Monday, December 7, 2009

TIGER AND HIS "TRANSGRESSIONS", A DOUBLE STANDARD PERHAPS?

Unless if you have been living under a rock over the past week or so, then you know that Tiger Woods's life has essentially turned upside-down. Of what started of as a minor thing (him getting into an accident by running over a fire hydrant) turned out to be this firestorm that everyone seems to be dumping kerosene into to make it even more devastating. We can thank the TMZ world that we live in for this, because if not for their paparazzi style of journalism, then maybe we would not be talking about this as much today. However, aside from Kobe Bryant, I can think of some people who the media did not really scrutinize for creeping around.

Case in point, Shaquille O'Neal is in the process of being divorced for the second time from his wife Shaunie during their seven-year marriage. The interesting thing is that O'Neal has not been known to be faithful throughout that tenure, with the latest alleged incident stemming from him having a possible affair with Gilbert Arenas' fiance, who is friends with Shaunie, in a crazy "love square".

Sadly it seems like Woods shares a similar comparison to the guy who possibly brought O'Neal's exploits to the forefront, Kobe Bryant. In 2003, a woman claimed that Bryant sexually assaulted her, and Kobe's life became a living hell for a short time. Bryant lost sponsors and some of the media piled on, including questioning his innocence when he bought his wife a $4 million ring while the situation went on. The situation died down after the case was settled out of court and Bryant gained back sponsors but it still left a blemish on his image.

Maybe the reason why Woods and Bryant are scrutinized more is because they seem to have had the label of being "too good to be true", you know, the seemingly "perfect" guy who is a model citizen for adults and children all alike. However, Shaq is still marketable with his Icy-Hot and Comcast commercials, his line of tennis shoes, and his shows "Shaq's Big Challenge" (about getting obese kids in shape) and "Shaq Vs." (about O'Neal challenging sports stars to their own games). Whatever the case may be, it is truly not right, most importantly, we will realize the whole truth soon.