Everyone wanted to believe that Tiger Woods was perfect. It turned out that he was not, but after we all realized that he has weaknesses -- like a lot of men in America (well, some of his weaknesses weren't typical) -- some began cheering for his demise.

When Devon James, yet another porn star on the list of Tiger Woods' mistresses, came out to say that Tiger was the father of her child, everyone wanted to believe that this was yet another confirmed chapter in the drama called "The Private Life of Tiger Woods." It turns out that the Tiger haters might have been wrong.

According to recent reports, a DNA test conducted in 2002 revealed that Woods is not the father of James' child. The tests were taken as part of an "ongoing child support battle" and have excluded Woods as a potential father. TMZ is reporting that the father of the child is a Florida man, and it is not clear how Woods can still be a reasonable guess for being the father of the child. I can only speculate that his being worth $600 million might have something to do with why he was never eliminated from the list of baby daddy hopefuls.

It appears that personal choices have reduced Woods' stellar achievements into an episode of 'Jerry Springer.' I seriously wish that in addition to all of the lessons Tiger's late father, Earl, gave him about being tough on the golf course, he would have supplemented those lessons with meaningful guidance on how to manage Tiger's personal life. I've seen quite a few highly successful men and women allow their personal lives to destroy everything. In fact, when I wrote the book 'Financial Lovemaking 101,' part of my motivation was driven by countless stories I'd heard about people who have everything together, only to find that marrying or dating the wrong person could destroy it all.

I am not perfect and I am not trying to be, but my advice for any ambitious person is to realize that most great people are not brought down by the big things. It's usually the little things you're not prepared for that ultimately lead to your demise. Perhaps Tiger Woods can recover from all of this, but I'm not quite sure. Personally, I think his life needs a big, dramatic reboot.




Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the new book 'Black American Money.' To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.