How Mad Men is a metaphor for the Masters

I couldn't write it better than Brian Phillips on Grantland, so I shall link to him.

This is a great piece about how some of the themes of Mad Men can be seen in the modern day Masters.

A couple of killer quotes: "Why does Jim Nantz narrate the Masters as if he's already nostalgic for the things he's describing, even while they're taking place?"

"No one wants to go back to the America of Mad Men, but a lot of people want to go to the costume party."

Tiger tantrums

Tiger Woods says he's sorry, and that he respects the game, but in his slow slog back to respectability (if it will ever come) keeps stepping on top of people who have been behaving far better than he. Today, he granted five minutes to the Golf Channel and ESPN to interview him, once again presenting himself as an in-control, nose-in-the-air attention-grabber. Worse yet, he did it when one of his golf colleagues was winning the weekend event. (His first public statement, in February, came at a busy point in another golf tourney, not coincidentally sponsored by Accenture, which had dumped him as a sponsor when its slogan, "Be a Tiger," became understandably awkward.)

Never thought I'd say this, but Tiger is more A-Rod than Jeter. And if you want to know what that means, check out Selena Roberts' A-Rod or Joe Torre's The Yankee Years for the full treatment.

If Tiger's really sorry, he will allow himself to be really questioned, with no caveats, and he will give real answers. This is simply PR crap meant to placate the masses enough to he can put his foot back in the game he has always controlled. Who's to say that once Tiger starts winning, people won't forget the whole November incident? (Many are already giving him a free pass, calling it his personal life.)

Personal life or not, whether what he did was right or not, he violated the public trust that is intertwined in the game, and that is what he needs to answer for. Fine, he won't talk about his family. But these little controlled speaking sessions where he leads the media around on the leash (when the public wants some real answers, and some reasoning for why their hope in the image he had presented was crushed), are not acceptable. Especially when he continues to snub the integrity of the golf world.

Oh, Tiger.

Vanity Fair is digging into the archives for the newest slam on Tiger Woods, using old Annie Lebowitz photos and more-candid material from a 1997 GQ interview to fuel this article, by well-known sportswriter Buzz Bissinger.

I've withheld my view on Tiger mostly because I haven't learned enough/thought enough to give it complete treatment, but off of what this article purports, these are the questions I now have:

For all his "mental toughness," and superb control of his golf game, couldn't he control his desires?

For all his decency, his seeming ability torise about humanity, why was it so difficult for him to find the genuine love that would fuel a choice to commit to his family? (And not even choosing to commit to them in rough times...he had the best of opportunities.)

Is this why he wouldn't let anyone close, why he didn't want anyone to know him?

His golf game slid a bit this year, and his fellow golfers played looser with knowledge of his fallibility. What will they do now that they know he is seriously flawed? Will they prey on his weaknesses? Or will his knowing that they know be enough to take down that big Tiger mental edge?

What matters to him? Does he even care about the public disgrace? What does he want? Money? Fulfillment? With so much gone, does he even care about golf anymore? And if he does, what does that mean?

If he never really loved his wife or wanted to make his marriage work, what can he do now? Does he even want to patch up his family life? What is the motive there?

Will he want real help? (And I'm not talking about his indiscretion...I'm pointing at the whole package. Arrogance. Aloofness. Fraudness. The deceit and avoidance of moral behavior is the main problem here.) Will he ask for help? Will he accept help?

Is this the beginning of the end for him? Many predict the endorsements are irretrievably gone, yet I wonder more about this game he's been stalking for the past decade. What will smashing the records do for him now?

People now know he is a flawed human. If he embraces this and builds on it, will they not love him more? But if he keeps pushing away....

"Woods" will always rank above "Michelson" in the record books, but all those fans who clung to Phil, especially as his wife fell ill, now look like they know how to weed out the phonies.

Those sticking with Tiger ask why it is a big deal that his morals are a mess since they admire the player. But consider this: As fans, we can no longer see him as the epitome of the perfection that results from a character-driven, well-lived life of hard work. He's a trickster that plays his cards, and plays them well. He's figured out how to give superhuman performances on the golf course and weasel up a nice-enough image to pull in endorsement dollars. And he's the ultimate finagler when it comes to keeping the carousel of women going around while hurting his family. That's why you can't root for Tiger the player without thinking of Tiger the person. The Tiger that has been so amazing is rooted in the Tiger that is a fraud.

I wonder what kind of character his father had. First of all, the elder Woods had extremely misplaced priorities in the way he raised his son toward an addiction to golf, winning, and power. You have to wonder what kind of advice he gave his son as Tiger became good enough to get whatever he wanted (his father certainly knew about the women at some level). What kind of husband was Tiger's father? Did he know how to advise his son toward finding true fulfillment, finding a good wife, being a good father to his own kids? Finally, Tiger's dad told everyone his son was the "chosen one," with huge expectations for what one human could do. Did Tiger ever have alternatives? Did he ever think he could just be a person?

Tiger played in a sport that has a very rigid way of doing everything, demanding conformity. Tiger conformed, and was respected and made advances because he did. But at what point in conformity do you lose yourself?

The real problem in this whole situation was never that he "cheated on his wife"; it's that this life he had never was. The loss he is dealing with now is realizing how he really is, and people now wanting him to be treated for who he really is. The arrogance and fraudulence are realities he'll deal with every day, so while people say, "Hey, Kobe recovered from that scandal!", they're forgetting that this isn't Tiger making a mistake with some random woman. This is Tiger being an entirely different person.

Whether it was conformity to his sport, or constructing an image he could live behind, it's safe to guess that everyone is asking who Tiger really is, including Tiger himself. The Vanity Fair article labeled his deceitful actions as him living "a life without meaning."

The question now is whether (A) Tiger realizes the extent of what he has done, (B) whether he wants it to change or just wants to continue as much as he can, cutting his losses, and (C) if he does work toward change, toward a genuine life where he tries to live as person of character, who the people will be who stand beside him.

Back in his groove

It looks like Tiger Woods has finally found his groove after an early season of major hiccups (pun intended). While he trashed his early rounds at the Master's, the U.S. Open and the British Open (missing the cut across the pond), he's a crisp -5 in his first round today at the PGA Championship.

We've all seen it coming, of course, with the recent tear he's had in his (minor) tournament appearances.

Now it's time to see if he pulls it out.

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