Menu
It may not happen today or tomorrow, but trust me, Tiger Woods will end up in rehab for sex and drug addiction at one of the same swanky rehab facilities that all the celebrities go to. I throw “drug” in there because it is almost too hokey to cop to sex addiction without admitting (whether true or not) that there is also a problem with prescription drugs which can be blamed for helping to cloud his judgment. The worse the situation gets the more he will be encouraged by his PR people to turn the thing around and begin the attempt to get the people who formerly idolized him (which is almost everyone) to feel sorry for him and his “problems”.
I mean, think about what has come out about his unbelievably sordid affairs: porn stars, cocktail waitresses, the waitress at the fast food joint where he took his family to breakfast, the list seems endless. How can anyone reasonably explain his actions without including some kind of sickness in the discussion? He seemed to have absolutely no regard for the consequences of what he was doing, which led me to write my first blog on the subject comparing him to a soldier convinced of his immortality. In Tiger’s case, his actions are so heinous as to suggest that he felt he could fall onto a live grenade without getting hurt. That can only mean that he is emotionally disoriented and out of touch with reality, and it presents him with an opportunity to give his behavior a name, admit he has a serious problem, and get on with his recovery. In fact, the sheer audacity and magnitude of his behavioral indiscretions actually helps him blame it on factors that no one would have thought were included in his usual calculating, controlling personality.
If you look at how politicians, celebrities, and sports stars screw up and then attempt to mitigate their “transgressions” by offering themselves up to the medical profession for treatment you get a pretty good idea of who can be “rehabilitated” and who can’t. Elected officials have the worst time of it, because they normally hold their positions at least partially as a result of their claims of moral superiority, which makes their proclivities reek of hypocrisy. Movie and television stars normally don’t hold themselves up as “holier than thou” and thus have an easier time resuming a normal life in their chosen field. Tiger lies somewhere in between: he is a sports star, and much like Kobe Bryant, for example, is known for his prowess on the athletic field, and thus, when he resumes his winning ways, will slowly be “forgiven” as people are further removed from the events that caused the problems. However, Tiger exists in the marketing world as an icon, a model of control and “the right way to do things”, where his seemingly perfect life served to inspire the masses to buy whatever he had a mind to endorse. The huge gulf between this previous version of Tiger and what is now coming to light is a space not easily comprehended by the average person.
And so it is that the rehab center is his only real option. Otherwise, he will need to remain isolated to avoid the media frenzy that will ensue when he decides to show his face in public. The Masters is in April. Going to rehab now may allow him to put this in the rear view mirror at least enough to play, and might even help save his marriage. Who knows, it might even help Tiger figure out where he lost his mind, because surely there is no other explanation for what he has done.