Closed Doors

When I was growing up in the late 1950's and early 1960's, I looked up to JFK and Mickey Mantle. All I saw in Mantle was a courageous athlete, hobbled but great despite his injuries. Kennedy was Camelot. With his 2 young children so adored by him, and a beautiful wife, he seemed to embody everything vibrant and magnificent. Both these men could do no wrong, as far as I was concerned. Only, as it turned out, they could and did do much wrong, sometimes behind closed doors and sometimes out in the open. Yet,a wall of silence protected their actions from public scrutiny and ridicule.

I thought those times were long gone. Tiger's tale proved me wrong. How did he get away with bedding everybody but your next door neighbor and none of us knew anything about it?

I understand that he is a billionaire and could probably cover his tracks better than any of us could imagine. But from all the stories that are now emerging, he was sloppy in his arrogance. Like many of the politicians, and other public figures, who have been exposed in recent years, he believed himself immune from the world of crime and punishment for transgressions. So he appeared to leave a trail of crumbs for all of us to follow.

In today's world, TMZ and a horde of other similar star gazers is often seemingly at disasters before they happen. The magazines provide endless glimpses into the private lives of those in the public eye. We are in an age where cameras are in our phones and everyone wants 15 minutes to tell their tale. If Tiger seemed prolific on the golf course, it now seems he was equally a master off it. Yet it wasn't until the tiny bump of the car that everything came crashing down. How?

Is it that we all wanted the world to believe in Mickey Mantle and JFK rolled into one? Here was someone who, from the age of 3 on, was the best at what he did. He never disappointed us in his chosen field. Was it that no one wanted to be the one who would reveal that Mantle was an alcoholic and a womanizer, or that Kennedy's perfect facade was merely that? Did we all need Tiger to be Tiger, always a bright light, and not just another success at his career but a failure in life? Is that why this story has never been told? Did no one want to be the grinch who stole Christmas?

I don't have the answers. This is a new millenium and the secrets of a Mantle or a JFK are no longer supposed to exist. Just ask Bill Clinton.


PS - THIS PIECE WAS PUBLISHED IN A LOCAL NEWSPAPER ON DECEMBER 18,2009