Tiger Woods in Car Accident

bcuz u have to take the good with the bad.

 

AP just moved a 41 inch story on Tiger and his "personal failings" ... 40 fucking inches of NO NEW NEWS.

Tebow.

 

Fine, he fucked around on his wife?

And?

Why is this still a "huge" story five days later?

Who gives a shit?

 

He has made it clear that all he wants to do is play golf while pitching Buicks and Gatorade and Nike and all that stuff? Really?

 

Fame is not a shirt that you get to take off when you feel like it. Fame has made Tiger Woods half a billion dollars. If he just wants to play golf, fine. But then he better take himself off TV ads, billboards, magazine ads, etc. If all he wants to do is play golf, he can play unlimited holes at the local muni on Wednesdays for $30.

His image people made him into a perfect celebrity pitchman, sanding off any rough edges to make him as appealing as possible to the general public. So I don't exactly blame the general public for being intrigued when info comes out showing that he isn't everything he is cracked up to be.

 

Your last paragraph could apply to any famous person... ever.

 

I get all that and if he had committed a crime, ran someone over during his fit of rage, did something that was racist or whatever -- fine.

He fucked around on his wife.

It is news, for about ten seconds - -hey Tiger fucked around on his wife.

OK?

 

I meant from my perspective, it has nothing to do with some bullshit image of Tiger Woods as a family man. I don't care what kind of family man he is, what he does off the course, etc. He's a golfer. A lot of these people would find that if they'd stop exalting these people on every front, they'd stop being so disappointed in them when they fail at something off the course/field/court.

As for the coverage, no, a responsible golf reporter does not have to cover this in the way that so many already have. You cover to the extent that you know the facts. We know Tiger got in a wreck, we know the charges were dropped, and we now know that he had an affair. There you go. Simple, to the point. But we've got people running around speculating on this show and that show, in this paper and in that paper, about what happened that night, why the wreck was caused, why they got in a fight, etc.

That's OK for US Weekly, the National Enquirer or TMZ. That shouldn't be OK for us.

As for Sally Jenkins, that was one of the biggest piece of trash columns I've read. First of all, there wasn't any special treatment. He hit a fire hydrant, he got a citation. Any of us would have received the same citation. The situation was investigated and no charges were filed. Yet people like Sally Jenkins think they're entitled to know every single thing that happened, from the affair to the wreck to the aftermath. Except that we aren't. Tiger and Elin were absolved of any responsibility to tell anyone what happened as soon as the police decided not to file criminal charges. But that's not OK with Sally Jenkins, who goes forth with this bullshit premise that ALL people who have money and live in gated communities receive special treatment in ALL cases, and thus, they have a responsibility to tell us all what happened. Once again, that column might have been perfect for US Weekly or People, but in the Washington Post? Jesus Christ. Standards, people. Standards.

Like I said earlier, this is different than the Kobe Bryant stuff, and I view it as different than the Spitzer/Clinton/etc political affairs. Bryant was charged with a crime, while politicians are people put in their positions by the public, entrusted with public trust. This guy is a flipping golfer, for Christ's sake. He's a big-time celebrity yes, but shouldn't there be at least some standard of privacy for even the most famous people? This is a private matter. Report it if you want to, but stick to the facts and let the gossip sites and rags do their thing on the rest of it.

I guess I'm just disillusioned with this whole turn toward infotainment that our media has taken. It's annoying, but it isn't going anywhere.

And whoever suggested that I'm in line to give Tiger Woods his next BJ, grow up. I don't give two shits about Tiger Woods and what he does with his life. He's an outstanding golfer, one of the best that's ever played the game. Past that, he's nothing to me. Just like every other celebrity out there.

 

1. Yeah

2. And out of the 6.3 billion people on Earth, he's in the 99.9999th percentile of most recognizable. And human beings are naturally voyeuristic. And he's one of the richest people in the world. And he lives a life that we can only imagine. And the scene most people envision on the night he wrecked his car is pretty dramatic. And watching the drama unfold is free (there's a recession going on). And the people involved are generally easy on the eyes. And people love to see the mighty fall. (Shit, have you ever read any Shakespear???????)

3. Because with modern technology being what it is we can easily follow a lot of stories at once.

4. A lotta people. It's not like the world has come to a stop. It's just one more thing to watch and talk about.

Shit, you're a sports journalists (I'm assuming). This story has more elements of human interest than probably 99.5 % of everything you have ever covered. (Me too, for that matter.)

 

Here's one way to answer your questions, Zag.

http://www.cbssports.com/columns/story/12609972/tigers-tale-too-tawdry-to-turn-away-from

 

There is a great deal to this story - it is interesting, for one thing, and it is absolutely news, just like John Daly's run-ins that didn't end up in charges were news - and I can't help but think that, well, the sports journalists who could work this story... just don't really want to. Sliding behind the shrub of the privacy prinicple isn't so much of a problem when it's Shawne Merriman or Tony Romo heading to Mexico with Jessica Simpson or it's Alex Rodriguez shirtless in the park or it's Brian Urlacher in a snit with Paris Hilton or it's Jason Kidd and Jimmy Jackson fighting over a Playboy model or it's any number of things...except when it's Tiger, and the golf journalists who so much enjoy waxing poetic 322 days a year don't want to get their hands dirty, and actually prowl through the trash.

But here's the truth, and most folks here know I'm no sensationalist: This is an ugly story involving the world's best known athlete getting beaten up by his wife over numerous affairs, in a car crash that left him woozy and shoeless and his back windows shattered by a fucking golf club, and I'm learning the details from 23-year-olds who work at TMZ and some half-wit celeb fashion mag USWeekly. Meanwhile, ESPN, who can drudge up two women who were beaten by <i>Tom Cable</i> can only offer the pap "wisdom" of its collective talking heads of "Well, we shouldn't be surprised" and "Tiger Woods is still the greatest golfer of all time." Much of the mainstream media, with the thankful exception of Sally Jenkins' column several days ago, is following suit.

This is what passes for journalism? For commentary? A cynical shrug and a fucking quote of Chris Rock, Michael Wilbon? It smacks of more than apathy. It smacks of sheer laziness. Of "I just really don't feel like it working this story when there's football and the NBA's just starting up, and golf's in a down season..."

Is this response stunning to anyone else? Where are the golf journalists on this? Do they know where to find a police report? How to procure pictures? How to call people? Or is their job just to eat pimento sandwiches on Master's week, share a joke with Tom Watson and pretend the biggest golf story in years is a non-issue because tiger pulled a howard hughes and went into hiding, so the cops couldn't file charges on his wife?

You're getting your ass whipped by people who write about The Hills, guys. Wake the fuck up. Go, you know, earn a paycheck or two.

 

Quality stuff, Alma.