Friday, February 19, 2010

Sport, character, and decency

Here is video of the Tiger Woods press conference from earlier today. Toward the end of his remarks he says, "I need to make my behavior respectful of the game." He also mentioned character and decency, suggesting these are more important than his golf skills.



I am just very curious what people have to say about the relation of an athlete's off-the-field behavior and his on-the-field behavior, or about Woods's remarks more specifically. His statement, "I need to make my behavior respectful of the game," implies that he at least sees the two as related.

1 comment:

Carl Thomen said...

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise (sorry Chuck Palahniuk).

Could Tiger have been more rehearsed, wooden [sic] and predictable? If he was mostly apologizing to the people in the room, he could have spared the press conference. If this was about anything other than pacifying Golf Inc. he could have done it someplace other than PGA headquarters. And Buddhism? Please.

Tiger Woods is a superb golfer. I give him that. But that's all he is. Emotionally, he is a shell of a human being. Being groomed for a life of golf stardom (see his appearances on talk shows as a four year-old), playing golf, golf golf... no time to reflect on anything but golf and golf performance. I submit that he sees no link between his character and his sport. How can he, when he has no character to speak of outside of sport? There is no Tiger Woods except Tiger Woods the golfer. His moral and emotional compass only works on the fairway - he doesn't move his ball illegally or fill in incorrect scores. He plays by the rules. Pity he didn't have time to figure out life the same way. This whole palava is an indictment on performance culture, and it makes me sad.