The Tiger Frenzy

The Tiger Frenzy:
Will It End With the Masters?

In spite of the obsessed drama crowd beating this Tiger Woods adventure to death, the Masters golf tournament begins this week and golf enthusiasts worldwide are giddy with anticipation and excitement that The Great One is about to return. Millions will watch the News Conference today to see if reporters can wrestle any more truth out of Tiger about his multiple marital infidelities. This has become a mute point; we know his wife Elin cracked upon having her faced rubbed in knowledge of his womanizing. We know Tiger cracked and crashed, apparently attempting to escape from a hysterical wife bent on bending a Seven iron over his head. That is all old news. The only news that really counts now is the Masters and whether Tiger can hold up under the unimaginable pressure to compete in his comeback appearance in the Super Bowl of golfing events, The Masters. Sadly, the secondary concern is whether Tiger can compete successfully to restore his marriage to healthiness. Most of us hope he can.

Quietly, there are many men (and women) who privately envy and high five Tiger for having been afforded the luxury of indulging his fantasies in spades. The hypnosis and invincibility of ego drove him to blow it. Many other societal superstars have attempted to cross this Rubicon of Hedonism and failed. Access promotes overindulgence which promotes sloppiness. His challenge now is how to deal with paying the cost of exposure and disruption to his private, star quality life as society with its double standard looks on curiously to see if he can hold up under the pressure of returning to greatness.

Brian Settles is a retired airline Captain, former Air Force combat pilot and sports jock who is the author of "No Reason For Dying: A Reluctant Combat Pilot’s Confession of Hypocrisy, Infidelity and War.” Visit his website: www.NoReasonForDying.com