Friday column: Looking for probity in a Tiger world

Put not your trust in princes, Psalm 146 advises, and the counsel is as good now as the day it was written.

Millions of fans put their trust in Tiger Woods, golf’s crown prince — not just in his ability, though that was key, but also in the type of person they were led to believe he was.

Now, it turns out he’s not a prince among men in his personal behavior; and with his being linked to a doctor suspected of providing performance-enhancing drugs, perhaps his play on the links of the world isn’t all that princely, either.

Woods, of course, isn’t the only sports figure to disappoint recently, but even while remembering the psalmic wisdom, it isn’t necessary or helpful to allow that disappointment to morph into a “they all do it” mentality. There are examples, both distant and recent, of better behavior:

* Brian Kelly, meet John Wooden.

Kelly, head football coach at the University of Cincinnati, jumped to take the Notre Dame job after promising his Bearcats that he wasn’t going anywhere.

In contrast, in the early days of his career, John Wooden turned down a job he wanted in the Midwest for the simple reason he’d already agreed to go to UCLA. No, he hadn’t signed anything; he’d just given his word. His word was enough.

* Michigan State Nine, meet Shaky Smithson.

Nine Spartan football players have been charged with assault and conspiracy in connection with a fight at the campus residence hall of Iota Phi Theta. One of the players, involved in a dispute with the fraternity the night before, apparently called on some football buddies to help even the score, and they responded — thereby hurting other students, themselves, their team and their university.

In a sense-of-responsibility contrast, Smithson, a 22-year-old receiver for the Utah Utes, this season took on the extra burden of becoming the legal guardian of his 15-year-old brother in order to get him out of a dangerous Baltimore neighborhood. Marveled a teammate, “I can’t imagine taking on everything we have, as far as football and school goes, and then taking that responsibility on your shoulders as well.”

* Randy Moss, meet … well, any number of guys.

The pouting Patriots receiver took a day off Sunday when New England played Carolina. No — he played; he just didn’t play very hard.

But receivers such as Donald Driver and Hines Ward — or for that matter, Moss’ own teammate Wes Welker — never take plays off, let alone games, regardless of how their psyches are on a particular day.

* Tiger Woods, meet A.C. Green.

Since 2004, Woods has been marketed as a devoted family man, but the image and the truth are at odds. On the other hand, Green, who said his religious beliefs precluded pre-marital sex, began and ended his 15-year NBA career as a virgin. Green married a year into retirement, and no cocktail waitress, hostess or lingerie model has come forward to say his behavior and words weren’t absolutely congruent.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Not using his head

Tuesday’s apology or no, I doubt Hines Ward is still on Ben Roethlisberger’s best-buddy list after publicly questioning why the quarterback didn’t play in the Steelers’ 20-17 loss to Baltimore.

Roethlisberger only had suffered a concussion the Sunday before and had experienced exercise-induced headaches the week before the game. What’s the big deal?

After the game, Ward told an interview that the Steelers players were split 50-50 on whether Roethlisberger should have played. He also said he himself had lied to doctors and played with concussions, adding that, “these games, you don’t get back.”

Hines, you know what also you don’t get back once it’s gone? Your brain.

At one point in the interview, Ward boasted, “I’m a competitor.”

If this is how you really think, Hines, you’re also a fool. So be a fool with your own brain, and leave your teammates’ brains — and futures — to them.