The Ugly Truth About Tiger Woods and All His Enablers

So it turns out that Tiger Woods has been a carousing, hard partying guy, both as a bachelor and as a married man. In essence, this doesn't surprise me one bit -- in fact, it makes a lot more sense than the partial stories that were coming out the first week about his "transgressions." I believe that one of the unexplored tensions in our society is the tamping down and frowning upon mens' natural desires for the attention of women.

What does stun me is all the media and sponsor handwringing and clucking that has ensued now that the stories about Tiger's wild party life have burst into the open. Where were you, golf media, when Tiger had a bottle of Cristal in one hand and a babe on each arm? Were you partying along with him? Were you up in your rooms playing Nintendo? Or were you just flat out clueless?

And sponsors, starting with Accenture: you mean to tell me that you didn't check out Tiger's behavior before or while you employed him? You didn't do any due diligence to find out if the image you were buying was real? And you want me to trust you (Accenture) with my corporate consulting work?

It seems clear to me that the media, sponsors and the PGA tour all turned a blind eye toward Tiger's behavior, for one good 'ol fashioned reason: money. The man has made billions for all the parties above, boosting ratings and selling soap. He was their cash cow, their golden goose. To call him on his behavior would have been commercial suicide.

I understand that too. But spare me the holier-than-thou statements now generally along the lines of "we didn't know" or "he doesn't represent the right image for us." Puh-leeze. How about "we knew all along but we didn't say anything, so we share the blame for this unfortunate situation, and we'll do a better job next time."

PS -- And then there's his wife, Elin Nordegren. She knew before she married Tiger that he was a major ladies man, yet she jumped on the gravy train as well. Here's People mag, via the NY Daily News:

Nordegren's friends tell People she knew about Woods' extracurricular activities but that he promised before their marriage that he would change.

"Elin had talked to other golfers and their wives about Tiger's wild parties," a friend told the magazine. "When she asked Tiger about it, he said he would stop doing it. And she believed him. But he never did."