December 9, 2009

Super Jocks and Marriage: The Dynastic Urge

Many have asked why famous athletes bother to get married if they aren't going to respect their vows about forsaking all others. Some, like Wilt Chamberlain, never bothered.

Obviously, there are a lot of different reasons, but I think one that might get overlooked in modern America is the old-fashioned dynastic urge that highly successful men are especially prone to. Think of Sean Connery waxing dynastic near the end of The Man Who Would Be King. That this woman is the one worthy of commingling her genes with mine and bearing the sons who will carry forward my name, bringing satisfaction to my old age as their sons have done for Archie Manning and Ken Griffey Sr. Also, I probably won't be around that much while my kids are growing up, but she looks like she can handle it on her own.

The same kind of thinking helps explain the semi-pro skankiness of Tiger's list. Many have asked why Tiger wasn't cheating with somebody more of a rival to his wife. But there's a certain logic to aiming low to keep the peace around the house: Jamie Grubbs isn't a plausible threat to Elin Nordegren Woods to displace her as a second Mrs. Woods, while, say, Zooey Deschanel would be. (Tiger's problem is that the low quality got lost in the high quantity.)

Marrying a formidable woman can be expensive when it comes to the divorce settlement, however.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

33 comments:

Dennis Dale said...
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Dennis Dale said...
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Mike Kenny said...

I'm reminded of Tony Soprano and Carmella, the Queen Bee. Tony had all those stripper-types on the side.

On the other hand, there's the whole goomar thing--some mobsters have a wife and a girlfriend, which seems a little less polyamorous, if they make a habit of sticking to those two.

Anonymous said...

Why not just pay an athletic, attractive, high IQ woman to bear your children for you; get a nanny to raise them; then marry whatever skanky porn star (who's into threesomes, foursomes and fivesomes) you want?

If you have Tiger's money you can have all three.

Sid said...

Tiger Woods also took his squeaky-clean public image very seriously. I'm sure a number of his fans would be impressed if he acted like Wilt Chamberlain and was a Darwinian powerhouse, but that vastly limits his appeal. Also, basketball is a more macho sport than golf, so the existing golf fanbase would probably be less responsive to him bedding many women. You're seeing that now.

jody said...

"The same kind of thinking helps explain the semi-pro skankiness of Tiger's list."

best line ever, steve!

Carolyn said...

"But there's a certain logic to aiming low to keep the peace around the house: Jamie Grubbs isn't a plausible threat to Elin Nordegren Woods to displace her as a second Mrs. Woods, while, say, Zooey Deschanel would be."

That logic would make sense if he was only going to step out now and again but it sounds as if he was cheating constantly. A decent woman with options (Elin is still young and beautiful) from a good background will only stand for so many indiscretions before she pulls the plug for reasons of self-respect. Elin has got to be way beyond that point - the number and quality of women is insulting and humiliating (not to mention his exposing her to STDs). Except for money, what reason is there for her to stay? The kids are too young to know their dad, better break now before they become attached while she still has her youth, looks, and fertility.

Is Tiger self-destructive, stupid, or is it a black thing? What white uber-athletes have cheated (and cheat the way Tiger did - nonstop with a variety of different honeys) on their wives (and children) exclusively with almost whores and porn stars? Look at Tom Brady, he went from Bridget Moynaham to Giselle Bunchen - he traded up. Didn't Tiger think he could do better for himself?

Anonymous said...

"Is Tiger self-destructive, stupid, or is it a black thing? What white uber-athletes have cheated (and cheat the way Tiger did - nonstop with a variety of different honeys) on their wives (and children) exclusively with almost whores and porn stars?"

Interesting point. Reminds of a video that came out last summer of Melky Cabrera and an ex-porn star: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmtpcgRv7k

Anonymous said...

Carolyn said...

Is Tiger self-destructive, stupid, or is it a black thing? What white uber-athletes have cheated (and cheat the way Tiger did - nonstop with a variety of different honeys) on their wives (and children) exclusively with almost whores and porn stars?

Your point is best illustrated by the great movie, Raging Bull. Scorcese focuses on the life of Jake LaMotta and not the greatest boxer in history, Sugar Ray Robinson, who beat LaMotta five times. Robinson is simply a greater fighter. LaMotta, on the other hand, has the capacity to hate himself because he realizes that he's no better than an animal, a slave to his instincts. Traditionally, a white person, even a dolt like LaMotta, has strived to rise above the mere animal behavior of bulls and tigers to struggle with questions of right and wrong.

However, judging from the comments on iSteve, the human biodiversity crowd believes we'd all choose to be an African Big Man if given the opportunity. So we can all relax now.

Anonymous said...

"Why not just pay an athletic, attractive, high IQ woman to bear your children for you; get a nanny to raise them; then marry whatever skanky porn star (who's into threesomes, foursomes and fivesomes) you want?"

Assuming he found a loving, devoted nanny what if, after 5 or 6 years, the nanny wanted to get another job? Read about Princess Diana who, after her mother abandoned the family, was cared for by a series of nannies of varying quality and compassion. Relying on stepparents, hired help etc. to raise kids with as much devotion as biological parents generally sets the kids up for an insecure, unstable childhood. That's a key aspect of HBD.

My guess is that, for all Tiger wanted to screw around with skanks, he still wanted the security of knowing that he had a loving wife at home. Unfortunately for all his intelligence and success he seems to be narcissistic to the point of hubris. No matter how badly men like this treat their wives they are always shocked when their wives leave them because it doesn't fit in with their self-image as irresistible to women. If he met these women in his daily life I can understand how he might have impulsively succumbed to temptation but these women weren't fans throwing themselves at him at the golf clubs for the most part but porn stars and call girls that he sought out. Men with future-oriented outlook on life and a modicum of self-control know that these affairs are rarely worth, and that the brief pleasure you get from them doesn't cancel out the damage to your marriage and often times losing the respect of your children.

Anonymous said...

"A decent woman with options (Elin is still young and beautiful) from a good background will only stand for so many indiscretions before she pulls the plug for reasons of self-respect. Elin has got to be way beyond that point - the number and quality of women is insulting and humiliating (not to mention his exposing her to STDs)."

I know a couple who were college sweethearts, when neither of them had any money. He made a lot of money in finance and real estate, nore than either of them ever expected, and she was a teacher. However, he started cheating on her when their oldest was about ten and essentially never stopped no matter how angry she got (there was never any violence between them as far as I know). She stayed primarily for the kids, because she could have taken him to the cleaners in divorce court. However last year, when their youngest was a senior in high school, he got laid off and lost what little money he had left after the subprime crisis. With the kids almost grown, and him being broke he had nothing to offer except the quality of the relationship and that was it.

rob said...

Should have plugged Natural History of the Rich in this thread.

A very high quality man can follow both dad and cad strategies simultaneously. Tiger has the wealth to leave select heirs a fortune. And he also has more than enough status (a hundred million or so white guys worship him) to have lots of low investment short term relationships.

Woods also shows that our behaviors are nowhere near optimized to maximize reproductive success in modern America. If he donated to sperm banks, he could have hundreds or maybe thousands of kids. The genius sperm bank was just silly. A pro-athlete sperm bank might be the death of civilization.

Carolyn, the dynastic urge is largely the result of following high-investment paternity, the dad strategy. Trying to climb to the top of male hierachies and having children who inherit that success seems fairly rare in blacks. By and large male blacks are fine mooching of women. Even rich male blacks are comparitively low investment parents.

Tiger was expecting his wife to act like a black woman: thank God I got a man! More than likely Elin expected decent and faithful spouse.

Scandanavians are almost certainly the most dad selected humans on earth: the woman are amazingly attractive, the men are honest, hard-working, high trust. Scandies are stereotypically guilible because they're honest. He said he loved her, blah blah. A Swede couldn't say that and lie. She thought there are no racial differences in personality, so she bought it.

josh said...

Why did the girls sink so low?

Middletown Girl said...

Dynastic urge as in dying-to-be-nasty urge.

Maybe it's like everything else. Most people eat homemade cooking but if they had lots of money they wanna eat out and look for new thrills.

Most people own one car at a time and stay pretty loyal, but if you had tons of money, you wanna own every fancy car in the world.

For most of human history, women were possessions, like horses, especially to those with power.

dormouse said...

"A very high quality man can follow both dad and cad strategies simultaneously. "

High quality? That's what you call high quality? I don't think so. I call it duplicitous and a broken contract. Also, a bad health strategy for both. Venereal diseases have rendered countless women sterile over the years. When your spouse is doing it with whomever, disease risk goes up.

I like the Anon who referenced Raging Bull fighter La Motta. "Traditionally, a white person,[except I would not limit this to "white persons" because this moral dilemma does occur in some other races/cultures than our own] even a dolt like LaMotta, has strived to rise above the mere animal behavior of bulls and tigers to struggle with questions of right and wrong.

However, judging from the comments on iSteve, the human biodiversity crowd believes we'd all choose to be an African Big Man if given the opportunity. So we can all relax now."

What it comes downs to: a sinner is interesting only if he, or she, has any height from which to fall.

SF said...

http://www.wnba.com/lynx/news/basketball_marriage.html

This may be the only NBA-WNBA marriage. And she is hot. Probably part of the 50% that aren't lesbians. Good dynasty potential here.

Anonymous said...

Hey, just cause your married doesn't mean you have to be a fanatic about it.

Obviously his wife married him for his money. He probably figured giving her money was all he needed to do and that she wasn't going to get all up in his business.

The funniest part is the different hoochies are ticked cause they thought they were one of two or three, not one of 10+.

As far straying being worth it, it might not seem like it now, but in a year or so, after the divorce, he'll be able to live the bachelor lifestyle he clearly wanted.

He should've modeled himself after Wilt.

Truth said...

"The same kind of thinking helps explain the semi-pro skankiness of Tiger's list. Many have asked why Tiger wasn't cheating with somebody more of a rival to his wife. But there's a certain logic to aiming low to keep the peace around the house: Jamie Grubbs isn't a plausible threat to Elin Nordegren"

I must admit, I don't get the fascination with Nordgren. I guess because she's Ultimate-White! (tm) She is automatically the world's most beautiful thing in some people's eyes. To me his wife and most of the other broads were on about the same level of attractiveness.

And regarding the reverse Flynn-effect "Why do these guys ever get married question" so many of you guys have posed, ponder this:

Because they're human?

John Seiler said...

How much greater would Tiger have been had he not popped pills and cheated on his wife?

Dahlia said...

Truth said...

"The same kind of thinking helps explain the semi-pro skankiness of Tiger's list. Many have asked why Tiger wasn't cheating with somebody more of a rival to his wife. But there's a certain logic to aiming low to keep the peace around the house: Jamie Grubbs isn't a plausible threat to Elin Nordegren"

"I must admit, I don't get the fascination with Nordgren. I guess because she's Ultimate-White! (tm) She is automatically the world's most beautiful thing in some people's eyes. To me his wife and most of the other broads were on about the same level of attractiveness."

Truth,
You're blinkered with your hatred of Gentiles and an embarrassment to your co-ethnics. Nordegren is in the top 1% of women when it comes to beauty just based on her facial bone structure and body. That she is so white and with blue eyes makes her stand out even more.

On top of her beauty she has a good pedigree which I'm quite sure is better than any of the mistresses.

DAJ said...

Is Tiger self-destructive, stupid, or is it a black thing?

I see. When Tiger Woods was the untarnished, renowned golfer, people seemingly made every effort to diminish his blackness. Now that he has been defrocked, let us all join in unison and declare his black genes to the world.

Anonymous said...

I think it's wrong to think of Tiger as the "alpha male" taking his pick of the available females. Partly because there are no alpha males, as anyone knows if they have met one, but also because if his dalliances were his idea, he would have chosen women more beautiful and with a somewhat lower odometer.

Tiger probably met all these women randomly, without trying to, and they decided they were going to have sex with him. But while he isn't the monogamous type, it turns out that he is the "clingy" type, and after a random woman seduces him once, he actually wants to see her again and again. Hence the fact that he had nine mistresses, which is odd, rather than nine one-night stands which is not.

And - Zooey Deschanel? Nonsense, she would never stoop that low.

Dennis Dale said...
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Anonymous said...

"And regarding the reverse Flynn-effect "Why do these guys ever get married question" so many of you guys have posed, ponder this:

Because they're human?"

What's that mean? Clooney's human. So was Wilt. They enjoyed the bounty that fame and money offered them withot apology.

In Tiger's case the whole nice guy family man image was good for business. I wonder if he ever really planned on being tuly commited and faithful. I doubt it.

There real question is where are the discreet mistresses these days. Its a shame no one knows the rules of OPP anymore.

osceola said...

Weird how you all describe a guy who's two thirds Asian ancestry as "black". Proof, if proof were needed that you can't be selectively delusional. When your worldview is distorted, all information comes through skewed.

Black Americans do the same thing, of course. Some of them are bad mouthing Woods because he never dated black women. Since he wasn't raised by a black woman, and has never lived in a black neighborhood, gone to a black school, or attended a black church, how is he supposed to have any experience with black women? Race crazy Americans in black and white.

It was quite common in pre revolutionary China for wealthy men to have a wife and multiple concubines. Not at all unusual for wealthy Thai men today either.
Look to the East.

Anonymous said...

DAJ said

> I see. When Tiger Woods was the untarnished, renowned golfer, people seemingly made every effort to diminish his blackness. Now that he has been defrocked, let us all join in unison and declare his black genes to the world. <

Everyone could exemplify the perfect consistency you expect if he always knew then what he knows now. Many people's view of Tiger has changed recently.

Anonymous said...

Give me a break with the criticism.
Quick list of cheaters--who were known to have cheated with AT LEAST one woman

Albert Einstein
Bill Clinton
Elliot Spitzer
John F. Kennedy
John Edwards
Warren G. Harding
Thomas Jefferson
Rick Pitino
Francois Mitterrand - though much of non-UK Europe is OK with it
Silvio Berlusconi
Franklin Roosevelt
Jude Law
David Letterman
David Beckham- denies it, but he played in Spain around Spanish women.
Donald Trump
Steve Philips from ESPN
Mark Sanford
etc. etc. etc. ~

There are more. Also, what do you think 98% of these ego-centric managers on Wall Street do on their trips away from their wives?

Also, isn't Woods genetically mostly Asian? I love how when Tiger was successful, everyone pointed this out. Now that he's a known cheather Carolyn declares "Is Tiger self-destructive, stupid, or is it a black thing?"

LBK said...

No doubt much of the condemnation of Tiger is motivated by envy. There are a lot of men who would like to have as many women as Tiger does, and they are jealous of him.

Truth said...

"You're blinkered with your hatred of Gentiles and an embarrassment to your co-ethnics..."

How can I be "blinkered with your hatred of Gentiles" when all of his mistresses where gentiles too?

"Nordegren is in the top 1% of women when it comes to beauty just based on her facial bone structure and body."

That would put her among the top 35 million women in the world. Think about it for a second, if she's so beautiful, why did she spend her 20's as a nanny instead of a model or actress. And no, don't tell me it is because she had some moral objection to the industry. There are plenty of pictures of here in skimpy bikinis. She tried it, she was a relative failure, end of discussion.

PS, what do you know about her pedigree? You people see blonde hair and a map of Sweden and you go down 6 rungs on the evolutionary chain.

"Also, isn't Woods genetically mostly Asian?"

He was when he was winning golf tournaments; and if he quits golf and invents a cure for cancer...he will be again!

"On top of her beauty she has a good pedigree which I'm quite sure is better than any of the mistresses."

corvinus said...

Scandanavians are almost certainly the most dad selected humans on earth: the women are amazingly attractive, the men are honest, hard-working, high trust. Scandies are stereotypically guilible because they're honest. He said he loved her, blah blah. A Swede couldn't say that and lie. She thought there are no racial differences in personality, so she bought it.

Makes sense to me. In line with whites thinking blacks are basically being tortured when they're just a little bit annoyed, Elin thinking there was no racial differences is probably the key point.

I'm of Irish background, and I wouldn't dream of "putting one over" on the lovely girl of Norwegian extraction I'm interested in; she'd sniff it out in a second. Then again, she has learned that, as opposed to for example a gregarious Italian, that I only express my feelings if they're basically torturing me inside, hehe. For whatever reason, she and her friends find it cute.

So yes, I'd agree that Scandie women's ability to read their own and closely-related men fails utterly on men of alien races (and alien race combinations, for that matter).

DAJ said...

I love how when Tiger was successful, everyone pointed this [his Asian ancestry] out. Now that he's a known cheather [sic] Carolyn declares "Is Tiger self-destructive, stupid, or is it a black thing?"

Black Americans may oddly characterize every person with a smidgen of noticeable black ancestry as all socially black, but at least they are consistent in their characterization. They do not minimize a mixed person's blackness when he succeeds and magnify his blackness when he falters (or vice versa). Consistency is a good thing.

Middletown Girl said...

Tiger Woods.

From moaning Woods to mourning woods.

Anonymous said...

http://www.wnba.com/lynx/news/basketball_marriage.html

This may be the only NBA-WNBA marriage. And she is hot. Probably part of the 50% that aren't lesbians. Good dynasty potential here.


Candace Parker and Shelden Williams are married.