For a former sportswriter, one-time “Insider” columnist for People and ex-gossip blogger for BET then Essence, I admit the Tiger Woods scandal held my attention for days. I felt like a crack addict as I clicked on the New York Post, The Daily Beast and even (gulp) TMZ to get my Tiger fix every morning. Thankfully my short attention span kicked in. I soon grew bored with the story and tuned out. During a weak moment (or hour), I watched Dateline’s The Secret Life of Tiger Woods last night.
Now that the game’s best player has decided to take an indefinite break from golf, can we too take one from his life? Let’s all enter Tiger rehab, who is probably one PR step away from saying he’s a sex addict, and let him and Elin alone to work on their problems in privacy or on Privacy, the name of his yacht.
Instead of trying to uncover more dirt on this scoundrel, let’s look at our own lives. Some of you are cheating on your spouses. I know because you’ve hit on me or women I know. But don’t worry. I’m not going to expose you although you, like Tiger, have the brain of rocks and left electronic evidence.
I actually don’t know why so many people are shocked at Tiger’s behavior. He’s a professional athlete, for goodness sake. Did you really think he was faithful? Okay, so maybe you assumed he had a transgression here and there but not that he picked up Waffle House waitresses at every stop. Sorry guys, but I just assume 95% of you cheat. That’s what happens you spend as much time as I did on the road. I watched married NBA players scrutinize seat locations on comp tickets to make sure that their multiple hos at the game didn’t sit near each other before sending the tickets to will call via ball boys. I watched a player whose wife I considered my friend spend a couple of days on the road with a woman who could have passed for his wife’s twin. I told him, “At least you’re consistent.” I never said anything to his wife and not surprisingly that marriage didn’t last.
Covering the NBA means finishing work late at night. With hotel restaurants closed and 24-hour room service rarely an option back then, often times I would find myself in the bar enjoying a dinner of red wine, nuts and pretzels. I must have looked like easy prey for the countless businessmen who tried to pick me up. Don’t even get me started on the referees, assistant coaches and sportswriters.
But cheating is not limited to men with money who travel. Poor men who never leave their hometown cheat just as often as rich. The trips may be to the local motel instead of Australia and they are probably cheating with their wife’s sister or best friend. Married women cheat too but for some reason don’t seem to get caught up in the sex scandals that men do. There’s a school teacher here and there but I don’t even know if those women are even married. The Daily Beast ran a post on this topic and I have to read it. I think that’s allowed while I’m in Tiger rehab.