Get Off Tiger already! Your mom just did!

When I was growing up, I always held a very high opinion of reporters and journalists. My parents, from as far back as 6, always had me reading newspapers and watching the nightly news. While many other kids my age were watching cartoons or playing Super Mario, I more than likely was watching Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw and the like. It explains why today, I tend to know so much about what's going on in the world, much to the astonishment and confusion of others (Did you know an iceberg is on a collision course with Australia?)

Anyways, at that age, Journalists were the gold standard. I trusted them. They were on TV, so they must be respectable, right? Possibly even heroes.

Of course, at that age, I also believed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were heroes. Silly Josh.

Today, I know better. The media by and large, is a complete joke, more in line with the William Randolph Hearst-era of "Yellow Journalism" than any respectable journalism. The "innovation" of 24 hour news in the U.S. has, I think, essentially turned major news outlets like NBC, CBS, Fox News, and CNN into Tabloid Media. No different in alot of ways than The National Enquirer. In today's media world, stories about Britney Spear's shaving her head and smashing a car with an umbrella get more coverage than the two wars and crap economy were currently dealing with. Although I will say Britney seems to have a natural swing. Perhaps Cricket is in her future.

The reason I bring this all up, of course, is that I sit here and chuckle at the Tiger Woods debacle that is unfolding before our very eyes. So big in fact that it is making top headlines in Germany, where I'm sure Golf ranks somewhere between Rock-Skipping and Midget-Hurling in terms of being a followed sport.

Tiger Wood's face is on every newspaper, magazine, tv show, and internet page from here to Bangkok. Everything (and everyone) he's done over the past 2 weeks has made headlines. So right now, Im going to go ahead and say this:

I completely support Tiger Woods.

Why? Why would I support someone who's cheated on his wife with, at last count, 10 women? Who did it while having two kids, one of which is 10 months old?

It's simple, really. It's none of our business.

Now before I get into it a bit, let me first say that Tiger Woods is a god damn idiot. I don't understand people who cheat on their significant others. It's pretty low. It ruins lives. If you're that unhappy, how hard is it to simply get a divorce or break up with them? Naturally, there are other reasons for people to cheat beyond unhappiness. Thinking you're hot shit and can get away with it is one. One in which it sounds like Tiger has used as his excuse.

But, tell me this? Why exactly is this any of our business? The media has reported incessantly about this. How many other people have had marriage infidelity? Why is it so damn important?

Here we are, as a nation, getting out of arguably the most controversial war since Vietnam (Iraq), escalating another one in Afghanistan (Ask the Russians how that went for them) and enduring perhaps the worst recession the 21st century will ever see. On top of all of these, 20,000 delegates are meeting in Copenhagen at the moment, struggling perhaps in vain to come up with an agreement that will make an attempt to put a curb on greenhouse gases which are causing the entire planet's climate to radically change (another topic for another time). All of this is happening, and all we can talk about is Tiger Woods?

Get a life, people.

Tiger Woods is guilty of one thing. Possibly destroying his family. That's it. Not your family. Not my family, and not the family of millions of others. Now, because of constant media scrutiny, he's had corporate sponsors drop him, his kids and wife are now under more scrutiny than ever, and he's been essentially forced to stay away from the game that makes his living. Did he bring it on himself? Yes. Does it need to go to this far? Certainly not.

What laws has he broken? Is it against the law to cheat on your wife? No, it isn't. The only person he needs to answer to is his wife, not the media. He doesn't owe the media everything. I was on Yahoo! Sports the other day and came across a headline from a Yahoo 'Columnist" saying "Tiger Woods needs to open up and discuss his infidelity". It made me laugh. Really? Why? Because if he doesn't, you won't have anything to write about?

For all the negative comments you hear about Tiger from the media, let me show you something that gets ignored from just about everyone. Below is a list, courtesy of Wikipedia of the number of charities Tiger has either founded or is currently involved in.

-Tiger Woods Foundation
-In the City Golf Clinics and Festivals
-Tiger Woods Learning Center.
-Tiger Jam
-Chevron World Challenge
-Tiger Woods Foundation National Junior Golf Team

That is 6 different charities and events. Most athletes don't even have one. Woods has done much to give back to the community and help young, underpriviledged people, yet the media focuses on how evil he is because he cheated on his wife.

Coincide how he's treated and what he's done (charity-wise) with the NFL:

"According to Benedict and Yaeger, 21 percent of NFL players -- more than one in five -- have been charged with at least one serious crime, including two murder arrests, seven rape charges, 45 counts of domestic violence and 42 charges of assault and battery."


See a double standard? Where's the media focus on this?


What's the moral of my story. People aren't perfect. People make stupid decisions. The heroes of our country, the JFK's, FDR's, George Washington's and Martin Luther King's, weren't perfect. They had their flaws. Some of them larger than others. But they are remembered for the good that they did and the acceptance that people can be respected, even if they have personal flaws. Hopefully, Tiger learns his lesson. Hopefully, the media can focus on more pressing issues than a man's infidelity.

Although, I have to admit. It does make for a good joke or two.

"What's the Difference between a car and a golf ball? Tiger can drive a ball 400 yards...."