Woods apology most unedifying
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Thursday February 25 2010
EYES fixed, jaws dropped the World watched while Tiger Woods spilled the beans. Woods was asking, nay begging, for the apology of his wife and family. Implicit in this was a plea for forgiveness from the public at large.
It was car-crash television. Uncomfortable, unedifying and yet you couldn't keep your eyes off it. Here was this man bearing his soul, showing off the part of himself that for the past twenty years he's been determined to keep to himself.
It was a particularly American spectacle. Tiger was seeking closure. Personal and public. This spectacle was more to do with public than private. This was about getting the press off his back.
You don't go on television, beamed live worldwide, if you want to make up with your wife. Tiger's off course difficulties have nothing to do with sport, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are off limits for the press.
It is more of interest to the public than in the public interest, but when you accept money for your image rights then you invite this kind of scrutiny as Tiger now knows only too well.