Fame is fleeting. But prison records are forever. You've probably read the headlines: 'Disgraced Diver' 'Caged Tiger' and the like. And, like so many others, you're probably wondering what would drive someone as rich and successful as I was to turn to a life of crime. Well, I suppose I'd better start at the beginning, that fateful day I met with my agent…

"I'm sorry, Tiger," the weaselly-looking man said in a voice that didn't sound sorry at all. "You're a has-been. A washed-up, worn out, old has-been. I'm just telling you as a friend."

"Some friend," Tiger muttered under his breath.

"I heard that," the man snapped. "So that's why I'm refusing to renew your contract this year."

The diver leaped to his feet in anger and shock. "B-but y-you can't do that! I'll be penniless."

The man shrugged. "Tell you what. I can get you one last gig. Next month. A 'last hurrah' of sorts. You pay your way there and I'll do the rest."

"Where at?" Tiger asked suspiciously, expecting some flea-bitten charity event.

"Acapulco. A cliff diving competition. I'll handle the entry fee and you're on your own after that. Deal?"

Tiger reluctantly shook his agent's hand. "Deal."

The agent gathered up his papers and briefcase. "Alright, I gotta go. I'm going to sign that Phelps kid in an hour. He's going places, that one."

Tiger muttered furiously under his breath before taking his leave as well.

So that's how it all began. Two weeks before the competition, I flew to Acapulco to practice. The prize money was next-to-nothing, but I wanted to win. I hoped that winning would catapult me to fame again, but instead I found something that changed my life forever…

Tiger stared out the window at the ever-nearing glimmering city of Acapulco. With a teeth-rattling thump, the airplane landed on the runway and skidded to the airport. The diver flipped his SkyMall shut and gathered his luggage before striding out into the airport.

"I remember when I would be mobbed by fans just being in a building," he muttered darkly, walking towards the airport exit. "I'd like to be asked to sign an autograph, one last time. He was right, I am a has-been." Before he sank too deeply into self-pity, the diver walked out of the airport. Blinking in the blinding sun, he hailed a cab to his hotel and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

The next morning, Tiger slipped on his swimsuit and a gaudy Hawaiian shirt and headed out to the famous cliffs of Acapulco to practice. The diver toed the edge of the cliff and stared down the sheer rock face with trepidation. Forgetting his anxiety, he leaped gracefully off the edge and plummeted down, meeting the water with barely a splash. The diver sank to the bottom of the cove, opening his eyes to see if he was still alive. Out of the corner of his vision, Tiger noticed a dark shape on the ocean floor. Although his lungs were burning for a breath of air, Tiger swam over to check out the shape.

"A sunken galleon!" he thought to himself. "It must be loaded with treasure." As he moved his powerful body towards the galleon, he found himself being pulled by a current. Tiger muttered a string of curses as he was drawn inexorably through the water. He prayed that he wouldn't get smashed against the dangerous rocks that littered the cove.

Suddenly, he could breathe again! The current had deposited him inside a small cave in the cliff face. "What a find!" he whispered to himself. "And no one knows about it but me!"

Of course, it wasn't quite that easy. I had to find a way to keep the locals and the nosy policia from figuring out what I was up to. What better way than to masquerade as a terrifying monster?

Tiger sat at the desk in his room and booted up his laptop. Opening up a search engine, he tapped some keys. Almost instantly, pages and pages popped up. "Hmmm…" he murmured to himself. "Ghost of Cotezuma? Looks silly…and not quite in the right location. El Chupacabra? The Mexican Bigfoot?! Er…no way! AHA! The Sea Beast of the Aztecs…an ancient sea monster rumored to haunt the Acapulco coves! That's it!" With a sly smile, he grabbed the hotel's complimentary notepad and pen and began to scribble down some notes.

That afternoon, armed with a Spanish phrasebook and his notes, Tiger set out on the streets of Acapulco to cobble together an Aztec Sea Beast costume that would terrify all who came near the cove.