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Tiger Woods says he's 'deeply sorry' at his press conference. Surprised? (VIDEO)
Tiger Woods is telling his family, friends and fans that he is "deeply sorry" for his selfish and irresponsible behavior.
He also said: "I owe to my family to become a better person."
The world's No. 1 golfer spoke from the clubhouse at the TPC Sawgrass, home of the PGA Tour, with about 40 people in the room.
His wife Elin Nordegren was not in attendance. Do the words "You're on your own, Buster" come to mind? However Tiger's mother was there to lend moral support to her son.
Tiger has not spoken in public since his accident outside his home, which then resulted in shocking and ongoing revelations about Woods' multiple affairs with other women.
Shockingly, he has no plans to return to golf, at least not for the time being. Watch the press conference now:
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Tiger Woods' press conference: Don't expect him to say 'mistresses'
Photos: Getty
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anyone who buys his apology is a bigger douche than he is...
He has NO reason to apologize. The public has no rights to control someone's private life. We all live in glass houses and should keep our stones to ourselves. Shame on you Tiger for giving in the masses. I would come out and say "Eff you, stay out of my private life."
I agree with your statements, HockeyGuy, but the one downside to all sports is that every one of them needs some kind of marquee name in order to act as both the epitome of that sport and as an introductory example of excellence in that sport. This is less true for entertainment, since trends come and go every few months. In sports, however, a person who is labelled as "the best" is often held up to a higher standard than anybody else in the same sport.
To use an extreme (and fictional) example, say a golfer has a penchant for affairs with 15-year-old girls, but is only a mediocre golfer; chances are pretty good that you'll never hear about that in Sports Illustrated, even though such salacious stories are the bread-and-butter of such periodicals nowadays. If, on the other hand, a main draw were found to be engaging in the same activity, cable news outlets and other media would spend hours (if not days) going over every detail of it. If the person was "the best" at playing golf, as Tiger Woods has been deemed, people will eventually forgive, forget and buy the products he may endorse, just because people who are die-hard sports fans tend to act differently than the rest of the population.
To put it in a shorter sentence: People are sheep. They will follow their chosen heroes regardless of their private lives, usually because their own lives have little meaning, so they must live vicariously through others. It's sad, but this has been going on since the Roman Empire, so it's not likely to change anytime soon.
Oh yeah, and Zap2It's not-so-new-anymore platform still sucks. Submission errors are inexcusable in the year 2010.
The various sports institutions are not the only ones busy merchandising "sports heroes" for our consumption. The MEDIA are even more culpable than the game of golf in promoting Tiger Woods as a near-god. And you can't tell me that members of the press corps weren't well aware of Tiger's 'feet of clay'--yet they chose to actively continue portraying him as a thoroughly decent 'hero' for all of us to emulate and even worship.
HockeyGuy, you're kidding, right? So in order to be a top athlete you have to pass some kind of moral litmus test? yeah, right. You can be top in your sport whether or not you are a good person in your social or personal life. As long as you don't commit any crimes, which Tiger did not. Having affairs is not against the law. He can still play golf even if he is a cheater or whatever and then the people can decide whether to idolize him or not. Some will still appreciate him based on his golf ability (they could give a rat's *** who he sleeps with or not), while others will write him off because of his personal life. So be it. But no one can bar him from golf. Let the fans fall where they will. You are free to like him or not, but not to bar him from the game. Personally, I think it would be a loss for the game to not have Tiger play, I don't want to marry him (I am a man anyway), I just want to see him play golf.
To Aaron R, having a hero or star or whatever that you follow or like does not make you a sheep. YOU get to choose who you like or look up to. It's natural to like some public figures and not like others.
BTW I do not particularly like Tiger Woods on a personal level. Never did, not even before his latest trouble. But I can separate an athletes sports ability from his personality. Obviously, the ones you like best are the one's who have the great ability in the sport AND you also like on a personal level, meaning the things they say and do. As for Tiger, I never liked him much on a personal level, but it would be a loss to golf not to have him in the sport.
Okay, I said my piece.
The sad thing is we will be able to move on until he has to announce that he’s playing. Then when he wins it’ll all fire up again. Then if and when he splits from his wife. Then when he breaks Nicklaus’ record…etc, etc…