"I knew my actions were wrong. But I convinced myself that normal rules didn't apply. I never thought about who I was hurting. Instead, I thought only about myself. I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live by. 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. Thanks to money and fame, I didn't have far -- didn't have far to go to find them."
Tiger Woods looks solemnly out to the crowded CNN broadcast room, head no longer dawned in his usual Nike golf cap, reciting the words of shame and apology printed in front of him. His mother sits in the crowd, a small Asian woman, unwilling to raise her eyes to look at her son, once an untainted hero, a god in the athletic realm. That had all changed so fast.
"I want to say to each of you, simply, and directly, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in."
On November 27, 2009, Woods had a car accident that rose suspicions about his possible infidelity. After a dozen women claimed in various media outlets that they had affairs with Woods, media pressure increased. On February 19, 2010, he issued a full apology on CNN, admitting to infidelity and announcing an indefinite hiatus from professional golf.
What a shame. Tiger Woods was once idolized in the eyes of sports fans globally, now seen as a sex-addicted fabrication to which the world does not owe understanding, but scorn. The fall from grace of such an athlete has become less than unusual in today's society, however, as Woods is not alone in the scandalous behavior of world class sports icons.
Take Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for another example: two-time Super Bowl champion, charming young athlete with a baby faced grin and good personality. Big Ben was a legend in the mind of so many fans, so many of them young. Then he is accused of sexually assaulting, not one, but two different women within a year's time.
Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas: sentenced to thirty days in a halfway house for taking guns into the Wizards' locker room.
Ex-New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor: admitted to paying a prostitute $300 for sex--a girl only sixteen years old.
New York Jets wideout Santonio Holmes: five week suspension from the NFL for "violating the league's substance abuse policy"--a euphemism for "we caught him with marijuana." This only added to his infamous career with the law, charges including domestic violence.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. These are only five big-name athletes. This is only in the past few years.
But why? Why do athletes often feel compelled to act in such disgraceful, and often unlawful, manners? These stars, who's shoes fans buy, who's jerseys are dawned on game day, who's signatures are framed and cherished in homes of sports fanatics, who can turn from idol to betrayer in the blink of a young fan's eye, a feast of shame and stories, accusations and apologies, feeding a monster that broadcasts their lives to the world. The trend of negative behavior exhibited by superstar athletes, especially in the past decade, is the product of not only their own lack of self-conscience, but of the fame and money that place them in such situations, the entitlement they feel they have earned, and the biggest leach suckling at the misery and misfortunes of big-name stars: the media.
As Tiger Woods stated in his apology broadcasted by CNN that he felt entitled. Entitled to enjoy the temptations thrust in front of the highest paid athlete in the world. Entitled to have a little fun, "blow off some steam," reap the benefits of having your face plastered on every Gatorade bottle sold, the benefits of having your smile gleaming at consumers from within every Gillette commercial. Tiger Woods is not alone in having a false sense of entitlement. These athletes all have one thing in common: a gift. They have the gift of an athletic body, one which can perform at the top levels of competition. Their physical advancement has helped them to climb the social ladder from lower to middle class everyday citizen to multimillionaire stars. Such money, such recognizability, will indeed cause increased attention, increased ability to have what they want, when they want it. And with these temptations so plentiful, one must ask, "Doesn't common sense tell them that when they have everything they could have dreamed of, that they should not push the limit and risk it all?"
Common sense does tell them that. But what supersedes their common sense is the simple fact that these athletes, these superstars, these gods of the gridiron, the hardwood, the diamond, are human. It is in human nature to be greedy, to get what one wants, and then want more. Such actions can be traced all the way to biblical times, as the Christian Bible depicts Adam and Eve living in Eden, a land of perfection, no trouble, no sin. One rule applied: do not eat the forbidden fruit. The first two humans had it all, a life of sinless freedom; they lived in a perfect world, one today's society can only imagine, they had everything anyone could ever ask for, and yet they wanted more. They couldn't have the fruit. So what did they do?
They ate the fruit.
Professional athletes have what modern society dreams of: money, fame, bodies that are the epitome of human fitness. So what do they do?
They eat the fruit.
The trait found in human nature of always wanting more is not new, only its examples have become more accessible to the public. The media, in forms of radio, newspapers, tabloids, television, and the largest global advancement in recent human history, the internet, make it possible to turn matters that athletes at one time may have been able to keep private into a public train wreck for all the world to watch and enjoy as the damage grows, car by car piling up. The media is somewhat helpful to fans in that it sometimes reveals sides to athletes not shown on the field or court, allowing younger fans especially to realize who is worth idolizing and who is to be cast aside. The media often fails to recognize, however, that these athletes, portrayed as gods, are humans, and all humans are flawed. The media then exploits these flaws, delving into the deep corners of athletes' private lives, making their mistakes public and accessible for the judging eyes of the world. Wrong decisions will be made, some on a larger scale than others, but wrong nonetheless because professional athletes are indeed humans. The average citizen can look upon a fallen hero with disgust, but then must reflect and truly recognize how he would have handled the situation if it had been him, as man is often quick to judge others before himself. The media is not the root of athlete's misbehaving, but it is surely the messenger, eager to relay any lapse in judgment or misfortune cast upon a sports icon.
Now, it is not fair to condone all professional athletes, as some have shown to be idols worthy of admiration, striving not only for on-field success, but also to better the world around them. Athletes such as Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, figure skater Michelle Kwan, and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, are among many sports heroes that have proven to be both successful in their respected sport and create a positive off-field influence, that of which younger fans can use as a role model in paths towards their own athletic and life goals.
The actions of these seemingly iconic athletes are still too often overshadowed, however, by those whose lives are exploited in turn by their poor moral choices, their human choices. Professional athletes rise to the top. They practice behavior that is questionable, as they are able to get what they want when they want it: their money and fame gives them this ability, fabricates the sense of entitlement in their minds. And when they have what they want, as humans do, they take more. This acquisition of these temptations is made public faster than Tiger Wood's golf swing.
"But, still, I know I have severely disappointed all of you. I have made you question who I am and how I have done the things I did. I am embarrassed that I have put you in this position. For all that I have done, I am so sorry. I have a lot to atone for."
Tiger Woods has apologized. So have many of these other sports stars, fallen from the heavens, crashing painfully to the pitfalls of the media. It is fact, however, that apologies are actually just words.
To the eleven year old boy at home with the Tiger Woods poster taped to his wall, words do not speak as loud as actions.
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