I've been trying not to speak on the Tiger incident. I didn't want to join the insanity of the mainstream media by commenting on the philandering penis of America's most famous pro-golfer. Yet, everywhere I turn I am confronted with this ridiculously unimportant story masquerading itself as socially relevant. I mean the way people are going on about this story, one might get the impression that Tiger's behavior is anomalous in the world of pro-athletes. But that isn't the case; T-Money (as I like to call hime) is in good whoring-husband company.
Some of our most favorite sports stars have been caught straying - Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Alex Rodriguez, Kobe Bryant and Charles Barkley to start. Oh and who could forget Babe Ruth, Chipper Jones, Roscoe Tanner and Roger Clemens. In truth, pro-athletes have become notorious for stepping out on their spouses. It has been reported that 80-90% of all professional sportsman cheat. So, you can understand why I'm completely baffled by the hubbub surrounding this story. The wealthiest athlete in all of sports is an adulterer? Of course he is. Oh, and by the way, did you know the sky is blue too?
So if the majority of athletes cheat, why is the world so shocked that Tiger is one of them? I have a theory. The "world" is not shocked by Tiger's behavior, White people are. White people took a leap of faith with Tiger - the man who single-handedly brought the insular whitewashed sport of golf into the purview of mainstream. Tiger made golf marketable by leveraging the things that came most naturally to him - his talent and his skin color. When it was convenient he used his melanin. Making the rounds on the green with his Black father, helped win him points with Blacks, points that would help open the sport of golf to a new audience. That new audience translated into untapped dollars and Tiger subtly manipulated swelling Black pride to deliver them. When the matter of race became inconvenient, Tiger agilely distanced himself from constrictive labels, highlighting instead his multicultural (Cablinasian) identity, and thereby delivering another (or an "other") marketable audience.
Tiger seemed to be the golden boy of sports marketing. His clean cut family image, first established on the course with scenes of interaction between him and his father, was only strengthened with his decision to marry so young. For his bride, Tiger took a beautiful young blue eyed, blond haired Swedish model instead of a curvy woman of color. While some sisters were upset with his decision, I appreciated the move for what it was - an excellent marketing strategy. In the days before Barack became president, nothing opened more doors for an up and coming Black man than a pretty doe eyed White woman.
And this is why White people are so upset. They gave Tiger the keys to the proverbial castle and the princess to along with it. Never could they fathom that he would be so ungrateful. Never could they have dreamed that he could desire more than one gorgeous White woman to live out his Anglo fantasies... Never could they imagine that he would want to have his cake and eat it too (pun intended).
Conceptually, I feel White people's pain. I imagine if Eminem, hip hop rapper and honorary Black man (I'm stretching for effect), were to be caught attending a KKK meeting, I'd feel just as disrespected as these yuppie White people do about Tiger.
Though, in my defense, 80-90% of rappers don't attend KKK meetings...
I'm just saying...
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