Just imagine: you're 21 years old, and you just won the Masters, one of the most esteemed and coveted golf tournaments in the world. Oh, and you won it by 12 strokes, the biggest margin of victory ever for that tournament. You have friends that haven't even graduated from college yet. Photographers already follow you in public. Huge crowds follow you on the golf course. The endorsement offers are pouring in, and some journalists are predicting that you will be the first sports star to earn a billion dollars. That's right; a billion dollars. People are predicting that you will be bigger than Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan... bigger than all of them. You are 21 years old. How would you handle all of that?
Flash forward twelve years, and you've got the answer. At 33, Woods is having one of the worst PR nightmares in sports history. Tiger crashed his SUV just outside his home in the early morning hours after Thanksgiving, and everything unraveled from there. As the media investigated all the angles of the incident, allegations surfaced of multiple infidelities. Eventually, some "experts" even went so far as to say that it looked like Tiger might be a sex addict. Sponsors began dropping Tiger, and he announced that he would be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the PGA tour to tend to himself and his family. "Tiger Woods" has become the most searched term on Google--ever. And, of course, people flocked to their social media to gossip and judge him. He's been a consistently trending topic on Twitter ever since the crash.
What I haven't seen over the past few weeks is very much compassion for Tiger Woods. People don't usually feel much sympathy for adulterers. Folks also tend to not feel sorry when bad things happen to the rich, and the media seems to delight in covering any kind of fall from grace in the world of the rich and famous.
What's the difference between Woods and a lottery winner? There are numerous examples of lottery winners who have more misfortune after they win than they ever had when they weren't rich. The biggest difference is that Tiger Woods earned his money through amazing talent and dedication to being the best i his sport; he didn't win a random contest. Other than that, it seems a fair comparison.
The stories all seem to be similar. People treat you differently. Some bend over backwards to make you feel special, while others just want to get something from you. Sure, nobody made Tiger Woods become rich and famous, and he has gotten an enormous amount of privilege from his status, but look at what it's done to him! Would you trade places with him?
I've heard people, many times, when having this discussion about lottery winners say that they would not let it happen to them, that they would be able to handle it, but history does not bear that out. There are so many examples of how fame and fortune corrupts people, even people with genuinely good intentions. Tiger made the choices that got him to where he is today, and he has to be accountable for those choices, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve a little empathy. Put yourself in his shoes, and imagine living a life in a fishbowl, the life of the first billionaire athlete. Imagine the pressure of other people always wanting something from you. Imagine your face being on billboards not just across America, but across the world. Think of what that would do to you. Think of how it would change the way people treat you. Think of how it would change the way you view yourself.
Don't envy Tiger Woods. Don't judge him. Be grateful that you're not him.
