Tiger Woods: Falling in Line With Other Great Athletes

There has never been an athlete who transformed their sport the way Tiger Woods has done with golf. He has been a picture of class (most of the time, anyway) and quality throughout his illustrious career.

With the recent events surrounding his affair with another woman and the early morning car accident, Tiger has broken away from the 'perfect man' mold he has sustained since he blasted onto the golf scene over a decade ago. No one saw this coming.

While Woods has brought on the most difficult time of his life, remember that he is not the first global icon to put a bad mark on his career. Take a look at the past twenty years alone.

Magic Johnson becoming the first major athlete to be diagnosed with AIDS in the early '90s and revealing that he slept with hundreds of women ended up cutting his career shorter than he would have liked. He owned the '80s like no other athlete with his time spent with the Lakers and his rivalry with Larry Bird, and just like that, his career took a bad turn. Since then, though, he has rebuilt his reputation as a major voice in the fight against AIDS, showing us all that he is still the man we thought he was.

Michael Jordan retired from basketball because he wanted to pursue a career in baseball, his murdered father's favorite sport. In the middle of his prime, though? In the midst of winning three straight championships? Riiiiiiight. He was making sports gambling too easy. If you had placed a bet on the Bulls winning the NBA Championship, you had a high chance of winning. How do you think the people running gambling rings felt about that? Could it have played into his father's death? It was a sticky situation for someone even as big as Michael Jordan, and it seems that's why he took those 2 years off. He eventually came back, and became an even bigger icon after another three-peat.

Brett Favre was on his way to becoming an NFL star when he went through tough times. Remember the addiction the pain medication? Things weren't looking great for Mississippi Kid at the time. What could he do to persevere? Only win the Super Bowl and become the only player in NFL history to win three straight MVP awards.

What about the Kobe Bryant sexual assault trial? He put up the best statistics of his career during and after the whole debacle. 81 points, anyone? Not to mention he won another NBA title last year. See a familiar trend going on here?

Iconic athletes are not perfect. They live everyday with the eyes of millions watching their every step. From TMZ headlines to box scores, they are constantly in the public eye. How would you like it if this was your life?

Being perfect is a difficult task for anyone, let alone professional athletes. We all do things we're not proud of, and we all must face the consequences, however big they might be. The question you have to ask yourself, then, is how do you persevere?

Tiger must face the consequences of his actions. The upcoming golf season will probably be the most watched in history. It will also be the most trying of his career.

The man is as tough as nails when he steps onto the course. All of the controversial greats that have been mentioned have/had the same competitive edge that Tiger has shown us so many times. If history has taught us one thing, it is that the great become greater in the face of adversity.

Tiger Woods, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Brett Favre