Bjcorbin's Blog

This is a significant week in the minds of avid golf fans, as the Masters Tournament gets underway in Augusta Georgia.  Adding to the hoopla this year is the return of Tiger Woods after an extended layoff due to personal issues.  It’s doubtful that many people in America aren’t familiar with his story, as it has been absolutely beat to death in the media for months now.  Anyone hoping that this event would mark a shift from the scandal back to the game of golf itself had to be disillusioned when Billy Payne, the Chairman of the Augusta National club, decided to issue yet another statement expressing his (and presumably the club’s) “disappointment” in Mr. Woods’s moral failures.  As I read those comments, I was once again reminded of the absurdity of the media reaction to this scandal.

Let me begin by saying that I unequivocally believe that what Tiger Woods did was wrong and not at all defensible.  It is sad and disgraceful; and undoubtedly has been very hurtful to his family.  To that degree, I can understand that this was a noteworthy story.  But from my perspective, the shock and dismay offered by the sports industry and media, has been laughable.  Are we really expected to believe that Tiger Wood’s behavior is significantly different than the vast majority of other pro athletes (including other golfers on the PGA tour)?  And what of the power brokers who man the boardrooms of his corporate sponsors or who roam the clubhouse at Augusta National; are we to believe that they are somehow bastions of moral purity, who aren’t using their position and influence for similar intrigues.  What of the sports media itself; haven’t enough ESPN staffers been caught with their proverbial pants down to indicate that such behavior is pervasive within the media as well?  Not that their indiscretions in anyway excuse Tigers, but how can these people stand with a straight face and incredulously wag their fingers in his direction.

The truth of the matter is that the sports industry actively promotes the sexually charged atmosphere that permeates most professional athletics.  Look at just about any sports network on the web and you will undoubtedly encounter numerous images of barely clad, hard bodies, greased and sprawled across their screens.  Does a team that can fill 55,000 seats, at over $50.00 a ticket, really need a cheerleading squad to get the crowd excited about the team?  Does anyone really believe that “Swimsuit Issues” have anything to do with the swimwear?  From the time a little leaguer hits adolescence, sex is implicitly presented as one of the perks that comes with being a successful athlete.  Those who might miss it in their high school experience are likely to encounter it when recruited to the collegiate level; and if their success continues, the sky becomes the limit.  Does anyone really believe that corporate sponsors, agents or team officials are somehow above facilitating these type activities for their best and brightest?   Tiger admitted that on some level he felt as though the rules (e.g. of decent moral behavior) didn’t really apply to him and I believe that this is an attitude that is cultivated in most successful athletes.  For many within the sports world, “Just Do It!” is more than just a corporate slogan, it is a mantra.  And yet in spite of all this, we are somehow supposed to believe that the whole of the professional sports world is aghast at Tiger’s behavior.  For me, such a pill is too barbed with hypocrisy to be swallowed.

Something that I’ve heard repeatedly throughout this scandal is that Tiger has violated the trust of his fans; and for me, that begs the question, “What exactly were his fans trusting him for?”  Should the fact that someone can play the game of golf (or baseball, basketball, football…) say anything about what kind of human being they are?  Why would anyone “trust” someone they don’t even know?  While I would hope that sports celebrities would take seriously their role as an ambassador of the game and maybe even embrace the idea of being a role model, I have to wonder why a fan would look to a ball player to understand the proper context for marriage and family.  In Billy Payne’s comments, he said that, “Our hero did not live up to the expectations of the role model we saw for our children.”  I find it to be an incredibly sad commentary on the state of morality and family at the Augusta National club, if these accomplished men were genuinely relying on this relatively young professional golfer to teach their children something virtuous about marriage and personal conduct.  Further, I think that the use of the word “hero”, when applied to an athlete, is generally ridiculous and offense.  A hero is someone who places the needs of others above their own and who willingly sacrifices for the good of others.  Having tremendous athletic ability and being successful does not qualify someone as a hero.  Our choice to covet what they have and to worship who we think they are simply qualifies them as an idol.  Just as Tiger needed to admit that his actions were wrong, those who’ve invested such lofty expectations in a mere celebrity ought to admit to themselves that they were also misguided.

From my perspective, what the sports world really cares about is winning, which makes me wonder if their real disappointment is that this situation has tarnished Tiger’s image as a “winner”.  It’s made him look weak, indecisive and even foolish to some degree; and that probably never would have happened on the golf course.  Many are saying that he needs to prove himself as a husband, a father and as a man of integrity, before he will be accepted back into the good graces of the public.  But history would say otherwise; just ask Kobe Bryant or A Rod.  For Tiger’s sake and the sake of his family, I pray that he is able to genuinely become the person he aspires to be.  At the end of his life his relationships with those people will be far more valuable than anything he could hope to accomplish on the golf course.  But as far as the sports world is concerned, a win at the Master’s would probably do for him what an MVP & NBA title did for Kobe and what a World Series win did for A-Rod.  After all in America we can’t help but love a winner.

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Last week saw the passing of yet another cultural icon in America, former news anchorman Walter Cronkite.  While that may not register as high on the pop culture Richter scale as some other recent deaths, I can’t help but feel that, at least in a symbolic way, it may have been even more significant.  There was a time, in the now distant past, when most of America looked to Walter Cronkite for their daily news; earning him the title of “The Most Trusted Man in America”.  That almost sounds funny to our post-millennial sensibilities; after all, why should we need to trust the guy who’s reading the teleprompter (or in Walter’s heyday, the news copy).  But the world was a very different place in the era that Cronkite established his legacy; America was not the undisputed world power that it is today; and the general public was far more aware of the subversive ideologies (e.g. communism) that were competing for world domination.  In that day, one need only look to what was then the “Soviet Union” to see a news media that only reported the things that supported their political agenda and that was used as a tool to control the people.  Thus it was important for American’s to know that they were receiving a clear and unbiased reporting of the details surrounding any particular event.  To succeed in such an era it was essential that a journalist convey some sense of neutrality in their reporting and this was a key to Cronkite’s appeal.  It wasn’t so much who he was as a human being, after all we didn’t really know the man; it was more what he represented to a troubled American psyche.  It’s not so much that he told us the truth; it’s more that we believed he was telling us the truth.  He may not have really been as wise and unflappable as he seemed, but we were convinced that he was and collectively we found that reassuring.

Of course, history has moved on; the cold-war ended, America rose to the top of the world food chain and we’ve changed the way we think these days.  People of my generation grew up with the perception that we are the most powerful country in the world and that there is very little that poses a legitimate threat to our way of life.  We’ve become far less concerned about the possibility of a subversive ideology infiltrating our culture and much more concerned about our right to have a subversive ideology if we want one.  Our news media has definitely changed with the times as well.  Gone is the need to appear to be neutral or even unbiased.  We now have whole networks devoted to reporting the news with their own particular slant and we like to watch the one’s that slant in the same direction that we do.  It may not be the truth, but somehow we find it reassuring to hear things that support our particular point of view.  As I ponder these changes, I wonder at whether Walter Cronkite would have had much of a career in today’s media and I find myself even more sorry to see him go.

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There are probably few people in the Western Hemisphere this morning who haven’t heard of yesterday’s passing of Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett; and while neither one had been at the forefront of the cultural consciousness for awhile, both left an indelible mark on pop culture history. 

At the peak of her popularity, Farah Fawcett was largely viewed as the standard by which physical beauty was judged.  Though her resume of achievements was relatively minor, her image was world renown and in many ways her popularity was similar to that of Marilyn Monroe’s.  Throughout her career Farah seemed to struggle to be viewed as more than just a pretty face and to some degree she achieved that with a couple of TV movies that revealed a greater depth to her acting ability; but in the end, it was her iconic beauty that created a lasting legacy.

By contrast, Michael Jackson’s resume of achievements was extensive and his talent was undeniable.  At his peak, he was arguably the best known human being on the planet and the devotion of his fans bordered on religious.  A tremendously gifted entertainer and a famously generous ambassador of goodwill, it seemed that everything he touched turned to gold.  That was until he allegedly touched a little boy inappropriately.  Even those allegations didn’t seem to dampen his popularity initially, but looking back, it was the beginning of the end for Michael’s unprecedented string of success.  As his personal life came under greater scrutiny, he began to seem less magical and more bizarre.

As a man who grew up in the midst of their popularity, I will confess that at times I envied them and wished that my own life was more like theirs.  I had always wanted to be one of the beautiful people, to be talented and popular and rich!  I once believed that would be the ultimate life and that people like them had it made.  They were the epitome of beauty, talent, fame & fortune; and what could be better than that?  But today, it’s hard for me to view them that way.  Despite all that they had and experienced, both of them appeared to be tormented souls, who seemed to be searching for something that they never quite grasped.  Neither one ever seemed to reach the place of being comfortable in their own skin.  At this point in my life I wouldn’t dream of trading the life that I’ve known for the life that they lived.  Yesterday, as these to cultural icon’s passed away; I doubt that their enduring legacy was particularly meaningful to them.  I wonder if either of them wrestled with the notion of whether anyone had truly loved them for who they were, apart from their accomplishments and image.  Though I am not immune to the sense of sadness that accompanies the passing of every human being, I wonder if the greater tragedy isn’t the life they never got a chance to live.  I pray that they can now rest in peace.

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