I don't care why Tiger Woods was leaving his house at 3 a.m.
I don't care whether Tiger Woods has a girlfriend on the side or not.
I don't even care about what Tiger Woods does for a living, subscribing as I do to theory (which may or may not be Mark Twain's) that golf is "a good walk spoiled".
The only thing I care about Tiger Woods, and the only thing NOT mentioned anywhere that I could find in the media coverage of his recent car crash, is: Was he wearing a seat belt?
I am so bloody sick and tired of these celebrities offing themselves or, in this case, hurting themselves when they refuse to wear their belts. What kind of example are they setting?
Name me one football player who won't wear a cup when he plays. But once he gets into his Escalade or Cayenne, all of a sudden the laws of physics don't apply?
They're idiots.
As for Woods, he apparently backed his Escalade out of his driveway, then rammed into a fire hydrant. His wife, apparently also still up at that late hour, allegedly rushed out of the house, conveniently carrying a golf club, with which she reportedly smashed the back window of the truck, got the near-comatose Tiger out of the car, and laid him down on the pavement.
I'm sure she did.
Assuming this is an accurate rendition of what happened (and because the local police don't seem to feel Tiger needs to make a statement, we'll probably never find out for sure), then he must not have been wearing a belt, because there'd be no way he could have got the 'Slade going fast enough in that short distance to cause the sort of damage he seems to have inflicted upon himself if he was belted.
Without a belt, even a 15 km/h whack will hurt like hell.
Don't think so? Well, 15 km/h is about as fast as most people can run. Try running as fast as YOU can into a fire hydrant and tell me how much fun that was.
By all accounts, Tiger is a private guy, and until now has had a squeaky-clean image. And he wouldn't be the first guy to be falsely accused of various acts of malfeasance by the National Enquirer.
But doesn't this present an opportunity for him to show some leadership on a major safety issue?
He has copped to full responsibility for the crash, and says he won't make this mistake again.
Well, why doesn't he admit he wasn't wearing his belt, and engage in a public safety campaign to encourage his fans not to make this mistake too?
Americans basically pull a 9/11 every month on their roads. They kill way more proportionally than we do, and the difference is almost entirely due to their poor seat belt wearing rate.
Here would be a perfect chance for Tiger to make something out of less-than-nothing. It would help rehabilitate his image, and could save thousands of lives a year.
Would it be enough to make me a golf fan?
Come on; not even Tiger Woods can perform miracles.
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