Why does Tiger matter?

[MertWindu]

I'm surely going to come off obtuse here, but hopefully some will hear me out. I understand who Tiger Woods is, I understand his stature in sports, and specifically in his sport. What I don't get is the way his press conference was covered/is being talked about.

A little while ago, one of the people I follow on Twitter retweeted this: "Eight Americans have been killed in the offensive in Marja, Afghanistan and Tiger Woods is the Lead Story on every network."

Again, I understand that in the realm of sports, Tiger's whole saga is a big deal. And I realize he hasn't spoken about what's happened until today. But everyone knew what the "press conference" was going to be, and everyone knew that no actual news was going to come out of it. So I'm asking, and not rhetorically, why does this matter? Why should a big-name pro athlete saying "I'm sorry" to a bunch of people to whom he really has no connection be the lead story in newspapers and telecasts? Is it simply because he's a huge celebrity? Because if that's the case, I'm missing the point. But maybe there IS more to it. Hoping someone would elaborate if they feel that way.

And yes, for the handful who might remember (my apologies to you, fwiw), I did the silly "goodbye cruel SportsJournalists.com world" thing a while back, and intended to never come back, or at least to start anew, but apparently I never actually canceled this username, and I don't feel like going through the rigmarole to do it now. So, yeah.

 

[Mediator]

It should matter to reporters because Tiger is trying to play us like a violin. Before the scandal, people fell all over each other for some kind of 1-on-1 or scoop, where he may have said a few things about his dad or being a father, but it was all scripted hooey.

I'm glad the golf writers opted out of the charade, refused to be the "you" as he looked out over the audience during his latest dramatic reading. It should be an eye-opener for each of us. When you talk to an athlete, are you buying the line? Are you looking to be his pal? Or are you trying to get at the truth of a situation if you can find a way in?

I think comparing it to Afghanistan is silly. If you want to debate the relative merits of a sports story versus international news, I'm sure there's a forum for that. This one is about sports journalism, and it should be something we discuss here.

 

[MertWindu]

It should matter to reporters because Tiger is trying to play us like a violin. Before the scandal, people fell all over each other for some kind of 1-on-1 or scoop, where he may have said a few things about his dad or being a father, but it was all scripted hooey.

I'm glad the golf writers opted out of the charade, refused to be the "you" as he looked out over the audience during his latest dramatic reading. It should be an eye-opener for each of us. When you talk to an athlete, are you buying the line? Are you looking to be his pal? Or are you trying to get at the truth of a situation if you can find a way in?

I think comparing it to Afghanistan is silly. If you want to debate the relative merits of a sports story versus international news, I'm sure there's a forum for that. This one is about sports journalism, and it should be something we discuss here.

I wholly agree with all of your points. Every one of them. Because I'm not (nor, I don't think, was the original tweeter) "comparing it to Afghanistan." The point is the coverage. It should absolutely be debated here, and it should be a part of the sports section at the Anytown, USA, Daily Planet. But why should it go beyond that? Why should it be the BIGGEST news story of the day? Why should it take precedent over things that actually matter to people other than Tiger Woods, his wife, and their parents? His infidelity didn't make him unable to compete on the field of play, that was his decision. His infidelity doesn't add a stroke per round. He's not an elected official who needs the trust of the general public to do his job. So why, oh why, should what he does with his penis actually MATTER - please note I'm not asking why people care - why is it news that he came out to say exactly what everyone expected today, and wouldn't answer questions about anything that we actually have a vested interest in?

 

[Ice9]

Somebody else on sports radio compared it to the moon landing and JFK's assassination. Grow up, people.

You know what disturbs me? Tiger's sex scandal broke the record for most consecutive days on the cover of the New York Post, a record previously held by...9/11

 

[YGBFKM]

Somebody else on sports radio compared it to the moon landing and JFK's assassination. Grow up, people.

You know what disturbs me? Tiger's sex scandal broke the record for most consecutive days on the cover of the New York Post, a record previously held by...9/11

Ya, I liked it better when no one paid attention to what went on the front page of newspapers.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Again, I understand that in the realm of sports, Tiger's whole saga is a big deal. And I realize he hasn't spoken about what's happened until today. But everyone knew what the "press conference" was going to be, and everyone knew that no actual news was going to come out of it. So I'm asking, and not rhetorically, why does this matter? Why should a big-name pro athlete saying "I'm sorry" to a bunch of people to whom he really has no connection be the lead story in newspapers and telecasts? Is it simply because he's a huge celebrity?

Because a large segement of the human race is a bunch of idiots.

 

[tmr]

I loved Tracy Morgan's take on this in Esquire. I totally relate to this position:

TM: We got a black president and we lost Michael. Other than that, what is happening? What are we talkin' about? Tiger. He's a ****ing golfer. He's just a ****ing golfer.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/the-screen/tracy-morgan-news-0310#ixzz0g2xkiplR

 

[hondo]

I loved Tracy Morgan's take on this in Esquire. I totally relate to this position:

TM: We got a black president and we lost Michael. Other than that, what is happening? What are we talkin' about? Tiger. He's a ****ing golfer. He's just a ****ing golfer.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/the-screen/tracy-morgan-news-0310#ixzz0g2xkiplR

Not just a "f-ing golfer."

1. Will prove to be the best golfer of all time, in terms of his record.
2. Currently the best individual sport athlete on the planet, and has been for more than 10 years.
3. Most mentally tough athlete since Jordan.
4. Crosses racial lines.
Does he need anything else? We now know he is deeply flawed, but so was Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Wilt Chamberlain and Ray Lewis.

 

[MertWindu]

I loved Tracy Morgan's take on this in Esquire. I totally relate to this position:

TM: We got a black president and we lost Michael. Other than that, what is happening? What are we talkin' about? Tiger. He's a ****ing golfer. He's just a ****ing golfer.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/the-screen/tracy-morgan-news-0310#ixzz0g2xkiplR

Not just a "f-ing golfer."

1. Will prove to be the best golfer of all time, in terms of his record.
2. Currently the best individual sport athlete on the planet, and has been for more than 10 years.
3. Most mentally tough athlete since Jordan.
4. Crosses racial lines.
Does he need anything else? We now know he is deeply flawed, but so was Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Wilt Chamberlain and Ray Lewis.

But, Hondo, in all seriousness, what about any of those attributes makes the things Tiger does vis-a-vis gettin' down with other women even remotely important or newsworthy? And further (and really the point of my posting this thread), why should anyone give a rat's ass if he says a very scripted "I'm sorry"?

 

[Double J]

I would like to say that very few people should care, other than those who are directly involved in the situation.

But the truth is, we're a celebrity-crazed society. Anything that any celebrity does or has done to them in public is quickly lapped up by a society that apparently has nothing better to do than live vicariously through the lives of the rich and famous, whether or not those people actually deserve their fame.

It's why people like Paris Hilton and the Kardashian sisters and Heidi Montag and Kendra Wilkinson or Baskett or whatever her name is this week are household names for having done little more than ***** themselves into the spotlight. People fall all over themselves to find out the up-to-the-minute latest about these morons.

Even people with some genuine talent, like John Mayer, have been known to turn themselves into walking, talking gong shows because, up until recently, the attention and the perks have been too good to turn down.

It's why Johnny Knoxville and his brain-dead buddies have enjoyed TV and movie careers thanks to their dangerously stupid antics that, surprisingly, didn't get anyone a much-merited Darwin Award.

And so it's natural that people will care about the life and misadventures of the best and most dominant golfer of our generation, perhaps of all time. He's famous - people want to know, and they get wrapped up in his drama as if they have an actual emotional investment in it.

Should they? No. But they do.

I suppose it's always been this way. Not always to this degree, but it's existed for a long time. Unless someone has a valid reason why Zsa Zsa Gabor ever became a "big name." And I guess, at the bottom of it all, it's a twisted affirmation of The American Dream - that anyone can get lucky and strike it rich and have strangers care about what you're doing and who you're nailing.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

If a golfer reading a statement can slow trading on the NYSE while brokers watched then it's a huge story.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=awHS.mA.ma1w

I'll be interested in seeing the TV ratings for it.

 

[Football_Bat]

I snoozed right through it and made it a point to do so.

O.J. verdict, it wasn't.

 

[Double J]

If a golfer reading a statement can slow trading on the NYSE while brokers watched then it's a huge story.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=awHS.mA.ma1w

I'll be interested in seeing the TV ratings for it.

That's just sad, seriously.

 

[SoCalDude]

The first time I ever heard my dad use the word "*****," he was talking about Zsa Zsa Gabor. He also used it to describe Elizabeth Taylor about the seventh time she got married.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Welcome backNatalie, Mert

 

[rpmmutant]

If Tiger wasn't the biggest sports story on Friday, what was? I am just curious to know what is a bigger deal on a Friday in February? The Winter Olympics? Men's figure skating? US hockey? Lindsey Vonn or Julia Mancuso?
It's the dog days of the NBA. The NHL is on hiatus. College basketball doesn't get interesting until March.
Tiger, in my opinion, was the most interesting and newsworthy story of the day. Perhaps if Tiger decided to do this in January, during NFL playoffs or Super Bowl week, not so interesting. In October during the World Series, not so interesting. His timing was perfect for getting the kind of attention it received.

 

[Football_Bat]

I agree with dools ... this board is better with NatalieMert.

 

[BTExpress]

It's a 1,000-channel, 1,000,000,000-web site universe.

We can AFFORD to treat Tiger as big news because there are plenty of places for everything that matters --- or anything people care about (which sometimes are the same thing). He's not "replacing" anything.

The deaths in Afghanistan received the exact news treatment Friday that they would have received had Tiger Woods never been born.

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

Tracy Morgan is right.

He is just a ****in' golfer.

Playing a borderline sport.

Gimme boxing, football, lacrosse, basketball, track and field, baseball, anything .... including tennis.

Golf is an elitist sport. That's what Tiger is. The build-up to that bull**** yesterday made me wanna puke.

In fact, maybe I did, and just don't remember.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Why does he matter?

He was the richest and most bankable athlete in the world until Nov. 27. Arguably the greatest golfer of all-time and one of the first minorities to make a significant impact in a predominantly white sport (apologies to Vijay Singh).

He is credited with much of the sport's popularity.

Not only does he have an affair, but he has almost 20.

It's a train wreck like nothing we've seen since the Bronco chase.

Should we care? I don't know... But we do.