Leave Eldrick T. Woods Alone. Please. NOW.

Leave Eldrick T. Woods Alone. Please. NOW.
M.D. Wright
1.4.10

***EDITOR'S NOTE: In lieu of the upcoming Vanity Fair spread featuring Woods, the following column is necessary.

... And mind you, this is coming from someone who doesn't care about the man beyond the golf course. I like to see the best of the best play and excel in every sport, but off the field/course/court, I couldn't care less what they do outside of murder, treason or other high crimes. The people pointing the fingers the most at this man are guilty of some of the same things he's done -- or WORSE -- themselves. Knock it off, sheesh.

But my bigger gripe, beyond Tiger getting caught in a gaffle is the ones I hear complaining most.

Yes, beyond Tiger and the story being on the front page of the Daily News, Post, Times longer than 9/11 coverage was (a RECORD number of consecutive days), it is the outrage that he doesn't come out and claim he's Black (fair enough, I couldn't care less, remember) and the worst yet:

BROADS ARE MAD THAT HE CHEATED WITH ONLY WHITE SLAGS.

Seriously, why do you care? If he had been cheating with Black women, would you have applauded it (you who have this gripe with him and are bellyaching about that sole fact?)

I don't feel sorry for him. He got caught with his pants down (pun intended) and he's not sorry about it. He's just sorry he got caught and it's costing him millions upon millions (as more companies jump off the bandwagon) in endorsements. So be it -- even if a lot of these guys making these board decisions are guilty of doing the same things themselves and have the nerve to cite ethics clauses and image clashes.

Whatever.

Guys like Woods, who grew up in the suburbs in Central Coast California, doesn't "speak" or "act" Black, and marries a White woman, after doing his best to sidestep any association with blackness besides the requisite acknowledgement of his father and obvious Black-tinged phenotypical features, never stand a real shot with 97.8% of Black women as it is. If it's not being mocked for not being "Black enough", then he's going to get clowned for being nerdy (high marks entering and exiting Stanford University, world renown for its high academic standards). I'm not even on his level in any way academically, professionally and fiscally, and I've seen it myself. Now, granted, I've lived in the hood here and there in between stints of living in suburban areas, but dear God. I can switch it up and not be flagged as a fronter. But Woods, well, he got his upbringing honest. And no matter his desire to breakdown his ethnic heritage, no matter his choice of woman to marry, no matter that he cheats (although I definitely don't condone nor condemn it), why are the very type of women who would give him the most grief for who he is and how he grew up now voicing their displeasure solely because he didn't cheat with women of color?

GOODNESS GRACIOUS SAKES ALIVE. Enough with the Tribal Race nonsense.