Couch: Police, Masters, Media Giving Tiger a Pass Is A Bad Look For Everyone

Tiger Woods was driving way too fast and went straight when the road turned. That’s it? That’s all we’re going to find out about his accident? That’s all the police are planning to tell us? Because we already knew that just by looking at the pictures of the heap that was once the SUV Woods had been driving 84-87 mph, pedal to the metal, in a 45 zone, hitting signs and trees and sending his vehicle into the air in a pirouette.

And the networks covering the Masters are just going to pitch a story about how much everyone misses Woods during his recovery, as if some drunken driver had run him down while he was helping an old lady cross the street, carrying her groceries.

Look, the coverup for Tiger Woods isn’t doing anyone any good. The police “report’’ came out just as the Masters started. So Woods is still dominating golf.

No one wants cold reality to interfere with our annual description of Augusta National’s dogwoods and azaleas. Surely, ESPN and CBS are going to pitch a story about Woods that their advertisers want pitched. But I’m not comfortable with this BS narrative about Woods being a victim.

It does not help to sugarcoat reality.

Woods was endangering other people’s lives, as well as his. And it would lend an awful lot of credibility if the police and the networks would include that little bit of information in their fairy tale.

Because what we’re getting now doesn’t answer the question of whether Woods was just carelessly going too fast and endangering lives on the winding roads in California or if maybe it was even more serious than that. Maybe, once again, Woods was behind the wheel when he shouldn’t have been. 

Remember, he endangered lives in 2017 when he was pulled over and was found to have a concoction of drugs in his system. He wasn’t even tested after the crash in February, as police say there was no indication of intoxication or any other substance. Well, the indication might have been his past, which once included getting behind the wheel with a mix of Vicodin and Ambien, a painkiller and sleeping pill, in his system.

This time, Woods just recently had yet another surgery. According to USA Today, the police report mentioned that “An empty pharmaceutical bottle was found in a backpack at the scene of the crash with no label or indication of what was inside.”

Does it ruin people’s day to ask the question of whether he might have taken some sort of painkiller before endangering our lives again? Maybe Woods shouldn’t be allowed to drive for a while after his mangled legs heal?

What do we have the right to know? Woods deserves privacy regarding his health, if that’s what he wants. But in this case, he was endangering the life of everyone else who might have been in the area, maybe out walking their dog, pushing their baby in a stroller to the park, riding their bike.

Again.

The police should be focused on protecting us, not just a golf legend who makes sheriffs all googly-eyed and gets them on the news.

Maybe that’s just a little too much cold reality for advertisers to connect their products to.

We already know that Woods’ life story isn’t what it was originally crafted to be by Nike and marketers. We found that out years ago. A lot of people have a lot invested in him and want their investments to come with a pristine feel. 

Woods is a human being, an amazing mix of talent and success, social relevance  and troubled waters. He has done a lot and has meant a lot. So celebrate that. Hope for his recovery, physically and mentally. But reality is reality, and let’s not create a misleading one to sell shoes and golf clubs.

That just doesn’t help anyone.