Tiger Woods is deeply sorry for the “selfish behavior” he engaged in that brought upon a shocking sex scandal that has consumed his life since Thanksgiving. He also has no idea when he’ll return to golf, although he’s not ruling out that it’ll be sometime this year.

In his first public appearance in nearly three months, Woods addressed a small media contingent on Friday in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida and said he was deeply sorry for his behavior. He spoke for nearly 15 minutes and admitted that, “I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to” and how, “I felt entitled.” He also said that he was going back to rehab next week and therefore there was no timetable for his return to golf.

You could tell that Woods was genuine in his apology and he wasn’t just skating through a forced statement. I give him credit for speaking publicly because quite frankly, he doesn’t owe us anything even though some people feel otherwise. This is a private matter and just because he sells himself through endorsements, doesn’t mean we’re entitled to what he does behind closed doors. Did he screw up? Yeah, he did. But he’s obviously paying for it and he’s trying to take the steps necessary to ensure that he doesn’t make these mistakes again.

I also think it’s smart that he didn’t announce when he’d return to the links. He’s heading back to rehab next week and who knows how long that will take. It doesn’t make sense for him to rush through rehab and return to golf before he’s received help for dealing with the issues that got him into this situation in the first place. He should return when it’s the right time, whenever that may be.

There were no new or shocking revelations today. Anyone who thought that he would stand in front of a podium and either admit to or refute the allegations that have been made public is delusional. True, many people thought he would announce his return to golf but he didn’t, so let’s move on for the time being.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Never shy with his thoughts and opinions, FOX Sports’ columnist Jason Whitlock recently took aim at sports writers Charlie Pierce and Rick Reilly for the way they’ve covered the Tiger Woods scandal.

The article is long, so here are some excerpts on Pierce:

Pierce’s latest offering is an I-told-you-so column. He rages that Tiger’s puritan image is phony and points out that he wrote in great detail in 1997 that Woods was a scandalous, tail-chasing hound.

I don’t know how many rich, famous and good-looking 21-year-old athletes/men Charlie Pierce has interviewed. The ones I’ve met have all been scandalous, tail-chasing hounds. No different from the frat boys I met in college or the corner boys hustling on the block.

Pierce should’ve opened his column by admitting he dislikes Woods and his opinion is skewed by that bias. We’re journalists. We’re supposed to be transparent. Two weeks ago on Deadspin, Pierce trashed Bill Simmons and his New York Times-bestselling book. In that hit piece, Pierce failed to mention that he tried to befriend and mentor Simmons at the beginning of the decade and that in 2002 Simmons told Pierce to go (expletive) himself. That little nugget of information would’ve been very enlightening when reading Pierce’s Deadspin take.
I’m sharing this because it’s important for the public to know that the media act dishonestly all the time. We’re far more phony than Tiger Woods ever could be.

And Reilly:

Read the rest of this entry »