For Tiger Woods, The Only Thing New Is The Focus
Tiger Woods on the 17th tee with a No Cameras sign behind him, in Shanghai -
Forgive me, but I shall begin by being terribly cynical: Never be surprised when any athlete is found to be a philanderer. It was, surely, as true with the Greek Olympians of antiquity as it is today — an occupational predilection.
Athletes are young and rich and they have magnificent bodies and they travel — all of which is the perfect recipe for temptation. Yes, indeed, many young stars do manage to avoid the blandishments of the road, but spare yourself disappointment and just don't assume when it comes to any of your heroes.
Tiger Woods? He's been so private, he was nearly inscrutable. Why did we dare presume to think we knew him? Just for openers, it's absolutely confounding, in this day and age, that he, a celebrity of his magnitude, could have been so brazen to think that he was insulated from the tabloid press.
After all, why should anyone in sport be any more exempt from the prying eyes of the tabloid press than others in the entertainment community? The business of reporting on famous private lives is now insatiable.
So far as I can tell, the only two specialties in journalism that are expanding today are gossip and sports statistics. Well, we get the kind of journalism we deserve. And the tabloid media succeed so well because they are protected by what we might call the First-and-a half Amendment: a combination of freedom of the press and the right to shoot from the hip.
It is true, of course, that celebrity journalism is slanted toward a female audience, while sports appeals more to males. So, as a commercial consequence, there is nowhere near the prurient interest in athletes as there is in show business folk — until they cross over from the green grass into the realm of the red carpet.
The gossipteers didn't give a hoot about Alex Rodriguez when he was simply winning MVP awards or was knee-deep in a steroid scandal — but as soon as he started merely going out with an actress, he advanced into a different league altogether. See also Beckham, David; and Brady, Tom.
The sports media are caught betwixt and between. In the innocent past, it was rather a gentleman's rule of thumb that an athlete's off-the-field behavior should not be the subject of coverage unless it appeared to affect his performance on the field.
To quote the young poet Muhammad Ali, in support of this policy: "Only the nose knows where the nose goes when the door[s] close."
But as the tabloids widen their reach into sports, it may be rather more difficult for sportswriters to keep on ceding a part of their beat to the celebrity hounds. For purposes of comparison, the political media have, after all, become much more engaged in reporting on the private lives of public officials.
Tiger Woods may well be the most famous athlete in the world, and the revelations about him have been altogether exceptional — but his is also a cautionary tale for other athletes today.
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ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Boxing fans are waiting official confirmation of an epic match up in the New Year. Commentator Frank Deford says it's a contest that could lift not just one man, but an entire country.
FRANK DEFORD: It may only be games, but nothing in culture can galvanize a nation the way a world championship can. And it just so happens, in the months ahead, there will be nearly a surfeit of sports nationalism. It's only weeks now before the Winter Olympics and then, come June, the soccer World Cup, which is by far the most passionate international competition of all. Yet in 2010, there is one little athlete who can mean more to his country � and to his sport � than all the skaters and skiers and soccer teams in the world.
The man is a boxer, Manny Pacquiao; his country, the Philippines. And what he signifies to his people everywhere is perhaps unmatched in sports history. Lennox Lewis, the thoughtful former heavyweight champion, has even said that Pacquiao's grip on his country is similar to Nelson Mandela's influence in South Africa. The Philippines, of course, is an impoverished island nation, which has led to a diaspora of its people. In fact, Filipinos make up one of the largest groups of immigrants in the U.S. and they've shown well what they can do with the main chance. Filipinos here are better educated and wealthier than the American population at large.
But Pacquiao is so special to all ethnic Filipinos, rich or poor, in the islands or abroad, because his country has never before produced any champion that it could hold high before the world. No Filipino has ever won a single Olympic gold medal. Pacquiao is so beloved that when he ran for Congress in the Philippines a couple of years ago, he was soundly beaten, largely because, as the adored national icon, his fans voted against him to keep him out of office so he wouldn't dilute his attention to the ring. He's an extraordinary boxer, the first ever to hold seven world titles, for he began fighting at a tiny 106 pounds and now, incredibly, holds the welterweight crown at 147. Already, there are those experts debating whether he is the greatest fighter ever � better than Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali � better at his craft than anyone who ever has laced on a pair of gloves. And at a time when boxing has descended so in popularity, Pacquiao has come to mean almost as much to his sport as to his country-people. He's as exciting in the ring as he is talented. When Pacquiao fights the undefeated American, Floyd Mayweather Jr., in the dream bout - which appears to be set, probably on March 13th - it will almost surely produce the largest gate in the history of the sport.
Should he win over Mayweather, himself previously acclaimed the best pound-for-pound fighter, Pacquiao's place in the boxing pantheon will be sealed. But already, he's taken this brutal sport, and distilled from its blood and guts, the pretty pride that Filipinos never shared before.
SHAPIRO: Commentator Frank Deford knows joins us each Wednesday from member station WSHU in Fairfield, Connecticut.
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Ari Shapiro.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
