"This is why they became rock stars, so they don't have to apologize. God bless them."

A different take on Tiger from Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle:

But here's the bigger truth: Tiger wasn't apologizing to actual people, to his wife or kids or even his confused fans. Tiger was apologizing, straight up and to the bone, to capitalism itself. To his own brand. It was a scary attempt to shore up the multimillions in endorsement deals, his future as a billion-dollar icon. Tiger the man was apologizing to Tiger, Inc., mostly for tainting its earnings potential.

It's the golden rule of capitalism: Don't f-- with a hot brand. It's blasphemy of the highest order, made doubly potent by the fact that we're the ones who helped create the brand in the first place, who bought into the saccharine lie and absurd marketing BS of Tiger's impossible squeaky faultlessness.

It's a bit like Coca-Cola stepping forth and admitting, "Gosh, so sorry for making everyone obese and contributing to global diabetes rates, but you know what? You buy our garbage, don't you? You actully believe the silly commercials with the polar bears and the singing children. You really think sticky goopy chemical-laden high-fructose water is refreshing and healthy? Really?"

It also points up a terrifying trend, a broad and rather pathetic theme in our culture: Precious few are the celebrities, politicians, sports icons or rock stars who would dare step in front of a camera after some sort of "scandalous" misbehavior and smile, or even laugh, shrug it all off and tell everyone to lighten the hell up and go worry about something important. Well, maybe a few rock stars. This is why we love them. This is why they became rock stars, so they don't have to apologize. God bless them.