"Image is like glass.   Once broken, it can't be replaced."

      A very wise boss of mine imparted that bit of wisdom to his air staff many years ago.    He applied it to the station as well as to the people who worked there.    Simply put: it's hard, if not impossible, to restore good will once the public thinks you've jobbed them.

      Enter Tiger Woods.    To his fans, the world's best golfer is the victim of a media horde desperate for news during a slow holiday weekend.    They think he should be left alone, and that the only thing he owes the world is to show up behind the ropes to crack off a solid 18 holes at the tournaments of his choosing.

      To them, I say, "Wake up."

      Woods crafted himself an impeccable persona: a superstar with a perfect nuclear family and a squeaky clean image that can move the merch, be it razor blades or cars (why was he driving a Cadillac, by the by, instead of one of the Buicks he tries pitching to the world?).    His biggest problem seemed to be a penchant for on-the-course profanity, but it that's a crime there'd be no need for timekeepers at any course in the world since almost anyone who'd ever swung a stick would be in prison.

      Tiger's troubles, contrary to popular belief, didn't start when his SUV made rude acquaintance with a fire hydrant and a tree near his Florida home.     They began when the tabloids started linking him up with women other than his wife.    Image is all about control, and at that point, Woods no longer had leverage.     He can deny, but he can't speak for others.    And, in this media age, there is no lack of people willing to dish.         Then came the accident, the questionable circumstances surrounding it, the bunker mentality.     By not coming 100 per cent clean, Woods left it to others to fill the void.    And boy, are they ever.

      Wednesday morning brings us the "US Magazine" tape of Tiger supposedly telling a women other than his wife to change her phone message since Mrs. Woods had gone through the golfer's cellphone and apparently had itchy dialing fingers.     This woman apparently isn't the same one originally linked extra-maritally to Tiger.    And so, the fire spreads.    Now, there's not just one alleged mistress who can define/defend/defile the Woods image.    There are now at least two.     Control slips away at double the past rate.

     You can dismiss "The National Enquirer" and others of their ilk as journalistic bottom-feeders, but they're the best in the world when it comes to dredging up muck.    It's competitors, like "TMZ", don't like getting scooped and will devote all of their considerable resources into taking the story away.     That includes coming up with people who could prove the original allegations wrong.    And, as of this writing, we're still waiting for that to happen.

     Fame cuts both ways.    Stars and athletes crave it, then cash in on it when times are good.   They curse it when the winds blow the other way.   For as much as we love our stars, we have an insatiable appetite to see them torn down.    These aren't new rules, and they're even more true in the Internet age which finds more outlets in search of more stories.   That's all the more reason for the famous to keep their affairs in order and to come clean when the inevitable happens.     If they don't, they find themselves compromised, their finely honed images out of their control and left to be spun by others.     

     The public relations term for it is "getting in front of the story", and it's exactly what Woods should've done from the onset.    Maybe that's what was happening in his home that early Friday morning.       It certainly should've continued after he wadded up his ride near his home a short time later, because it was at that point that a private matter went very, very public.      And, very much out of Woods' control.

      Now, the world's best golfer is the star of the tabloid universe.     He's portrayed as a potential philanderer at worst, and at the very least someone who isn't telling the whole truth.    

      "Image is like glass," my former boss used to say, and he was right--at least back then.   The comforting thing for Woods and any other celeb who gets caught in the headlights with their pants down is that the public is so used to such stories that our memories are challenged to keep up with the endless scandals.      One star's misstep is soon forgotten because, sure as shootin', someone else falls off the marital fidelity wagon a day or so later.    Think Marv Albert, Bill Clinton, and any other number of celebs/athletes/politicians who got their boobs caught in the tabloid wringer.     As much as we love to take our stars down, America loves nothing more than a comeback, especially when the big name in question can still deliver the goods.

      Tiger Woods remains a very fine golfer.     There's nothing to suggest that the physical injuries suffered last week will impair his game.     His image, though dinged up like the front end of his SUV, may be the stuff of punchlines in the clubhouse of every golf course in the country until everything comes out.      Once it does, the story dies and the tabloids find their next piece of raw meat.   

      Until then, they'll feast on Tiger.      On the links, Woods is almost always in control.     This week, in the real world, he's not.