If Tiger is now 'more human,' we need higher standards

A famous athlete turns out to be not quite what we thought he was.

And this is surprising why?

The only really shocking thing about the bimbos who are coming out of the Woods-work is that Tiger was publicly exposed in the first place.

Membership to the superstar s' club is supposed to come with privileges that prevent these scandals from surfacing. Woods isn't as lucky as, say, Michael Jordan.

Woods will recover nicely, of course, because the supremely talented always do.

Fans, media and the public at large can make life rough on an athlete who betrays their naive, child-like beliefs, but they get over it fairly quickly to absolve the star of his transgressions.

People will want to watch Woods play golf again and win tournaments and endorse products they can't afford to buy.

Celebrity always trumps morality. Kobe Bryant bounced back from a far worse sex scandal. And he wasn't nearly as popular as Tiger.

For the time being, though, the tawdry details have opened up a public dialogue that involves an array of perplexing commentary. One argument in defense of Woods - at least I think it's a defense - goes like this: "It just proves he's human."

In conversation with people and in listening to squawk radio, I hear variations on the same theme: "This makes him seem human."

Really? Would he have been less human had he remained faithful to his wife? It's an interesting concept.

A guy runs into a burning building to save a child. We don't say that his heroic act "just proves he's human." We save that for married guys who sleep around with cocktail waitresses.

We've set a pretty low standard for what it means to be human.

I get it. Woods seemed too perfect. His carefully crafted image, which included the perfect domestic package of beautiful blond wife and two children, supposedly made him unapproachable.

So what is he now, a man of the people? And at what price?

Woods' marital infidelity isn't open for debate here - it's not as if only superstars cheat - but his stupidity is.

The grand facade is badly cracked. For the time being, he's sharing space with Jon and Kate and those plastic-surgery-gone-bad stories on magazine racks in supermarket checkout lines. He's being made to look very foolish.

Spending quality time with what euphemistically used to be called "party girls," Tiger revealed a side of him that has embarrassed his fans and sponsors.

His transgressions shouldn't have been shocking. Men with money and power like to flex their libidos. But Woods' image was too well packaged to avoid anything but outrage - some real, some pretend - when the bimbos hit the fan.

From here, the drama will play out predictably.

Woods will be required to squirm some more as tabloid headlines hack at him for duping a public that wanted to be duped.

Before long, though, his fans and the media will issue him a pass.

Because they like him.

And because they're only human.

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com