Why in US the great sporting legends who were kept in pedestal by people mostly end up in some scam and fall to ignominy? Tiger Woods story was shocking. He was one sports person whom I admired.
Guess we should never underestimate the power of the common man or media. One day they keep you in pedestal and the next day they punish you with ignominy. It is true, I admired his sporting talent and skills. What disappointed me was, I had the impression that to reach such levels in golf, you need to have extreme self-discipline. If being perfect in one area is going to bring out the worst in you in some other area, then why glorify such perfectionism? By rewarding such victories aren't we misguiding the society at large and children or the next generation in particular?
There are geniuses who had been extremely successful in their field but had failed in their personal lives. Einstein, Leonardo etc. Even Buffet had a failed marriage. But that I could accept. They failed in personal life, but they continued to be truthful to the field they excelled in. What has happened with Tiger Woods, O.J Simpson and Marian Jones and all are different. They seem to have achieved this status through undesirable means. Somewhere there has been a compromise. For fans like us, its like you have invested in stock that had shown false profits all along when actually it had been making losses :-)
Its good that Tiger Woods has taken a break. Wonderful time for him to reflect on his life rather than running behind media to suppress them from publishing news about him (like he did sometime back).
This episode reminds me of personalities like Amitabh and Rajini. At their career-peak success did destabilize them and as individuals they did succumb to all the wrong habits. But Indian men are clever here. They give the reign of their life to their chosen woman at such times and allow them to steer their life to a more socially acceptable way of living. Jaya Bacchan and Lata Rajinikanth did their roles wonderfully here. Once these men accepted their weakness and fought their way back to family life the media and society at large accepted them and gave them icon status. At some level I also started respecting them because I feel that's the toughest thing to do. Everyone makes mistakes. But to accept, fight back and restore your dignity is a mountainous task. Testing time for Woods now. With his wife leaving and taking away more than half of his wealth will he fight back and restore dignity? Big question?!
