Cheer up, Tiger, another disgraced person has come to your defense!

First it was slap-happy singer Chris Brown publicly supporting Tiger Woods, next came porn-addicted cross-country skier Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset insisting that “Tiger Woods is a really good man,” now comes Steve Phillips, the former ESPN baseball analyst/humper of frumpy production assistants, singing the praises of how Tiger Woods has been handling himself so well as of late.
In a lengthy interview yesterday with Mike Francesca on WFAN, Phillips, who spent 45 days at the Hattiesburg clinic Pine Grove – the same facility Tiger Woods allegedly attended for treatment – said he thought Tiger “did a good job” with his press conference.
Jeez, who’s next? Which pariah will step forward and align themselves with Tiger next? John Edwards? Gilbert Arenas? The cast of Jersey Shore?

Phillips has an “insider’s perspective” of what Woods is presently going through. As you may recall, the reason Phillips was receiving treatment for his “sex addiction” at Pine Grove was due to his affair with ESPN production assistant Brooke Hundley, which became uncomfortably public – not just for Phillips, but for all of us – last October.

“Listening to it with my ears, I thought he did a good job. He looked like a broken man standing up there…not the Tiger Woods we had seen before.”

Well, it certainly is encouraging that Phillips was “listening to it with his ears,” not his butt, or, considering his sordid past, a less appropriate protuberance. If that had been the case, he wouldn’t even have known what Tiger had said! Ears are for listening, other body parts are for other stuff! Duh!
Phillips continued, hopefully speaking with his mouth:

“My initial reaction was his poor wife, his poor kids, and I felt really bad for Tiger Woods, too,” Phillips said. “I remember how alone I felt [going to Mississippi]. I can’t imagine how alone he felt.”

Phillips later addressed how Tiger never used the term “sex addict,” but that should be immaterial. The fact is, at least according to Phillips, Tiger owned up to what he did.

“He didn’t say it then, maybe he won’t ever say it,” Phillips said. “Ultimately, he needed to do it and I thought he did a good job.”

Discussing it at length, what Phillips wanted to stress more than anything is that sex addiction is real and is no laughing matter, especially if you are the one suffering through it.

“There was a time I might have joked about it, too, but being in it, I know it’s real,” Phillips said.

So, what I am taking from his comment is that until you have been caught doing the nasty with someone you shouldn’t have been and then subsequently publicly shamed and forced to use sex addiction as a justification for your immoral behavior, joking about it is okay. Right? No?
One person who may agree with that possibly inaccurate assessment is Brooke Hundley, who recently criticized her former lover’s use of sexual addiction as an excuse for their affair:

“Sex addicts don’t pick out a single young employee to go after who has to worry about her career if she says anything. Steve’s not a sex addict. The only thing he’s ever been addicted to is feeding his own ego.”

Ooh. Major burn. Score one for Brooke Hundley. And let’s be honest here, she needs it.
You know, maybe Brooke should reach out to some of Tiger’s many paramours and offer her expertise on how to handle the situation of being the other woman with dignity and grace.
Step 1: When going out in public, always try to look your best. A pink-tinged Yankees cap pulled firmly down tells people “I’m casual and confident, but I am very busy living my own life and might not have had a chance to wash my hair.”
Step 2: …
Step 3: Profit!
Wait. Methinks Miss Hundley isn’t doing it right. Perhaps it should be the other way around.
***
Steve Phillips: Tiger did good job [New York Post]
Singer Chris Brown Shows Support For Tiger, Will Smack The S**t Out Of Those Who Disagree [Sportress of Blogitude]
Norwegian skier watches too much porn, loves Tiger Woods [Out of Bounds]
ESPN fires Steve Phillips after ex-Mets GM admits affair with production assistant Brooke Hundley [New York Daily News]
Brooke Hundley: Steve Phillips’ Black Tar Heroine [SPORTSbyBROOKS]