OK, So I Lied

As long as today is the day of Coming Clean, I have to confess that my statement in the last post that I had better things to do than watch Tiger Woods' mea culpa today was false. Of course I watched it!

And you know what? I'm willing to cut this guy a little slack. Some critics have called this media event a public relations disaster; others have said when Tiger talks about his "problem" it smacks too much of "the Devil made me do it." But I actually think it worked.

If it were me, I would have made it a real news conference, allowing some members of the golfing media to attend and ask questions, telling them up front that I would not answer anything I thought was out of bounds. The criticism remains that the whole thing was staged.

But Tiger did what he had to do, which was apologize to his wife, family, close friends, his sponsors, his foundation staff and board, and the kids who benefit from his foundation. He had to do this for himself, whether or not it was good PR. From what I know about addiction treatment programs, one of the required stations of the cross is apologizing for your transgressions and making amends. It doesn't require the addict to actually win forgiveness, just to make the effort, and I think Tiger was sincere in that department.

I still maintain that he owes no apology to golf fans; indeed, they will feel cheated if Tiger stays away from golf for too long. And in spite of how some pundits feel, the average bear will accept the apology.

Will there be more revelations? Probably. Tiger certainly has no obligation to furnish details of his misdeeds to the general public -- the tabloid press will take care of that. This story is going to go on for quite a while, but eventually it will all be old news.

Given Tiger's admissions, he has forfeited the right, as I said yesterday, to be thought of as an Arnold Palmer. But as for role-modeling, what's wrong with the image of a celebrity who admits his mistakes and then turns his life around? It's the second half, of course, that counts.