Our twin boys, Thing 1 and Thing2 are in fifth grade. Parenting is a full contact activity at this age. While they aren’t yet old enough to get into major trouble, they are flexing and testing their independence muscles. One of the areas where we’ve had to work with both of the Things is in their choice of friends.
Both of the Things are very social and compassionate boys (Insert “where did they get the from?” here). From a very early age they had a spirit that let them make friends with anyone and everyone. For the most part, this character trait has been a great advantage to them. However, as the saying goes; the greatest strength can be the greatest weakness.
Because the boys accept others so readily, they don’t always use good judgement in determining who they should be friends with. A couple of times they have befriended other boys who did not have the same values regarding school work, school behavior or behavior with other kids. On a couple of occasions, the poor choice of a friend has gotten one of the things in trouble in school. Our counsel to them has always been that while we want them to be friends with as many people as possible, they need to be aware of the behaviors of the people they choose to be friends with. Like it or not, we are judged by and impacted by the company we keep.
Wow, that was a lot of stage setting for this article from WSJ. It seems that the PGA is about to have a really tough season. While the financial situation of some previously large sponsors like GM, Chrysler and Stanford Group Co. have left some holes in the sponsorship line up, the big problem is the loss of Tiger Woods.
The loss of Woods is and will, have a large financial impact on the PGA:
Ticket sales are down, fewer hospitality tents have been sold, and the title sponsor had to be lured with a cut-rate price.
It is a harbinger of what the PGA Tour may be without its most popular player. Three of the Tour’s 46 tournaments scheduled for 2010 don’t have a lead corporate sponsor, nor do 13 of next year’s tournaments. Television viewership of the first two events of this year’s Tour tumbled.
While the PGA will be challenged this year, they have no one to blame but themselves.
It’s become clear that the behavior which caused Tiger Woods to step out of the tour was not a behavior that was hidden from those around him. It’s now clear that Woods’ behavior was well known on the tour. One would have to believe that if not actually assisting in his behavior, people associated with the tour abetted the behavior simply by keeping it from the public and not dealing with it.
What’s all this have to do with my counsel to the Things? Well, like the Things, the PGA had a choice of how closely to embrace their friend, Tiger. They did not remain casual friends. No, the PGA made Tiger their BFF while knowing that his behavior was dangerous to himself as well as the reputation of the PGA.
The result? Because the PGA not only listed Tiger as their BFF but perpetuated the mystic of the clean cut, family guy, knowing that the truth was something far different, when Tiger fell, so did the PGA.
The halcyon days of both Tiger and the PGA may be over, we’ll have to see. The Things have both learned how to be friends without letting the friendship dictate who they are as individuals. It will be interesting to see whether the PGA will be able to learn that same lesson.
