Tiger’s infidelities inspire smart — and stupid commentary
December 9, 2009 · 17 Comments
It was just a matter of time until the “transgressions” of Tiger Woods were given this spin: That being a serial cheat is good for Tiger’s image.
Dean Crutchfield of the U.S. branding agency, Method, tossed out that theory when he told AdAge.com that the marital scandals have solved Woods’ one big flaw as an endorser: His robotic consistency and demeanor.
“Now we have a real personality,” Crutchfield enthused. “In fact, ‘The best a man can get’ just got real. … That’s something they (Gillette) can capitalize on and celebrate: real people doing real things. These are real men leading real lifestyles, lifestyles that many of us would want.”
One day after Crutchfield gave thumbs up to Tiger’s behaviour, U.S. marketers started pulling Woods commercials from prime time spots on the broadcast networks as well as 19 U.S. cable channels.
In addition to bad analysis, the Woods infidelities have inspired a jokes industry and also some clever commentary. AdAge.com had a good line when it noted that Gillette’s big three athlete endorsers consist of Woods; soccer star Thierry Henry, whose hand-ball infamously sent France to the World Cup; and Roger Federer, whose petulant complaining during his U.S. Open defeat marred his image. That adds up to a lineup of mega-stars consisting of two cheats and whiner.
One of the best recent insights into the Woods story was written by Janice Min for The Daily Beast online publication. You can read it here.
There was also this remarkable piece by Jason Whitlock of The Kansas City Star. It’s remarkable because of the position he takes: That, essentially, the media are to blame for the Tiger Woods story.
He writes, “In the pursuit of Web traffic, relevancy and ratings, the mainstream media established a precedent in its coverage of Tiger Woods’ car accident and alleged affairs that will forever change the way the sports world is covered.
“More dangerously, our coverage of Tiger’s tumultuous Thanksgiving and personal infidelity will have a dramatic, negative impact on Tiger’s pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’ record for career major championships.
“Don’t expect an apology from the media. We’re no better than the gossip rags, tabloids and blogs, and we will no longer strive to be.”
Let’s start by stating that Whitlock’s describing the coverage of Woods’ extramarital affairs as somehow “dangerous” to his pursuit of the Nicklaus’s career record is a misuse of the word dangerous, unless he foresees violence on the golf course. And if you’re looking for the correct party to blame for this mess, it’s Woods, not the mainstream media.
The story started with an automobile accident. That immediately put it in the public domain. True, the National Enquirer reported initially on an alleged Woods affair, but it was the incident involving the SUV outside Woods’ Florida home that made the story into a world-wide media event.
As for the subsequent feeding frenzy, that’s the world we live in. Whitlock isn’t wrong to condemn it, but when a series of women allege sexual relations with a public figure who has presented himself to the world as squeaky clean (see Min’s piece), how is the MSM to ignore it?
Whitlock claims to have received “numerous” emails wondering why the media haven’t condemned Woods’ wife, Elin Nordegren, for assaulting her husband. He writes, “Had Elin been found barefoot, floating in and out of consciousness, with facial lacerations and Tiger hovering over her, the tone of media commentary would be quite different regardless of whatever alleged actions Elin might’ve taken to provoke Tiger.”
Forgive us for being human, but Elin is a woman, a petite woman compared with her husband, a big guy who was revealed to be a serial cheat. That’s why there has been limited outrage over her alleged assault.
But the essential problem with Whitlock’s argument about Elin is, we don’t know what she did or did not do, because nobody is talking about the night in question. And Whitlock goes to great length to explain to us why Woods has every right to stay silent.
- In Toronto Mike Toth, dropped a few weeks ago by Rogers Sportsnet and Rogers owned Fan590, has been doing work for CFRB, which terminated veteran sportscaster Rick Hodge two weeks ago.
- Here’s a new one. On Monday night, Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos described Atlanta defenceman Christoph Schubert as being “as soft as baby doo-doo.”
- Videotron, the leading cable distributor in Quebec, has picked up TSN2, bringing the digital channel’s total distribution to 4.5 million households. In a release, TSN states, “BBM Canada data confirms that TSN2 is now the top-ranked digital sports channel in Canada with an average audience that is higher than all other digital sports channels combined.”
Filed under Article Posts · · 
Email This Article
couldn’t disagree with the “let elin out of jail free” garbage any more strongly than i do: the woman commits assault with what can be construed as a dangerous weapon (a golf club to the noggin is not something to sneeze over) and we’re supposed to shrug it off? Whether petite or not petite, whether male or female, you don’t go around hitting people with golf clubs; frankly, unless it’s in self-defence, you don’t go around hitting people, period. Whitlock had a point – but eunuchs like Houston, in their eagerness to cater to their significant other(s), conveniently dismiss what should be self-evident. We live in a culture where violent women know that they are held to a different standard when they attack men (e.g.: they are much more likely to receive a free pass) and they act accordingly.
Hey, why was Rick Hodge terminated?
Was it because the new morning host hates cats and Hodge was the inspiration for the Simpsons cat lady
“TSN states, “BBM Canada data confirms that TSN2 is now the top-ranked digital sports channel in Canada” and yet this network has zero employees. Hmmm!
I wonder how many other millionaire athletes have dumped their cell phone texts and changed phone numbers.
You’d problably be all day finding out.
Tiger does have every right to stay silent. His reputation handlers are too smart to fall into any kind of public apology trap. If he comes out right now and begs the public’s forgiveness for things he’s done wrong, this gets worse, not better. He comes through this by repeating his desire for a private life as much as possible, not by throwing himself on the mercy of the court of public opinion, where many people would tear him to bits.
What I find funny about Whitlock’s article is that he seems somehow dismayed by the conduct of the mainstream media in all this, as though it’s all sunk to a new low. Sportswriters are a pretty isolated bunch, aren’t they? Min’s got a better perspective, but what strikes me on her’s is all the commenters saying how Woods being black makes no difference in these proceedings. That’s more than a little naive.
I find it all quite interesting from a crisis management perspective, which is the only reason I’m actually interested because I’m no fan of golf and I don’t especially care that Tiger cheated on his wife. It’s really a fascinating case study, especially if, as Min suggests, that Woods has always had a carefully micro-managed bland public persona. What happens when you take that road with a multi-billion dollar athlete, and it blows up in your face? Will his reputation ever recover? Hopefully one of his PR guys eventually writes a book on it. I’d read it.
I don’t want to sound like I am defending Tiger. He got himself into this mess clearly, but I think that doesn’t mean we should ignore the double standard that is going on here. His wife clearly assaulted him, and if the roles were reversed and it had been Tiger who assaulted his wife over an affair, the man would be in jail right now.
Who is to say he didn’t push her around first? We have no clue.
Whitlock, as usual, hits it right on the head. You want to see stupid commentary, go read the latest crap from the likes of Rick Reiley, Mike Lupica and Jay Marriotti.
Indeed Whitlock did nail it. He was even better in his December 3 column calling out the unholy trio of Rielly, Lupica and Mariotti by name and pointing out the flaws in the developing narrative. Tiger owes the public nada. He presumably owes his wife and (when they are older) children a big explanation but that’s for him and his wife/children to resolve as they all see fit. The stench from Reilly et al calling for a public grovelling session is hideous.
I tend to avoid anything written by the loathesome little Lupica as anything he says and writes causes brain rot.
Elin may well be petit in her personal dealings but i think you were looking for petite.
in the US this is, predictably, playing out as an occasion for racial commentary. google Eugene Robinson’s story in the Washington Post for an example.
And also fixed. Thanks.
I believe the radio station is CFRB not CRFB.
Fixed, thanks
How many mistresses does Tiger Woods have? 18. So he can say he played 18 holes… I know. That’s a bad one. lol
But he only needs 6 to say that.