The Underwear Bomber

First it was the misguided shoe bomber Richard Reid, who with the promise of spending eternity in paradise with seventy-two virgins, attempted to bring down an airliner with explosives packed in his shoes. Now comes the equally confused and delusional Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, with an explosive substance packed in his drawers, was intent on bringing down a plane bound for Detroit on Christmas day before the triggering device malfunctioned and fellow passengers intervened to subdue him. All which raises the issue what Abdulmutallab intended to do with the virgins, his genitalia having been destroyed by the explosion. Such considerations apparently do not enter into the minds of religious fanatics utterly certain about the rightness of their cause.

Tiger Overkill

The New York Times columnist Frank Rich has dubbed Tiger Woods most deserving of the honor of person of the year. I don't buy Rich's conclusion because Tiger, after all is said and done, simply isn't that consequential figure. That said, I do agree with Rich's reasoning:

What makes the golfing superstar’s tale compelling, after all, is not that he’s another celebrity in trouble or another fallen athletic “role model” in a decade lousy with them. His scandal has nothing to tell us about race, and nothing new to say about hypocrisy. The conflict between Tiger’s picture-perfect family life and his marathon womanizing is the oldest of morality tales.

What’s striking instead is the exceptional, Enron-sized gap between this golfer’s public image as a paragon of businesslike discipline and focus and the maniacally reckless life we now know he led. What’s equally striking, if not shocking, is that the American establishment and news media — all of it, not just golf writers or celebrity tabloids — fell for the Woods myth as hard as any fan and actively helped sustain and enhance it.

People wanted to believe what they wanted to believe. Tiger’s off-the-links elusiveness was no more questioned than Enron’s impenetrable balance sheets, with their “special-purpose entities” named after “Star Wars” characters. Fortune magazine named Enron as America’s “most innovative company” six years in a row. In the January issue of Golf Digest, still on the stands, some of the best and most hardheaded writers in America offer “tips Obama can take from Tiger,” who is typically characterized as so without human frailties that he “never does anything that would make him look ridiculous.”

Chris Henry

The accidental death of Cincinnati wide receiver Chris Henry apparently from a domestic dispute with his girlfriend strikes me as absolutely senseless. Henry, a talented athlete with, to put it diplomatically, a checkered record off the field, was from all accounts was finally beginning to turn his life around. Sadly, another professional athlete's family will be without a father because of bad choices.

Tiger, Tiger

As Tiger Woods struggles with damage control in the wake of revelations about marital infidelities, several thoughts come to mind. We never really know the public figures we eagerly anoint as heroes and therefore should not be surprised when they come up short. Contrary to received opinion, athletic prowess should not be confused with character and values. And finally, in a rational society Woods' behavior would be regarded strictly as a private matter between he and his wife.