Archive for February, 2010

After his much-discussed public statement Tiger’s mother Kultida stuck around went off on the irresponsible media coverage of her son’s scandal.

“I am upset the way media treated him like he’s a criminal — he didn’t kill anybody, he didn’t do anything illegal. They’ve being carrying on from Thanksgiving until now, that’s not right!” she charged. “Tabloids and newspapers “just killed him,” she added.

She then made a statement that three months ago would have been easily considered one the most important quotes in the history of the First Church of Tiger Woods.

“He never claimed he was God. If anyone tells me to condemn him, I say look at yourself first… I would look in their eyes and tell them you’re not God!”

Technically Kultida is correct. Tiger never claimed to be God, but when I asked him directly if he was God in 2007 he did NOT deny his divinity, and even when I specifically asked him if he was “denying his divinity,” the best he could come up with is “I’m the furthest thing from that.”

Of course, Kultida is also conveniently forgetting the fact that her husband Earl was the one who made the many statements that created the notion that he was God-like.

Before Tiger spoke, the people in the audience looked like they were getting ready for the most casually dressed funeral in history.

I wish Tiger didn’t have a script with him and just spoke from the heart. The words were mostly right, but they can never have the same impact when they are read.

If he really thinks he is going to get through all of this without ever answering questions he is very mistaken, and if he really thinks the tabloids will lay off his wife and children he is simply delusional.

Given the circumstances and my low expectations, I thought Tiger did about as well as he could have (though the primary camera ironically malfunctioning had to really tick him off). If this was truly a “first step,” it was a good one, but if it was the whole thing, it will fail miserably.

I don’t understand why he keeps saying Elin never attacked him without given any legitimate explanation for the shattered windows of his SUV. Unless he doesn’t consider someone taking a golf club to your car while you are driving it, this makes no sense to me.

The whole thing felt like we were all being used as a step in Tiger’s therapy process.

I am still stunned that Tiger is in “therapy,” because the Mississippi reports never seemed valid or made any sense to me (how the heck did he get in and out there without being seen and how are all the people in that facility kept quiet?!), though it would still not shock me if the therapy is taking a different from than what has been reported.

It is clear Tiger is not playing in the Masters, though if I were him I might just show up at the Tavistock Cup because there is nothing to lose and it will take a little of the hype/pressure  away from whenever he returns to golf.

If Elin is still considering remaining married to him (it would seem that is the case) at this point I don’t know why she wouldn’t do so. After all, he is clearly doing his penance (the therapy thing and missing The Masters seems like mostly acts of contrition to me). After all, most of the world and the entire tabloid industry have been deputized as the adultry police so there is very little chance Tiger is going to stray again.

It seems to me that Tiger is taking the very long view of this comeback and that, if successful, he may end up, in the long term, in a much better place than he was before all of this came out. If he is able to save his marriage, turn a new leaf in his life, and return to golf greatness, then he could easily be “bigger” and more interesting/human than he ever was before.  

Tiger ended his statement with something very appropriate for members of the now defunct First Church of Tiger Woods. He asked for the chance to make us “believe in him again.” Go for it Tiger. We will be a tough audience and will not want to be duped again, but I think most of your fans are at least still listening.

Almost all of the speculation (including mine) regarding Tiger’s highly anticipated statement has presumed that a large part of the event would be Tiger announcing his return to golf.  However, it now appears that Tiger will be announcing that he is returning to sex rehab (a legitimate shock to this observer who never thought that there was any legitimate evidence he was there in the first place) and that the reason for the statement’s timing was that he is on a very short “leave” from rehab.

While this still doesn’t explain the controlled nature of the event (and the two days noticed has clearly backfired from a PR stanpoint as the reaction in the media has been incredibly negative and even includes a boycott from the Golf Writers Asocaition), it could easily put everything in a very different light.

It would now be a legitimate surprise if Tiger did announce a return to golf and in fact may make it official that he will not be back for The Masters. Of course, as it has been since the start of this bizarre story, almost everything we hear is at least based partially in speculation and about the only thing we can be reasonably sure of is that we will be surprised by what happens next.

The very last gasp of any chance that this scandal could end by creating a better Tiger Woods appears to have vanished with the news that Tiger will make a public statement Friday that, before it even happens, is rightly being reamed for being arrogant, selfish, controlling and egotistical.

I had started to actually feel a little sorry for Tiger with the all of the inaccurate and overdone media coverage of this scandal, but if this event on Friday goes anything like expected, I am quite sure that I will go right back to hating Tiger Woods (one of the many reasons that this site is now under the new domain name, www.TigerWoodsWASGod.com ).

Here are my major problems with what appears to be happening:

– The timing, for no apparent reason, during a tournament sponsored by one of his former sponsors give the appearance of arrogance, revenge and anger.

– The location, the PGA Tour headquarters, seems designed to allow Tiger to show everyone who is boss (and boy has the Tour laid down on this one, they gave hm the keys to the palace without even asking what he was going to do with them!).

– The careful selection of a very few select media representatives to act as his props while not being allowed to ask questions shows a cowardice that is consistent with his three month hiding period (not to mention the gutlessness of media members to be willingly used like this).

As for what TIger will actually say, it would seem that the most likely scenario is that he will announce that he will be playing in the unofficial Tavistock Cup and then The Masters.

If this is indeed  the case, it would seem to me that this means that Elin is leaving him. It makes no sense that Tiger would come back so soon unless he had nothing else to lose. It has also been widely noted that Tiger was not wearing a wedding ring while on his staged “photo shoot jog” yesterday.

I would certainly hope that the pretend news conference that is planned for tomorrow is truly a “first step” and that Tiger may yet still redeem himself, but the initial evidence is not at all promising and Tiger has clearly lost all right to any benefit of the doubt.