested by the headline. I have never been a Tiger fan. I have always tended to favor Phil Mickelson, quite possibly because Phil has so publicly displayed his humanity, whether it involved melting down at Winged Foot, or suspending his season to tend to his cancer-diagnosed wife. On the other hand, I have no problem acknowledging that Tiger Woods is the best golfer on the planet, and quite possibly the best of all time. My wife, by contrast, is a huge Tiger fan, and so our mutual enjoyment of golf has been enhanced by the friendly conflict.

I am not surprised, nor outraged, nor betrayed by the developemnt that has put Tiger in the spotlight. I offer no apologies for Tiger's behavior, but I also know that women are shallow and stupid when in the presence of money and fame, and so I suspect that beautiful women have been throwing themselves at Tiger for most of his adult life. So, no, I'm not surprised. Neither am I outraged, partly due to the premise stated above, but also because I believe that everyone can falter, abandon his values, provided the circumstances present themselves in the ideal manner. [I think that those who have never strayed are rarely better or truer people than some others who have; rather, the opportunities have not presented themselves when that person was most vulnerable.] I don't feel betrayed because I have never invested in the media created icon that is Tiger Woods. I remember telling my wife years ago that I just had a sneaking suspicion that Tiger is not a nice person, despite the carefully regulated persona that he has masterfully built.

I am disappointed though. I wanted Tiger to prove my instincts or hunches wrong. I wanted to find out, some day when he closes in on Jack Nicklaus's major tournament vicories record, that he is as upright, true, and exemplary as the fawning media people have made him out to be.

In fact, the fawning media are responsible for my general distaste for Tiger. Toward the end of this past season, I watched more than a few tournaments where, in the final round, Tiger had failed to make a run. Nevertheless, his name was the most oft-repeated pair of nouns in the broadcast. Think of it, TIGER WOODS was uttered more often than BIRDIE PUTT or PAR SAVE or any other combination. "He's not even in the running!" I yelled at the TV, to which my wife replied, "and yet he is still the most interesting thing to talk about."

Honestly, I wanted Tiger to be better than Jordan, another likeable icon who proved himself to be much less than his image. I was reminded of Dr. J., a boyhood favorite and probably the early model for Jordan and Woods' public image, when he issued his apology for fathering a child who turned out to be a pro tennis player. I don't recall why the young lady identified Dr. J. as her father at that time, but I remember being similarly dismayed that Dr. J. wasn't what I thought him to be.

I suppose I shouldn't be dismayed that the pedestal that the media and Woods' built has proven to be as tarnished as his image, but if not Tiger, who? I don't need for any of my sports figures to be perfect, but I want one or two to be awesome in character. I want someone to be bigger and better than the rest. I want someone who can at least keep it in his pants when his drop-dead gorgeous wife and young children are counting on him to be as large as life will let him be.

I can't ask such a thing of Phil Mickelson, who is endearing to me becasue of all of his foibles and limitations. Phil is a phenomonal golfer with whom I can identify, because I can easily see myself making some of the same miscalculations, or falling short of a goal when the time seems ripe. Phil can be my favorite golfer, but he can't be larger than life.

Perhaps I can look to someone like Peyton Manning, who doesn't cast quite the same shadow as Tiger, but who seems to be at least reminiscent of his own image.

I do know this, I will be cheering for the Mickelson's and the Y.E. Yang's with just a little more zest. And I will be hoping that Nicklaus's record remains painfully out of reach. And I will also hope that the media does as Tiger has asked and allows the Woods family enough privacy and dignity to figure out where to go from here. I know the media won't, but I can keep wishing, can't I?