It was orchestrated, it was awkward and the main camera went out, which certainly looked like a karmic rebuke to the control freak at the microphone.
But Tiger Woods took his first step back from public disgrace this morning by doing the one thing he had to do: He told the truth.
And he told the truth about a big problem in American sports, a problem that applies to a lot of athletes besides Tiger Woods.
“I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in,” he said. “I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn’t apply . . .
“I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled.”
This sense of entitlement is widespread in American sports, but I can’t remember the last time a famous athlete acknowledged it.
Many members of my tribe will object to Woods’ choreographed presentation before a friendly audience, and to his decision not to take questions. I hope I won’t lose my wretches’ membership card, but I don’t have a problem with either.
Watching Tiger Woods peppered with specific questions about his adulterous sexual liaisons is not on my personal bucket list. Requiring an explicit and extended public humiliation for his private transgressions would say more about us than him. The man is a golfer, not a head of state.
At the same time, that camera outage was too obviously symbolic to ignore. Tiger’s attempt to rigidly control his interaction with the world sabotaged the moment he wanted most – when he looked into the malfunctioning camera to ask us “to one day believe in (him) again.”
Tiger’s rigid façade has been exposed as fraudulent. Today he took a first step down from the mountain.
Dave Krieger: 303-954-5297 or dkrieger@denverpost.com
