The Day After

I promised myself that I would wait almost a full 24 hours following the biggest event in the history of the planet Tiger Woods' press conference to fully digest everything and give my reaction.

Everyone is going to have a different interpretation, but for me Tiger's mea culpa was a mixed-bag.

First off, Tiger has to be commended for having the courage to speak publicly and apologize for his transgressions. That's something that plenty of other athletes in the same situation haven't done. It's always better to say something than to say nothing at all.

Something else that I liked about yesterday's presser was that Tiger didn't try to gloss over what he did. He used the words "cheat" and "affair" rather than paint a broadstroke over his infidelities. Of course we all know what he did, but the use of those words made the apology seem more sincere. So many times when athletes/celebrities make these kinds of statements, they're very vague. A great example is performance-enhancing drug users in MLB not using the words "steroids", "PEDs", or "cheat" (i.e. Jason Giambi).

But, Tiger's apology wasn't a home run. The popular notion of the media/fans that Woods doesn't owe anything to anybody other than his family is laughable. The big group of people that were really tarnished by this were the members of the PGA Tour. When the you-know-what hit the fan after the Thanksgiving incident three months ago, Tiger left the burden of his transgressions on his colleagues.

Guys like Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els, and Phil Mickelson were badgered for months about their thoughts on Tiger, and I'm sure that their personal lives were put under a bigger microscope. It's a lot like when the CEO of the company does something wrong - that image (fairly or unfairly) blankets every employee in the company. Tiger is the face of the PGA Tour. His infidelities cast a poor light on the Tour and the players in it. Anyone that says anything to the contrary is wrong.

So, where was the apology to his fellow golfers? In 13 1/2 minutes, he barely acknowledged the Tour at all.

Another portion of yesterday's statement where Tiger dropped the ball was when he lied about what happened on Thanksgiving night. To be fair, none of us are entitled to know all of the details of what happened that night. That being said, we are entitled not to be lied to.

The fact is, all of us have gotten into spats with spouses or significant others. Obviously, I'm not talking about physical violence, but I'm sure we've all shouted at each other, and said things we've regretted. It's human. Instead of copping to it, Tiger decided to go all Rafael Palmeiro on us, wagging his finger at the camera and guaranteeing that there was no altercation between he and Elin that night.

Bull.

I'm not the sharpest needle in the stack but when I hear that someone crashed an SUV while backing out of their driveway, was barefoot with visible scratches on their face, and (the cherry on top) was seen lying in the middle of the road wrapped in a blanket afterwards, that doesn't sound like a run-of-the-mill Thanksgiving evening.

.

Obviously, there was some sort of alertcation between Tiger and his wife that night. All he had to do was admit to that, without divulging any private details. Instead, Woods tried to sell that as a "media misunderstanding", and hoped that we would buy it. I didn't, because I'm not a fool.

Overall, I thought Tiger's statement yesterday was satisfactory. He was basically in a lose-lose situation. No matter what he said, there were going to be some people out that weren't satisfied. He apologized to his family, praised his wife, and didn't skirt the issues. Sure, there were no gorey details, but what did you expect? I mean, the guy's boat is named Privacy.

.

Tiger Woods will never return to the peak that he was prior to this controversy, but this country loves redemption stories. It will be an uphill climb, but he'll eventually be back.

Tiger will win again. He'll win majors again. He'll probably pass Jack Nicklaus and go down as the greatest golfer of all time. But, his off-the-course life will always tarnish his legacy.

Yesterday was a step in the right direction because American sports fans love to forgive.

.

However, they rarely forget.