Two Day Magazine

It was only a matter of time! Because of all the drama that has ensued since Tiger Woods played 18 holes off the golf course, corporations are finally taking matters into their own hands, so to speak. In an interesting twist, corporations that sign celebs to endorse products are going to add a "Tiger Clause", if you will, to the contracts that will enable companies to drop "high risk" celebs who make a mess in public. Meaning, if a celeb is stuck in a scandal like the one Tiger has found himself in, it will be game over. No more millions, no more free goodies, no more adulation from the public. When you read and see how much money Nike is losing, along with his other sponsors, I think it is safe to say this is a fair clause to put into a contract. But, I am sure there are a lot of celebrities who would disagree with me, thinking that it is an infringement on their personal space. However, once you sign on the dotted line, those spaces become quite blurred.

In fact, I wish they would extend this thinking to other areas, as well. Take sports in general, for example. Professional sports team members are always in the news for one reason or another. Either a player on a team has just shot themselves by accident; or some team member has committed a rape, murder or even driven drunk or high on Ambien.

Now, we can't always put all the blame on the individual for their behavior. This sounds insane, right? For example, let's say a professional football team finds a new player who has come from a bad home life and who is 18 and completely unqualified to be a role model, because he has never had a role model. Then, we give this person a multi-million dollar contract to do what he knows best. Be aggressive. The madness continues when the public becomes just shocked when they find out he is has done something downright disturbing, whether it be hurt a woman, another man or an animal. And yet, we created this monster. We take people that have no idea how to act in a professional setting, who are young, and then we give them millions of dollars and expect that they will magically become people we can look up to. And, as well all know, money does not magically "goodness" in people. It will only make people more of who they are already.

However, if a sports team had a built in clause into their contract, stating that there were a list of things deemed unacceptable to their organization, and would be enforcing it by revoking the player's contract if he was caught in a less-than-ideal situation, then that would put some responsibility on the person to make themselves a stronger individual. Yet, it shouldn't be all on him. The organization should require the player to meet with a life coach to help them work out issues they may have, and to help them keep their new big pocketbook in check. A lot of the time, these players don't know how to control their money and run through it before they ever get a chance to set up a retirement nest egg. Then, when they can't play the sport, anymore, they are left with nothing, because no one was there for them to help them take control of their own life and in a positive manner.

I know if society was more responsible towards people that we give insane amounts of money,  then everyone would win. We would get to "look up" to these stars that we create if corporations stood by their athletes and gave them the proper tools as how to function the best that they could on and off the field/court/whatever. Most importantly, these stars would have a better foundation to start their lives off more responsibly and peacefully, creating homes and lives in a joyous and harmonious manner. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?