Yet Another Transgression

Tiger Woods on Wednesday joined a long list of noted athletes, politicians and entertainers this year to make a vague public apology for an unspecified sin. His statement came after media reports of his carrying on a 2½-year adulterous relationship with a cocktail waitress.

Woods, of course, didn’t admit infidelity. He merely said he had “not been true to my values” and “I regret those transgressions with all my heart.”

For most of the statement, Wood lashed out at the media for hounding him. “Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn’t have to mean public confessions,” Woods wrote. He said he had been “dismayed” by the lack of privacy afforded him.

Woods can’t have it both ways. You can’t be the nation’s most adored athlete, one who makes millions swinging a golf club and additional millions for commercial endorsements, and then say your private life is off limits. The amazing thing is that such a high-profile celebrity could carry on a lengthy affair and keep it secret.

You would think that common sense would dissuade such public figures from engaging in extramarital affairs. While some emerge relatively unscathed, others lose their wife and career in short order.

One might wonder why Tiger Woods would have an affair with a cocktail waitress in the first place. For five years he has been married to gorgeous blonde Swedish model Elin Nordegren. The couple has a 2½-year-old daughter and a 9-month-old son.

But affairs, especially for the rich and powerful, usually aren’t about what they have but about what lies beyond their grasp. For the common man as well as for the man who seemingly has everything, the lure of the forbidden fruit can bring ruin if not quenched.