So, will someone explain to me, why is Tiger Woods the big story of the week?
So Tiger had a little vehicle accident near his home, hit a tree or something like that. Had cuts and bruises on his face from a crash that wasn't violent enough to disturb the air bags. Scuttlebutt is that his wife tried to turn his head into a Titleist, whacked him a few times with a golf club for his philandering. Or something.
And the public's eating it up. Forget Afghanistan, forget the health care plan. This, baby, is a story.
Like I give a rip.
So both Woods and his wife are deeply flawed people. So he has a couple, two or three girlfriends on the side and his wife strikes me as slightly unstable. They probably deserve one another. So what?
Woods is asking that the public let his private matters stay private, but that's not the way it works in this world. Unfortunately. When he signed his first big contract, he signed away his privacy.
I can sure understand it when the person involved in this situation is one of our real leaders. Of course it was the public's business that South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford left the state's business in the lurch while he chased after some South American hottie. Of course it makes a difference when your congressman, or your teacher, or your mom, or your pastor falls into something like that. These people are in a position, usually by choice, to influence others. If one can't manage his own life, how can he help others manage theirs? So that part is understandable.
Shoot, I might even be a role model to someone. Which is a scary thought, by the way, but it's one that motivates me to watch my own behavior.
But Woods? What's up with that?
Charles Barkley -- and a generation before him, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson -- both held they were no one's role models. Which, ideally, is true, but in the real world it's a crock. It's part of the business of being a superstar -- maybe not in the fine print of the contract, but implied.
Throw in a populace that is more interested in its superstars, its bread and circuses than it is in real issues, then this starts to make sense.
We like our heroes, make them larger than life, and put more weight in what they say or do. Which is why entertainers like Barbra Streisand, Ed Begley Jr., Charlie Daniels, and Chuck Norris get an attentive audience even when they're not on the job. Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, and Woods made vast sums of money as athletes and as advertising pitchmen. And each of these, again, have flaws that the public really doesn't want to talk about.
Each of these individuals is more recognizable than your congressman or city councilman. And, even when they don't have anything intelligent to say, their words carry more weight than an expert in some other field.
We're more likely to take the political opinion of a Joe Superstar as gospel, even though he knows about as much as the guy next to you on the assembly line. But Joe Superstar has a gigantic forum and built-in audience for him to spout his opinions, though your buddy on the assembly line can only lean against the bar and mumble his opinions.
For a while, a big advertising pitch -- I believe it was for some athletic shoe -- urged youngsters to "Be Like Mike." As in Jordan, the basketball player and pitchman. OK, shall a youngster be like Mike in his ability to defy gravity for an easy layup, his easy grace, his gargantuan ego, or his frequent trips to a casino to lose a few million?
Because of this, being a role model is just part of the job description for our athletes and performers. And don't give me that crap that there was no choice involved. These folks spent years learning their craft or art, and building a career in the public eye is a deliberate move. And anyone who lives in American society and had their eyes open for at least 15 minutes knows how much adulation a superstar gets.
Ideally, Tiger Woods' problems shouldn't matter to anyone but him and his wife. But real life isn't ideal. Having that big microscope perched over his life is just as much a part of his job as the shoe endorsements.
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