I have spent my entire life rooting against Tiger Woods on the golf course. I really couldn’t stand Tiger. I hate how he beats my favorite players every time. I hate how he ruined David Duval’s career simply by showing up. I hate how he can shank a drive onto a fairway bunker on a different hole, and then have his next shot stick within 10 feet of the pin on a par-4. I hate how when I mock him for exaggerating an injury, it turns out that he just won the U.S. Open on a broken leg.

Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer to ever live, and I couldn’t stand it. I would never root for him. He isn’t human. But that all changed on Thanksgiving this past year.

When I was with my family on Thanksgiving and I saw that Tiger Woods got into a car accident, I immediately had two reactions. Is Tiger alright? Is Tiger going to be able to play golf again?

When it comes to Tiger Woods news – for anyone outside his family and friends – all that should matter is that he is healthy and winning matches. If either of those are affected, I will show some interest; otherwise, I really don’t care, and I don’t think any of us should.

As it turns out, Tiger Woods is indeed healthy – at least physically – and the accident should not at all impact his physical ability to swing a golf club.

So why is Tiger in the news every day? Why do I have to hear about him hooking up with girls like this is some sort of unbelievable and unprecedented event? I can see how it’s terrible that he’s supposed to be a role model and is showing poor morals by treating sex casually – especially when he is married. Honestly, it’s shameful. But what do I care? I assume that almost all pro athletes are engaging in this kind of behavior whether they are married or not. Really, there is no reason to think they aren’t all doing this. Look at the best player in every sport. Kobe Bryant is married and has been caught with other women. Tom Brady knocked up a woman outside of marriage. Alex Rodriguez couldn’t resist Madonna and others while married. It’s ridiculous.

But it is difficult to blame them because they are rich and athletic guys traveling across the country, with women constantly throwing themselves at them. They can whomever they want, whenever they want them. You don’t even have to look further than the University of Massachusetts to see how some girls throw themselves at athletes – and the athletes at our school aren’t even rich or famous. The temptation is constantly there for all pro athletes to indulge themselves with women, and many of them do. This isn’t big news.

In some of Tiger’s cases it’s funny news, but it’s not big news.

Yet the media turned Tiger Woods into the villain. They made it seem like he was the only rich and famous athlete hooking up with lots of girls. How could a role model do this? As if all the young men in the world who look up to him are going to hold this against him. As if any guy over the age of 16 doesn’t know how the game works. Sorry to break this news to all of you people living under rocks, but if you’re a pro athlete, one of the privileges you get is access to lots of money and women.

People look up to Tiger and want to be Tiger because he is the most dominant athlete in the world, and want the privileges that come with the territory. Tiger’s behavior will not change any of this. The man is a billionaire. He is still the best golfer to ever live. He is by far the highest paid athlete annually. Maybe he lost his marriage, but he should have never been married in the first place. At this point in his life, it is safe to say he isn’t mature enough to handle the responsibilities that accompany being a loving husband and a good father. He is lying if he said he loved his wife, because if he did, he wouldn’t have felt compelled to sleep with so many women.

This all being said, I think the fact that the media turned on Tiger should make us want to root for him. I have never rooted for him before, but I know I want to now. I hope he kills the Masters this week from the first time he enters the tee box to his final putt on Sunday. I hope people boo him when he has his name called at the first tee, and he smacks it 320 yards right down the heart of the fairway. I hope we see vintage Tiger Woods this week. I hope Tiger gets into the final pairing with some European stiff like Sergio Garcia on Sunday and embarrasses him on national TV. And when he does, Tiger can flip the bird to the media as Cabrera puts the green jacket on him.

If Tiger pulls all that off, he will truly be newsworthy again.

Alex Perry is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].