Two sources are reporting that Tiger Woods may appear on the Oprah Winfrey show (The Mirror.uk, TVNZ). The Queen of daytime talk shows, Oprah, may just be the right person and resource to give Tiger an opportunity to share his side of the story. Whether or not Tiger and Elin will appear together, or at all, has yet to be determined. In the meantime, the narrative continues to be framed by rumors, the media and his several alleged mistresses.
In a 2001 interview with Oprah (see below), Tiger confessed that he wasn’t ‘comfortable’ with all the adoration. At the time, he’d just recently one the masters’ and was on top of the golf world. The cameras have been on him since that time, until recently, for his prowess on the course, not for his alleged, more private activities. In one clip he said something that struck Modern Love as poignantly relevant to today's stories of his misdeeds, “I’m no different than anyone else.”
We turned Tiger into more than a man. Now that his human foibles are fodder for us all, grist to chew on and spit out, it’s time that we remember: no one is perfect. He may have mastered ‘discipline, integrity and sportsmanship’ on the golf course, but even the best of us – those who are mensches – fall from grace.
Modern Love hopes that Tiger revisits Oprah, not so much to hear his side of the story, but so that he can show us Tiger the man, the husband, the father, the little boy who grew up to change the world with his clubs. Not the mythical man who has stumbled because of alleged sexescapes with women who had no business sleeping with a married man.
Charles Barkley my have said it best to Tiger on that show many years ago, "You carry a heavy, heavy burden...keep on keeping on."
Related reading: SNL skit coming out of the Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods mistresses: women disrespecting marriage
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