Do Tiger's swings and misses make a difference?
The “Question of the Night” on ESPN’s Sportscenter last night was, given Tiger Woods’ admission of marital infidelities, Will you root for him next year: 1) More than before; 2) The same as before; 3) Less than before?
Tricky question.
Perhaps an unfair one.
What it’s really asking, of course, is if you’re a Tiger Woods fan, does his personal life matter to you or do you only care about what he does on the golf course?
In this Sept. 24, 2006, file photo, Tiger Woods and his wife Elin walk away from the 16th green as the European players celebrate on the last day of the 2006 Ryder Cup at the K Club golf course in Straffan, Ireland.
Associated Press file photo
I’m a huge Tiger Woods fan. Always have been. I can remember when he won his first U.S. Amateur Championship in 1991 when he was just 15 years old. We had him on the sports radio station where I was working at the time, and I can remember briefly talking to him on the phone prior to the interview. He sounded like a scared and shy little kid, somebody who was doing the interview because either he, or somebody else, had decided it was a good idea, but who’d really rather be smacking balls at the driving range.Â
Though he’s clearly grown more comfortable presenting himself to the public since then, I still get the impression he’d rather not have to do it. He knows his position as one of the most recognizable people on the planet demands - both for his own personal gain and for the popularity of his sport - that he do more than just perform on the course, but, despite all the millions of dollars his celebrity has brought him, I still think he accepts that reality grudgingly.
Perhaps he has a point.
We only care about Tiger Woods because of his heroism on the golf course. If he couldn’t drive or putt or flail his way out of sand traps with such extraordinary skill, we’d have no idea who he is. So why should anything else matter? So the man cheated on his wife multiple times while she was pregnant and/or had just given birth - who cares?
Well, in fact, I do.
I suspect that, at least for a little while, I will root for him less than before. It’s the Bill Clinton question all over again. Even though I liked a lot of what Bill Clinton stood for and accomplished as president, I nonetheless found his personal failings distasteful and they continue to affect my overall opinion of him. But is it fair for my opinion of an athlete or politician to be influenced by what Tiger Woods termed transgressions in his personal life? I mean, if the guy gets his job done, why should anything else be important?
I guess I have to examine this issue through the lens of a teacher. Fortunately, I doubt whatever I do in my personal life will ever be as noteworthy as what somebody famous does. Still, if I were to get arrested for drunk driving, or for fighting in a bar, or for getting in a car accident at two in the morning as I left my house - a crash which ultimately resulted in my rear windshield being smashed by a golf club wielded by my wife - I suspect that regardless of my effectiveness inside the classroom, my fitness as a teacher would be called into question.
I actually think that’s fair. My role as a teacher, where I stand in front of a hundred-plus young people each day and purport to offer them some semblance of wisdom, does demand a high standard of personal behavior. Even if every kid in my classes raises his S.A.T score five hundred points directly because of my teaching, if I’m out publicly drinking, or walking around immersed in a cloud of weed-smoke, or frequenting strip clubs, or, yes, even committing infidelities in a manner that becomes public and lurid, the reality is students could be negatively affected by what I do or say outside of school. I do feel an obligation to model behavior as a responsible citizen because I think I do exert an influence on the kinds of decisions kids will make in their own lives. At least I hope I do.
That’s not, of course, to say that kids should model their religious practices or political choices after mine. If I wear an I voted sticker in the classroom on Election Day, that’s certainly not to try and influence the way students should vote, only to encourage them to vote. But, listen, the way I behave, even outside of class, is a cue for how my students should behave. If they see me cursing the officials at a football game, I can’t very well expect them not to use profanity if they get angry at me and think I’ve made a wrong call. If they see me texting during a staff meeting instead of paying attention, it’d be pretty darn hypocritical for me to scold them for doing the same in my classroom.
Perhaps for an athlete like Tiger Woods, the personal side of his life shouldn’t matter as much. While it’s arguable whether the reality is something different, at least in theory a teacher’s direct personal contact with students should result in a more enduring behavioral influence. But if that’s true, then perhaps the other side of that question needs to be explored as well.Â
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan standing beside him, recently declared his intention to tie tenure-granting decisions for teachers directly to standardized test scores of students in their individual classrooms. Such a policy would seem to indicate that a teacher’s job performance should be evaluated solely on test results regardless of what kind of citizens we influence our students to become. Is that what we really want?
Is the teacher who gets students to raise test scores really more valuable, better, than the teacher who gets students to be kind to each other? To be honest, loyal, community-spirited?
Not that both things can’t happen in the same classroom, surely they can, still, they’re not necessarily related either - are they?
** NOTE ** For explorations of additional thorny questions, check out … the biggest Poetry event of the year - Poetry Night in Ann Arbor - on Friday night, December 11th @ Rackham Auditorium. This year’s show (our 10th annual) will feature the return of some of Ann Arbor’s favorite performance poets: Roger Bonair-Agard from New York, Kevin Coval from Chicago and Lauren Whitehead, a U-M alum currently residing in San Francisco. Joining these mic-rockers on stage will be terrific high school poets from the nationally acclaimed VOLUME Youth Poetry Project and the spectacular collegiate spoken word troupe Ann Arbor Wordworks. The show starts @ 7pm. Doors open @ 6:30. Advance tickets are $5 for students and $10 for general public and $7 and $12 respectively at the door. For more info or to reserve tickets at the advanced price, contact me @ 734-223-7443 or via email @ eyelev21@aol.com.
Jeff Kass teaches Creative Writing at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor and at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, and directs the Literary Arts Programs at the Neutral Zone, including the VOLUME Youth Poetry Project, which meets every Thursday night at 7pm. He will post new blog entries every Tuesday and Thursday morning throughout the school year.
Comments
tdw
Fri, Dec 4, 2009 : 11:24 a.m.
David Briegel the media is always willing to report on republicans sexiual expolits.Also is there ever a story that you don't attack or blame Bush or Republicans for somthing?
David Briegel
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 9:38 p.m.
Maybe A2.com will bring news of Madonna, Paris and the sexual exploits of Republicans in Congress.
Anonymous Due to Bigotry
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 5:43 p.m.
Wow, reading over the comments again I find it disturbing that nobody has made the same observation that I just made. Everyone seems to be making the mistake of trying to focus on "who he is" when that doesn't matter. If you focus on that then you get all kinds of useless and contradictory opinions that are necessarily very inaccurate because none of you know him in person. What matters are the actions being discussed at the moment. People know what his actions are and how they react to those specific actions are important. If the action is "cheated on wife, hurt wife/family, etc" then what matters is the reaction of "those actions were bad". If the action brought up is his contribution to charity then what matters is a reaction such as "that's good". Nobody is going to know "who he is". (And yea, I'm sick of hearing about Tiger Woods. This is why I don't watch the nightly news. They waste an inordinate amount of time on this BS when the fate of health care and all kind of other absolutely critical things are being decided at the moment.)
Anonymous Due to Bigotry
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 5:33 p.m.
What actually matters to kids is not how Tiger Woods behaves, but how their parents, family, friends (and teachers) REACT to it. If they point out how Woods' blatantly selfish actions have hurt his family and disappointed thousands of fans, etc, and then condemn those harmful selfish actions then the kids will come away with the idea that these actions are something terrible that they shouldn't emulate. If regressive parents teach their kids moral relativism and give their kids the idea that whether to cheat on your spouse and harm him/her or others is just a decision based on totally arbitrary values (such as what sort of food or music you like) that are no better or worse than anyone elses' then they come away believing that actions that harm others are perfectly OK if they just happen to think so. If parents say nothing, the influence will be left to others. If you ask me then the parents might as well be condoning Woods' actions if they say nothing or worse say "it's not my place to judge" or something. As a teacher it's not your responsibility to raise other peoples' kids. If you try to teach them morals then you end up setting the precedent that it's a teachers' responsibility to raise peoples' kids for them. After that, you find that all these parents expect you to raise your kids because you set that precedent. I hear teachers complain about how parents seem to expect teachers to raise their kids for them. Well, if you're going to set that precedent of trying to be a parent to your students then don't complain when suddenly people expect you to continue! If you don't want to take on that responsibility then don't start.
A2Dave
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 5:21 p.m.
Let he who is without sin.... And of course these "transgressions", in the minds of many, outweigh all the good his foundation, 1st Tee, all of his other charitable works, etc. So in the eyes of the author, who is no doubt "without sin", all of these good works are besmirched....oh, what the heck. I am wasting my time. Hypocracy will always reign supreme in Puritanical America, where sex trumps all.
Sierra Elizabeth
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 4:47 p.m.
I don't think this is a "big flashing news story", so much as a thoughtful commentary on one. Unfortunately, our media does care enough about it and now the story is being pushed into everyone's faces. What makes it significant is not necessarily the fact that a major celebrity committed an infidelity, but that young people are exposed to him because he is a major (frequently televised & advertised) celebrity who has committed an infidelity. I think that if we didn't have to look at him every day, there would be no need for commentary. But it's out there now, why not take the opportunity to draw some connections to personal experiences? Not necessarily on that note, I have the theory that it's become a rite of passage of sorts for many male celebs of all kinds: Celebrity is unwillingly thrust into the spotlight, celebrity suddenly accepts his celebrity status because billions of $ come along with it, infidelities occur because money clearly doesn't buy real happiness and money increases the attractiveness factor exponentially, admirers go inversely ga-ga and express ardent disapproval for celebrity's actions, women aiming for stardom by association with the incident become have-beens and fall back into woodwork, story falls away along with the previously high standard many expected the celebrity to surpass.
The Grinch
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 3:17 p.m.
Given that A2.com does not have other national news on its website (at least none that I can find), I don't see why this is appropriate for this website. That said, Tiger has made hundreds of millions of dollars (if not more than a billion) off of his celebrity. Were he just a duffer at Huron Hills no one would care. But his face is on the tube every weekend during golf season, he shills for half a dozen products, and he is a public figure at numerous non-golf events. His family shows up to these things, very prominently so. Somewhat like Ms. Palin, one cannot drag one's family into the public spotlight when it is convenient and profitable and then ask for privacy when it isn't. If one chooses a career that makes one a celebrity, whether politics, sports, or entertainment, there are certain inconveniences that come with that choice. Mr. Woods is experiencing that now. Had he truly wished to protect his family he would not have engaged in this behavior in the first place. As I was with Mr. Clinton, I am amazed that it did not occur to Mr. Woods that he would get caught. But, having been caught (and, again, like Mr. Clinton), the best thing to do to make it go away, to protect his family, was to fess up immediately. It was his complete failure to be forthright that took this from a two-day story to a one-week story that has no end in sight. So, as a big golf fan, and as a Tiger fan from the very beginning of his career, I have little sympathy for him. He made his own bed, so to speak.
Macabre Sunset
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 1:30 p.m.
I've always wondered why people care about stuff like this.
DagnyJ
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 1:14 p.m.
Jeff, we finally agree on something! My only quibble is that I think improving student learning in a measurable way is as important as modeling good behavior. BOTH are important.
uawisok
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 1:01 p.m.
who cares?? these madia created "celebraties" have zero impact on me or my family...end of story...find something worthwhile to write about!!
Paul Taylor
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 11:14 a.m.
WHO CARES? Why is this even in the news for A2? He never presented himself as a role model for relationships in any way. He's a golfer. There is no personal hypocrisy here, and no laws were broken. His personal life never had anything to do with his golf game, and no one held a gun to the head of the media telling them to cover him. Sheesh, America needs to get a collective life or hobby (besides nose-poking into others' lives).
Marvin Face
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 10:36 a.m.
FINALLY! Some news about Tiger Woods on AnnArbor.com. I was wondering how long that would take. Where are the photos? Where are the text messages? The voicemails? Where are the links to TMZ? The people gots to know!
KeepingItReal
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 10:10 a.m.
I would be willing that 75% of the journalist that cover this event in Tiger's life is either guilty of some type of transgression or they are jealous of his status in our world and would like to see him bought down. Unfortunately, these same people have little or no regard for the others in his life such as his wife or kids. These women ( and I'm being respectful) who are so quick to publish thieri stories relating to Tiger have little or no regard for the others that will be hurt. They are looking for a big payday and I hope they get it so they can slink into the woodwork. I hope that other high profile males would look carefully at these women but I doubt it. Others will suffer this fate as well.
PittsfieldTwp
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 10:07 a.m.
The way he initially handled it was correct - protect the family. However, Tiger is hugely rich not just because he is the best golfer, but because he is the most FAMOUS best golfer. You can't open up the door of fame to collect endorsement money and then close it when you make personal mistakes. Protect the wife from the media? Sure. But don't cry when your personal income generating machine called the media turns against you when you screw up.
81wolverine
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 8:58 a.m.
We all have to keep in mind that celebrities like Tiger Woods are human beings. They make mistakes just like we all do. I'm glad that he apologized publicly, and thankfully, spared us the lurid details of whatever it was he did. That's really all he's entitled or obligated to do given his public figure status. We all want to put people like Tiger on a pedestal and hold them to impossible standards. There have been many, many cases in history of famous, respected people having extra-marital affairs (if that's what he did). John F. Kennedy and Prince Charles come immediately to mind. And most of these sports heroes of years past that we still idolize, had skeletons in their closets, that's for sure. The difference was, in those days, the media kept quiet on the negative stories. Nowadays, they don't. Personally, I'll still root for Tiger. If he was unfaithful to his family in some way, that's not good. But, he most certainly deserves a second chance. Tiger Woods still does a lot of good things for a lot of people with his generosity. Let's focus on that and move on from this unfortunate incident.