Tough lesson for Tiger

Oldgolfdawg was working on the sports desk of The Dallas Times Herald in March of 1982 when news came across the wires that comedian actor John Belushi had been found dead of a drug overdose in Los Angeles.

A few weeks later, Oldgolfdawg was playing a round of golf with Jim Woodruff, a veteran sports copy editor at the newspaper, when we began to discuss Belushi’s demise. “I don’t understand it,” said Jim while shaking his head. “There’s a young man who had the world by the balls and he kills himself.”

Details about Belushi’s death later revealed a different scenario, but the point that Jim was making was clear. At the height of his career, Belushi had blown it.

Though not nearly as tragic or final as Belushi’s fall from grace, the situation Tiger Woods finds himself in these days has a similar theme. At times success makes people think they are invincible. It’s hard to imagine what Woods was thinking when he began cheating on his wife. Cheating on one’s wife is risky business for anyone, but for someone like Tiger who had cultivated a devoted-family man image and whose fame kept him in the public’s eye, the risk was something only a Wall Street banker might consider taking.

Rock 'n’ roll legend Bob Seger is right in saying we all have “the fire down below,” but in Woods’ case apparently it has been burning out of control for some time. If Woods is seeking treatment for sexual addiction as recent reports have been indicating, it is a positive step in the rehabilitation of his sullied image. Sometimes people with so much don’t appreciate the things they have.

That was never the case with plain-speaking Jim, who was known to occasionally cut the rug with his wife Jodi, and who often bragged to Oldgolfdawg: “All me and Jodi need is a bottle of wine and we feel fine.” Enjoying the simple pleasures in life can be lost on the rich and famous, but down-to-earth Jim knew better.

Once Jim and Oldgolfdawg were working the sports desk during the morning turnaround of a 24-hour news cycle when he turned to me and said: “Say, I’m not real big on politics and such. But are there two Chinas?” He was editing a short story about Olympic table tennis just in case type came up short somewhere and some filler or spackle was needed to fill an unsightly hole. Before Oldgolfdawg could offer his two cents on the matter, Jim added, “Say, Is it Taiwan or Formosa?”

What Oldgolfdawg gathered from his days of working with Good Ole Jim was that what the native Texan didn't know about geopolitics, he more than made up for by knowing what really matters in life. It's too bad that Tiger Woods has had to learn that the hard way.

*Background information about this post from Wikipedia: On March 5, 1982, John Belushi was found dead in his room at Bungalow #3 of the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The cause of death was a speedball, a combined injection of cocaine and heroin. On the night of his death, he was visited separately by friends Robin Williams (at the height of his own drug exploits) and Robert De Niro, each of whom left the premises, leaving Belushi in the company of assorted others, including Cathy Smith.

His death was investigated by forensic pathologist Dr. Ryan Norris among others, and while the findings were disputed, it was officially ruled a drug-related accident.

Two months later, Smith admitted in an interview with the National Enquirer that she had been with Belushi the night of his death and had given him the fatal speedball shot. After the appearance of the article "I Killed Belushi" in the Enquirer edition of June 29, 1982, the case was reopened. Smith was extradited from Toronto, arrested and charged with first-degree murder. A plea bargain arrangement reduced the charges to involuntary manslaughter, and she served 15 months in prison.

The Dallas Times Herald, founded in 1888 by a merger of the Dallas Times and the Dallas Herald, was once one of two major daily newspapers serving the greater Dallas area. It won three Pulitzer Prizes, all for photography, and two George Polk Awards, for local and regional reporting. As an afternoon publication for most of its 103 years, its demise was hastened by the shift of newspaper reading habits to morning papers, the reliance on television for late-breaking news, as well as the loss of an antitrust lawsuit against crosstown rival The Dallas Morning News.

On December 8, 1991, Belo, owner of The Dallas Morning News, bought the Times Herald for $55 million and closed the paper the next day.