And after finding love, it’s not easy to stay in love — or married.
Woods and Elin Nordegren are in the process of untying the knot, and it will cost the golfer a reported $750 million. That’s not chump change. Or maybe it is. Guess it depends on your definition of “chump.”
Either way, Woods is going to have to win a lot of tournaments to make up the difference.
Chalk it up to another cautionary tale for athletes.
Woods isn’t the first superstar to fool around on his wife, and he won’t be the last. But why do athletes get married in the first place if they’re not ready to settle down?
This doesn’t mean every athlete has to stay a bachelor during his playing days. Many athletes have gotten married, remained faithful to their spouses and produced wonderful families while collecting fat paychecks. You don’t have to dig around the microfilm stacks at the local library to find these stories. They are out there, but the sensational sells much better than the white picket fence.
Twelve months ago, Woods and Nordegren appeared to be the Celebrity Couple Most Likely to Have a Disney Movie. Those dreams have been shattered — and it’s only a matter of time until a USA movie gets made on the entire saga — but that doesn’t mean love is dead, hope is lost or faith in humanity is obsolete.
The Tiger Woods divorce is a reminder that sports heroes are mortal. But we don’t watch sports for the mortals.
We forget this every time the Next Big Hype comes along. He or she gets put on a pedestal faster than a highlight reel can be uploaded to YouTube.
The kids get used to hearing cheers. They get a big head. They begin to believe they are scandal-proof and invincible.
Nobody is perfect. Nobody is a savior. Nobody is a god.
Woods is learning this lesson the hard way.
Athletes have a job to do like everybody else. They just happen to do their job in front of millions of people — so the work they do gets magnified and scrutinized by every angle imaginable.
When athletes do their job well, they are glorified.
When they don’t, they are vilified.
When they screw up in their personal life, they are mocked.
That’s the price of fame. That doesn’t make the fall from grace any less painful. In fact, the only thing that probably hurts more than an ugly breakup is an ugly breakup with a $750 million price tag. Or whatever the final number is on the scorecard.
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