Can A Tiger Change His Stripes?

On Thanksgiving night we were at the Wade's house when Amy's husband Adam (who was playing on his I-phone) commented that there were rumors on the Internet that Tiger Woods had had an affair. I was so skeptical. Who would seriously believe that an outstanding family guy like Tiger would have an affair? Not me. Then we woke up to Tiger's suspicious car wreck outside his home. Details were so sketchy, but it all seemed very odd and just plain weird. Slowly we heard more about the wreck and things sounded even worse for Tiger. My skepticism that Tiger would have stepped out on his marriage was quickly faltering.

Then Tiger made his infamous statement admitting his "transgressions" against his wife.

I'm sorry, but there has to be a better word than "transgressions" when you have had affairs with 11 women during your five year marriage.

I, like many Tiger Woods fans, feel completely jilted by him. I fell for his classy guy act like a hole-in-one. Even in the era of marital affairs being common place news with athletes, politicians and celebrities, I just never thought that Tiger would be capable of potentially destroying his family like this. Why in the world would a guy who seems like he has everything in the world risk it all for a fling?

I don't understand why Tiger would step out on his marriage with 11 women.

I don't understand why 11 women would be so low class to have an affair with a man they know is married and has two beautiful children.

I don't understand how Tiger could willingly expose his wife, the mother of his children, to STD's without a moment's hesitation.

Why would a husband do that to his wife, and why would a woman do that to another woman?

The worst part is that I know many families go through this, but at least the overwhelming majority of them don't have to have it played out in the media and tabloids. How embarrassing and shameful for the entire family. I know that no marriage is perfect, ours included, but I wouldn't even know where to begin if such a private and personal matter was being displayed for entertainment purposes. Just like with Jon and Kate, there is nothing entertaining about watching a marriage crumble before your eyes. It infuriates me that comedians like David Letterman are making jokes about this. How dare people think this is funny. There is nothing funny at all about a husband cheating on his wife. I can't imagine how Elin must feel every time she looks at her husband, someone who promised to love her forever, and forsake all others till death parts them, and see someone who just broke her heart and everyone in the world knows it .

I know that the wreck is still very suspicious, but the "I am woman, hear me roar" part of me wouldn't blame Elin a single bit if she did find out about the affairs and proceed to beat the snot out of Tiger with a golf club. A little bit of poetic justice for his "transgressions." Elin Woods, and this is just from outward appearances, was a loving wife and mother. She wasn't the glitzy Hollywood type that just wanted to steal his glory, she just stood in the background and supported her husband. Tiger risked his marriage for 11 women that are now willing to sell their story to the highest bidder. Classy, huh?

I can't imagine how Tiger feels watching his world crumble around him because of some very bad decisions he made.

I can't imagine how Elin feels watching this play out as entertainment because of some very bad decisions her husband made.

I can't imagine how Sam and Charlie are going to feel about this when they are old enough to find about the decisions their Dad made.

I hope more than anything, especially for the sake of Sam and Charlie, that Tiger and Elin can just disappear for a while and pick up the pieces of their marriage. I desperately hope it can be salvaged. And I hope that Tiger can learn to change his stripes, and become a real family man, instead of the perfect guy that his PR team made him out to be.