What has the world come to? After all of the drama in the Tiger Woods fiasco, it now appears that Vegas is getting in on the act. According to media reports, several gambling enterprises are now taking bets on when Tiger is going to get divorced. They are also betting on other dimensions of the divorce, such as how much money Elin Nordegren is going to get, and how things actually went down on the night of the accident.

BetUS.com now has even odds that the divorce is going to happen during the year 2010. Playbackjack.com is betting on whether domestic violence took place after the car accident.

The gambling situation is only the latest in this circus. Even 50 Cent made a gambling reference about Tiger Woods, with the quote,"Thirteen women and no condoms – you're a gambling man ain't you Tiger?" The rapper also went on to state that the women who are coming out of the woodwork demanding money may not have had respect for Woods. What is most interesting about all this is that Tiger is not the only celebrity spending a great deal of time with other women. Michael Jordan and other men have also been accused of committing adultery, but no one has seen Jordan's career slammed like that of Tiger Woods.

Here is what needs to happen with Tiger for things to get right:

1) Tiger, please grow a pair: Be tough. Go out in public and tell the world that you are still a strong and honorable man. Don't hide forever, since this is only going to make the world disrespect you even further.

2) Keep playing golf: Putting the ball in the hole is the only thing that will make the public forget that you are an adulterer. So, whatever member of "Team Tiger" is telling you to take a year off in hiding needs to be fired immediately. Even if your face is scratched up, you are still a man and there is nothing to be ashamed of.

3) Don't be so hard on yourself: Charles Barkley isn't the brightest guy in the world, and he is also highly imperfect. But when Charles embarrasses himself one time after another, he apologizes and moves on. All of the people who somehow think you're the worst person in the world are hypocrites, since many of them make the same silly choices in their own lives. If you are off beating yourself up over this, please stop.

I used to say that Tiger Woods will come back from this mess. Now, I will only say that Tiger Woods CAN come back from this mess. He may be "Caublinasian," but right now, he needs a strong black mama to help him face the world and say (as LL Cool J did when his critics attacked him in the 1980s), "Mama said knock you out." So, since his mama won't say, I'll say it for him: Tiger, go knock em out.


Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.