I watched the Tiger Wood’s news conference today. How could I resist? I’m a golfer. I hoped he would pass along hints to improve my game. Instead, reporters wasted time questioning him about another issue. I think the inquiries dealt with some sort of sex scandal.
Actually, the Tiger tale is more about us than him. We are a society obsessed with the failures of others—especially if sex is involved. The Bill Clinton follies, John Edwards affair and the peccadilloes of an array of TV preachers, politicians and celebrities moved from front pages of the National Enquirer to the mainstream media a longtime ago.
Granted, Tiger Woods is an icon whose fall makes him more of a hypocrite than most celebrities. Nonetheless, he is a golfer. His trangressions are not exactly a threat to national security. I’m not suggesting that the media ignore Tiger’s sins. Still, there is such a thing as overkill. There is also such a thing as perspective. The guy is a sex addict. And despite all the humor generated by his tragedy, Tiger’s addiction is no laughing matter.
As an ex-drunk with 39-plus years of sobriety and still counting a day at a time, maybe I’m overly sensitive when it comes to the issue of addiction. But I have seen first hand how uncontrollable compulsions—alcohol, illegal drugs and sex—destroys the lives of addicts, as well as their families and careers. As I wrote in Odyssey of a Derelict Gunslinger, the fall of television evangelist Jimmy Swaggart provided me a bit of insight about sexual addiction that I, as an alcoholic, can identify with:
Based on the absurdity of Swaggart’s sex junkets, he seemed a candidate for the nut house. The televangelist was among the nation’s most easily recognized TV preachers. His crusades were on stations in nearly every American city. A nightly Bible study program saturated cable systems, his picture appeared in national publications, and he was a frequent guest on network news and public affairs shows. Yet, he prowled a seamy New Orleans area red light district in broad daylight. I found it incomprehensible that he allowed his unmanageable organ to become a weapon of mass destruction of the ministry.
Then I discovered the reason for his behavior in an extraordinary pamphlet he authored in 1981. The thin publication was taken out of circulation almost immediately. It deals with sexual addiction. Titled that THING, the booklet portrays in detail the agony of a man obsessed with pornography and masturbation―the same compulsions Swaggart confessed to leaders of the International Assemblies of God Church. He admitted that the problem had plagued him since adolescence.
In that THING, Jimmy writes in the third person of uncontrolled sexual urges that he ascribes to a young man who supposedly came to him seeking spiritual counseling. “I know its evil, it’s wicked, it’s dirty. I’ve promised God a thousand times I would quit and broke these promises a thousand times. I’m thinking seriously of killing myself.”
The specificity of direct quotes in the twenty-five-page volume, combined with Swaggart’s nearly identical confession to church elders, suggests the statements of his young visitor are an account of Jimmy’s innermost thoughts. If so, that THING explains the seemingly inexplicable. He was a sex addict unable to resist deep-seated impulses. “Weakness overcomes me and I go right back to it again. I can’t cast this sick thing out of my life.”
Bill Clinton could have written the same words in explaining the insanity of their sexual antics. Addiction comes in several forms. I certainly understood that THING because it was no different than “my Thing.” I had made many remorseful “never again” pledges to stop drinking after drunken binges. And like Jimmy’s alter ego, “I broke these promises a thousand times.”
It would be great if Tiger Wood’s 35 minute question and answer session today did more than helped satisfy the public’s prurient interest. And I must be honest, I was as much a peeping-tom as other viewers. But his comments will continued to be analyzed by no-nothing pundits, tabloid reporters, sportswriters, fans and Tiger critics.
In fact, within hours of the news conference, reporters were being criticized for failing to get the nitty-gritty about Tiger’s affairs, and he was being criticized for failing to apologize to his bedmates. I don’t mean to sound sexist, but groupies don’t deserve any more than what they are getting. And if news reports of settlements are correct, most are getting paid more than they could ever earn standing on street corners.
I guess that Tiger’s only hope for a break in coverage is for someone of equal prominence to get caught with his zipper down, which pretty much reduces the field of candidates to Barack Obama.
Slap me. I shouldn’t put ideas in the minds of birthers.
My memoir, Odyssey of a Derelict Gunslinger, is available at amazon.com and independent bookstores. It offers much more than $19.99 worth of laughs. It is an account of my illustrious (I choose the adjectives) career.
Gee and I thought maybe you would rise above the rest… Nope just another story to capitalize on the problems of others. Wouldn’t it have been great if Tiger would have been allowed the time to talk about golf … But what network or reporter would have stayed the course and covered that story … In know of none.