Tiger Woods drives one into the trees

[BrySmalls]

I'm proud of Tiger no matter what anyone says. His speech, I feel, was heartfelt, and you could certainly see that he had written it himself, with no assistance from a pro speech writer. I'm suprised it was on so many networks, and was so widely covered, it had to be on atleast 10 channels, even on basic cable...

As for his return to the game, I agree with Saintsfan, as much as everyone wants to forget the personal Tiger, and focus on Tiger the golfer, and be excited about his return, it's not gonna happen overnight...I say he may be back this year, but it certainly won't be for the Masters in 6 weeks...

I know your post is from February; however, are you "proud" of him now?

[NJTank]

Yeah this commercial hurts him. He should have been all about golf after Monday's Presser

[infrared41]

I'm proud of Tiger no matter what anyone says. His speech, I feel, was heartfelt, and you could certainly see that he had written it himself, with no assistance from a pro speech writer. I'm suprised it was on so many networks, and was so widely covered, it had to be on atleast 10 channels, even on basic cable...

As for his return to the game, I agree with Saintsfan, as much as everyone wants to forget the personal Tiger, and focus on Tiger the golfer, and be excited about his return, it's not gonna happen overnight...I say he may be back this year, but it certainly won't be for the Masters in 6 weeks...

I know your post is from February; however, are you "proud" of him now?

Tiger Woods is a slime ball who did things that have had a terrible effect on his wife, and in the years to come, will have a terrible effect on his kids. Great speech or not, how can anyone, especially someone who doesn't even know him, be "proud" of anything associated with the guy? That post cracked me up then and it's seems even more ridiculous now. "Proud" of him? Seriously?

You do the that Tiger did if you're single. If you're married and you want to do it then you file for divorce or separate and then you go do it. Under no circumstances do you play around while you're married and have kids. Ever. I have no moral or ethical problem with Tiger banging anyone who is willing to spread their legs for him...as long as he's not married while he's doing it. The dude should have just walked in and shot his wife. It would have been more humane than what she's enduring now. This thing isn't going to go away; ever. It's part of history now and his kids now have to grow up knowing their Dad did.

The news just came out today that he banged a girl from his neighborhood. Sadly, these girls are going to continue to come out of the woodwork. Nike and ESPN should be ashamed of themselves. ESPN for blowing the guy every chance they get and Nike for even thinking there was a way to spin any type of "repair" out of all this. This wasn't some dalliance of passion or a simple "mistake" that happens in many marriages. The guy was a pathological cheater. There's nothing good about it.

Despite Nike and ESPN's best efforts, this whole ridiculous affair doesn't end on the first tee at Augusta.

[STL FANATIC]

It's real unfortunately.

I don't see why Nike felt the need to run an ad like that. It just makes the situation worst. If Tiger just goes on the golf course and plays all of this basically will go away to the fringes. Running a ad like this just further highlights it. Besides Nike endorsing Tiger has never been about his personal image. It has entirely been about his professional image of being the best golfer, I don't think Nike was significantly hurt by this where some of his other sponsors might have been.

His PR strategy has been horrible. All he has needed to do was just change the subject and play golf. Everything he has done is just shine a further light on all of this.

I dunno. We sit here and say he should publicly ignore what he did in order to have better PR, and then we yell at him for being self-centered and fake. Seems wrong to me. On one hand we're giving him advice about how he could make us all just forget about it, and on the other hand we're yelling at him for all the bad things he did.

Obviously there's a PR stake in all of this, but I'm tempted to commend him for not dropping the issue, admitting it really happened and exists and pushing through it. Ignoring it would be better for PR, but wouldn't that actually be an even more selfish thing to do?

Clearly he's in a can't win situation (but he may well deserve that.) Where he can win is on the golf course, and I fully expect he'll do so.

[NJTank]

Well you knew this was coming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evvMElbG_n4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iAiwK2tCaU

[NJTank]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SunaRv-c_CQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4vcyvqdccs&feature=related

[dfwabel]

Regardless of your thoughts on his behavior outside the course, his 2nd shot today on #9 was in-f'ing-sane!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH7Zy5KX-Rs

He also blew a third Eagle putt today as well. After shots like that he makes the putt. If he really gets his putter going, he will be back to old golf habits. After one round, he is not winning, but it was his putting which kept him from being much lower.

I am happy for Watson, "Boom Boom", and placed bets on Nick Watney and Els, wow!

[Saintsfan]

Yeah this commercial hurts him. He should have been all about golf after Monday's Presser

I don't see how the ad hurts Tiger at all. It may well hurt Nike's image, but I think we are all intelligent enough to realise that an ad isn't going to kill Tiger's image. And what are people going to remember in 20 years time, some creepy ad or Tiger going up against Mickelson, or whoever, going down the back nine on Sunday? Or shots like the one he played on the 9th? That's what people really remember about sports, and that's what makes sports great.

[infrared41]

Yeah this commercial hurts him. He should have been all about golf after Monday's Presser

I don't see how the ad hurts Tiger at all. It may well hurt Nike's image, but I think we are all intelligent enough to realise that an ad isn't going to kill Tiger's image. And what are people going to remember in 20 years time, some creepy ad or Tiger going up against Mickelson, or whoever, going down the back nine on Sunday? Or shots like the one he played on the 9th? That's what people really remember about sports, and that's what makes sports great.

Kinda like the bad food and poor service didn't hurt the image of The Titanic?

[tBBP]

Yeah this commercial hurts him. He should have been all about golf after Monday's Presser

I don't see how the ad hurts Tiger at all. It may well hurt Nike's image, but I think we are all intelligent enough to realise that an ad isn't going to kill Tiger's image. And what are people going to remember in 20 years time, some creepy ad or Tiger going up against Mickelson, or whoever, going down the back nine on Sunday? Or shots like the one he played on the 9th? That's what people really remember about sports, and that's what makes sports great.

Kinda like the bad food and poor service didn't hurt the image of The Titanic?

No more than that damn iceberg did.

(Hmm...fire hydrant, iceberg...fire hydrant, iceberg...interesting parallel there.)

[DEAD!]

Yeah this commercial hurts him. He should have been all about golf after Monday's Presser

I don't see how the ad hurts Tiger at all. It may well hurt Nike's image, but I think we are all intelligent enough to realise that an ad isn't going to kill Tiger's image. And what are people going to remember in 20 years time, some creepy ad or Tiger going up against Mickelson, or whoever, going down the back nine on Sunday? Or shots like the one he played on the 9th? That's what people really remember about sports, and that's what makes sports great.

Kinda like the bad food and poor service didn't hurt the image of The Titanic?

No more than that damn iceberg did.

(Hmm...fire hydrant, iceberg...fire hydrant, iceberg...interesting parallel there.)

I'm sure they used Romaine on the Titanic.

[Saintsfan]

Do you know something in 10 or 20 years time, Tiger's recent erm problems are really only going to be the footnote to his next major win. Do people spend much time umming and ahhhing about Babe Ruth's marital problems? Or Muhammed Ali's erm political problems and subsequent banishment from Boxing, except for the back story it gave his career in the early 70s?

[Jigga]

Do you know something in 10 or 20 years time, Tiger's recent erm problems are really only going to be the footnote to his next major win. Do people spend much time umming and ahhhing about Babe Ruth's marital problems? Or Muhammed Ali's erm political problems and subsequent banishment from Boxing, except for the back story it gave his career in the early 70s?

Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali didn't live in a world of the 24-hour news channel, ESPN, TMZ, The National Enquirer and judgmental holier than thou message board goers. It's a completely different reality.

Also, think about it this way, do people spend much time "umming and ahhhing" Bill Clinton's marital problems? Uh, yeah. Were his problems the footnote to his presidency or was his entire presidency completely overshadowed by his dilly-dallying with Monica Lewinsky?

I'm not saying that I think Tiger's transgressions should be on the front burner or completely off the stove in the fridge somewhere. I think people are making too big of a deal over it, but it can't just be ignored either. Either way, it's a different world we live in now where your personal failings matter just as much as your professional successes.

[infrared41]

Do you know something in 10 or 20 years time, Tiger's recent erm problems are really only going to be the footnote to his next major win. Do people spend much time umming and ahhhing about Babe Ruth's marital problems? Or Muhammed Ali's erm political problems and subsequent banishment from Boxing, except for the back story it gave his career in the early 70s?

Sorry Pollyanna, but this isn't 1932. Jigga is exactly right.

[dfwabel]

In regards to this tournament, I have not seen a third round as exciting. Michelson gave me a jump off the couch moment with his back-to-back eagles. This leaderboard has lots of players who have been to the rodeo before. This has been an exciting last hour of play and we still have 18 on Sunday.

[Saintsfan]

All I am saying is that when the book is closed on Tiger Woods career and the summation of it is made, the last few months will play a very little part in people's views of his golfing career.

Will the Lewinsky scandal hit at Clinton's historical legacy? I think in the end it will have a surprisingly slight effect. I think what the 24 hour news cycle does is assume the current has far more affect than it does, it makes it hard to consider the historical impact of now. (To be honest I think that has always been a problem, I don't think the 24 hour cycle hits at that! But the 24 hour news cycle does add more importance to NOW than anything else. Yesterday, tomorrow aren't important. Give it a year, and people will hardly think of Tiger's infidelities at all, except for perhaps as the punchlines to jokes!)

To all but his biographers, Tiger's impact on the world in 20 years time, or less, will be what he did on the golf course. I make no judgement on whether that is a good or a bad thing, it is what it is. I think one of the reasons that people think transgression where more ignored in the past is that we have forgotten how much effect they had. What has happened to Tiger has had little effect on his golf, and so in the history books will be little remembered.

[Jigga]

All I am saying is that when the book is closed on Tiger Woods career and the summation of it is made, the last few months will play a very little part in people's views of his golfing career.

Will the Lewinsky scandal hit at Clinton's historical legacy? I think in the end it will have a surprisingly slight effect. I think what the 24 hour news cycle does is assume the current has far more affect than it does, it makes it hard to consider the historical impact of now. (To be honest I think that has always been a problem, I don't think the 24 hour cycle hits at that! But the 24 hour news cycle does add more importance to NOW than anything else. Yesterday, tomorrow aren't important. Give it a year, and people will hardly think of Tiger's infidelities at all, except for perhaps as the punchlines to jokes!)

To all but his biographers, Tiger's impact on the world in 20 years time, or less, will be what he did on the golf course. I make no judgement on whether that is a good or a bad thing, it is what it is. I think one of the reasons that people think transgression where more ignored in the past is that we have forgotten how much effect they had. What has happened to Tiger has had little effect on his golf, and so in the history books will be little remembered.

It's been 13 years since the Lewinsky scandal...is that little remembered?

It's not going away, because of the nature of the scandal. Sex scandals stick. If he had gotten drunk and beaten someone or got busted smoking some weed or something like that, maybe.

[dfwabel]

All I am saying is that when the book is closed on Tiger Woods career and the summation of it is made, the last few months will play a very little part in people's views of his golfing career.

Will the Lewinsky scandal hit at Clinton's historical legacy? I think in the end it will have a surprisingly slight effect. I think what the 24 hour news cycle does is assume the current has far more affect than it does, it makes it hard to consider the historical impact of now. (To be honest I think that has always been a problem, I don't think the 24 hour cycle hits at that! But the 24 hour news cycle does add more importance to NOW than anything else. Yesterday, tomorrow aren't important. Give it a year, and people will hardly think of Tiger's infidelities at all, except for perhaps as the punchlines to jokes!)

To all but his biographers, Tiger's impact on the world in 20 years time, or less, will be what he did on the golf course. I make no judgement on whether that is a good or a bad thing, it is what it is. I think one of the reasons that people think transgression where more ignored in the past is that we have forgotten how much effect they had. What has happened to Tiger has had little effect on his golf, and so in the history books will be little remembered.

It's been 13 years since the Lewinsky scandal...is that little remembered?

It's not going away, because of the nature of the scandal. Sex scandals stick. If he had gotten drunk and beaten someone or got busted smoking some weed or something like that, maybe.

+1. Sex scandal now are in the entertainment world not just sport. While what occurs with WAG may only hit the soccer audience, Tiger is much more notable than even John Terry. If issues with Tiger occur, then people will know. Outside of drunkenness, a sex scandal is the worst for any athlete.

[infrared41]

All I am saying is that when the book is closed on Tiger Woods career and the summation of it is made, the last few months will play a very little part in people's views of his golfing career.

Will the Lewinsky scandal hit at Clinton's historical legacy? I think in the end it will have a surprisingly slight effect. I think what the 24 hour news cycle does is assume the current has far more affect than it does, it makes it hard to consider the historical impact of now. (To be honest I think that has always been a problem, I don't think the 24 hour cycle hits at that! But the 24 hour news cycle does add more importance to NOW than anything else. Yesterday, tomorrow aren't important. Give it a year, and people will hardly think of Tiger's infidelities at all, except for perhaps as the punchlines to jokes!)

To all but his biographers, Tiger's impact on the world in 20 years time, or less, will be what he did on the golf course. I make no judgement on whether that is a good or a bad thing, it is what it is. I think one of the reasons that people think transgression where more ignored in the past is that we have forgotten how much effect they had. What has happened to Tiger has had little effect on his golf, and so in the history books will be little remembered.

It's been 13 years since the Lewinsky scandal...is that little remembered?

It's not going away, because of the nature of the scandal. Sex scandals stick. If he had gotten drunk and beaten someone or got busted smoking some weed or something like that, maybe.

+1. Sex scandal now are in the entertainment world not just sport. While what occurs with WAG may only hit the soccer audience, Tiger is much more notable than even John Terry. If issues with Tiger occur, then people will know. Outside of drunkenness, a sex scandal is the worst for any athlete.

Really? Off the top of my head I can't think of one athlete I remember for "drunkenness." Sex scandals? Kobe, Big Ben, Tiger, Mark Chumura, Eugene Robinson, "Ron Mexico", The Vikings' "Love Boat", The Cowboys' "White House", Mike Tyson, should I go on?

Sex scandals have legs. "Drunkenness" is forgotten in a week. In our world at least. Who knows how it plays out in your reality.

[Saintsfan]

All I am saying is that when the book is closed on Tiger Woods career and the summation of it is made, the last few months will play a very little part in people's views of his golfing career.

Will the Lewinsky scandal hit at Clinton's historical legacy? I think in the end it will have a surprisingly slight effect. I think what the 24 hour news cycle does is assume the current has far more affect than it does, it makes it hard to consider the historical impact of now. (To be honest I think that has always been a problem, I don't think the 24 hour cycle hits at that! But the 24 hour news cycle does add more importance to NOW than anything else. Yesterday, tomorrow aren't important. Give it a year, and people will hardly think of Tiger's infidelities at all, except for perhaps as the punchlines to jokes!)

To all but his biographers, Tiger's impact on the world in 20 years time, or less, will be what he did on the golf course. I make no judgement on whether that is a good or a bad thing, it is what it is. I think one of the reasons that people think transgression where more ignored in the past is that we have forgotten how much effect they had. What has happened to Tiger has had little effect on his golf, and so in the history books will be little remembered.

It's been 13 years since the Lewinsky scandal...is that little remembered?

It's not going away, because of the nature of the scandal. Sex scandals stick. If he had gotten drunk and beaten someone or got busted smoking some weed or something like that, maybe.

I get what you are saying and I am not saying that the sex scandals will never be referred to, but Clinton's historical legacy is unlikely, in my view, to rest on that. It might get some play because there isn't all that much else to it. JFK is a good example of what I mean here. Yes people still remember his philandering, but his serious historical legacy is built far more around the Cuba Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs, his inaugural address, etc etc. Tiger might well have his sex stuff as a large footnote in his story, but its his skills as a golfer that will define his career.