End of the Beginning.
Superstar athlete Tiger Woods car crashing on his own block is not a happy story, and it is not going to get better. The details given out are incomprehensible. Husband and wife are the best witnesses, and they left the hospital before the police could take a statement. Whatever is going on, we don't have it and may not want it. The larger picture is that of cookie-cutter exclusive Orlando, Florida, a gated community called Isleworth, which is said to resemble a gilded cage for high-net-worth big spenders. Crashing your own Escalade at 0225 hours into a fire hydrant is the first clue that there is no escape from whatever has locked you up. "The Prisoner" as farce and tragedy. Bring in the PR firm, Mr. Woods, start spending time with youth groups who want to learn golf, visit a clinic, the end of the beginning. Is this part of the crack-up of the banking world? Likely. Those high-price tournaments, those extravagant golf-playing societies, the fees paid as part of your package or bonus, or just as a corporate perk, all crashing. Time to short sale the fairways. Early century party is over. Meanwhile, POTUS has a nicotine-craving for bad, obsessive golfing in the company of his suddenly Keystone Kop musclemen from the Secret Service and a handful of tongueless Chicago cronies. Somehow it feels as if the gate-crashing flapdoodle, the Tiger Woods car-crashing brouhaha, and the POTUS mad-golfing mania are all going to get together in one tale. Supermen cry, too. No more McGuffins for the banks, the TARPs, the pols, the media. The reality TV show of 2009 is foreclosed and about to be marked down severely.
So now we hear that his injuries weren't caused by the crash, but rather his wife, wielding a golf club. Whatever for? smile. It seems the golden boy of golf is human after all, no kryptonite needed. Just a lapse in judgement I presume, and possibly a cuckolded wife. A friend onece told me "many a kingdom has been lost to the golden hole", and this has nothing to do with golf. Nuff said.
As far as POTUS goes, if he strayed, I could see why. Being married to the likeness of Patrick Ewing in drag would have its drawbacks. Tiger has no excuse in that department.
Nice connect to "The Prisoner" and the suggestion that a man might find himself imprisoned by his wealth (a notion that is counterintuitive). Common parlance has it that only poverty can imprison. (This, of course runs contrary to Jesus' own words on the subject.)
If wealth imprisons, and poverty imprisons, then we all are prisoners, no matter our circumstance. This is perhaps a tedious way of saying also the opposite: that we are free; that if we should feel in any way imprisoned, we are doing it to ourselves of our own free will.
Far from it for me to disparage the treasured illusion of victimhood. The other is just much too unthinkable: It is what Castaneda refers to as 'the second attention'; what Conrad refers to as 'the heart of darkness'; what Camus refers to as 'the fall'.
Tiger will come out of it. He has talent and grace. Whatever demons are haunting him will whither and die on the vine. It is ever tempting to liken Woods' to POTUS simply because they look so much alike. If Barrack Hussein Obama had any natural talents, besides lying compulsively, a comparison might be a propos.
http://peterkoelliker.blogspot.com/
In some ways we are imprisoned by our very existence as human beings. The spirit wants to fly, but the body cannot.
As far as this episode goes, it;s just another instance of someone falling off the pedestal. It took about 8 months of Obama, with tiger it took years. I think Tiger would appreciate Jigoro Kano's quote that fits nicely here:"The man who is at the peak of his success, and the man who has just failed are in exactly the same position. Each must decide what he will do next." I bet Obama will be stuck there a lot longer than tiger.
Those with a low value sexual marketplace value relative to that of their partner will be inclined to react irrationally when the relationship is threatened. The above is a textbook example of what I mean.
I disagree. If someone has high(er) moral values, they may be outraged at such behavior. I would content that there are unequal moral values at work here. Looking at it realistically, they have two kids. Baring an ironclad pre-nup, he will lose big time. A great movie that demonstrated the arrogance of celebrity was Funny People. Assholes will always be assholes.
Higher moral values? Man, she didn't even yell Fore!
Are you sure? It sounded like whore...
Recently a middle-aged grass widow and I were having a deeply intellectual conversation about the latest tabloid rumors of Brad Pitt's infidelity, and she said glumly, "You see, even Angelina Jolie can't keep a man."
"No," I told her, "she just can't keep that man. There's a difference."
Women who set their sights on the alpha male--and in the process pass over less glamorous, but worthier mates--have no particular reason to act surprised when the inevitable happens.
There's alpha, beta and omega. I am an omega. :)
Naw, this guy was the real Omega Man.
Damn it, the link doesn't work. Try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-MosmUseSY&feature=player_embedded
By Omega man, I mean someone that choses not to be an alpha or beta necessarily, but could eat either for lunch. As far as Chuck goes, I liked his movie better than the will smith version.
I will refrain from any Soylent Green jokes.
OK. Kick their ass. Eat for lunch was a bad one.
JB, I agree with the death of corporate Golf culture. Private clubs, houses on the fairway, gated communites. Private jets to the GooberCom championship in Palm Springs or Aspen. Dead or Dying.
Dubai proves you cannot put a layer of gilt (a thing gold veneer) on a hotel or residential tower and expect the Neuveau Riche to flock in.
Billion Dollar City Center opens today on the strip in Lost Wages, Nevada. Dubai World bet 5 billion USD on another piece of sand. Casinos are empty, corporate travel severely cut. Lots of Grandmothers and Senior women still go to Vegas. Will they buy a 6000 dollar Louis Vuitton bag? Very doubtful. Several years ago, Vegas decided to focus on the big spenders and ignore families, more Gaming, nudity and Alcohol, less family entertainment.