Continue to laugh and ridicule him if you must. But it took considerable strength -- more than you or I might have -- for Tiger Woods to stand in a makeshift confessional Friday, stare into a camera and tell millions of TV viewers that he is a narcissist who needs help. The same Woods I saw at Torrey Pines two summers ago, winning the U.S. Open on one leg, is the same Woods I saw in a contrived yet humbling environment in which he admitted he was living a lie and a double life.
Only this Woods was a flawed, tortured soul, who had to reach down and acknowledge character flaws, a necessary act as the world's first billion-dollar athlete and a closet adulterer who was trying to paint himself as a family man when he was anything but that. It would have been convenient enough to issue a brief statement and return to his sex-addiction clinic. Instead, he delivered a 13 1/2-minute guilty plea that provided just about everything I wanted to see and hear in his first public words in 79 days: pain in his voice, dampness and remorse in his eyes, an inner shame that already seems to have changed the way he interacts with the public world.
"I am deeply sorry for the irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in,'' he said. "I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did was unacceptable, and I am the only person to blame.
U.S. Acknowledges Four American Citizens Killed In Drone Strikes
Man Reportedly Beheaded In Brutal Assault In London Neighborhood
Man Shot During Bombing Interview Made Shocking Confession: Report
The 1 Chart That Reveals Just How Grossly Unfair The U.S. Tax System Has Become
Issa Backs Off After Compromise
Man Arrested In Ricin Scare: FBI
NY Times Eviscerates Obama White House
10 Children Confirmed Among The Dead After Oklahoma Tornado
You Just KNEW There Would Be 'Tornado Truthers,' Didn't You?
Oklahoma Senators Bailed Out On Tornado Aid By Bills They Opposed
Chicago Board OKs Largest Planned Public School Shutdown In U.S. History
Pope Francis Says All Who Do Good Are Redeemed - Atheists Included
GOP Lawmaker Thinks IRS Leaked Mitt Romney's Tax Info To Harry Reid
Zimmerman Wants Trayvon's Drug Use Referenced In Trial
American Short Story Author Wins Major Fiction Prize
Officers May Have Deleted Cell Phone Video Of Fatal Police Beating
Oklahoma Senate Votes To Defund Planned Parenthood Two Days After Tornado
WATCH: The World's First Digital Photo
And The Healthiest City In America Is...
IAEA Report: Iran Significantly Upgrades Nuclear Program
Another Republican Governor Reverses Course On Obamacare
Hickenlooper Grants A Temporary Reprieve
State GOP Leader Refutes Harassment Claims
Tornado Survivors' Emotional Reunion
Fox News Erupts Over Surveillance Scandal
Bill Could Block Newtown Records Release
LOOK: Chechen President's Instagram Is Simply Amazing
What Immigration Reform Opponents Don't Want You To Know
Sergio Makes 'Fried Chicken' Joke About Tiger
