Norman was interviewed by the Golf Channel on Thursday, ostensibly to promote the Shark Shootout, and wound up talking about the Tiger Woods scandals. And his comments - as reported by Randell Mell on the Golf Channel Web site - make a whole lot of sense:
"I hope Tiger sorts these issues out," Norman said. "Things like that should stay behind closed doors, but then again we are public figures. There are times when people feel like they can reach through the TV screen and say 'I own you, I know you because I buy a product you represent.' That's a part of it. You have to accept that responsibility."...
"Unfortunately, the media are the media," Norman told Hammond. "They support you on the way up. And when you need them, we use you just as much as you use us. And when you step across the line, you've got to kind of take a little bit of the wrath of God, or whatever you want to call it."
This may be the most sensible thing anyone has yet said about the Woods situation, at least anyone speaking extemporaneously. Norman manages to look at both sides of the coin, and to essentially say this: You have to take the good with the bad. The good is massive fame and fortune. The bad is lack of privacy and media scrutiny. The good is media-driven publicity and fame when you're doing well; the bad is that when you screw up, the media is there to publicize that, too.
Norman's interview aired on the Golf Channel's Golf Central newscast at 6 p.m. ET Thursday night, and will be replayed at 11:30 p.m. ET.
Comments
Mr Kelley, i see you removed the bogus blog about “alleged” comments made by Ben Crane and Charles Warren. I realize you werent “reporting” this but you quickly made unflattering remarks about these golfers, when you shou’dve at least been suspicious about whether these men made those comments. Now that you already know that they did not make those comments, you need to blog an apopolgy, and admit that you were duped.
Pat, you are right — it’s looking like I (and a lot of others) got duped. Not certain yet, but looking that way. I updated the Warren/Crane story here — http://golf.about.com/b/2009/12/10/crane-warren-deny-making-tiger-comments.htm
For better or for worse, Tiger Woods and his handlers decided long ago to present him as a paragon of virtue. Tiger Woods himself declared his marriage as ‘boring.’ Very few people could actually get close enough to him to find out what type of person he really was inside. Tiger Woods was seen all over the world as the face of Nike, Accenture, Tag Heuer, Golf Digest etc. He worked hard to separate his personal life from his professional life. So it is perfectly natural for the media to investigate any aspect of his life precisely because he is a public figure through his sponsors. And since we know so little about him, there is an intense need for us to know who this great man is. Unfortunately, we now know that there is this other side, a seedier side to his character. Are we disappointed in him? You bet we are. In my opinion, he has betrayed his wife, the Mother of his two children, his own Mother and their good family name, and just as important, his sponsors who believed in him and gave him money that was earned from the people buying their products because Tiger Woods is/was their spokesperson. Tiger Woods continues to stonewall the public by his complete withdrawal. Does he have this right? Absolutely he does. But his reticence only fuels the flames of a public that has invested so much in believing the image presented to them by Tiger Woods himself and his handlers. Tiger Woods and his handlers alone are at fault for this human tragedy, not the public or the media.
I think what norman said is excellant. everyone has a privae life behind closed doors and everyone has many skeltons in their closets so do not hang a man for what hes done you are not his judge nor his jury.
“let he without sin cast the first stone !”
everyone made money out of tiger…everyone! none of these so called investers, invested because they wanted to help a tiger woods as a human being, they saw a return for their investment and thats all ! now the stuff has hit the fan they all want to take the high moral ground…..sorry but do you really believe they didn’t have an idea of what was going on ?….do you think they have done no wrong in their life or on their way to the top ?
please the only person with ANY right to judge him is his wife, the rest of us should back off !