(Detroit) Lions, Tiger (Woods), and (Chicago) Bears…Oh My

I was hesitant about blogging about this whole Tiger Woods story because I really wished for his wife's sake that it would go away. But, since it is around to stay I guess it's time for me to say my piece. Am I going to say Tiger is a terrible person? No. I don't know him as a person. Am I going to say he is a terrible husband? Absolutely. I can't help but to think about what this has done to his poor wife Elin. Could you imagine having to face this shame in front of the whole world. Here she is a beautiful and supportive woman in her own right who was played. And played. And played. And played. Could you imagine what this must be doing to her self-esteem?

For most people male and female the giving of ourselves physically and emotionally to one person along with vows of love fidelity before God, family and in her case the media is the most intimate and vulnerable commitment one can make. It takes implicit trust, prenup or not to tell the world in essence that I believe in this man/woman so much that I am willing to join my life to theirs. Then the joy that is experienced by all those who celebrate this love with you. When it works out well there could be no greater pleasure in life. But, when it fails like it has in Tiger Woods' case there could be no greater shame or agony.

While apparently in the sports world it is a given that your husband will have affairs with female "fans" and associates all over the world, this trend has definitely affected all families. Even those whose husband/wife is of little material means, but eventually is enticed away from their family while selling a Big Gulp to a female customer at the 7/11 that they work at or through romantic trysts via the Internets.

Marriage in the mind of many is no longer sacred. It has become only a documented agreement between two people that each other is sort of a home base (you catch the sports reference?). That while they go out and have pseudo relationships with several people you are the one that they come home to. That when there is money to be made, children to be raised or houses to be decorated you are the one who gets the proceeds and the responsibility. Hence, the attitude that regardless of what the spouse does you are their "Number 1". This is especially true when it comes to sports figures.

While I could drone into a long list of every professional sportsman/woman who has ever cheated on their spouses there just isn't enough blogs or blog posts in the world to cover them all. For years there has been the many stories about football, baseball and basketball superstars who had a different woman every night (see Wilt Chamberlain and his 10,000 women), I think the shock with Tiger Wood's is that he may be the first golfer to be the most prolific in this department.

With all the stories of Tiger's many women I see a lot of people talking about him and rightly so he should have lived up to the vows that he made to his wife, but what about the women who knew he had a wife and family? They are now painted as martyrs who were somehow duped into this adulterous relationship. There are millions of women (sorry ladies it had to be said) that just live to have affairs with these men. They don't care if their married and have forty children at home. They have a selfish desire that they go out of their way to meet. They wait inside locker rooms, team buses, hotel rooms, they call, pester, badger, coerce and even scheme their way into these people's lives just to experience a piece of their life. While at the same time some of these men go out of their way to pursue the women.

Believe me, I am in no way siding here. I share the Bible's opinion that marriage is a union between a man and a woman that results in them becoming "one flesh". I certainly believe also that it is meant to last a lifetime and not to be prenuped in preparation of its inevitable and eventual failure. We (the general public) have gotten used to hearing these stories of betrayal-Tiger Woods' being the latest crop-we still know it isn't limited to celebrities. If you have ever had a close friend, family member or even just a co-worker or neighbor who has been through this, you know first hand the pain it causes. If you yourself are married and have been the cheater or the cheatee then, you realize the reality of this is even greater.

My words to anyone, whether you are a professional sports player or you just play ball with your boys on the weekend, when tempted: Remember your vows and the expectations that go along with them. That goes for the women as well, if you have your eyes set on a married athlete, or if you are just a woman who enjoys the company of a married male coworker (which is the first step) put yourself in the shoes of their wife. How would you feel? If everyone did share God's view of marriage then there would never be a need to be scared of Lions, Tigers, or Bears.

Thanks for reading,