Into the Woods - Part 2

Let's get my disclaimer out of the way.

Adultery is wrong. WRONG WRONG WRONG. Even if your wife has broken the marital vows (which involve more than sexual fidelity), even if she is a refuser, even if she says it is okay. Men should not marry a woman and make babies with her unless he can stay faithful.

In this case, we don't know what's going in Tiger Woods' marriage. His wife could be superwife. She could be a nightmare. If she is a nightmare, then we can have a little more understanding for Woods, but we still should condemn adultery.

Based on the reports, it sounds like she committed some serious domestic violence against him. Guess what? Adultery does not justify domestic violence, even if you're still hormonal from having given birth. We, as a society, joke about and even applaud a wife assaulting her husband because he committed adultery. But how would we feel if the sexes were reversed? "But that's different!" Well then, so much for equality.

According to tabloid reports being widely repeated in what passes as serious news dissemination: 1) they are receiving intense marital counseling; 2) Woods has transferred a large seven-figure sum of money into an account she controls in order to get her to stay for now, and 3) she has asked to revise their pre-nup in a way that would be more favorable towards her, especially if she leaves earlier than the 10-year mark.

If that’s true...

1) I pray it is more than just "Shame on you, Tiger. Shame, shame!" Sounds like she needs anger management or some sort of domestic violence counseling. Marital counseling may not do any good, if he's simply not cut out for monogamy, or socially unable or unwilling to fend off groupies, or if he thinks the real problem here is that he chose tramps who couldn't keep their mouths shut. If he thinks he can find a would-be homewrecker who is going to keep her mouth shut about something like this, not even telling her best friend (and that he'd still be attracted to), well, he needs reality counseling.

2) What is she, a whore? If he leaves (or she kicks him out), she'll have financial security anyway. What's with the cash to keep by him? Paying a woman for her mere social presence and/or for sex is called PROSTITUTION.

3) Although I would blast him for adultery, I would also tell Tiger, if I had his ear, not to revise the pre-nup. There's a reason you have a pre-nup in the first place. If she wants to leave, let her leave and live by the conditions to which she agreed when she signed the pre-nup. Why pay an abuser even more money? Practically his whole life, from the moment he could walk, he's been practicing golf. He established himself as one of the world's best golfers before he ever met her. He's the one who goes out and travels and swings the clubs and does endorsements and talks with the media. We're not talking about high school sweethearts, where she worked to support him and pay his tuition as he went to college/graduate school. Why does she deserve any more of his earnings than she is already getting/will get?

Again, adultery is WRONG. But I wouldn't be surprised, given the two recen pregnancies and what that can do, if she got difficult to live with and had cut off the sex. Also, based on past reports about Woods and how he was raised and socialized, he probably has a lot of "issues" to deal with. It was golf, golf, golf, and a crazy, overbearing dad. He didn't even know how to approach a woman to ask her out. That should have been his wife's first clue that there was going to be trouble ahead. He could think of what he's done as "making up for lost time".

These people have two kids. They should admit to themselves and each other what they have done wrong. He should figure out how to stay faithful. She should figure out how to express her anger without violence. And they should raise their kids – together.

And women should stop throwing themselves at - or acquiescing to the advances - of married men. Even if he's rich, famous, talented, and athletic.

Finally... Tiger... just because someone puts a bunch of clams on a plate in front of you doesn't mean you should eat them. Learn these words: "I'm married. I chose to get married. I'm a father. I chose to be a father. I have an obligation to my wife and children. No."