Tiger Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational today - his first since 2009 - with a five stroke lead. I'm happy and it seems that the fans were happy and I get the general consensus that he was missed by fellow players and by fans alike. I have always enjoyed watching him play and admired his tenacity and his level of athleticism.As Michael and I were watching a bit of it today we ruminated on where his wife Elin is these days, and pontificated on what his visitation rights are with his children. Post-scandal we also wondered if he was dating and what kind of women he might be encountering now that he is single and was so flagrantly pilloried by the media.
Tiger may or may not have married for love. He may or may not have wanted kids. It is a reasonable assumption, however, that his handlers might have thought that the next great PR step in the upswing of his career would be to marry and procreate. Personally, I don't understand how this would affect anything, but then here I am at 35 feeling a strange and increasing need to get hitched as well. The public likes it. The masses like to tune in to "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" where the ultimate goal is to marry a stranger and the whole thing is staged and fueled with alcohol but marriage is sacred, damnit.
Back to who Tiger may or may not be dating currently, Michael posited the question: who would be publicly acceptable for Tiger to date? I said, "Who the fuck cares? I'm Tiger Woods? I will date who I want and when I get questioned on it I will say 'I am Tiger Woods', and really what more needs to be said?".
We like to say that we will never stray. Sex = love and love = sex. Per Wikipedia: Alfred Kinsey found in his studies that 50% of males and 26% of females had extramarital sex at least once during their lifetime. After the whole Woods infidelity debacle hit the news Michael read an interesting comment where a guy said that yeah, he would cheat if he could - but he was too bogged down with work and familial obligations to have the time.
I won't rhapsodise too much more on Woods and how rich, successful people with ample opportunities will cheat, but I'd like to focus a bit more on how the hoi polloi like to try and position themselves morally above such people because, fundamentally, they aren't given the same opportunities.
We all like to think we would never lie, cheat or steal. If we won the lottery tomorrow we would absolutely donate half of it to charity, give our existing car to a charity for blind kids and buy a Nissan Leaf and live in a two bedroom, platinum LEED certified building and spend two months a year building schools for ex-Kony child sex slaves.
That's not how it works.
Saying that is like saying that you would rush into a building burning to save a kid. When you have proof that you have rushed into a burning building to save a kid, come and talk to me. When you win the lottery and actually do give half of it away and spend your time bettering humanity? We can progress with this conversation.I work for a union that has a four day work week. Michael and I used to joke about just that, and how sweet it would be. And, prior to being unionized, I was relatively anti-union. Three plus years in my views have changed because my circumstances have changed. I don't want to work a five day work week though everyone else does. And if my employer decides to take that away from me I will likely show up on a picket line.
The lottery recently was for $50 million. That's so much money I can't get my head around it. We both discussed what we would do. I said I would donate lots and I would give micro-loans to people with small start up businesses and I would travel. Would I? I don't even know what I'm going to have for breakfast tomorrow and, prior to sitting down to eat my fibre, rocks and twigs cereal in the morning if there was a knock at my door with someone offering me a sour cream glazed doughnut and coffee with cream? I would eat that.
Circling back to Woods, there's a book out by his former swing coach, Hank Haney, in which Haney talks dirt about Woods. I, and many golf professionals, were pretty astounded by the way a coach would throw a former "student" under the proverbial bus to make some money.
But then Michael said, "Say you're a waning swing coach and you're making a few hundred thousand a year and you know you can make five million dollars off this book?".
I'd like to say that I wouldn't take the five mill.
But I wouldn't say that because I've changed my narrative to fit my story, as well.
Interesting. Money is the root to all evil I guess. It makes people feel powerful and entitled. I wonder if having all that money made Tiger feel like he would surely find happiness with other women and his wife not care what he was doing? Did he really think that she would say, "oh Tiger, you work so hard out there whacking those tiny white balls, go ahead and blow off some steam with some cute thing. I'll stay here at home tending to the kiddies and waiting for the next check to hit the bank."
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, my boss and I were just discussing what we'd do if we won the lottery. I would donate some to our local Public Television station so they wouldn't have to do those pledge drives anymore. And some to Nat.Geo. b/c The Dog Whisper became famous and his marriage has hit the skids. I'd give some to Sarah McLachlan and her pets, too. I'd of course set my kids up on their own boats and maybe one for me. But in all truth, it would probably be the down-fall of my marriage. We were closer when we lived paycheck to paycheck.