´Tis the Season for Apologies

Tiger Woods appeared on television on the Friday of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship to read a statement of apology for his indiscretions and how his behavior, both on and off the golf course, has affected the game and people´s opinions of him. This apology came days after Mark McGwire issued his second apology in a month for his steroid use during his baseball career. The tabloid universe that we all live in would seem to take delight in the fall from grace of celebrities, but interestingly, these apologies are just as big as the news that created their necessity.

Mark McGwire used steroids, but claims that he did not knowingly use them for performance enhancement. That, however, is not the story. The story is the fact that during his career, despite his changes in appearance, he denied using any banned substances, even though steroids were not among Major League Baseball´s listed banned substances. The story is the fact that when Jose Canseco´s book Juiced was released, detailing McGwire´s steroid use, he openly denied any truth to the accusations. The story is that when testifying in front of Congress regarding steroid use, McGwire asserted his Fifth Amendment right not to testify. Now, the story is the fact that McGwire has admitted to doing something that, while not illegal by baseball standards, casts a dark cloud on his career, especially in light of his new position as hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.

The allegations of his steroid use have kept him out of the Hall of Fane for four straight ballotings, and the prospects do not look any brighter for the future because of all of the writers who feel that McGwire cheated, even though he did not do anything that others were not doing and because at the time, it was not illegal by baseball standards. Still, Mark McGwire felt the need to apologize, once when he was hired as Cardinals hitting coach, and once again this past week as spring training is set to get underway.

Fortunately or unfortunately for Mark McGwire, depending on your point of view, his apology was only news for a day or so because Tiger Woods was set to issue his first public statement regarding the infidelity issues that caused his traffic accident on the night of November 27, and sent him into rehab for sexual addiction. Tiger´s statement was filled with apologies to the various persons and entities that he feels that he has hurt or shamed, but, he included in his statement a line where he tells the media that any tabloid questions that they might have will be answered, but those answers will remain private between him and his estranged wife Elin.

Tiger Woods story, coincidentally, began as the result of a National Enquirer piece that outed his infidelity. From there, every newspaper, magazine and television show has been speculating on every aspect of Tiger Woods´ relationships, both with his wife and with the various women who claimed to have been involved in sexual relationships with the golf champion. Were it not for the fact that Tiger, like Mark McGwire had, kept himself out of the public eye, he would have been inundated with interview requests and questions and would never have been able to find a moment´s peace.

There will be those who will feel that Tiger´s statement was selfish because it was held during a tournament sponsored by one of the companies that dropped Tiger as an endorser when the story of his behavior broke last November. Those people will feel that he was trying to upstage the tournament as a manner of revenge, even though he is a three-time winner of the event. There are also those who feel that he owes more to golf and should be more apologetic to the game and the other players, even though in 1998, Tiger´s second full year on the tour, one win and 13 Top-10 finishes in 19 tournaments (Tiger´s numbers for the year) was worth less that $2 million, while in 2004, with Tiger 40 victories and 8 majors in to his career, one win and 13 Top-10 finishes in 19 tournaments (again, Tiger´s numbers for the year) was worth over $5 million. Clearly, Tiger would seem to owe golf nothing as he has given the game so much already.

In truth, both Tiger Woods and Mark McGwire are human. While their exploits in their respective sports may cast them as superhuman, they are, in fact, human, and by being human, they are capable of and prone to mistakes. Maybe steroid use makes a human a better baseball player, but it does make a baseball player human. Infidelity does not make a human a better or worse golfer, but it does classify a golfer as human. Being human means that people are going to make mistakes and the apologies for those mistakes should go to the people who were wronged. Mark owes an apology to the game, his fans, other players, and to the Maris Family, but he should not have to do it every month. Tiger owes an apology to the PGA Tour, his sponsors, his wife and his family. What these men do not owe anyone are apologies for being human, which they are. Both of these men made mistakes, and have apologized for them. Now, they should be allowed to move on without the tabloid universe questioning their every breath.