I really debated whether or not I wanted to discuss the recent Tiger Woods drama.

It's been an exhausting few weeks watching as his idealistic life unravels before our eyes, not that I have an ounce of sympathy for the guy. It's that I really couldn't care less and I'm quickly tiring of hearing about it.

I've previously discussed cheating and my personal experience with it, but it's difficult to cover such a prevalent and problematic topic in just a page or two or in reference to just a single person or instance and with all the Tiger talk around the water cooler it's definitely on a lot of people's minds.

Obviously some very bad decisions led to what some are now calling Tiger's fall from grace and having seen photos of the chicks he cheated with, I would have to agree.

His first mistake (well, not the first) was his attempt to avoid all of this coming out in the media. It failed miserably and made him look like a complete scumbag.

I went from thinking that we might lose our beloved Tiger in a bizarre car accident to scoffing at every statement he made to try and cover his dirty tracks. He doesn't come across as an idiot but was he really under the impression that this wouldn't get out?

The best golfer in the world, recognized everywhere. He can't go grocery shopping without having a million people recognize him. What would cause him to believe he could sneak around with nasty looking party girls and still fly under the radar?

So, what do I know; maybe he is stupid.

I hate to say it but Lettermen did it right. When his sex scandal started to unravel, Dave made what I can only view as the intelligent decision in coming clean about it all and then making fun of himself. That story was dead in the water almost as soon as it broke because he didn't deny or try to hide anything.

For whatever reason people tend to give you a little credit when you come clean even if they despise you for what you did. Tiger's public relations people need to take a page from Letterman's book.

That's not to say the same applies to the rest of us.

Rather than inundate readers with more Tiger news, I figured we already know that people cheat but what exactly drives a person, even a person that seems to have it all, to cheat?

I was recently turned on to a book called "The Manual" by self-proclaimed bad boy and regular talk show guest, Steve Santagati.

Santagati has made a career out of the idea that men are programmed to cheat and that women make tons of mistakes that actually push men to betray them. (Not exactly uplifting news.)

Santagati is handsome and charming, he looks like he just walked out of the Brawny paper towel commercial and as much as I shudder to admit this, in a few instances he appears to know a bit about what he's talking about. He's not an idiot. As a matter of fact he's a very intelligent guy, but the topics he considers himself an expert on make him an unlikable character despite his charisma. He knows what he's talking about because he supposedly lives it or as he puts it, "who knows more about crime than a criminal."

To some degree that may be true. However, he has never been married and from the sound of it has rarely been in long term, committed relationships. So much of the information he's using is from serial dating experience and the experiences of the people that consult him for his advice.

He claims that women find a guy, get a ring, have a wedding and immediately cut their hair really short, start gaining weight and stop wanting to have sex.

Women drive men to cheating by letting themselves go and by not supplying their boyfriends or husbands with enough titillation to keep them from living out their fantasies with other women.

These are such gross generalizations of women and the stereotypical relationships we see on today's sitcoms. That's so easy -- just another nagging housewife spending the day eating bonbons and the night denying her husband sex.
We women are just waiting to rope a guy so we can stop pretending we like sex, stop shaving our legs and start eating carbs again. Is that really what guys think!? Are there women out there like this!?

Sure, but there are plenty of wives and girlfriends out there that do not fit his mold and plenty of men that aren't jumping at every boob that walks past.

It's wise to have tools and information as you navigate through relationships whether it is a friendship, committed relationship or marriage, but I think Santagati overlooks a few things in his issues with women, cheating and relationships in general.

Sometimes love keeps people together. Sometimes commitment means more to someone than sex. And often times people really truly love the person, not just what they look like. Go figure!!

This ex-model, playboy thinks that looks mean everything and that sex is the only glue holding a relationship together. I'm not naïve. Sex is definitely an important piece, but it is not the only piece. If I can't have a conversation, laugh or relate with someone, I'm walking no matter how great he is in bed.

Santagati says what women don't want to hear and sometimes he's correct, but proceed with caution. The advantage to his book is you're hearing the info directly from the horse's mouth.

The disadvantage is you're listening to the sleaziest stallion in the barn. If you dare, Santagati offers up some relationship advice on his Web site as well as an e-mail address to which you can send questions about your personal relationship issues, supposedly directly to Steve Santagati himself. His book is a New York Times bestseller and you might just learn something new by reading "The Manual."

I don't believe for one second that every man (or every woman) is a dog just waiting for the opportunity to cheat. There are those people out there, but I think they are in the minority for now.

I also don't think that "once a cheater, always a cheater."

Some people walk away from cheating feeling almost as though it's their right, like they're entitled. There is no guilt and typically these bottom feeders find ways to blame their significant other for their own lack of self control. These people will cheat again.

Other people walk away from a situation of cheating with nothing but guilt and regret for what they did and with a conviction to never hurt another person the way they previously did.

It's not just rock stars and pro athletes that cheat. You know more people than you think you do that have cheated or been cheated on.

I'm always a little shocked when I hear that a couple I know is breaking up because of infidelity. It's never pleasant to hear about, sometimes the hurt is transferable throughout the group of friends and part of you feels like you were personally betrayed.

However I'm never blown away when I hear a celebrity is cheating or has been cheated on.

We all need to take a giant Hollywood step back and come to the realization that watching people on television does not mean you know them personally. They deal in drama; it's their currency. You have to question those that fully embrace the public spotlight for its benefits only to cry foul when the indiscretions of their personal lives are made public.

I don't know why people cheat exactly. I don't believe there is one single, simple reason that generally applies to all cases of infidelity. There is a lot that goes on behind closed doors and it's nearly impossible to get a clear picture of other people's relationships.

Maybe Tiger's wife is a total psycho, maybe they haven't been happy for years, and maybe Tiger just has a thing for skanky cocktail waitresses.

We will likely never know.

Condoms and MPS: As an additional note to an earlier topic on sex education in schools; MPS has decided to push for approval to start handing out condoms to high school students, a controversial move as only 4.5 percent of high schools nationwide offer contraception to their students, but an absolutely responsible and necessary one.

In the same week MPS made this decision, CNN came out with a report on a study conducted by the Rand Corporation that finds more and more children are having sex prior to having the birds and bees discussion with their parents. Meaning, first, that most of them don't know how to protect themselves or even how to say no to sexual advances they don't want to reciprocate and, second, that parents need to take more and earlier initiative in talking to their children about sex.

It's time to stop being naïve and provide our country's young people with better information and better protection when it comes to sexual activity.