MyTenSense.com

Although he read from a 1,545-word script, I believe Tiger Woods was sincere during his 14-minute apology Friday for bringing down professional golf for his multiple affairs behind his wife’s back.
But I don’t think his public apology has done anything to alter the opinions people formed about him when the scandal broke last Thanksgiving.
And only time will tell if Tiger is really remorseful for what he described as giving into the temptations of being rich and famous because he felt entitled for working so hard to be the world’s top golfer and the first billionaire athlete.
Yet as he said, his private life is no one’s business but his and his wife Elin’s. It’s not like he cheated and contracted HIV to jeopardize other players as Magic Johnson did. Or that he was charged for raping a woman and thus cheating on his wife as Kobe Bryant did.
What Tiger did was wrong, but it’s between him and his wife.
That’s why it was unnecessary for him to give a public apology, which can be viewed in full here, to explain why he cheated.
The only people he owed an apology to were those of whom he likely already apologized to in private: his wife, his children, his mother, his staff, his sponsors, his foundation.
It’s hard to tell if Elin, who tabloids have speculated is divorcing the golfer, has forgiven Tiger. She wasn’t present during the press conference and it really doesn’t matter.
Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer and many other unfaithful public figures had their wives by their side during public apologies and ended up divorcing.
So it doesn’t matter that Elin wasn’t there. She was where she needed to be — home with her and Tiger’s two young children.
Since Tiger said he’s not returning to golf any time soon, his latest apology appeared to be his attempt to restore his wife’s image, appease his mom Kutilda who sat on the front row and to demand that paparazzi stop harassing his family, especially his 2-year-old daughter who has been followed to school.
But Tiger’s ultimatum likely fell on deaf ears. The paparazzi is still going to chase his wife, his mom, his children and him until he completes his sex rehab and returns to golf to give the media a less private reason to talk about him.
However, Tiger’s wife, mom, staff and others who care about him heard his apology loud and clear and I bet they have or will eventually forgive him. Those are the only people who deserved to hear an apology from him.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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I’ve never cared for Tiger Woods even though we’re the same age and he began his pro golf career as I began my sports writing career in the late 1990s.
I just never cared for his persona of being Mr. Perfect and the fact that he dissed the African-American culture on The Oprah Show by saying he considers himself a cablanasian and not a black man. But that’s a whole other story.

Despite not caring a flip about Tiger, I don’t get any satisfaction out of his name and family being dragged through the mud. For some reason, I actually feel empathy for him and especially his Swedish wife Elin, who has to come to grips with not one affair, but now 16 different mistresses and more are sure to come.
Tiger’s mess has spilled over into American households, where workers will lose their jobs to compensate for the major losses ahead for companies tied to the world’s No. 1 golfer. According to CNN, the billionaire golfer is estimated to have a $600 million impact on the U.S. economy.
Accenture LPC, which put all its eggs into Woods’ basket, has withdrawn its sponsorship. Golf analysts expect Tiger’s peers on the PGA Tour to take a big hit because tournament earnings will be much smaller without Woods on the course to bring in TV revenue. TV viewership was down 50 percent while Woods sat out with a knee injury last year.
Officials in Sheboygan County, Wisc., said Woods’ presence at the 2004 PGA Championship, brought $76 million to the state, and they expect to lose out on millions if the world’s No. 1 golfer is absent from the tournament in August.
But Tiger’s women will be just fine.
Since Tiger crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant to burst open a major sex scandal three weeks ago, 16 women have come forward about sleeping with him. Most of Tiger’s women have been paid by news organizations and tabloids to share their story. A few of them have been offered $1 million to pose nude. And it’s been speculated that even Tiger has chipped in to keep some of the women quiet.
But Elin Woods, who has been photographed out without her wedding ring, stands to profit the most. She already has bought a $2 million home on a Swedish island, and stands to get tens of millions for divorcing Tiger.
So we finally know that Tiger isn’t the goody two-shoes he always portrayed, and the women he has used, particularly his wife, are getting their piece of the billionaire’s success.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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Tiger Woods is more loyal than he’s given credit for after being exposed for cheating on his wife and trying to cover it up.
While tabloids and news media chastise him for his disloyalty, he is absorbing all of the scrutiny and protecting Elin Nordegren, the mother of their 2-year-old daughter and 9-month-old son by turning down three requests to talk to the police about the post-Thanksgiving Day incident that resulted in his $164 reckless driving ticket for backing into a fire hydrant and a tree outside his Orlando area mansion.
If he talks to the police, his wife likely will go to jail because Florida’s state law requires a mandatory arrest in a domestic violence dispute even if neither party presses charges.
By refusing to cooperate with police, Tiger is keeping mum that his wife actually roughed him up during a feud, likely caused by The National Enquirer’s story that the world’s No. 1 golfer is having an affair. His wife chased him out of the house with a golf club that she probably used to cause the bruises on his face. To escape his wife’s wrath, Tiger anxiously backpedaled his Cadillac Escalade out of the driveway and crashed. Elin pulled him out.
When police arrived, Tiger commended his wife for acting courageously and rescuing him.
Now, Tiger is returning the favor by keeping Elin out of jail, and he has talked to some friends about rewarding her by buying her a multi-millionaire dollar ring just as Kobe Bryant did when he publicly confessed to cheating on his wife amid rape allegations in 2003.
But by keeping his wife out of jail, the billionaire golfer proved his loyalty more than a ring could. After all, his wedding ring didn’t keep him from cheating.

By Teneshia LaFaye
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/teneshialafaye
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