Four ways Tiger trapped himself

Tiger Woods is by no means the first athlete to sleep around with women, and he certainly won't be the last. Yet, Tiger has found himself with all of his private business unraveling in the public eye, in ways that other personalities have avoided. How is it that Woods managed to get caught so red-handed, while others in the same situation do not?

1) Tiger maintained a squeaky-clean image, and people don't like hypocrites

Until recently, the Tiger Woods brand name has been built on the image of a superior athlete who is professional, no-nonsense, and beyond reproach. The classic Nike commercial--in which one child after another proclaims "I am Tiger Woods"--helped to solidify the Tiger Woods mystique and the perception of the golfer as a positive role model. And yes, he was black, but he supposedly transcended blackness. He was better than black, a self-described "Cablanasian". Tiger was clean and articulate, and would make white America feel comfortable if he came over for dinner.

Although Woods has made quite a bit of money from playing golf, his brand name yielded the impressive endorsements and sponsorships that turned him into America's first billion-dollar athlete. But with his image now revealed as a sham, his corporate sponsorships are in question. Ironically, Tiger's negative image could now hurt the products he endorses. A Tiger Woods commercial is nowhere to be found on television, and Gatorade has just pulled the plug on his sports drink.

In some ways, Woods is like the homophobic politician or religious leader who is revealed to be gay. The public has little tolerance for hypocrisy. And athletes with a reputation for promiscuity don't have very far to fall, since public expectations were not so high in the first place.

2) Powerful people buy into their own hype and believe they are invincible

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Powerful public figures develop huge egos and a sense of immortality. They lose sight of their vulnerabilities, and convince themselves they can take chances without repercussions. Perhaps they are even surrounded by "yes" people who tell them what they want to hear. Without proper grounding, life in the limelight can create an inflated sense of self. Woods flaunted his over-inflated ego when he recklessly left a recorded voicemail message with one of his mistresses, and when he allegedly offered to pay his wife millions of dollars to stay with him.

WATCH TIGER'S SECOND MISTRESS TALK ABOUT AFFAIR WITH TIGER

3) Woods' other women had nothing to lose and everything to gain

A well-known athlete such as Tiger Woods cannot have dalliances with Las Vegas cocktail waitresses, adult film stars and prostitutes, and still expect privacy. Woods had indiscreet relationships with women who had nothing to lose once the news became public. These women are almost certainly coming out in the hopes of gaining their fifteen minutes of fame, whether in the form of a lucrative tabloid or television interview, or perhaps by landing a reality show.

4) Tiger cheated on his wife, a white woman, with other white women

Race and sex are a potent mixture in society. White female victims such as Natalee Holloway (missing in Aruba while on vacation) or Nicole Brown Simpson (the murdered wife of O.J. Simpson) arguably received far more attention and media coverage than missing or murdered black women in Anytown, USA.

Further, the sexual union of a black man and a white woman goes to the very heart of America's worst racial stereotypes, taboos and phobias. Often black men were lynched in the Jim Crow South over rumors they had raped a white woman. The African-American boxer Jack Johnson was imprisoned for a year and a day for violating the Mann Act, a federal law which prohibited "white slavery", or transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes such as prostitution. In Johnson's case, the woman was his white girlfriend.

In the case of Tiger Woods' sexual relationships, the victim is his Swedish wife, Elin Nordegren. Moreover, the numerous women who are lining up and claiming they had an affair with Tiger are also white women. The image of a black man with an apparent harem of white women feeds into the worst stereotypes about black male sexuality--and that gets media attention. One can argue that there would be less interest in Tiger's extracurricular activities had these women been black, or Cablanasian, for that matter.

But then again, Tiger has no one to blame but himself, as he walked into this mess of his own accord. If the public is entertained at the expense of his privacy, then he sadly supplied the material.