Tiger scolds media in apology

Exactly. I doubt any company would dump him for cheating on his wife. But it's possible some of the companies have a behavior clause that would allow them to dump him and not owe him a dime. I think McDonalds or one of the fast food places always does that.

 

Not sure I agree with the Liberace comparison. Despite how he dressed or acted, he tried desperately to keep his homosexuality a secret. He might have been out there as far as the way he acted, but he was definitely not out there when it came to acknowledging he was gay. He sued many magazines and newspapers that even insinuated he was gay. When his driver sued him, Liberace denied any type of affair. His publicists tried painting him as a ladies man. When he was obviously sick with AIDS, he completely denied it. Even after his death, a TV movie about his life was on and it denied he was gay. By the time people acknowledged he was gay, he was dead. He didn't care much at that point.

The Merv Griffin biography that came out, by the way, has more sex in it than Jenna Jameson's memoir and Liberace has a starring role in a lot of it.

 

Is that how most people see Michael Jordan?

 

Meh. Is that such a bad thing?

When the stories break about a certain Sofstra coach's random creepers, I'll look to you for comment.

The only people I figure will get all bent out of shape about this are the big time religious people, who obviously frown on adultery. The rest of us? Eh. He cheated. Most famous, rich people probably do.

 

Of course not. But Tiger's been so protected and private all these years, and has acted like a douche on more than one occasion, so when something like this happens, people love to jump all over it and declare him a terrible person. Which is fine. I just don't agree. Just a bump in the road for Tiger.

 

I never quite understood what the media folk (especially those in the golf media) who sucked up to Tiger thought they were getting in return. It's like Michael Leahy's point in "What Nothing Else Matters" about Jordan. This great access Jordan's people always promised for writing nice things and not asking tough questions? It never materialized. So Leahy figured, "The hell with this." Show me a column or feature that gives any kind of insight into Tiger as a result of access. The people dreaming of those magical one-on-ones with Tiger -- did any of them ever get one?

 

Jordan got a free ride from the media for almost his entire career. Hell, journalists were the first to rip Sam Smith's book and Michael Leahy's book.

 

Someone told me the only people in the last year to get a sit down one-on-one with Tiger were Ferguson, Reilly and some guy from one of the golf mags.

 

Simmons when he played video golf for four minutes against him?

Glad to know someone else read the Leahy book. Seemed like it probably tanked when it came out, which was too bad because it was really, really good. Although I think he did overrate some of the scrubs on those Wizards teams, sort of making it sound like if Jordan hadn't been on the team, a guy like Etan Thomas or Jahidi White would have been all-stars. (but he did make great points about Hamilton being held back on those teams).

 

Plus, why would you want that kind of access to Woods? Until last week he hasn't said anything interesting since he sat down with Charles Pierce.

 

The Leahy book was a masterpiece.

Michael Wilbon shitting on it every chance he had didn't help matters. I don't think Leahy was even allowed to do a regular book tour to promote it.

 

That's what I'm saying, most people - nonjournalists - do not think of Jordan as a philandering jerk, a sometimes-bad teammate, and an overcompetitive jerk. And in a few years, "most people" will not see Tiger as a ho-banging sleaze.