Take them off that pedestal, because they’ll fall anyway …

I really have to think long and hard about a time that I put a celebrity on some type of pedestal. You know why? Because I don’t believe in placing anyone there, especially not some celebrity. This year we’ve watched celebrities go to jail, cheat on their spouses and die. Yeah, regular people do that every day. Nothing to see here folks, nothing to see here. But because of their celebrity and living in the public eye folks think that these celebs are super heroes and some sort of super human. Nope, they’re just human like us. They bleed, breathe and cheat, steal and lie just like every day people. I’m never shocked when a celeb gets caught up in drama. You shouldn’t be either.

As you know we’re going into like week two of this Tiger Woods situation and from jump, I thought it was a silly situation. I also thought from jump, while I joked about it, that Tiger owes us nothing. Nothing at all. Most of the folks passing judgement on him and demanding some sort of explanation don’t help him earn his money. They don’t watch golf or buy many of the products that he endorses. Plus, why should he explain his 45 side pieces to us? Sure, it’s funny but that’s his situation.

I read this great editorial that really summed up this Tiger Woods situation very nicely (weirdly enough, I read it in the newspaper). Figured I’d share some excerpts from that piece. Real talk folks, knock down that pedestal and stop waiting for an explanation.

Tommy Tomlinson: Self-examination in wake of Tiger troubles
I’m not interested in whether Tiger Woods owes us an explanation beyond what he said Wednesday morning: “I have let my family down and I regret my transgressions with all of my heart.”

I’m more interested in the explanations we owe him.

Or, maybe, ourselves…

… Can we explain why we still expect gifts to come with grace? If watching celebrities has taught us anything, it’s that talent is doled out with the fairness of a roulette wheel. The finest singers, the boldest painters, the most brilliant politicians — as people, they’re no better than the rest of us, except they’re faced with more temptations. Yet we keep trying to link great skill with great morality, even though when they match up it’s just dumb luck.

It’s fine to admire Tiger for his ability to stripe a drive down the fairway of the 18th hole at the Masters. But that’s what he does. It’s not who he is. To believe otherwise is to be like a child who believes Batman is real …

… We don’t know Tiger Woods. All we know is the little bits we see on the golf course, and the professionally crafted images on commercials, and now this sad little moment in his driveway at 2 in the morning.

Those pieces don’t add up to a real human being.

And maybe the last thing we need to explain to ourselves is why we think they do.

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