What do we tell the kids about Tiger Woods?
Tiger Woods’ car accident outside his Windermere, Fla., home is going to unearth some embarrassing details about his personal life, whatever they may be. So what are we supposed to tell the children who look up to him?
The same thing Woods’ buddy, Charles Barkley, told everyone in a controversial 1993 Nike advertisement: that athletes aren’t role models, and it’s not up to them to raise your kids.
Unlike Woods and the golfer’s good friend, Michael Jordan, from the beginning of his career Barkley smartly positioned himself as a loon. Eventually, an athlete can’t keep up the image of a robotic, perfectly corporate all-things-to-all-people icon.
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Adam Lambert just said it in one of the best post-scandal interviews I’ve ever seen: “I’m not a babysitter.”
In Lambert’s case, I’d use air quotes around ’scandal.’ But he did handle the press masterfully with logic, confidence, humility and common sense. Tiger should study it for tips when he finally faces the media.
See, Adam Lambert is smart in defining himself before he had to become an automaton. Anyway, I bet if Tiger tongue-kissed Phil Mickelson in public, people might stop asking about that car wreck.
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