Tiger may be an idiot, but it doesn’t matter

Good 'ol Nike golf ball display.

I’m going to take a quick step back from N.C. State stuff so I can comment on the Tiger Woods saga. The fact that this set of events has become a saga is somewhat ironic to me, but that’s America in 2009.

The only reason I feel the need to write something is because of the fact that I work in the golf business. Since last Friday when I’ve been at Golf Galaxy Tiger has been a constant topic of discussion. I’ve heard every opinion from every different angle and thought about the whole situation quite a bit.

Aside from the fact that Tiger is a complete idiot for cheating on one of the most attractive women out there, what’s the big deal? Infidelity of this sort happens every single day in this country. Hell, it probably happens every single minute. So in that sense this isn’t a big deal.

The big deal is that Tiger is the most recognizable athlete, and arguably the most recognizable person, in the entire world. Not to put any pressure on you Mr. Woods, but you’ve got to be just a little smarter. My other question is why did Woods call and tell his side tail to remove her number from his phone so it would show up as just numbers? He could have done that from his phone. Cover up epic fail.

But even with Tiger’s screw up and the media frenzy that ensued (thank you TMZ and ESPN), Tiger’s celebrity won’t change. And it’s mostly due to some of the same reasons this became a bigger deal than it really is. America is obsessed with stardom, good or bad. And America is even more obsessed with a car wreck, whether it be an So when Tiger’s face heals and he does make it back onto a course, he’ll have just as many fans. And just as many photographers pissing him off during his backswing.

I saw a poll on ESPN the other day asking if Tiger’s “transgressions” would permanently impact his image. When I looked at the results that day, almost 80% of the respondents said no. That tells me all I need to know about what will happen once Tiger’s back in the public eye.

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