Tiger Woods
Fame--and infamy--are all about narrative. A savvy celeb who intends to remain in the game weaves an easily digestible narrative about him- or herself for public consumption, and sticks with it.
We all knew Bill Clinton was a serial philanderer and a liar, but while the Monica Lewinsky story captivated us, it didn't cut to the quick the way the Tiger Woods story does.
Why? Because Clinton's defiling of the Oval Office sanctum was merely a sin of degree. It shocked us, but it was in character.
Tiger Woods has spent his career spinning a squeaky-clean image for the purposes of creating a brand that sponsors would wish to associate with. When he was found to be a cad, and a multiple-repeat offender at that, it ran contrary to the myth.
To many people, he represented everything that was good and clean and decent about professional sports. Kids even played with Tiger action figures and dreamed of growing up to be like him someday. Not just rich, but wholesome.
But they were confusing the character with the man. When we looked at Bill Clinton, we knew exactly what we were seeing. Bill never let us down, because he couldn't.
CHAN LOWE has been the Sun Sentinel’s first and only editorial cartoonist for the past twenty-six years. Before that, he worked as cartoonist and writer for the Oklahoma City Times and the Shawnee (OK) News-Star.
Comments
What's the difference between Santa and Tiger Woods.? Santa only does 3 Ho-Ho-Ho's.!!
Posted by: Lorraine Wagner | December 24, 2009 8:27 AM
O.K....enough with my lousy joke..The Philippine gov.along with the military & developers attempted (in the 90's) to remove thousands of peasants from their land, in order to build a golf course..see-The Nation--(Jan.4th-Caged Tiger,by Dave Zirin.)They wanted Tiger to "sell golf", for an undisclosed fee.This really tee'd off the people.!!
Posted by: Lorraine Wagner | December 30, 2009 9:15 AM