Woods' fall from grace rekindles role-model debate
DAVID CRARY
NEW YORK — Tiger Woods was different, or so he seemed, with his unmatchable talent and carefully burnished image. Unlike some pro athletes, he had welcomed being a role model. He was, it turns out, too good to be true, and his fall from grace calls into question the very idea of sports hero worship.
"No one has approached this level of perfection on and off the playing surface, maybe ever, without a single blot or tarnish," said Dave Czesniuk, director of operations for Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society.
"The real story here is the meeting of expectations with reality," Czesniuk said. "The guy's a human being and we forget that."
Woods' apology Wednesday for unspecified "transgressions" — coinciding with reports of repeated marital infidelity — was, on one level, only the latest in a long sequence of superstar downfalls.
Michael Phelps was photographed with a marijuana pipe. Marion Jones had her Olympic medals stripped for doping that she long denied. Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez faced dual allegations of steroid use and adultery. And so on.
Woods, however, was unique — a globally recognized brand name that evoked impeccability and historical greatness. His sponsors and handlers, his admiring chroniclers in the media, and especially Woods himself contributed to the image-making.
"The public had become jaded and indifferent — they expected Barry Bonds and Marion Jones and Sammy Sosa to fall," said psychologist Stanley Teitelbaum, author of "Sports Heroes, Fallen Idols."
"But no one really expected that of Tiger Woods," he said. "Now that it happens to him, people are not as indifferent — there's more disappointment and more disillusionment."
Steve Elling, senior writer for CBSSports.com, wrote this week that fans and sportswriters, himself included, were gullible in placing Woods on so high a pedestal.
"We have learned by now to invest admiration in public figures with a grain of salt. With Woods, we just ate the whole salt lick," Elling wrote. "Say it with me: Never, ever again."
Woods, for all his preoccupation with mastery on the course, had managed throughout his career to be viewed as more than just a golfer — loving son to his parents, civic-minded creator of a foundation serving disadvantaged children, devoted father who said he'd play less golf so he could spend more time with his two young children.
He didn't embrace social causes, and sometimes there were brief flashes of temper or crudeness. But as far back as 1997, he was on record aswelcoming the responsibilities of role model.
"I think it's an honor to be a role model," he was quoted as saying in a Business Week article. "If you are given a chance to be a role model, I think you should always take it because you can influence a person's life in a positive light, and that's what I want to do. That's what it's all about."
If that was Woods' goal, Teitelbaum said it had been achieved.
"In terms of a role model, he's A-one," the psychologist said. "The fans, and especially kids, are desperate to have role models to look up to. ... People have made him the designated sports hero.
"When you're among the high-flying and adored, your public will give you unconditional love as long as you continue to perform," Teitelbaum added. "But there's a responsibility to be that much more careful and that much more transparent and, when something does happen, to deal with it openly."
The depths of sudden disillusionment with Woods have been almost tangible. According to Zeta Buzz, which tracks millions of blogs and social media posts, online references to Woods had been 91 percent positive before his recent troubles and by Thursday had dropped to 57 percent positive.
The owner of a youth-oriented Internet site called Role Models on the Web said Thursday he'd been inundated with hateful e-mails and phone calls for leaving a flattering entry about Woods on the site.
"Should he be considered a moral role model? No," said Lamar Brantley of Sarasota, Fla. "But through his foundation, he's done a lot of good."
Above the Woods entry on the Web site, Brantley added this update:
"I will leave Tiger up as a role model as I believe it is probably a good topic for discussion in your family. If you do or do not believe him to be a role model of any kind, discuss it with your children."
Countless parents have been forced into similar conversations in recent years as drug and sex scandals entangled star athletes in numerous sports.
"There's an important parental role to play with kids," said Joe Kelly, founder of a national fatherhood group called Dads and Daughters. "You need to make clear that role models are just models — they're not without flaws, and we will be disappointed by them sometimes, the same way we're disappointed by our parents sometimes."
Kelly said he retained a degree of admiration for Woods because of the golfer's past comments about how much it meant to become a father.
"We have higher responsibilities as fathers, rather than responding to every impulse and desire we might have," Kelly said. "When it comes to being a father, we have to be the grown-up. When we act like children, the fallout is terrible."
Some of Woods' admirers believe he will redeem himself, not only through further golfing excellence but also through a show of character.
"He is distinctive in myriad ways — not only his talent, but his extraordinary level of discipline," said Dan Doyle, director of the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island. "What I think will happen is Tiger will never make this kind of mistake again."
"The fact that he made what is clearly a big error does not dismiss him as someone who can have a tremendous effect on society and youth in the future," Doyle added. "People will give him a second chance, and he will make good on that second chance."
___
December 04, 2009 04:55 AM EST
May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008