Tiger Woods Stands Up for His Wife

Here's the Associated Press story:

Woods Rips Irish Mag for Story on Wife
By DOUG FERGUSON, AP Golf Writer
Wed Sep 20, 8:38 PM

STRAFFAN, Ireland - Tiger Woods was outraged Wednesday at an Irish magazine and a tabloid that linked photos of his wife to various pornography sites, and his agent was studying the merits of a lawsuit.

The publisher, Dubliner Media Limited, issued an apology saying it was a satire and didn't expect anyone to take it seriously.

Woods was among those who did.

"My wife, yes, she has been a model prior, and she did do some bikini photos," Woods said. "But to link her to porn Web sites and such is unacceptable, and I do not accept that at all. Neither does our team."

The Dubliner magazine wrote in its September issue about Elin Nordegren, his Swedish wife of nearly two years.

"Most American golfers are married to women who cannot keep their clothes on in public," the magazine wrote. "Is it too much to ask that they leave them at home for the Ryder Cup? Consider the evidence. Tiger Woods' wife can be found in a variety of sweaty poses on porn sites."

The Irish Daily Star gave it front-page treatment Wednesday with the headline, "Tiger's Fury at Naked Pictures."

Inside the tabloid, it reprinted photos of Nordegren in a bikini, along with a nude photo of a woman purported to be Nordegren. Woods vehemently denied it was his wife when it first came out three years ago.

"The publisher and staff at The Dubliner acknowledge that the satirical article was inappropriate and wish to sincerely apologize to Tiger Woods, his wife, Elin Nordegren and other Ryder Cup players and their families for any offense they may have taken to it," said the statement.

Mark Steinberg, his agent at IMG, said he was debating whether to pursue a lawsuit.

"It's ridiculous," Steinberg said from IMG headquarters in Cleveland. "I can't say much now because of prejudice, because I'm not sure what we'll do in the future. Everyone knew it (the nude photo) wasn't her. It's plain as day. You can see it's not factual. It's kind of ironic they bring it up this week."

It was the first topic Woods brought up at his news conference leading to the Ryder Cup, which starts Friday at The K Club. He was not scheduled to speak to reporters until Thursday, but asked to move the session to Wednesday.

"I thought Tiger handled that extremely well," U.S. captain Tom Lehman said. "He dealt with it first thing today. He got it out of the way so that we all move on. I think the whole team understands his frustration. Nobody likes that. But it was kind of like, 'I want to say something ... and let's get back to the business of the Ryder Cup.'"

Woods said his anger has nothing to do with the Irish people or the gallery that came to the golf course, even on Wednesday when the course was closed for three hours in the morning because of 40 mph wind and rain.

"I know the media can be a little bit difficult at times, but when you ... it's hard to be very diplomatic about this when you have so much emotion involved, when my wife is involved in this," Woods said. "As I said, I don't want that to deter from the beauty of this event."

Woods said making public his feelings was a matter of sticking up for his wife.

"You do things for the people you love and you care about," Woods said. "My father got ridiculed for years, and I always felt for my father and my mother the same way. My wife, we're in it together. We're a team, and we do things as a team. And I care about her with all my heart."

Phil Mickelson was asked how the U.S. team felt about the stories.

"I don't think it shows too much about your profession," Mickelson replied, pausing for effect. "Other than that, I just heard about it recently."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Peace.
_________
“Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps.” - Tiger Woods

 

He's doing what any real man would do.

 

very true

 

I agree.

 

I agree with Omaha, Silver [ :wink: ] and Soul on that.

I wonder if they did that just to get him off of his game for the Rider Cup???

I've seen wilder things in the game of pro sports.

 

My hat is off to Tiger. It takes a lot of character (and GUTS) to do what he did for his woman.

 

Me and Tiger has that in common. Standing up for our women.
Thats a strong marriage.

 

Tiger has always been a class act. More power to him!

BT

 

Some people talk the biggest pile of bull. 'It's what any real man would do', 'it shows guts and character'. People love to eulogise because someone is a celebrity or successful. Let's keep it real. It's what any ordinary person might or might not do. It shows that he was irritated by the reports and probably concerned about his wife. That's it.

 

So, what's wrong with our posts exactly? Are you saying that just because he's a celebrity, we can't give him any credit for standing up for his wife? And, who was talking about ordinary people besides you? For someone who doesn't like to read 'bull', you sure do know how to write it.

 

Hey, you can give credit to whoever you want for whatever reason. I just thought the responses were fawning and sychophantic, but that seems to be the vogue at the moment, so carry on. I prefer to keep it real, and accurate.

 

What defines "real"?

 

Without exaggeration or magnification.

 

It's quite an interesting phenomenon that it's tolerated if people complain about "no good black men" ad nauseam, but as soon as a man is doing the right thing and people comment him for the things he does right, there is always someone who feels the urge to dismiss his actions as "no big deal" or "something he is supposed to do" - no matter if the man in question is a celebrity or an "ordinary" person.

I can't even count how often I heard women lament about "dead beat dads" and "irresponsible fathers", but as soon as they saw themselves confronted with a man who took care of his children, the only response they could come up with was "so, you want a cookie now or what?" or "now you want praise for something you are supposed to do or what?" or similar nonsense. Or those people who keep on complaining about a lack of respect and chivalry, but then walk by like the almighty queen mom not even able to mutter a "thank you" if a man offers his seat or holds the door open for them.

If you want respect, then you have to offer respect, and part of that respect is not to take things for granted but to comment people if they are doing the right thing and to show them that their actions are appreciated. That's it.

 

Silver, will you marry me? :shock:

 

For some oddball reason, our responses bothered you to write what you wrote, but at the same time, you don't care? :roll: So, what was the point anyway? And how exactly are we 'not keeping it real' by praising Tiger? Let's try to make sense the next time we reply, OK?

 

I would'nt say they bothered me. I would say, I found them amusing. No reason for me to mention it, other than to amuse myself. I was'nt under the impression that Tiger Woods had done anything that would warrant such glowing praise. Fairly standard really, defending your partner's modesty. Probably more easily done by someone in his position as well, but certainly not something that distinguishes someone as having class or, on this occassion, that demonstrates guts and character. Eulogising of this kind, reminds me of the message behind the Peter Sellers satire, 'Being There', for which he won an Oscar by the way.

 

Ok, so I got it wrong. Peter Sellers did'nt win the Oscar for 'Being There'. He was nominated. Still pretty good though.

 

I agree with youngcontrarian...

Tiger did something right, and it`s great to stand up for those you love, especially your wife!

But did it take a lot of guts??? was it a heroic act???of course NOT!

If one doesn`t stand for those he loves, that is terrible...if it takes guts to defend your wife, jeez...then there`s a problem...

I wouldn`t need guts to go and fight the Hulk if he was trying to rape my gf...he`d probably kill me, but you can bet he`ll leave with a few scars and bruises

 

Well frankly it's people who come in here with responses like young that get me thinking "troll".