Tiger Should Follow Advice He Gave Vick

Three weeks ago today Tiger Woods crashed his Cadillac Escalade over a hydrant and into a tree. In the days since, more than a dozen alleged mistresses have come forward, his wife has been spotted without her wedding ring, and everybody has weighed in on what this all means for his legacy. And yet, still no sign of Tiger.

Which is odd given his comments from 2007 regarding Michael Vick's troubles stemming from dogfighting allegations that eventually landed him in the joint. Via Waggleroom (and SbB):

"If you made that big a mistake, you've got to come out and just be contrite, be honest and just tell the public that 'I was wrong,'" Woods said at the time. "Waiting a long time got a lot of people polarized. ... If he would have come out earlier, he would've diffused a little more of it."

It's a lot easier to dispense advice when you're not the subject of public scrutiny. I get that. I also get that for some reason, people think celebrities should double as America's moral conscience. I'm sure Tiger would have preferred avoiding question altogether, especially in light of how his Thanksgiving weekend unfolded.

But it gets worse. (It always does.) In an interview with New Zealand's Sky Sports 1 days before all this happened, Tiger talked about the importance of family. (Via WL)

Probably could have done without the "Always" response to the "Family first, golf second -- will it always be like that?" question.

For what it's worth, John Cassidy, a former senior editor at the New York Post writing in the New Yorker online, thinks that Woods' advice to Vick is the same advice he should heed. Moreover, if Tiger wants to get out in front of the story, he should return to golf immediately.

It would have provided the media with a new, non-sex related story: "Tiger returns to the course." This would have opened up all sorts of other angles, such as how he would cope with the pressure, the reactions of other players, and whether the TV ratings would be affected. In short, such a move would have shifted the story onto how damaged Tiger has been by all this, and whether he can play through it. From his perspective, that isn't great, but it's a lot better than more front pages featuring the latest lap dancer or hooker he has or hasn't dated.

Instead, we're left waiting and wondering.