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January 3, 2010
Tiger Woods, O.J. Simpson, and Michael Vick
It struck me recently that the Tiger Woods saga reminded me of one of the most famous and loved black Americans of the previous generation; O.J. Simpson. Before their troubles started, both were not merely admired or loved but absolutely adored and held up as idols and role models.
O.J. was the guy everyone loved. He combined what seemed to be a winning personality with sports performance in a way that few could match. Who can forget him vaulting over barriers in airports in those Hertz commercials? His charm and wit seemed transcended race. Unlike a Jesse Jackson, who made his blackness the essence of his being, O.J. was a star first, and only incidentally black. For awhile he had a relatively successful film career, and to this day I remember him in Capricorn One and The Towering Inferno.
Then, of course, there was his arrest on murder charges, and it became immediately clear to everyone that he was guilty. That the jury found him not so was more farce than justice. That he was found guilty in the civil trial somewhat satisfied the vindication many people wanted.
Suddenly the public realized that O.J. was not the man we thought he was. Far from being the warm, charming, good guy that we saw on TV, he was mentally disturbed in some way, even if we couldn't quite put our finger on the diagnosis.
The saga of Tiger Woods follows this same general path, even if we're not quite at the point of writing him off entirely.
As with O.J., Tiger wasn't just a star athlete, he broke records and made it look easy. They were "in another league" as the cliche goes.
And as with O.J., Tiger seemed to have a winning personality. Finally, he, too, transcended race. He was a black man (or "Cabalasian," with a diverse ethnicity) in what was traditionally a white person's sport. But no one cared, because he was good and he was cool. Tiger made golf popular again.
When we first heard the news of his weird car accident outside his house, most people figured that odd as it sounded some rational explanation would emerge. Over the next few days, as as we learned the truth about his numerous extramarital affairs, it became clear that Tiger was not the man we thought he was. Tiger has taken a break from golf, and many sponsors have dropped him.
Tiger did not have just one or two extramarital affairs, but with at least 14, probably many more, and he did this to a wife whom most people would regard as strikingly attractive.
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick has resumed his football career partially because he seemed truly repentant for his crimes, and also because before them his personality was not known, and wasn't a household name. He fell from mid-level, whereas O.J. and Tiger fell from Mount Olympus. Vick is therefore somewhat of the odd man out in this trio, both because prior to his troubles he was nowhere near as famous as the other two, and because he has somewhat rehabilitated himself.
It was clear from the beginning that O.J. never would, regardless of the outcome of his criminal trial. O.J. denied his guilt, internalized, and became the dark psychopath the brutal murders would suggest. He only added to the bizarreness with the release of If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, with the "If" reduced in size. Tiger may as yet rebound, but I think the key is whether he is truly repentant and tries to make up for the harm he did through charitable works, funding marriage-counseling programs, or the like. On the other hand, if he internalizes what he did and only makes pro-forma statments of apology, his days as an American hero are over.
Posted by Tom at January 3, 2010 5:00 PM
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Comments
You make some great points! I think OJ is in a class all of his own, because I think he's a true psychopath. When it comes to Tiger, I think he let his fame go to his head, I think thats a factor with all 3 of them. They thought they could get away with literally anything. Its sad, but I think not many can handle fame and remain grounded.
Posted by: Dee at January 4, 2010 12:03 AM
Oh yeah, the OJ case. Over here in Europe, we of course got a whiff of it but nothing that compares to the coverage it got in the states. I think you're spot on Tom.
If I'm permitted a joke, I'd say that Woods is a racist, cause he only scr*wed white women.
Apart from that Tom, I wish you from the bottom of my heart a Happy and Prosperous 2010!!!
Posted by: Outlaw Mike at January 4, 2010 4:10 PM
I agree with Dee that OJ Simpson is in a class of his own. Tiger Woods has been accused of no crime (apart from a minor driving infraction, perhaps). He merely dogged around, and why is that any of our business? Even to place cheating on your wife on the same moral continuum as murdering her is rather distasteful, I think. At the least it shows a lack of perspective.
Which begs the question, why compare the two cases at all? Surely no one would argue that there is a discernible trend here - that black men who are successful in public life, though on the surface personable, invariably turn out to be "not who we thought they were"? That the examples of OJ and Tiger Woods tell us something about other successful black men who "make it look easy".
Because that would be racist.
Posted by: Mylne Karimov at January 5, 2010 2:12 PM
Tom,
I think you stretched it a bit here. I agree that whereas O.J is a psychopath, Tiger Woods is merely a philanderer. He is much more like Gov. Sandford, or Gov. Spitzer, or other politicos who decided that they were above the rules.
TLGK
Posted by: The Loop Garoo Kid at January 8, 2010 12:55 PM
