Tiger Woods is Gettin’ Killed

Amidst the Tiger uproar here’s an angle i haven’t heard. It may seem harsh (uncrik) at one level by pointing out someone’s failing but I think it leads to a broader point…

Earl Wood’s was famously quoted as saying, “I told Tiger, you will never meet anyone as mentally tough as you. And he never has, and he never will…” As Tiger ascended the throne of achievement with his seemingly unsurpassed determination and focus, I found myself admiring that very quality his father had insisted upon. It was, in fact, easy to fall into believing he had a capacity I did not and could only daydream about possessing due to that singular attitude. He believed his father, it seemed, to the point of making it true. He was mentally tougher than anyone.

The story that has swept through his life now is not one simply of infidelity or lust or even ego. It is a warning story to all would be fathers. Earl Woods lied to his son. With the well intended purpose of ensuring his son’s success in the world of sports, but without the balance to accompany the reality outside of sports. The truth is Tiger Woods would constantly meet people mentally tougher than he is – if he spent any of his life away from the golf course or the yes man/woman world around him Mental toughness is measured by many more things than the line of a putt under pressure. By not being taught that truth he failed to learn one simple virtue: humility.

What is revealed from the scope and scheming of his sexual lifestyle is not that he was cheating or enjoyed sex; that would hardly distinguish him at all, but that he believed he could manipulate anyone to conform to his demands. That his wife was simply a navigable obstacle to his wants, even to the last day. That the press could always be cajoled – when caught two years earlier he didn’t change his habits afterward because he believed he could always get out of it. That no woman would ever make public their indiscretion because he was Tiger and he had made it clear. Because in the end no one would ever stand up to him. Because he believed that no one was as mentally tough as him, so as long as he was clear with what he wanted, he would get it.

Now he learns a lesson that could have been taught at a much earlier age: The attitude it takes to win is different than the attitude it takes to live.

While athletics teach us many values, too often athletes acquire only those values. Killing It as an athlete is knowing the difference.