By Tim Redmond
It’s not this affair or that affair. It’s his connection with some evil corporate giants, particularly Chevron.
Or so says Dave Zirin, writing in The Nation:
In 2008 Chevron entered a five-year relationship with Tiger Woods’s foundation under the guise of philanthropy. But if Woods had a shred of social conscience, this partnership never would have existed. Lawsuits have been issued against Chevron for dumping toxic waste all over the planet. Alaska, Canada, Brazil, Angola and California have all accused Chevron of dumping. Even worse, Chevron has a partnership with Burma’s ruling military junta on the country’s Yadana gas pipeline project, the single greatest source of revenue for the military, estimated at nearly $5 billion since 2000.
Zirin’s one of the few progressive political sportswriters out there, and I hope this point catches on. I don’t care who Tiger Woods did or didn’t have sex with, but I’ve always been a little pissed that the world’s most prominent and richest black athlete has been so generally silent about race, class and human rights issues. (He wouldn’t even take a real stand against the exclusion of women at Augusta National.)
By the way, the other best comment on this whole sordid affair comes from Scott Ostler:
Hit a fire hydrant … hit a tree … escape from dire peril thanks to crazed flailing and hacking with a club. Isn’t it crazy how this matches the description of my most recent round of golf?