If you pay any attention to sports -- or to national news in general -- you know there was one story that dominated the headlines and the airwaves over Thanksgiving break: Tiger Woods got into a car crash that sent him to the hospital. If for some reason you were so busy eating turkey and stuffing that you managed not to hear, allow me to fill you in on the details.
As reported by ESPN.com, Woods crashed into a fire hydrant and a tree close to his house as he was pulling out of the driveway at 2:25 a.m. on Friday morning. His wife, Elin Nordegren, allegedly heard the crash from the house, grabbed a golf club and broke the rear window of the vehicle in order to get her husband out of the car.
When emergency response personnel arrived at the scene, they said that Tiger had cuts on his face and lips and that he was in and out of consciousness.
Also of relevance to this event is the fact that the National Enquirer just last Wednesday reported that Woods was having an affair with "New York City party girl" Rachel Uchitel. Now, the Enquirer might not seem like the most reputable news source (because it's not), but keep in mind that it was the very same Enquirer that nailed John Edwards for having an affair a couple of years ago.
So, what do we make of this incident? Tiger released a statement on Sunday saying that the accident was his fault, but he failed to address numerous questions about how it happened.
Among them, the most pressing seems to be: What was Tiger doing leaving his house in the wee hours of the morning on the day after Thanksgiving? Something tells me that Woods, who has made over $1 billion over the course of his career, wasn't trying to get a jump on the Black Friday sales at Macy's. TMZ.com has reported that Woods and Nordegren both told police that there was a "domestic issue" before the crash, but this has yet to be confirmed publicly -- by Woods, Nordegren or the police.
Further, what caused Tiger to crash? In my mind, there are three acceptable reasons for getting into a single-car crash:
1. You're driving in a new area with limited visibility (let's say due to darkness or a snowstorm) and, before you know it, your car and Mr. Oak Tree have become close friends.
2. You lose control for whatever reason, such as hydroplaning or slipping on black ice, and hit something.
3. John Daly is driving your car.
Tiger did not crash for any of those reasons and, further, police say they do not believe alcohol was a factor. So what exactly happened?
I don't know how fast you go when you're pulling out of your driveway, but I'm going an easy five-to-10 miles per hour. If I were to hit something, it would dent the car and that's about it -- it wouldn't leave me unconscious and bleeding. Was Tiger really going fast enough to be injured? If so, why? The possible answers lead us into my final -- and perhaps most important -- question ...
What in the world is going on with Nordegren and the golf club? This is the murkiest part of the entire ordeal. If she witnessed or heard the crash (the latter being unlikely due to the size of the Woods estate), what would cause her to grab a golf club and not, you know, the backup keys to the car? My mother insists that it's easy to get flustered in these types of situations, and I guess that's fair enough, but then why did she break in the rear window of the car? It would make more sense to break in one of the passenger windows -- either the one in the front or the two in the back seat -- to unlock the car (by the way, why were all the car doors locked?) rather than the rear.
I guess that one can also be answered with the "flustered defense," but you can only play that card so much. Imagine you're out at dinner with someone when she starts to choke on her food. Are you going to give her the Heimlich or break a chair over her back? The chair option could work in theory, but it's ridiculous, unnecessary and not even guaranteed to be effective. Same goes for golf club to the rear window. The story is extremely suspicious, to say the least.
So where does this leave us? I hate to speculate, but under the circumstances, it's pretty difficult not to. Tiger drove all of 100 feet from his house (a surprise, considering his driving average on the year is 298.4 yards ... sorry, bad joke but I couldn't help it). I don't think he could have built up enough speed to give himself facial lacerations, and there was no blood found on the steering wheel, according to CNN.com.
Perhaps it's just me being cynical, but doesn't it seem possible that Tiger got those cuts during the so-called "domestic issue?" And doesn't it seem possible that Nordegren took the golf club to the car before the accident, and that perhaps that was the cause, at least in part, of the whole thing?
Woods attempted to debunk such rumors in his statement, saying in a public statement, "My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false."
Maybe that's the truth. I have no greater insight into this incident than anybody else, besides the Woods family. But if that is indeed the case, then why has Tiger refused to say more about the event and why has he continually put off talking to the police?
Woods has always had a pristine public image, and he's always been able to keep his private life completely private -- an amazing feat, considering he's probably the most prominent athlete in the country. But I don't think even his PR savvy will get him out of this squeaky clean. If an affair actually happened and that's what led to this whole thing, then Tiger needs to come clean. If not, then Tiger still needs to explain what exactly happened.
Staying silent will only work for so long; this won't blow over, no matter how much Tiger wants it to. We're all waiting to hear the truth.
--
David Heck is a senior majoring in philosophy. He can be reached at David.Heck@Tufts.edu.
