Is Tiger Woods The Next Michael Jackson?

The two biggest events of the past year are arguably the death of Michael Jackson and the demise of Tiger Woods. At first glance the two celebrities involved in these events have nothing in common. The most famous athlete in the world and an aging pop star who most people believe was a pedophile and has destroyed his face with plastic surgery. You're thinking: Come on, there are no similarities between them, right? But if you examine the lives of these two men, they are eerily similar. In list style fashion, here are the similarities:

• Both had overbearing fathers whose one goal from their child's adolescence was to drill them and push them to be the best in their respective field. For both this lead to fame at a very young age. Tiger was on the Mike Douglas Show at the age of 3. Michael Jackson shot to stardom with his brothers at the age of 11 with this appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. This early fame resulted in the them not being able to have a normal childhood and trying to compensate for that loss later in life.
  
• Both appear to be mentally/emotionally suspended somewhere around the age of 12. This is very obvious in Jackson with the Neverland Ranch and the idea that he was a modern day Peter Pan. Tiger displays this in his poor behavior on the golf course and his love of off-color jokes. He also often doesn't appear to be able to have an adult conversion. Whenever he is interviewed and goes away from the Tiger Cliches of "hitting the ball well" and "putting the ball well", it doesn't go so well. Lastly his text messages to his mistresses sound very similar to what one would expect from a horny insecure sixth grader.
• Both were the best in their disciplines and revolutionized their respective fields as a black person. They are both so well loved by their die-hard fans, that their major scandals did not cause them to be abandoned. Michael Jackson sold out 50 shows at the O2 Arena in London in a matter of hours, while the Tiger's first tournament back will likely result in the highest television ratings for golf ever.
  
• Both have had enormous scandals. Michael Jackson has been accused of child molestation multiple times, as well as suffering a very shady death. Tiger Woods has turned out to be one of the biggest philander of all time with a dozen plus mistresses and most likely many others that we will never know about. Both gave very bizarre press conferences regarding their scandals that made it appear that they are off in their own world and have a very hard time relating to the common person. Jackson went on national television and denied any inappropriate relations with children and described how the police examined his penis. Not exactly the picture you want in people's minds when asking them for understanding. Tiger went on national television as RoboTiger admitting to infidelities dressed like an 80 year old man, while taking zero question and going off on various tangents.
• Both are extremely private people, almost to a fault. Michael to his death denied having more than one plastic surgery and often covered his face and the faces of his children with scarves for privacy. Tiger has never really given an interview where he talks about anything but golf and has a yacht named Privacy. Due to this extreme privacy, both of their nefarious behaviors led to a greater shock than if we had know them a bit more as people, rather than just their carefully polished images.
• Both have various addictions. Michael Jackson was likely addicted to plastic surgery and was addicted various prescription drugs off and on starting in the mid-80s. Tiger's behavior suggests that he is addicted to sex and recent reports have said that he also received treatment for addiction to Vicodin and Ambien. Jackson was not able to conquer his addictions and only time will tell whether or not Tiger will.

As you can see, there are a disturbing number of similarities between Michael Jackson and Tiger Woods from their lost childhoods to scandals to addictions to prescription drugs. On the Michael Jackson timeline, I would put Tiger at early-90s Michael, following his first child molestation scandal. Only time will tell which course the rest of Tiger's life will follow. Will it be the course Michael followed? Withdrawing more and more from society. Becoming stranger and stranger. Not performing as well in his field as his earlier mega successes. Or will Tiger be a changed man and conquer his demons to place himself back atop the golf world? I believe it will be the latter. Tiger has a legendary focus and determination and if he is truly focusing these traits on fixing himself as he says he is, I believe he will be successful. Also, Tiger's financial situation is a bit different than Michael Jackson's was. Tiger is dependent on endorsements for much of his money. Yes, he is reportedly a billionaire, but his expenses with such luxuries as a $20 million yacht and a $40 million Florida compound must be astronomical, not to mention the possibility of a nine figure divorce settlement. Michael had independent sources of income. He had continuing revenue from his consistently selling albums, ownership of the Beatles song catalog, and the ability to put on a sold out stadium world tour whenever he wanted. Lastly, the number one reason I think Tiger will be back better than ever is so he can give a big eff you to everyone that he feels has badmouthed him, exacerbated his downfall and said he won't be able to come back and play at the high level that he has played at in the past. What better way to do this than by returning to golf, dominating once again, and obliterating Jack Nicholas' record for majors? And we all know, that if there is one thing Americans love to do, it is to forgive flawed, fallen celebrities. Tiger is primed for a return to his former stature and the only obstacle is himself. Will he be able to navigate this obstacle that has nearly derailed him? I think he can and he will.

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