Shaun White on Tiger Woods: "I'm Still a Big Fan"

Olympic gold medalist says the embattled golf champ is "still a great guy deep down" but "just made some bad calls"

Despite Tiger Woods' majorly messed-up life, Olympic gold champion Shaun White remains a fan of the golfing superstar.

"I don't think it takes away from his athletic side," our favorite ginger snowboarder told us earlier today during a conference call promoting the AT&T Team USA Soundtrack program benefiting Team USA. "I'm still a big fan of him. Pretty soon we will all realize that he's still a great guy deep down and he just made some bad calls."

White said he caught just "a little bit" of Wood's mea culpa press conference this morning...

"I don't think he knows how to totally express how he feels and really explain what was going on," White said. "I can understand, you say one thing and everybody jumps on it, so I think he's trying to pick his words very carefully and just apologize. I respect that."

In happier news, White arrived in Chicago today for—what else?—an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

"Oprah had made a request to have me come in and be on the show today," White explained. "I hopped on a plane last night, flew in, landed 6 o'clock or 7 o'clock in the morning, and I popped [up] on Oprah. It was amazing. Surprisingly, I was wide awake because I was so excited to be on the show."

Now, if only Oprah could get Woods to stop by.