Tiger Woods former caddie Steve Williams made discouraging and racial comments about his former employer at the caddie awards last week. When asked about his victory caddying for Adam Scott at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational Williams said he wanted to shove it up his black a$$hole. Williams later apologized to Woods face to face for his insensitive and poor choice of words. In the aftermath Tiger admitted he was hurt by the comments, but didn't think Steve Williams was a racist and life goes forward.
Personally I would have preferred to hear a different response. It isn't that Tiger handled the situation poorly, he handled the situation with professionalism. The problem is Tiger Woods seems unwilling to ever address the subject of race. He skirts around the topic and acts as if the color of his skin has no influence on the way people perceive him.
In Tiger's mind he's just a golfer who happens to be a minority. His Caublanasian roots are of no real significance and his athletic accomplishments speak for themselves. It's a very optimistic view of the world, but also extremely naive.
What Tiger Woods fails to realize is the perception everyone else has. Steve Williams didn't say he wanted to shove it up his Asian a$$hole or his white a$$hole he said he wanted to shove it up his black a$$hole. Tiger Woods is perceived as a black man whether he likes it or not and unfortunately there are race related issues that come with that distinction.
Tiger Woods is a polarizing figure for many reason and race is one of them. He excels in a predominantly white sport which in itself makes him an anomaly. I'm not saying Tiger should show up to golf tournaments in an dashiki bumping Public Enemy and telling the world George Bush hates black people, I'm just saying he needs to be more cognizant of his surroundings. At least acknowledge the color of your skin is a factor sometime. Tiger Woods may be color blind, but the world is not.
I wonder if he will ever understand that this is why everyone had such a problem with what he did. We all know that if he had married a Black, or Asian woman, they would have never said a word about his extra curricular activities. However, Ellen is a beautiful White woman and many bemoaned the fact that she married him. He not only dominated their sport, he had also taken their forbidden fruit. Not many athletes have taken the tremendous fall that Tiger has while committing this same act. I guess this is what it would have been like if Jackie Robinson had been with Marilyn Monroe, cheated on her and got caught.
ReplyDeleteWe all want to see Tiger get back on top, and maybe putting the chip back on his shoulder is the way to get him back. It's time for him to drop the so cool demeanor, maybe have a "Blackout" and tell the world to kiss his black ass as he's putting on another Master's ugly green jacket!
@ Anonymous: Thanks for the read. That Jackie Robinson Marilyn Monroe analogy is priceless. Without question if he cheated on Halle Berry or Jennifer Lopez, or Lucy Liu the media would not have dragged his name through the mud for an entire year! At the end of the day Tiger puts the green before the black and endorsement money dictates he probably won't be chucking up the deuces anytime soon. Great comments.
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