How Much Are We Really ‘Entitled’ To Know About Celebrities?

Between the 24-hour news cycle and our obsession with reality TV, celebrity gossip, and professional athletes; the American public has unprecedented access to public figures. We know the ugly details of Jon and Kate’s divorce, the specifics of Michael Jackson’s prescription drug addictions, who celebrities are dating from the moment they begin holding hands, as well as a myriad of other things that people 20 years ago would never have been privy to (and probably couldn’t care less about).

So by now you must have heard about Tiger Woods’ car accident the morning after Thanksgiving –  unless you live under a rock or don’t follow sports at all like my girlfriend (who only knows about this story because of the gossip websites). Apparently he crashed his SUV into a fire hydrant and a tree while backing out of his driveway. How he somehow managed to do that while doing what many teenagers are allowed to do when they don’t even have a license I have no clue. I mean his air bags didn’t even deploy because he was driving so slow!

Now, all of this is a matter of public record. Let’s face it, you don’t become a billion dollar athlete without everyone knowing every public incident that involves you — including minor traffic accidents. None of this bothers me. What does bother me is how this man’s private life is now the main issue. Woods may be the main story at every PGA Tour event (that’s another issue entirely, BTW, because it’s not like another 60 golfers are competing in these events or anything…), but he is a human being. Just because we know his name/face and he happens to be the best golfer in the world (which he earned by working his butt off) does not give us the right to exploit his private life.

I know the argument, so please spare me the following comments:

• “The public has a right to know!”
• “If he didn’t get in the accident in the first place, then he wouldn’t deserve it.”
• “He makes $100 million dollars a year, so he better deal with it!”

As Peter Griffin might say, it’s that last argument that really grinds my gears. Nothing shows how jealous the American public (and media) are of people that live more affluent lives than them like the good old fashioned “they make a lot of money, so I can be a complete ass to them” thought process.

Here’s my thought: Put yourself in Tiger Woods’ Nikes and walk a mile. How would you feel if your dirty laundry became front page news for the entire Western world? Of course, you’d understand that the public deserves answers right? I mean, you make all that money so who cares if the whole world knows about your little domestic dispute with your wife.

Get real.

I’m sure there are more people out there — with the billion or so sports blogs out there (insert joke about this one) — that feel this way, but the only sports writer I’ve come across this week that defended Tiger’s right to privacy was ESPN columnist Gene Wojciechowski. He — like me — couldn’t care less about this whole situation. And you know something’s ridiculous when Shaq is the voice of reason.

“I’m not going to be like everybody else and say off-the-wall comments,” O’Neal said. “I just hope he’s OK. The problem going on is when you have people disguising as media putting out reports, and then people believing what they read. We don’t know what’s fact, we don’t know what’s true. We just hope he’s OK.”

There is a silver lining to this whole fiasco, but I had to look hard to find it. Check out the title of this article (it is most definitely worthy of Headlines on Leno): Tiger Woods at fault in one-car accident. Say what you will about the journalism industry, but at least we know that real investigative reporting is alive and well!

Woodward and Bernstein would be proud. That is until they realized that all of this about a FRIGGIN’ GOLFER!!

So what if Tiger was fighting with his wife — that’s what married people do! And who gives a sh*t if he has a mistress. What a shocker: a rich athlete that sleeps around. STOP THE PRESSES!!!

To me, the real problem here is us. People are out for blood, and it seems like they’ll get it. But what really does this all solve? Are we really gaining anything from learning about Woods’ private life? Does it improve our experience as sports fans to know that he could be cheating on his wife or that he can’t back his car down his driveway?

No, we all lose this game.